Social Media Effects on Mental Health

NCT04967846 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: SM245864
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 608
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

In the last decade, research on social media and mental health has produced mixed results. Overall, the current findings suggest that the negative effects on mental health are exacerbated by longer and more frequent social media usage, whereas the positive effects are bolstered when social media is used to connect with other people. With the largest number of global users, Facebook is the most frequently studied social media network. Over the past few years, the increasing concerns about the risks associated with Facebook have even translated to wider pop culture conversations, as exemplified by the 2020 documentary The Social Dilemma. In response, Facebook has rolled out a series of features supposed to mitigate these risks and encourage responsible social media usage. These features include activity trackers and reminders, unfollow and snooze buttons, and data sharing regulators. Currently, there is no research done to address whether (1) these features are used at all, and (2) whether they are successful in moderating the negative mental health consequences of Facebook usage. This study seeks to address the gap in literature through a survey done on the crowdsourcing platform Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk).

Conditions

Mental Health Issue; Mental Health Wellness 1; Mental Health Wellness 2; Social Media Addiction; Internet Addiction

Keywords

Social Media; Facebook; Mental Health; Wellbeing

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Mental Health Scores

  Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21), (measured on a 4 point scale: min = 0, max = 3; higher scores indicating higher depression, anxiety and/or stress).

  Once during the survey.

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 21 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)
• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Recruiting a representative sample of 740 people on the crowdsourcing platform Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk).

You may qualify if:

• Healthy adult volunteers, aged 21 and above
• English proficiency
• Facebook users

You may not qualify if:

• Participants below 21 years old
• Non-Facebook users

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Yale-NUS College: lead

Study Sites (1)

Yale NUS

Singapore, Singapore

Location

Related Publications (1)

• Barsova T, Cheong ZG, Mak AR, Liu JC. Predicting Psychological Symptoms When Facebook's Digital Well-being Features Are Used: Cross-sectional Survey Study. JMIR Form Res. 2022 Aug 29;6(8):e39387. doi: 10.2196/39387.

  PMID: 36036971 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Internet Addiction Disorder; Psychological Well-Being

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Technology Addiction; Behavior, Addictive; Compulsive Behavior; Impulsive Behavior; Behavior; Personal Satisfaction

Study Officials

• Tamara Barsova

  Yale-NUS College

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: COHORT
• Time Perspective: CROSS SECTIONAL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: June 16, 2021
• First Posted: July 20, 2021
• Study Start: June 13, 2021
• Primary Completion: August 24, 2021
• Study Completion: September 19, 2021
• Last Updated: May 10, 2022

Record last verified: 2022-05

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

SG (1)