Researchers in public policy and education recently found that young adults who use more social media are significantly more likely to develop depression within six months, regardless of personality type.

Published in the Journal of Affective Disorders Reports, the study, "Associations between social media use, personality structure, and development of depression," was co-authored by Renae Merrill, a doctoral student in the Public Policy Program at the University of Arkansas.

Merrill wrote the paper with dean of the College of Public Health and Human Sciences at Oregon State University, Brian Primack, and Chunhua Cao, an assistant professor in the College of Education at the University of Alabama.

"Previous research has linked the development of depression with numerous factors," the authors noted. "However, the literature has been lacking in studies that focus on how various personality characteristics may interact with social media use and depression. This new study addressed these important research questions, finding strong and linear associations of depression across all personality traits."

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