AWARE: Mental Health Portrayals on Social Media

Mental health, particularly depression and anxiety, is a prevalent topic on social media. While it raises awareness and promotes help-seeking behaviors, it can also lead to overinterpretation and self- diagnosis. Social media play a crucial role in shaping beliefs, opinions, and values, especially among adolescent users. Yet, little is known about how and by whom mental illnesses like depression and anxiety are portrayed on social media and which implications the portrayal has on the perceptions, beliefs, and well-being of adolescent users. AWARE has four research objectives: 1. Investigating how adolescents perceive mental health, particularly depression and anxiety, in their daily lives (including social media). 2. Analyzing the portrayal of depression and anxiety on social media. 3. Examining the reciprocal relationships between exposure to these portrayals and adolescents perceptions, beliefs, and subjective well-being. 4. Investigating the influence of algorithm literacy, parental mediation, and perceived peer norms on these relationships. The three-year project uses a mixed-methods approach, including a focus group study, a content analysis of social media posts, a validation study adapting a previously developed Social Media Algorithm Literacy Scale, and a three-wave longitudinal school survey. The research will focus on adolescents aged 12 to 19 as social media use intensifies and peaks during this life stage. The AWARE project will be co-coordinated by three applicants from Switzerland, Austria, and Germany. An international advisory board with experts from the UK, the USA, and Germany supports the project. The projects results can be used to derive policy recommendations and to develop targeted prevention strategies to consolidate and improve adolescents (perceptions of) mental health in todays digital societies.