Social Media Challenges and Adolescents: Who is at Risk and How Can We Prevent Injuries?

Social media (SM) use is ubiquitous among adolescents, and typical developmental factors during these formative years put adolescents at exceptionally high risk for harmful effects from SM. Social media challenges (SMC) (e.g., Tide Pod Challenge) are dangerous events where people engage in behaviors to share on SM platforms while “challenging” others to participate. While media and peer-reviewed journals have described many SMC and associated injuries, data on U.S. adolescents participating in SMC is scarce, including identified risk factors or proposed elements for an intervention. Dr. Middelberg is a board-certified pediatric emergency medicine pediatrician whose research focuses on pediatric injuries from consumer products to inform prevention. This Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (K23) focused on understanding the determinants and mitigators of SM risk-taking will allow Dr. Middelberg to gain additional skills to be a productive clinician-scientist focusing on pediatric injury and prevention. She has built a strong mentorship team, including national experts in pediatric injury, health behavior, decision psychology, and biostatistics. This team will provide methodological and content expertise while guiding her Training and Career Goals to acquire needed skills to be a successful independent investigator, which include gaining knowledge and proficiency in 1) study design and statistical analysis, 2) using a health behavior framework to guide intervention development, and 3) elements of injury prevention interventions specific to the adolescent age group. The rationale is that a better understanding of adolescents participating in SMC, and how their behavior is similar or different from other risky behavior, will add to evidence-based interventions and prevention measures for those irresponsibly using SM. The specific aims are as follows: Aim 1: Determine predictive sociodemographic, SM use, and digital status seeking characteristics, of adolescents who have participated in a SMC. Aim 2: Evaluate risk-taking behaviors of an enrolled cohort of adolescents. Aim 3: Define key elements for a future intervention. The approach is a prospective, cross-sectional survey study of adolescents (ages 13-21), followed by qualitative interviews, and utilization of the health intervention planning framework, Intervention Mapping, to identify evidence-based components of a proposed intervention. This award will provide Dr. Middelberg with the opportunity and training to become an independent investigator with the goal of future applications for independent National Institutes of Health funding. Project Number: 1K23HD117012-01A1 | Fiscal Year: 2025 | NIH Institute/Center: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) | Principal Investigator: Leah Middelberg | Institution: RESEARCH INST NATIONWIDE CHILDREN'S HOSP, COLUMBUS, OH | Award Amount: $152,442 | Activity Code: K23 | Study Section: Biobehavioral and Behavioral Sciences Study Section[CHHD-H] View on NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/1K23HD11701201A1