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 Anne-Linda Camerini (Università della Svizzera italiana, Lugano, Switzerland), Ruth Wendt (LMU Munich, Germany) und Kathrin Karsay (University of Vienna). The project team in Vienna will be supported by Alina Danilkow as a predoctoral researcher. The project is financed by the Austrian Science Fund, which is providing a total of around € 267.000 for its implementation.

Mental Health Portrayals on Social Media (AWARE)

Funding Organization: FWF – Austrian Science Fund
PI: Kathrin Karsay
Duration: 2024-2027
Funding: € 267.367