Cohort profile: The Social media, smartphone use and Self-harm in Young People (3S-YP) study-A prospective, observational cohort study of young people in contact with mental health services

TY - JOUR

T1 - Cohort profile

T2 - The Social media, smartphone use and Self-harm in Young People (3S-YP) study-A prospective, observational cohort study of young people in contact with mental health services

AU - Bye, Amanda

AU - Carter, Ben

AU - Leightley, Daniel

AU - Trevillion, Kylee

AU - Liakata, Maria

AU - Branthonne-Foster, Stella

AU - Cross, Samantha

AU - Zenasni, Zohra

AU - Carr, Ewan

AU - Williamson, Grace

AU - Viyuela, Alba Vega

AU - Dutta, Rina

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024 Bye et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

PY - 2024/5

Y1 - 2024/5

N2 - Objectives The Social media, Smartphone use and Self-Harm (3S-YP) study is a prospective observational cohort study to investigate the mechanisms underpinning associations between social media and smartphone use and self-harm in a clinical youth sample. We present here a comprehensive description of the cohort from baseline data and an overview of data available from baseline and follow-up assessments. Methods Young people aged 13-25 years were recruited from a mental health trust in England and followed up for 6 months. Self-report data was collected at baseline and monthly during follow- up and linked with electronic health records (EHR) and user-generated data. Findings A total of 362 young people enrolled and provided baseline questionnaire data. Most participants had a history of self-harm according to clinical (n = 295, 81.5%) and broader definitions (n = 296, 81.8%). At baseline, there were high levels of current moderate/severe anxiety (n = 244; 67.4%), depression (n = 255; 70.4%) and sleep disturbance (n = 171; 47.2%). Over half used social media and smartphones after midnight on weekdays (n = 197, 54.4%; n = 215, 59.4%) and weekends (n = 241, 66.6%; n = 263, 72.7%), and half met the cut-off for problematic smartphone use (n = 177; 48.9%). Of the cohort, we have questionnaire data at month 6 from 230 (63.5%), EHR data from 345 (95.3%), social media data from 110 (30.4%) and smartphone data from 48 (13.3%). Conclusion The 3S-YP study is the first prospective study with a clinical youth sample, for whom to investigate the impact of digital technology on youth mental health using novel data linkages. Baseline findings indicate self-harm, anxiety, depression, sleep disturbance and digital technology overuse are prevalent among clinical youth. Future analyses will explore associations between outcomes and exposures over time and compare self-report with user-generated data in this cohort.

AB - Objectives The Social media, Smartphone use and Self-Harm (3S-YP) study is a prospective observational cohort study to investigate the mechanisms underpinning associations between social media and smartphone use and self-harm in a clinical youth sample. We present here a comprehensive description of the cohort from baseline data and an overview of data available from baseline and follow-up assessments. Methods Young people aged 13-25 years were recruited from a mental health trust in England and followed up for 6 months. Self-report data was collected at baseline and monthly during follow- up and linked with electronic health records (EHR) and user-generated data. Findings A total of 362 young people enrolled and provided baseline questionnaire data. Most participants had a history of self-harm according to clinical (n = 295, 81.5%) and broader definitions (n = 296, 81.8%). At baseline, there were high levels of current moderate/severe anxiety (n = 244; 67.4%), depression (n = 255; 70.4%) and sleep disturbance (n = 171; 47.2%). Over half used social media and smartphones after midnight on weekdays (n = 197, 54.4%; n = 215, 59.4%) and weekends (n = 241, 66.6%; n = 263, 72.7%), and half met the cut-off for problematic smartphone use (n = 177; 48.9%). Of the cohort, we have questionnaire data at month 6 from 230 (63.5%), EHR data from 345 (95.3%), social media data from 110 (30.4%) and smartphone data from 48 (13.3%). Conclusion The 3S-YP study is the first prospective study with a clinical youth sample, for whom to investigate the impact of digital technology on youth mental health using novel data linkages. Baseline findings indicate self-harm, anxiety, depression, sleep disturbance and digital technology overuse are prevalent among clinical youth. Future analyses will explore associations between outcomes and exposures over time and compare self-report with user-generated data in this cohort.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85194015740&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0299059

DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0299059

M3 - Article

C2 - 38776261

AN - SCOPUS:85194015740

SN - 1932-6203

VL - 19

JO - PLoS ONE

JF - PLoS ONE

IS - 5 May

M1 - e0299059

ER -