The U.S. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) awarded a $704,095 Project Grant (CFDA 93.242 - Mental Health Research Grants) to the University of California Irvine (UC Irvine) to conduct a real-time and randomized study on the interplay between social media use and mental health in early adolescence. The research project will follow a large representative sample of 2,500 11- to 15-year-olds over 4 years, with a subset of 750 adolescents receiving intensive ecological momentary assessments (EMA). The project aims to (1) advance discovery on the bi-directional influences between social media and mental health, (2) test the impact of experimentally modifying social media engagement on mental health symptoms, and (3) identify subgroups where these relationships may be amplified. The research will leverage a youth co-created API toolkit to capture real-time social media use and histories alongside mental health data. The results are expected to inform science, practice, and policy related to adolescent mental health and social media.
Generated 1/28/25, 11:01 AM