Teenagers spend more and more time on the internet, especially on the social networking sites. Researchers are now realising how technological changes not only brought benefits but also certain negative consequences. Due to the growth of mental health issues in the last years, I chose to focus my master thesis on finding the connection between the use of social networking sites and development of mental health issues among adolescents. In the theoretical part of the thesis I explained the concept of mental health and raised the issue of mental health issues among adolescents. As the results of foreign studies do not agree on the positive nor the negative consequences of the use of social networking sites, I decided to conduct my own investigation among Slovenian adolescents. The empirical section presents the secondary analysis of data which was acquired by National Institute of Public Health through international quantitative research Health behaviour in school-aged children (HBSC). With the help of data analysis (chi-squared test) I assess mental health according to gender and age; mental health issues are more common for girls than boys and more frequent among 15-year-olds than 13-year-olds. I also conclude that mental health issues are connected with the use of social networking sites.
The research objective is to contribute to new discoveries in the area of social networking sites and their relation to the mental health of adolescents. Furthermore, this could serve as a basis for the preparation of prevention and promotion programs concerning the mental health of adolescents in Slovenia.
|