Daily Assessment of Mood and Social Media Behaviors Study

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.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Depression; Stress; Anxiety; Cortisol
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Social Media Usage Manipulation

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 324
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Texas
    • Dallas, Texas, United States, 75205
      • Southern Methodist University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Having a smartphone

Exclusion Criteria:

• Below age of 18

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

4

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: No Social Media Use; Participants will be asked to refrain from using all social media	Behavioral: Social Media Usage Manipulation; Behavioral Intervention of social media usage.
Experimental: Maximum 30 minutes of use; Participants will be asked to only use social media at most 30 minutes a day.	Behavioral: Social Media Usage Manipulation; Behavioral Intervention of social media usage.
Experimental: Maximum 1 hour of use; Participants will be asked to only use social media at most 60 minutes a day.	Behavioral: Social Media Usage Manipulation; Behavioral Intervention of social media usage.
Experimental: Control; Control Group	Behavioral: Social Media Usage Manipulation; Behavioral Intervention of social media usage.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Changes in "Positive and Negative Affect Schedule" (PANAS)	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.	Pre and post. Daily 5 times a day for 11 days
Changes in "Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale" (DASS)	Examines Depressive, Anxiety, and Stress symptoms. Minimum 0 maximum 63. Higher scores indicate more depression, anxiety and or stress.	Pre and Post. Daily for 11 days
Changes in "Behavioral Activation for Depression Scale"	Examines behavioral goal achievement. Minimum 0 and maximum 54. Larger scores means an ability to be more active.	Pre-Post- Daily for 11 days
Changes in "Social Media Use"	Survey and Phone based Applications will assess for daily use of social media time and behaviors.	Daily for 11 days
Changes in "A clinically useful depression outcome scale" (CUDOS)	Tracks Depression Symptoms. Minimum 0 maximum 74. Larger scores means more depressive symptoms.	Pre-Post- Daily for 11 days

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Southern Methodist University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): February 1, 2020
• Primary Completion (Actual): May 1, 2021
• Study Completion (Actual): May 1, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 19, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 14, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): April 16, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): February 8, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 24, 2022
• Last Verified: January 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Social Media
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavioral Symptoms; Depression
• Other Study ID Numbers: H19-131-ROQA

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No