AWARE: Mental Health Portrayals on Social Media and Implications on Adolescents’ Awareness and Well-being

Mental health 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. To date, 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. Project AWARE is a joint project co-coordinated by Dr. Anne-Linda Camerini at USI in Switzerland, Prof. Dr. Kathrin Karsay at University of Vienna in Austria, and Prof. Dr. Ruth Wendt at LMU Munich in Germany. The project 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. 

These objectives will be achieved through 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 in Switzerland, Austria and Germany as social media use intensifies and peaks during this life stage.