2022 - 2024
This study uses innovative technology to better understand how social media use connects with mental health and wellbeing for young adolescents.
The Adolescent Media Project, a collaborative study between the Youth, Media & Wellbeing Research Lab and the Boston Children’s Digital Wellness Lab, aims to better understand the contexts and characteristics that influence how social media use connects with mental health and wellbeing for young adolescents. It capitalizes and expands upon an existing longitudinal study and, for a subset of young users (13- to 14-year-olds), utilizes data that assesses adolescents moment-by-moment.
The study’s primary aim is to determine the specific characteristics (e.g., demographics) and social contexts (e.g., COVID pandemic, family media rules) of adolescents’ online social interactions (e.g., relationship of the people interacting, content of interaction, total amount of use) that are associated with indicators of mental wellbeing.
The study’s significance lies in 1) furthering scientific understanding about standardized data collection methods and innovative technology to systematically document early adolescent digital interactions at a more timely, contextualized level, and 2) identifying contextual variables and individual characteristics that are associated with risky and resilient social media use. In the long term, findings will be applicable to interventions designed to encourage online behaviors linked to positive mental health outcomes and discourage others.
Now Enrolling Participants!
Are you an adolescent between the ages of 13-17 years old? Do you own a smartphone (iPhone or Android)? Were you a student at Coakley Middle School or Norwood High School at any point from 2019-2022? If yes, click here for you and your parent/guardian to learn more.
Ongoing since 2021
This project will develop digital wellbeing lessons for middle schoolers that combine digital citizenship and social and emotional learning.
2022 - 2027
This is the first study of its kind to investigate the impact of discrimination on Asian American adolescents’ mental health.
Asian American adolescents are facing unprecedented risks to their mental health. They are living with high levels of anti-Asian hate and violence fueled by references to COVID-19 as “the China virus.” Physical assaults against Asian Americans skyrocketed by 145% in 2020, and 80% of youth report being bullied or verbally harassed.
Linda Charmaraman, Ph.D., is involved in the BOBA Project, a study that will fill a critical gap in the science of how discrimination affects Asian American adolescent mental health. The study is funded by the National Institutes of Health and led by Dr. Cindy Liu, director of the Developmental Risk and Cultural Resilience Laboratory at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Dr. Tiffany Yip of Fordham University.
Charmaraman and her colleagues are following 350 Chinese American adolescents, their Chinese heritage parent, and a peer to investigate the effects of discrimination experiences, discrimination responses, and racial socialization processes on adolescent mental health and chronic stress. The long-term objective is to develop evidence on how parents, peers, and social media can be leveraged to mitigate the negative health consequences of discrimination. Charmaraman and her Youth, Media & Wellbeing Research Lab are focused on understanding the racial socialization processes that take place within peer relationships, particularly on social media.
This work is supported by the National Institutes of Health: R01MH129360.
Ongoing since 2018
This project studies social media usage in adolescents while providing Wellesley College students with hands-on research opportunities.
2023 - 2027
Also known as the Teen & Dog Study, this study is assessing the effects of companion dogs on adolescents with social anxiety and their families.
Ongoing since 2011
The purpose of this online nationwide survey study is to understand how different types of media impact young people’s sense of social identities.
Ongoing since 1979
NIOST supports the healthy development of children, families, and communities, and advances the OST field through our research, training, advocacy, and tools.
2020 - 2022
This study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, explores connections between youth relationships with pets and healthy adolescent behaviors.
Ongoing since 2019
The Youth, Media & Wellbeing Research Lab is collaborating with a team of community and academic experts from media literacy, computer science, and STEM learning to develop a social media wellbeing app, co-designed by youth who would be the primary users of the app.
Ongoing since 2013
Charmaraman will interview a subset of 30 participants from the larger online survey study of over 1,300 young people aged 12 – 25 from the U.S. and abroad.
Ongoing since 2022
This study seeks to examine racial and gender disparities in representation and “pipeline” issues among executive leaders, next-in-line leaders, senior staff members, trustees, and search consultants working in resident theaters across America.
Background
The Women's Leadership in Resident Theaters study examined gender representation in leadership and those “next in line” at theaters that were members of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT) during the 2013-2014 performance season. The study tracked a sizable gender imbalance among leaders in the field and articulated the structural barriers facing women aspiring to executive-level positions. The study’s release led to the formation of LORT’s Diversity Task Force, which has evolved into the LORT Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee. Since 2016, the number of female artistic and executive leaders at LORT theaters has increased, and many of these theaters, for the first time in their history, are being led by women, a handful of them BIPOC.
While the study primarily focused on gender representation, researchers also found a “virtual absence of women of color in regional theaters.” Since the study’s publication, the number of BIPOC leaders at LORT theaters has also increased, but representation remains low, particularly for BIPOC men. Analyzing the current racial and gender representation of leadership and barriers to entry will continue to illuminate both progress and challenges for LORT to consider in its future efforts to eliminate and dismantle oppressive systems and practices.
Methodology
Following the methodology of the Women’s Leadership in Resident Theatres study, this study will investigate the identity-specific barriers (e.g., personal, cultural, systemic) connected to leadership positions and influence in LORT theaters. To do this, current executive leaders and next-in-line leaders at LORT theaters will be surveyed and interviewed. In addition, the study will expand upon the work of the original study by including discussions with senior staff members, trustees, search committee members, and executive search consultants. In order to fully assess the systemic barriers encountered by people seeking leadership positions in the American theater, all parties involved in the hiring process must be fully assessed, particularly the handful of executive search firms that hold disproportionate influence on the executive search process for a majority of LORT’s member theaters.
Desired Outcomes
The study aims to increase awareness of persisting racial and gender inequities for artistic and executive leaders and those that aspire to such positions. It will provide recommendations designed to guide changes in the development and selection of a robust and diverse slate of candidates for leadership positions at LORT theaters as well as other arts and cultural organizations.
2017 - 2019
Family communication about sex can reduce risky sexual behaviors, but most studies focus only on the teen-parent dyad.
2006 - 2009
Racial/ethnic self-identification can vary over time and place, in other words, some adolescents of mixed ancestry report different single-race or mixed-race identifications at different times and in different situations.This report seeks to explore whether adolescents of mixed-ancestryhave particularstrengths or weaknesses compared within their single-race-reporting peers.
2016 - 2017
This project was an in-depth qualitative investigation of teen/parent communication about sex and relationships, which provides an in-depth look at families participating in the evaluation of middle school education program. It included interviews with 32 teen/parent pairs who are participants in the Get Real middle school sex education program.
2013 - 2016
The goal of this study is to enhance rater accuracy of the Afterschool Program Practices Tool (APT).
2017 - 2018
Funded by William T. Grant Foundation in 2013-2015, the purpose of Afterschool Program Practices Tool (APT) II Study was to develop and test drive a multi-pronged online reliability training designed to improve rating accuracy for youth program observations.
2011 - 2011
To better understand how the at-risk population of Cambodian working mothers adjusts to life in the United States—and to perhaps find more ways to help ameliorate those risks — this project aimed to understand how this population traverses the challenges of working outside the home and maintaining their roles as family caretakers.
2011 - 2014
The aim of this three-year initiative is to expand the influence of the National SEED Project on Inclusive Curriculum (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity), to make its model of schooling inclusiveness for all children and families, including its innovative professional development practices, more widely known and available to educators in the United States.
2011 - 2014
This project was a multi-faceted engagement with Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts to conduct an evaluation of the Get Real middle school sexual education curriculum.
2009 - 2010
This research project addressed a critical issue by examining the overlap of bullying perpetration/victimization and sexual violence in order to inform sexual violence prevention in US schools.
2017 - 2018
This project focused on how young adolescents use social media and the related health effects.
2011 - 2012
The goal of this collaborative project was to invite public discourse about overcoming barriers to educational equity for girls of color in order to affect educational policy and practice. The specific goal of the project was to create a multi-media strategy in two phases in order to stimulate conversation amongst multiple constituencies.
2019 - 2021
This study was the first in-depth, longitudinal examination of teen-parent sexuality communication over three periods of adolescent developmental.
2010 - 2011
This study investigated the effective practices and support offered in an arts-based afterschool programs to reduce the dropout rate among high school students.
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