Daily Assessment of Mood and Social Media Behaviors Study

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Anxiety; Stress; Cortisol; Depression
• Interventions: Behavioral: Social Media Usage Manipulation

• Registration Number: NCT04349423
• Lead Sponsor: Southern Methodist University

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.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2020-02-01
• Study First Submitted: 2020-02-19
• Study First Submitted QC: 2020-04-14
• Study First Posted: 2020-04-16
• Primary Completion: 2021-05-01
• Study Completion: 2021-05-01
• Status Verified: 2022-01
• Last Update Submitted: 2022-01-24
• Last Update Posted: 2022-02-08

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 324

Inclusion Criteria

• Having a smartphone

Exclusion Criteria

• Below age of 18

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
No Social Media Use	Social Media Usage Manipulation	Participants will be asked to refrain from using all social media
Maximum 30 minutes of use	Social Media Usage Manipulation	Participants will be asked to only use social media at most 30 minutes a day.
Maximum 1 hour of use	Social Media Usage Manipulation	Participants will be asked to only use social media at most 60 minutes a day.
Control	Social Media Usage Manipulation	Control Group

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
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 "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.
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 "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.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Southern Methodist University; 🇺🇸 Dallas, Texas, United States