The study has been published by the European arm of the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Dr Hans Henri P Kluge, the WHO’s regional director for Europe, said the findings made clear social media could have both positive and negative consequences for young people.
He said there needed to be more “digital literacy education” to help young people develop a healthy approach to being online, and governments, health authorities, teachers and parents all had to play their part.
“It’s clear we need immediate and sustained action to help adolescents turn the tide on potentially damaging social media use, which has been shown to lead to depression, bullying, anxiety, and poor academic performance,” he said.
Ben Carter, Professor of Medical Statistics at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, described the report as a “useful snapshot of the evidence”.
But he pointed out it was difficult to agree on a definition of what “problematic social media” was, making gathering data on it challenging.
Nonetheless, he said the study was a “valid contribution to the evidence base”.