Gender differences in the association between social media and life satisfaction; Taking a macro perspective

The association between social media use and well-being is consistently found to be stronger and more negative for adolescent girls than boys. Research on this topic has focused on micro-level factors such as individual and platform differences. To better understand gender differences in the association between problematic social media use and life satisfaction, we examined the role of macro-level social context in these gender differences using a sample of N = 230,375 adolescents living in 39 countries from the HBSC study. We found evidence of between-country variability in gender difference in the association between problematic social media use and life satisfaction, supporting the conclusion that macro-level social context plays a role in these gender differences. Using a multiverse analysis, we identified gender differences in adolescent physical health, country GDP, and gender differences in labor force participation as consistently associated with the role of gender in the association between problematic social media use and life satisfaction. This points to the need for large-scale interventions aimed at supporting healthy adolescent social media use to consider the unique social context adolescents inhabit for maximum effectiveness, specifically around wealth, physical health, and gender equality in the labor force.