New third-party funded project COSDIMH

Domahidi, Emese, Ilmenau University of Technology

Koch, Tobias, Friedrich Schiller University Jena

Despite increasing academic attention to the relationship between mental health (MH) and ubiquitous digital media use (DMU), there are notable methodological challenges in this area. These include a lack of systematic comparisons of surveys using traditional self-report questionnaires and objective digital data sources, an insufficient understanding of the temporal dynamics between DMU and MH, and a lack of experimental findings to clarify the causal relationship between the two variables.

In the proposed interdisciplinary project COSDIMH, we will focus on the combination of different DMU and MH measures in survey data and digital tracking data. We compare measures within and between survey and digital tracking data to analyze their validity and reliability. We investigate the short-term dynamic relationships between DMU and MH measures by combining different measures from multiple surveys and digital tracking data. Finally, we analyze the causality of the relationship between DMU and MH in an experimental setting and implement personalized interventions. We identify innovative procedures, methods and potential pitfalls for such combinatorial research approaches.

The project is part of the priority program "New Data Spaces for the Social Sciences" (SPP 2431).