Family Functioning and Social Media Use in Early Adolescence

Despite increasing social media use (SMU) among younger adolescents, little is known about early adolescent SMU and family functioning. Developmental applications of electronic propinquity theory and social domain theory suggest that early adolescent SMU may disrupt family functioning by decreasing closeness and exacerbating hostility. Family functioning may predict changes in SMU. Therefore, this study examined bidirectional pathways between early adolescent SMU and family functioning, including family closeness and hostility. The aim was to understand not only how early adolescent SMU may influence family functioning, but also how family functioning may influence SMU. Adolescent gender also was examined. A community sample of middle school students ( N = 1344; 51% girls, M age = 12.13, SD = 0.69 years) completed surveys in the fall of 2016 (Time 1) and the fall of 2017 (Time 2). Results revealed that early adolescent SMU among girls was not associated with changes in family functioning, whereas boys’ SMU predicted decreased family closeness. Family functioning was not predictive of changes in adolescents’ SMU. These findings suggest that, while SMU may predict modest declines in family closeness for boys, SMU was largely unassociated with changes in family functioning over time, and vice versa. Results underscore the relative normativity of SMU, even for early adolescents. Furthermore, findings highlight the need for future theoretical and empirical work to contextualize gendered mechanisms through which early adolescent SMU may impact closeness. Highlights We investigated associations between family functioning and adolescent social media use (SMU) in a middle school sample. Technological and developmental theories suggest that early adolescent SMU and family functioning may predict changes in one another. We examined pathways linking family functioning and early adolescent SMU for boys and girls. Few pathways emerged overall, although boys’ SMU predicted decreased family closeness.