Peer Influence, Risk, and Adolescent Social Media Use: Insight from Neuroimaging

 描述(申请人提供)：人生的第二个十年的特点是对同龄人的兴趣和敏感度增加。因此，青少年越来越容易受到同伴的影响，特别是在涉及危险决策的情况下。重要的是，有证据表明，暴露在同龄人在线环境中的危险行为有助于线下冒险。因此，考虑到在核磁共振扫描仪的范围内模仿社交媒体使用的可行性，以生态有效的方式调查同伴影响的神经相关性成为可能。本项目利用这一机会，通过测量在社交媒体环境中经历的同龄人影响和危险图像的神经反应性。通过使用神经成像方法来检查风险决策和同伴影响，这项研究可以提供独特的洞察力，以了解可能缓冲或使个人倾向于风险结果的机制。48名青少年将接受功能性磁共振成像(FMRI)，同时完成一项模仿社交照片分享应用Instagram的任务。参与者将查看一组表面上由同事提交的照片，并决定是否为每一张照片“点赞”。这项拟议的研究将测试同伴对一张照片的认可程度(由之前收到的每张照片的“赞”数量表示)如何影响参与者的行为(即他们是否“喜欢”每一张照片)和观看该照片时的神经反应。几张图片将描绘典型的冒险行为，包括饮酒和吸烟。参与者还将提交他们自己的图片，以便纳入研究；这将允许检查对自己在线内容接收社会反馈的神经相关性，以及这种反应与同伴影响敏感度(SPI)行为指标之间的关系。调查措施将评估参与者的冒险历史、风险感知和SPI。将测试个体在冒险/SPI方面的差异与社交媒体使用期间个体神经和行为反应之间的关系。这项研究将有助于洞察社会文化因素(即社交媒体的使用)和导致个人酗酒和吸毒风险以及高风险性行为的神经机制，从而有助于制定有针对性的教育计划，旨在减少青少年的冒险行为和SPI。根据NIAAA、NIDA和NCI最近为形成成瘾研究的合作机会所做的努力，拟议的项目将调查行为和神经生物学机制，这些机制使个人在脆弱的发育时期面临与酒精和药物滥用有关的一系列负面后果的风险增加。特别是，该项目的目标与NIAAA的未成年人饮酒研究倡议的目标是一致的，该倡议试图了解导致未成年人酗酒的因素，包括数字媒体和未成年人饮酒之间的关系，以及社交媒体影响青少年饮酒的机制。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The second decade of life is characterized by an amplified interest in and sensitivity to peers. As a result, adolescents are increasingly susceptible to peer influence, particularly in situations involving risky decision-making. Importantly, evidence indicates that exposure to peers' risky behaviors in online environments contributes to offline risk-taking. Therefore, it becomes possible to investigate the neural correlates of peer influence in an ecologically valid manner, given the feasibility of mimicking social media use in the confines of an MRI scanner. The present project capitalizes on this opportunity by measuring neural responsivity to peer influence and risky images as they are experienced in a social media environment. By using a neuroimaging approach to examine risky decision-making and peer influence, this research can lend unique insight into mechanisms that may buffer individuals from or predispose them towards risky outcomes. Forty-eight adolescents will undergo functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while completing a task that mimics the social photo-sharing application Instagram. Participants will view a feed of photographs ostensibly submitted by peers, and decide whether to "like" each image. The proposed study will test how level of peer endorsement of a photograph (indicated by the number of "likes" each photograph previously received) influences participants' behavior (i.e., whether they "like" each image) and neural responses while viewing that image. Several images will depict typical risk-taking behaviors, including alcohol and cigarette use. Participants will aso submit their own images for inclusion in the study; this will allow for the examination of the neural correlates of receiving social feedback on one's own online content, and the relation between this response and behavioral measures of susceptibility to peer influence (SPI). Survey measures will assess participants' history of risk-taking, perception of risk, and SPI. The relatio between individual differences in risk-taking/SPI and individual neural and behavioral responses during social media use will be tested. This research will lend insight into both a sociocultural factor (i.e., social media use) and neural mechanisms that contribute to individual risk for alcohol and drug abuse as well as risky sexual behavior, thereby contributing to the development of targeted educational programs designed to reduce youth risk-taking and SPI. In line with the recent efforts of the NIAAA, NIDA, and NCI to form collaborative opportunities for addiction research, the proposed project will investigate behavioral and neurobiological mechanisms that place individuals at increased risk for a range of negative outcomes relating to alcohol and drug abuse during a vulnerable developmental period. In particular, the aims of this project are consistent with the aims of NIAAA's Underage Drinking Research Initiative, which seeks to understand factors that contribute to underage alcohol abuse, including the relation between digital media and underage alcohol use, and the mechanisms whereby social media influences adolescent alcohol consumption.