How puberty and rejection sensitivity affect preteen girls' mental health on social media
Official title: Rejection Sensitivity and Puberty in Mental Health Vulnerability to Social Media Experiences in Early Adolescent Girls
Funded at Washington University · NIH-11182604 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project follows 250 girls ages 10–11 over three years to see how puberty, hormones, and sensitivity to rejection relate to their social media experiences and mental health.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Washington University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Saint Louis, United States) |
| Project start | September 4, 2024 |
| Project end | June 30, 2029 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $1,029,312 |
| NIH project number | 5R01MH135480-02 |
| Project ID | NIH-11182604 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Girls who are about 10–11 years old at the start, willing to complete smartphone surveys and provide saliva samples, typically with parental consent, are ideal candidates.
✕Less likely to help
Boys, older teens or adults, and children who do not use social media or cannot complete repeated phone-based reporting are unlikely to benefit directly from this project.
What this research studies
If you join, you'll be asked to complete brief phone-based surveys many times a day for two-week periods, once each year, to report on real-time social media interactions and feelings. The study also collects annual questionnaires about mood, measures of rejection sensitivity, and saliva samples to track hormone changes across puberty. Researchers will follow the same girls from about ages 10–13 to understand how early puberty and being sensitive to rejection may make social media experiences more harmful or less harmful. The goal is to map when and for whom online interactions are linked to increases or decreases in depression and suicidal thoughts.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: This work could help parents, clinicians, and schools identify which girls are most at risk and when to offer support to prevent worsening depression and suicidal thoughts.
How similar studies have gone: Previous research links social media to worse mood in teens, but combining intense real-time reporting (microEMA) with hormone measures across early puberty is novel.
Where this research is happening
-
Washington University
Saint Louis, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Whalen, Diana J — Washington University
- Study coordinator: Whalen, Diana J
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.