Social media use has become an integral part of many young adults' daily lives. Although much research has examined how social media use relates to psychological well-being, little is known about how it relates to physical health. To address this knowledge gap, the present research investigated how the amount of social media people use relates to various indices of physical health. Young adults provided a blood sample that was analyzed for C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of chronic inflammation. They also completed self-report measures of social media use, somatic symptoms, illness-related physician or health center visits, and whether they sought medical care for infection-related illnesses in the last 3 months. Social media use was positively correlated with higher levels of CRP, more somatic symptoms, and more visits to the doctor or health centers for an illness. Although directionally consistent, the correlation with likelihood of seeking medical care for infection-related illnesses was nonsignificant (p = 0.061). All of these results held after controlling for factors such as sociodemographic information and depressive symptoms. Given the prevalence of social media use in daily life, these findings underscore the need for more research examining how social media use relates to physical health.

中文翻译：

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社交媒体的使用及其与身体健康指标的联系


社交媒体的使用已成为许多年轻人日常生活中不可或缺的一部分。尽管许多研究都探讨了社交媒体的使用与心理健康的关系，但对其与身体健康的关系却知之甚少。为了解决这一知识差距，本研究调查了人们使用社交媒体的数量与各种身体健康指标的关系。年轻人提供了一份血液样本，用于分析 C 反应蛋白 (CRP)，这是慢性炎症的标志物。他们还完成了社交媒体使用、躯体症状、与疾病相关的医生或健康中心就诊以及在过去 3 个月内是否因感染相关疾病寻求医疗护理的自我报告措施。社交媒体的使用与较高的 CRP 水平、更多的躯体症状以及因疾病去看医生或前往健康中心的次数呈正相关。尽管方向一致，但与因感染相关疾病就医的可能性的相关性并不显着 ( p = 0.061)。所有这些结果都是在控制了社会人口统计信息和抑郁症状等因素后得出的。鉴于社交媒体在日常生活中的普遍使用，这些发现强调需要进行更多研究来检验社交媒体的使用与身体健康之间的关系。