Miss Thais Marques

(she/her)

Context of the research

Adolescence is a critical period of social, psychological, and physiological changes, but also a crucial time of vulnerability to mental health issues. As mental health problems have drastically increased in adolescents over the past decade, concerns have risen regarding the impact of social media (SM) on adolescents' brains and well-being. Indeed, adolescents are known to be among the first and most ardent users of SM, and SM use has been linked to brain function modifications in adolescents, for example in the domain of reward processing. However, few studies have assessed the effects of aversive SM interactions on the brain. Furthermore, because there is high heterogeneity in the adolescent population, studying the interindividual factors moderating the relationship between SM use and well-being is important.

Aims and Objectives of the project

This project aims to take a multidisciplinary approach to study 1) the neural effects of SM interactions on the adolescent brain using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and 2) how interindividual differences moderate the relationship between SM use and well-being using large-scale data analysis. More precisely, we plan to investigate the following questions : 

• Q1. How does positive and negative SM feedback impact brain signals underlying reward processing in adolescents? 

• Q2. Do individual differences in social connectedness (i.e., frequency of social interactions, social support, and quality of social relationships) moderate the relationship between SM use and mental health in adolescents?