Tuesday, January 6, 2026 1/6/2026

The impact of social media use on precursors of adolescent suicide risk: Aprospective study

Award Number: K01MH121584
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: TRAINING/TRAINEESHIP
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 08/01/2020
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 07/31/2025

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The impact of social media use on precursors of adolescent suicide risk: Aprospective study - PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Suicide is the second leading cause of adolescent mortality in the US. Rates of adolescent suicide have increased in recent years, along with the advent and growth of social media use (SMU) in this population. SMU has been linked with sleep disruption, depressed mood, and suicidal ideation (SI), all of which are precursors of suicidal behavior. Existing research on the impact of SMU on sleep, mood, and suicidality is limited by cross- sectional designs and self-reported measures of SMU and sleep. To advance the field, prospective designs are needed that include objective measures and intensive monitoring of high-risk samples to rigorously examine the temporal relationships between SMU and suicide risk, defined as depressed mood and SI. This K01 proposal uses precisely such a design to test a conceptual model in which SMU predicts sleep disruption, which, in turn, contributes to depressed mood and SI among adolescents. The proposed study will harness smartphone technology to assess SMU using real-time passive data capture, actigraphy, and ecological momentary assessment (EMA) in high-risk adolescents. These methods, combined with in-person study visits, will examine the temporal and unique within-person associations between SMU and sleep disruption (Aim 1), SMU and suicide risk (Aim 2), and test whether sleep disruption mediates the relationship between SMU and suicide risk (Aim 3). Data-driven approaches of supervised machine learning will leverage the high-dimensional, intensively- monitored data to identify key SMU features predictive of suicide risk in adolescents (Exploratory Aim). The candidate will build on her strong foundation in adolescent depression and sleep research by acquiring new conceptual and methodological training in: 1) adolescent suicide risk, 2) technology and mental health, including social media use and mobile technology for real-time assessment; and 3) advanced computational skills. The candidate has assembled an interdisciplinary mentorship team to achieve her training goals within the exceptional environment of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh. Mentors (Brent and Moreno) are experts in adolescent suicide and social media, respectively, and both have had success in mentoring early career scientists. The candidate’s consultants have extensive expertise in adolescent development and EMA (Silk), adolescent sleep and actigraphy (Franzen), smartphone sensing (Ferreira) applied to clinical health (Low), and advanced statistical and machine learning approaches (Wallace). The proposed training and research will inform future R01 studies that use these innovative methods to identify and modify clinically-actionable risk factors, including SMU and sleep disruption, to attenuate near-term risk for adolescent suicide. This program of research has the potential to yield high-impact results that inform the development of suicide prevention programs that are personalized, scalable, and delivered in real time. The proposed research along with this training plan will uniquely position the candidate to be an independent investigator and leading scholar in the important public health problem of adolescent suicide.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = $0 )
2026	2024	RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY	3 RUTGERS PLZ	NEW BRUNSWICK	NJ	08901	MIDDLESEX	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	6	12/11/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
														Subtotal = $0

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $157,737 )
2024	2024	RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY	3 RUTGERS PLZ	NEW BRUNSWICK	NJ	08901	MIDDLESEX	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	6	7/10/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$157,737
														Subtotal = $157,737

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $157,717 )
2023	2023	RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY	3 RUTGERS PLZ	NEW BRUNSWICK	NJ	08901	MIDDLESEX	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	5	7/24/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$157,717
														Subtotal = $157,717

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $157,724 )
2022	2022	RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY	3 RUTGERS PLZA	NEW BRUNSWICK	NJ	08901	MIDDLESEX	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	4	8/19/2022	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$157,724
														Subtotal = $157,724

Issue Date FY: 2021 ( Subtotal = $157,756 )
2021	2021	RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY	3 RUTGERS PLZA	NEW BRUNSWICK	NJ	08901	MIDDLESEX	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	002	3	8/4/2021	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$157,755
2021	2020	RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY	3 RUTGERS PLZA	NEW BRUNSWICK	NJ	08901	MIDDLESEX	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	001	2	3/5/2021	CHANGE OF GRANTEE / TRAINING INSTITUTION / AWARDING INSTITUTION	$114,506
2021	2020	UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH, THE	4200 5TH AVE	PITTSBURGH	PA	15260	ALLEGHENY	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	1	3/5/2021	NEW	-$114,505
														Subtotal = $157,756

Issue Date FY: 2020 ( Subtotal = $172,907 )
2020	2020	UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH THE	3520 FIFTH AVE	PITTSBURGH	PA	15213	ALLEGHENY	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	1	7/8/2020	NEW	$172,907
														Subtotal = $172,907

Grand Total All Awards = $803,841

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The impact of social media use on precursors of adolescent suicide risk: Aprospective study

Award Number: K01MH121584

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: TRAINING/TRAINEESHIP

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 08/01/2020

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 07/31/2025

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