# 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

> **NIH NIH R01** · OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $536,335

## Abstract

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 exp...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10929497
- **Project number:** 5R01MH135501-02
- **Recipient organization:** OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** DAVID LEE
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $536,335
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-09-14 → 2028-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10929497

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10929497, 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 (5R01MH135501-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10929497. Licensed CC0.

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