A/​Professor Justine Gatt is leading a project that focuses on observing the impact of Instagram usage on mental health and wellbeing in adolescents and young adults in Australia and the USA. Participants were compared at multiple time points over a 6‑month period in order to compare non-linear patterns over time. This project will determine the positive and negative impact of Instagram use on mental health and wellbeing over time, how it varies according to various factors such as age, gender and country of origin, as well as the factors that might modulate its impact such as usage patterns, life events and connectedness.

The investigators on this project include A/​Prof Justine Gatt as CIA and Dr Haeme Park as CIB (NeuRA and UNSW, Australia). Collaborative organisations involved in this project include the Qualtrics Research Team. This project was supported by an Instagram Wellbeing Research Grant.

This project is currently ongoing.

Publications

Data collection has been completed, with analyses still underway.