JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Technology and digital media (TDM) use is integral to modern adolescence; adolescents have been labeled as ‘digital natives’ given that they have had exposure to digital technology their entire lives. Previous evidence has illustrated TDM’s connections to adolescent risk behaviors such as increased alcohol use and social media exposure, as well as relationships to adolescent well-being such as improved socioemotional heath and peer social media connections. Although several recent review articles have described both benefits and risks to technology use, most individual studies take a singular risk-centered approach. In addition, reviews suggest that little evidence exists that examines potential mediating and moderating factors between TDM use and well-being and health outcomes, which limits our understanding of what influences outcomes of interest. Thus, there is an urgent need to fill these gaps. In this protocol, we will address the fragmented nature of previous research and the common focus on single behaviors/conditions, and the typical narrow lens on risks. Our approach is further aligned with reviews that called for studies investigating what factors moderate relationships between social media and health behaviors and outcomes.

Objective:

The goal of this protocol is to address the urgent need to understand how TDM exposure and usage affect multiple developmental domains and health outcomes.

Methods:

This core question will be examined longitudinally over a 2-year period with a common set of adolescent participants (N=400, aged 13-15 years old) across three studies that take a multimethodological approach. The studies include Study 1: Using TDM to understand mechanisms in adolescent health and risk behavior. Study 2: Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to understand how positive and negative TDM experiences relate to metal and behavioral health in a subsample of 150 adolescents. Study 3: Using mixed methods to evaluate self- and other-generated TDM content as predictors of socioemotional well-being in sexual and gender minority (SGM) and non-SGM adolescents.

Results:

Recruitment is ongoing and initial results from wave 1 of recruitment are expected in 2024.

Conclusions:

This integrated approach to longitudinal data collection from a shared adolescent participant pool will lead to novel analyses and findings, aiming to examine health and well-being risks and benefits associated with TDM use and factors that moderate these relationships. Findings from this protocol will advance conceptual models and inform new interventions to improve adolescent health.