Passive social media use, coping, and momentary stress in geospatial context: longitudinal effects on mental health and intermediate biological pathways in a racially diverse sample of adolescents

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Project Summary A concomitant rise in adolescent social media use and decline in adolescent mental health over the last decade has raised the question as to the degree of relationship between these factors. To better understand this relationship, we examine how passive social media use (pSMU)—monitoring other people’s lives without engaging in direct exchanges with others—leads to poor mental health (Aim 1), when people engage in pSMU and how this coping strategy impacts mental health (Aim 2), and for whom pSMU is likely to undermine mental health (Aims 3) in a longitudinal study (n=400) in adolescents (ages 13-17; 50% Male/Female; 50% Black/White youth). There will be a 2-month focused study period. The initial and final 2 weeks of the 2-month study period will use ecological momentary assessment-based surveys (5 prompts a day) to measure pSMU, and to characterize affective responses to both pSMU and stress exposures the youth encounter in daily life. Objective pSMU will also be measured using an app installed on the youth’s phone in order to continuously measure pSMU over the entire 2-month intensive study period. We will measure stress exposures and responses in two novel ways. First, using GPS tracking we will determine the youth’s exposures to objectively stressful environments (i.e., high crime areas). Second, we will use GPS to trigger EMA prompts at locations youth reported as being stressful at baseline. The influences of these experiences on mental health trajectories (measured at weeks 0,2,4,6,8 and 20 will be assessed. Additionally, we focus on the relationship of pSMU to two physiological pathways that are responsive to social stress and influence risk for poor mental health: a) the parasympathetic nervous system, the function of which will be continuously measured using a self-charging wristband worn by the youth for the entire 2-month intensive study period to quantify shifts in heart-rate variability (HRV); b) and the expression of immune and other socially stress responsive gene pathways in blood cells sampled on week 0,2,6, and 8. This will provide the opportunity to determine the effects of pSMU on momentary affect, momentary HRV, immune related gene expression, a marker of general inflammation (CRP), and changes in depressive symptoms (Aim 1). We will also determine the role of stressor exposure (self-reported and GPS based) upon pSMU (Aim 2a) and the degree to which pSMU as a stress coping strategy moderates the effects of stressor exposure on affective response, HRV, stress related gene signaling pathways, inflammation, and mental health measures (Aim 2b). To examine individual differences in these effects, we will determine the degree to which gender is associated with increased pSMU (Aim 3a) and whether gender moderates responses to pSMU (Aim 3b). Finally, because our sample will be half Black youth, we will also determine if race moderates the relationship between GPS derived stress exposures (including GPS determined exposure to heavily policed areas or racially exclusive areas) and pSMU (Aim 3c).