Adolescent girls’ academic support-seeking, depression, and anxiety: the mediating role of digital support-seeking

ABSTRACT Objective This study explored how seeking support from friends and parents and informal digital sources are related to anxiety and depression in adolescent girls. Method Early and middle adolescent girls (N = 186) were presented with four vignettes of academic stressors; for each scenario, they rated their likelihood of seeking support from parents, friends, or digital sources. Depression and anxiety symptoms were measured using the youth version of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale. Alternate models were tested using Structural Equation Modelling. Results Digital support seeking mediated the relationships between seeking support from parents and friends and anxiety and depression. Seeking support from parents was negatively related to digital support seeking, which in turn was positively related to depression and anxiety. In contrast, seeking support from friends was positively related to digital support seeking. Conclusion These findings suggest that informal digital support seeking may be considered a problematic way of coping with academic stress for adolescent girls, while seeking support from parents can be considered a protective factor due to its negative relationship with digital support-seeking. KEY POINTS What is already known about this topic: (1) Most adolescents use online communication on a daily basis to connect with friends, which provides unprecedented access to seeking informal academic support from these friends. (2) While seeking support is generally viewed as an adaptive coping strategy for adolescents, there is emerging evidence to suggest that online coping is related to poorer mental health. However, it is unknown how digital support seeking for academic stressors is related to depression and anxiety. (3) Adolescent girls are more likely than boys to seek support from others and are also more likely to experience depression and anxiety. What this topic adds: (1) The current study is the first to examine relationships between digital support seeking, seeking support from traditional sources (parents and friends), and depression and anxiety in adolescent girls. (2) Digital support-seeking demonstrated relationships with higher indicators of depression and anxiety, indicating it is a problematic way of coping with academic stress. We propose seeking support from parents as a protective factor due to its negative relationship with digital support-seeking. (3) Given the salience of academic stressors for adolescents, the findings suggest that parents, teachers, and practitioners should be wary of maladaptive outcomes when adolescents seek help online for academic concerns.