Abstract

VALERO ANCCO, Vidnay Noel; SOSA GUTIERREZ, Fredy  and  MIRANDA SALAS, Vicentina Socorro. Social media and its impact on the mental health of university students: a bibliometric study. Vive Rev. Salud [online]. 2025, vol.8, n.22, pp.90-106.  Epub Jan 22, 2025. ISSN 2664-3243.  https://doi.org/10.33996/revistavive.v8i22.364.

The increasing use of social media today has become a critical issue due to its impact on the mental health of university students. Objective: To analyze the main scientific productions related to social media and their impact on the mental health of university students. Material and methods: A descriptive bibliometric study was carried out with a quantitative approach of works published between 2014 and 2024. 277 relevant documents extracted from the Scopus database were identified and analyzed. VOSviewer software was used to analyze the co-occurrence of keywords and other relevant categories in scientific production. Results: An exponential increase in scientific production was evident starting in 2020, with a peak of 52 articles in 2022. This growth is associated with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which intensified the use of digital platforms as the main means of interaction. The United States, the United Kingdom, and China stood out as the countries with the largest number of publications on this topic, although there was also a significant representation of other countries worldwide. The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health was ranked as the most productive journal in this field, while Medicine was the thematic area with the most research, followed by Psychology and Social Sciences. Conclusion: It is essential to continue studying this phenomenon, focusing on interventions that use social media in a positive way to improve the mental well-being of university students.

Keywords : Emotional well-being; University students; Social interaction; Social networks; Mental health.

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