Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40487898›Full record

ArticleJournal of technology in behavioral science2025

Improving the Science of Adolescent Social Media and Mental Health: Challenges and Opportunities of Smartphone-Based Mobile Sensing and Digital Phenotyping.

Jessica L Hamilton, Melissa J Dreier, Bianca Caproni, Jennifer Fedor, Krina C Durica, Carissa A Low

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of technology in behavioral science, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Social Media as a Behavioral Activation Tool, Conferring Possible Protection Against Suicidal Thoughts Among Adolescents.Journal of clinical child and adolescent psychology : the official journal for the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, American Psychological Association, Division 53
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Jessica L HamiltonRutgers University-New Brunswick, 53 Avenue E., Piscataway, NJ 08854 USA.
Melissa J DreierRutgers University-New Brunswick, 53 Avenue E., Piscataway, NJ 08854 USA.ORCID 0000-0002-1466-0873
Bianca CaproniRutgers University-New Brunswick, 53 Avenue E., Piscataway, NJ 08854 USA.
Jennifer FedorUniversity of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA USA.
Krina C DuricaUniversity of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA USA.
Carissa A LowUniversity of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA USA.

Funding

The impact of social media use on precursors of adolescent suicide risk: Aprospective studyK01MH121584 · NIMH · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · PI HAMILTON, JESSICA LEIGH · 2020 to 2024
$804k
Using Real-Time Methods to Investigate Emotion Regulation as a Modifiable Target Connecting Adolescent Social Media Use and MoodF31MH136815 · NIMH · RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIV OF N.J. · PI DREIER, MELISSA J. · 2024 to 2025
$86k
NIMH NIH HHS F31 MH136815NIMH NIH HHS K01 MH121584NIMH NIH HHS L30 MH117642
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The impact of social media (SM) use ('screentime') on adolescent mental health has been the focus of increasing concern, despite mixed findings from empirical research. Current methodological approaches rely on self-reported SM use, which has limited accuracy and obscure the dynamic interplay of SM use and mental health. Smartphone-based mobile sensing offers new opportunities to gain insights into adolescents' SM use patterns and behaviors, particularly at an idiographic level. Considerations and challenges of smartphone sensing methods for capturing adolescents' SM use patterns and behaviors in clinical psychological science are discussed in the context of a pilot study using smartphone-based sensing with adolescents. The pilot study included 19 adolescents (Mean age = 15.84; 68% boys; 79% White) who installed a passive monitoring application (AWARE) on their phones for 31 (SD = 5.6) days. Descriptive data of sensing acceptability and feasibility are presented based on participant ratings and data yield ratio of usable data (74.18%). Sensing yielded 10,038 hourly observations collected from the 'application foreground' sensor across all participants from social media apps, and a total of 645 applications used. Categorization of SM apps were coded (kappa >.90) into 'social networking' (N = 20 apps) and 'broader SM' (N = 41) and compared to both Play Store-defined SM apps (N = 26) and popular SM apps based on Common Sense Media Survey (N = 9). Descriptive data on extracted behavioral features (duration, checking) from SM use categories (binned hourly and daily) are presented. Challenges, opportunities, and future directions of sensing methods for SM use are discussed to inform our understanding of its impacts on mental health and to improve the rigor of SM research in clinical psychological science. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s41347-024-00443-5.

Indexed as

AdolescenceFeasibilityMental healthSensingSmartphoneSocial media

Identifiers

PMID40487898
PMCPMC12144053

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.