Adolescents' use of Instagram for coping with stress

Abstract

This study examined how adolescents use Instagram as a coping resource and coping tool within the framework of the transactional theory of stress. We explored how perceived stress and resilience influence coping strategies and their links to life satisfaction. Participants were 375 Taiwanese high school students (73.3% female; M age = 16.7, SD  = 0.7) who completed an online questionnaire assessing perceived stress, resilience, coping, life satisfaction and Instagram use. Habitual Instagram use was assessed via self‐reported usage frequency and duration, engagement with platform features and reported changes in use under stress. Analyses focused on 280 adolescents who reported using Instagram to cope with stress. Four coping strategies were identified: problem‐focused, emotion‐focused, support‐seeking and avoidance. Stress and resilience were associated with strategy use. Emotion‐focused coping predicted higher life satisfaction across both low stress–high resilience and high stress–low resilience groups. Problem‐focused coping was beneficial in the high stress–low resilience group, whereas support‐seeking coping was effective only in the low stress–high resilience group. Findings underscore the nuanced role of social media in adolescent coping and its implications for adaptive interventions.