Anxiety, Cortisol, Depression, Stress
Conditions
Keywords
Social Media
Brief summary
The purpose of this research study is to learn more about social media usage and its relation to emotions, biology, and mental health. Participants will complete daily assessments (5 times a day) over the course of 11 days in which they will report on their social media use, behaviors, and mood. During the first 4 days participants will be asked to continue using social media as typical. In the second half (7 days) participants will be randomized to social media usage groups (0 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hour, 3 hours). There will be mental health and well-being measures provided at the beginning and end of the study. Lastly, to better understand how social media usage effects underlying mechanisms of stress, participants will be asked to provide saliva samples for 3 nights (pre, mid, and post) to assess for basal cortisol levels.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALSocial Media Usage Manipulation
Behavioral Intervention of social media usage.
Sponsors
Southern Methodist University
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Intervention model description
Participants will be randomized to social media usage groups to assess if reduction social media will improve mood and in turn lower depressive and anxiety symptoms. The groups include 0 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hours of use a day.
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Having a smartphone
Exclusion criteria
* Below age of 18
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Changes in Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) | Pre and post. Daily 5 times a day for 11 days | Examines mood fluctuations. Scores can range from 10-50 for both the Positive and Negative Affect with the lower scores representing lower levels of Positive/Negative Affect and higher scores representing higher levels of Positive/Negative Affect. |
| Changes in Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS) | Pre and Post. Daily for 11 days | Examines Depressive, Anxiety, and Stress symptoms. Minimum 0 maximum 63. Higher scores indicate more depression, anxiety and or stress. |
| Changes in Behavioral Activation for Depression Scale | Pre-Post- Daily for 11 days | Examines behavioral goal achievement. Minimum 0 and maximum 54. Larger scores means an ability to be more active. |
| Changes in Social Media Use | Daily for 11 days | Survey and Phone based Applications will assess for daily use of social media time and behaviors. |
| Changes in A clinically useful depression outcome scale (CUDOS) | Pre-Post- Daily for 11 days | Tracks Depression Symptoms. Minimum 0 maximum 74. Larger scores means more depressive symptoms. |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed