Dove Medical Press is pleased to invite you to submit your research to the upcoming Article Collection “Social media and mental health: exploring their complex relationships” organised by Guest Advisors Professor Tore Bonsaksen and Dr Annette Løvheim Kleppang in Psychology Research and Behavior Management.
Social media have become a permeating feature of modern life. Billions of individuals use them, to a greater or lesser extent, for a multitude of reasons, in a variety ways, and with a range of foreseen and unforeseen consequences. For example, social media may be experienced as positive and liberating, as when they facilitate connection and shared interests. However, they may also serve as platforms for bullying and harassment, with detrimental effects on the mental health of those affected. Some find it difficult to log off in fear of missing out on something. Others, including healthcare services and -professionals, use social media to attract attention to and provide guidance on mental health-related issues. For many reasons, social media is a relevant factor to assess in relationship to mental health.
Advancing the research in this field will increase our understanding of – and instigate public debate about – the many and complex relationships between social media use and mental health. The knowledge provided may guide public and healthcare policies and therapeutic approaches, as well as the directions for further research. Ultimately, it may assist individuals in making sound choices concerning their use of social media.
For this Article Collection, we invite authors to submit articles that will expand the knowledge in this rapidly emerging field. Original research articles and reviews are particularly encouraged, while case reports, expert opinions and commentaries will be considered. We seek contributions that advance the state of knowledge on topics such as, but not limited to:
• Mental health-related precursors and consequences of social media use
• Mental health-related outcomes of social media policies and interventions
• Mediators and moderators of associations between social media use and mental health
• The role of social media and social media literacy in mental health services
• Mental health opportunities related to social media
• Social media in relation to self-efficacy, social support and loneliness
• Social media use and sleep
• Motivations for social media use
• Social media addiction and therapeutic approaches
• Behavior change related to social media use
• Self-presentation on social media
• Bullying and harassment on social media
• Social media scale development and testing
All manuscripts submitted to this Article Collection will undergo a full peer-review; the Guest Advisors for this collection will not be handling the manuscripts (unless they are an Editorial Board member). Please review the journal scope and author submission instructions prior to submitting a manuscript.
The deadline for submitting manuscripts is 1st March 2024.
Please submit your manuscript on our website, quoting the promo code COUDI to indicate that your submission is for consideration in this Article Collection.
If you have any questions, please contact the Commissioning Editor Alice at [email protected].
Tore Bonsaksen is based in Norway where he is currently Professor in mental health. He began researching social media use in relationship to mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic, a time when social interaction was often heavily based on social media. In particular, his research in this field has been based on quantitative surveys in general population samples and adolescent samples.
Annette Løvheim Kleppang is based in Norway where she is currently working as a postdoctoral researcher on the topic of lifestyle habits and mental health. The research she has conducted in the field of social media and mental health has been based on quantitative surveys in general population among young people.
