On the other hand, teens who act in ways that support their FB friends -for example, by liking what they posted or sending them words of encouragement -decreased their levels of cortisol.
The researchers recruited 88 participants aged 12-17 years who were asked about their frequency of use of Facebook, their number of friends on the social media site, their self-promoting behaviour, and the supporting behaviour they displayed towards their friends.
Along with these four measures, the team collected cortisol samples of the participating adolescents.Stress levels measured in adolescents from cortisol samples are obviously not entirely due to the popular social media site, researchers said. “While other important factors are also responsible, we estimated that the isolated effect of FB on cortisol was around 8%,” a resercher said. “Thus those who have 1,000 or 2,000 friends on Facebook may be subjected to even greater stress,” a resercher said.
Other studies have shown that high morning cortisol levels at 13 years increase the risk of suffering from depression at 16 years by 37%.
