Can young people’s cognitive style explain associations between social media use and mental health?

Project Code

MRCNMH25Ba Button 

Research Theme

Neuroscience and Mental Health

Project Summary Download

Summary

In public discourse, social media is often claimed to be bad for young people’s mental health. This simple view is not supported by science, where the evidence is mixed. This project will provide a more nuanced understanding of how social media use might impact mental health, and investigate how a person’s cognitive style (e.g., interpreting feedback pessimistically or optimistically) and style of using social media (e.g. passive viewing, active posting) affect their mood and well-being. This will be accomplished by triangulating evidence from self-report and passive measures of social media use, neurocognitive assessments, and both observational and experimental designs.

Lead Supervisor

Dr Katherine Button

Lead Supervisor Email

k.s.button@bath.ac.uk

University Affiliation

Bath