Promoting Well-Being in Preteens, Adolescents, and Young Adults: Toward Improved Social Media Policies

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Adrian Meier
• Subject Area: Communication Sciences ; Empirical Social Research ; Developmental and Educational Psychology ; Social Psychology, Industrial and Organisational Psychology
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 539891059

The last decade has been hallmarked by an explosive rise in digital communication. Technologies such as social media present a profound challenge, especially for young people. In parallel, we are experiencing a growing mental health crisis in this population. This project undertakes a transformative mission to unravel, test and enhance policies that counter the detrimental impact of social media on young people, to safeguard and amplify their well-being in our increasingly digital world. Employing a cutting-edge comparative approach, the research will encompass systematic literature synthesis, qualitative exploration, field experiments, and computational analysis. By differentiating between preteens (ages 10 to 12), adolescents (13-17), and young adults (18-25), the project will uniquely pinpoint effective policies tailored to each population. WP1: We will synthesize current policy interventions through an exhaustive and structured literature search. WP2: We will use qualitative focus group interviews with each age group, to investigate age-group perspectives and co-create potential policy interventions. WP3: Focusing on young adults, in an online field experiment we will test the effectiveness of such policy interventions on a mock website via the manipulation of designs, usage patterns, or content. WP4: Computational simulations will enable us to build theoretically informed models extrapolating our findings from WP3 to preteens and adolescents. WP5: We will integrate the project findings to assess the feasibility and usability of established and new policy interventions across Europe, providing evidence-based recommendations. Our interdisciplinary approach draws upon the expertise of leading scholars from Communication, Psychology, Sociology, and Media Studies to systematically locate, test and evaluate policy approaches that tackle the impending mental health crisis among young people, thereby contributing to the well-being of generations to come.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Austria, Estonia, Spain, United Kingdom
• Cooperation Partners: Dr. Tobias Dienlin; Professorin Veronika Kalmus, Ph.D.; Dr. Amy Orben; Professorin Charo Sádaba, Ph.D.