In recent years, media use has become an integral part of the daily life of youth worldwide, significantly influencing their social interactions, knowledge acquisition and leisure activities [1,2,3]. Concurrently, there has been a growing interest among mental health professionals and researchers about the potential impact of media use on the mental health of youth [4,5,6,7,8,9]. This interest is particularly pronounced for gender diverse youth, who may experience unique interactions with media that can affect their mental health differently from their peers [10].

Media use refers to the interaction and consumption of various forms of media, including activities like watching television or online videos, playing video games, reading books and newspapers, using social media, browsing websites and engaging with multimedia content on various devices such as smartphones, computers, tablets and other platforms [11, 12]. The use of media among adolescents and young adults has significantly increased worldwide, along with the widespread availability of digital technologies and online platforms. In the United States, research has shown that young people are spending more time on social media, streaming services and engaging with various interactive media platforms, surpassing the screen time of previous generations [13]. Similarly, in Germany, according to findings from the JIM study, young people’s digital engagement has expanded significantly. This includes a rise in smartphone usage throughout the 2010s, with smartphones becoming a central part of teenagers’ lives by the mid-2010s. Tablet usage also increased significantly, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a broad array of devices now integral to their daily activities. The results of the study indicate that nearly all households have access to these technologies, with smartphones, laptops, and televisions being most commonly owned by the youth themselves. This persistent access to digital devices has facilitated an increase in online activities, from video and music streaming to interactive gaming and social media use. On average, teenagers who use the function to track their screen time reported approximately 3.5 h of screen time per day on their smartphones. Additionally, the usage of streaming services has increased, with 86% of teenagers regularly using at least one streaming service. Furthermore, the study highlights gender differences in media use: girls are more likely to read books, use tablets, and listen to the radio, while boys are more likely to watch online videos and play digital games [14]. In Austria, a recent study has shown a diverse spectrum of media consumption among young people, indicating similar patterns in digital engagement. Smartphones remain the primary device for accessing a variety of digital media, including social networks, streaming services, and communication platforms like WhatsApp. Despite a general decrease in computer usage since the COVID-19 pandemic, specific activities like video gaming and streaming continue to be prevalent. Simultaneously, traditional media such as television maintain a consistent presence in daily media consumption and reading printed books continues to be a popular activity among the youth [15].

Building on this trend, specific patterns of media engagement have raised concerns regarding their potential impact on mental health, particularly in terms of how they may contribute to or exacerbate depressive symptoms. Previous studies suggest a connection between both problematic and general forms of media use and depressive symptoms [16], with problematic use specifically defined as the excessive engagement with media that disrupts daily functioning and leads to negative consequences in various contexts, such as social and academic settings [17]. Significant associations have been specifically found regarding excessive internet use [18], problematic internet use (PIU) and smartphone use (PSU) [19, 20], as well as video gaming [7, 21]. Numerous studies have specifically examined the relationship between depressive symptoms and both general social media use and problematic social media use (PSMU), including the use of social network sites, often indicating a significant influence [4,5,6,7,8, 21,22,23]. This is especially relevant given the prevalence of depression and elevated depressive symptoms among youth [24], which can significantly impact their development, self-esteem, and overall quality of life. At the same time, literature overviews also suggest positive relations between digital technology use and specific measures of well-being, including increased social support or increased social capital [16]. In addition, it is still unclear if the relationship is indeed causal [25], or if the effect sizes found are indeed large enough to be considered relevant [9, 26, 27]. In conclusion, given the widespread use of digital devices and the increasing amount of time young people spend online, understanding the relationship between different forms of media use and depressive symptoms is crucial for developing effective interventions and supporting their mental health.

Gender diverse is an umbrella term referring to individuals who identify with a gender other than their binary, birth-assigned sex and/or show consistent gender nonconformity. This term encompasses a variety of culturally diverse identities such as nonbinary, gender expansive, and gender nonconforming, as well as (binary) transgender individuals, distinctly different from cisgender individuals who identify with their sex assigned at birth [28, 29]. Previous studies have shown specific patterns of media use among transgender and gender diverse (TGD) youth compared to other LGBTQ+ subgroups and the general population. TGD youth, for instance, spend significantly more time online daily than their cisgender peers [30], with substantial internet and social media use, though slightly less on social media compared to the general population [10]. Additionally, youth with less traditional LGBTQ+ identities, such as pansexual, asexual, queer, and gender nonconforming, exhibit the highest use of mobile devices and online time [30].

Gender diverse individuals often encounter additional stressors due to their gender identity, beyond the general risks associated with media use, such as cyberbullying and discrimination [10, 31,32,33,34]. Although the broader narrative around youth media use typically emphasizes its adverse effects, the conversation shifts to a more nuanced perspective when considering LGBTQ+, including gender diverse youth, where significant positive influences, such as providing safe spaces and resources for identity exploration and community connection, have also been reported [10, 31,32,33,34,35,36,37]. Studies indicate that digital platforms like social media and online gaming environments serve as crucial venues for these youth to authentically express themselves, foster well-being, and receive peer support [31, 33, 36]. Particularly, the internet facilitates a range of supportive interactions from finding community and reducing stigma to enhancing self-expression and securing emotional and informational support [10, 35]. While quantitative research on this topic is more limited, it supports the findings of qualitative studies and reviews, showing that social media use is linked to better mental health outcomes and higher levels of personal satisfaction among LGBTQ+ youth [32, 37, 38]. This digital media use underscores the transformative potential of inclusive online spaces in supporting the mental health and developmental needs of marginalized groups [10, 31, 33,34,35,36,37, 39]. As research increasingly focuses on the mental health of gender diverse youth (including, e.g., binary transgender, non-binary, and gender nonconforming individuals), particularly their elevated risk of depressive symptoms compared to cisgender peers [40, 41], understanding how media use impacts these symptoms is crucial for addressing the disparities they face. In summary, despite growing evidence on the impact of media use on mental health, gaps remain in our understanding of how these effects vary among gender diverse youth. While prior studies have highlighted both positive and negative impacts, there is a need for more detailed exploration into how different forms of media influence depressive symptoms in this group. This study provides novel insights by focusing on gender diverse youth, an often marginalized population, and examining a wide range of media use types. These contributions aim to foster a better understanding of media’s impact on youth mental health. Therefore, this study aims to address following research questions:

1.

How do gender diverse youth, in comparison to their peers with male and female gender, use different forms of media?

2.

How is media use associated with depressive symptoms in gender diverse youth, considering different forms of media use?

3.

Does gender serve as a moderating factor in the relationship between media use and depressive symptoms in youth?

Based on these research questions, we formulated the following hypotheses:

H1

Gender diverse youth exhibit distinct media use patterns regarding the duration of usage (smartphone use, streaming, TV, social networks, messenger services, reading, news consumption, video games, and AI-based services) compared to their peers with male and female gender.

H2

There is an association between the duration of media use and depressive symptoms in gender diverse youth, with variations depending on the type of media usage (streaming, TV, social networks, messenger services, reading, news consumption, video games, and AI-based services).

H3

Gender moderates the relationship between media use and depressive symptoms, with the strength and direction of this relationship varying across gender groups.

To address the third research question and hypothesis, a moderation model is proposed where media use serves as the predictor of depressive symptoms with gender as moderator variable. This model aims to explore how the relationship between media use and depressive symptoms varies by gender (see Fig. 1 for a diagrammatic representation).

Fig. 1

Conceptual diagram of the moderation model