Project Name
Adolescent Media Project (AMP)
Areas of Focus
Social, Emotional, and Mental Health
Duration
3 years (2023-2025)
Collaborators
Faculty Leads
Additional Colleagues
- Hannah Chidekel, MPH, Digital Wellness Lab
- Alyssa Manning Gramajo, BA, Wellesley College
- Nicole Powell, MSW, Digital Wellness Lab
Overview
The Adolescent Media Project (AMP) will help to better understand the contexts and characteristics that influence how social media use connects with mental health and wellbeing for young adolescents. This study will shed light on important components of young teens’ (aged 13-15) social media ecology as well as offer proof-of-concept of the multi-method approach needed to enable funding to include larger, more geographically dispersed adolescent samples.
Objectives
This project capitalizes and expands upon an existing longitudinal study and, for a subset of young users, utilizes passive sensing and ecological momentary assessment data.
This study’s significance lies in:
- Furthering scientific understanding about standardized data collection methods and innovative technology to systematically document early adolescent digital interactions at a more timely, contextualized level
- Identifying contextual variables and individual characteristics that are associated with risky and resilient social media use.
In the long-term, findings will be applicable to interventions designed to encourage online behaviors linked to positive mental health outcomes and discourage others.
Methodology
We are using Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA), a research tool that helps us survey participants in real time. Rather than relying on participants to recall all the media they used throughout the day, EMA surveys ping participants throughout the day to capture their in-the-moment experiences of media use. We are also using passive sensing and daily-use screenshots to see how long participants are spending on commonly used apps and social media platforms daily.
These dynamic, innovative methods will help us understand the contexts participants are using media in, the characteristics of that use (e.g., who they are talking to, what they are doing), and their associations with indicators of mental wellbeing. Further, these methods will offer a more accurate reflection of individuals’ total daily media use.
Preliminary Findings
Please check back in late 2025 for more updates.
Publications
Please check back in late 2025 for more updates.
For more information about this study, please contact dwl@childrens.harvard.edu.
