Adolescent Facebook users with more friends on the network are more prone to stress and depression, a new study shows.
According to The Huffington Post, the study, published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology, found that teens with more than 300 friends had higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol than those with less than 300 friends.
"While other important external factors are also responsible, we estimated that the isolated effect of Facebook on cortisol was around 8 percent," professor Sonia Lupien, the study's lead author, said in a statement. "We were able to show that beyond 300 Facebook friends, adolescents showed higher cortisol levels."
The stress caused by too many Facebook friends could, in turn, lead to depression.
"We did not observe depression in our participants. However, adolescents who present high stress hormone levels do not become depressed immediately; it can occur later on," Lupien said. "Some studies have shown that it may take 11 years before the onset of severe depression in children who consistently had high cortisol levels."
Lupien speculated that having lots of friends on social media may lead to more peer pressure.
"Perhaps having too many friends during adolescence may switch social support toward social pressure," the study said.
"Those who have 1,000 or 2,000 friends on Facebook may be subjected to even greater stress," said Lupien,
The Independent (UK) reported.
During the data collection phase of the research, 88 participants aged 12 to 17 were surveyed about their relationship with Facebook.
How often they visited the website, how they promoted themselves on the network, and, of course, how many friends they had.
Other studies involving Facebook have shown that teenage users who use it heavily tend to have narcissistic qualities and tend to have lower grades in school. On the positive side, studies have shown that Facebook allows many people to keep in touch with many more people than they might without it.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.