Among American adults, 65% used social networking sites in 2015, which is a massive increase from just 7% in 2005. But a new study finds that the more time young adults use social media, the higher their chances are of being depressed.

Share on Pinterest The new study finds that the more time spent on social media increases the chances of depression.

The research comes from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in Pennsylvania and is published in the journal Depression and Anxiety.

Previous studies have investigated the potentially nefarious mental health effects of using social media sites such as Facebook, Tumblr and Google Plus.

One such study from 2015 saw researchers concluding that social media can cause anxiety and depression, which could lead to poor sleep quality, intensifying the problem.

And another study, published earlier this year, suggested that social media use and sleep disturbances are linked.

However, the researchers from this latest study say that previous investigations have come up with mixed results, have been limited by small samples and have focused on individual social media sites, rather than the myriad platforms that today’s young adults use.

According to the team, the new study, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is the first nationally representative study to investigate the links between social media use – across a wide range of platforms – and depression.