Using smartphones to spot mood changes and future depression risk in teens
Official title: Harnessing smartphones for real-time detection of affective disturbance and future depression risk in adolescents
Funded at Mclean Hospital · NIH-11269159 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project uses teens' smartphones to track daily behavior and mood-linked signals so teens at risk for depression can be noticed earlier.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Mclean Hospital NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Belmont, United States) |
| Project start | February 1, 2025 |
| Project end | November 30, 2029 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $669,159 |
| NIH project number | 5R01MH135844-02 |
| Project ID | NIH-11269159 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are adolescents (roughly middle- to late-teen ages) who own a smartphone and are willing to share passive phone data and brief mood reports over time.
✕Less likely to help
Teens who do not own or use a smartphone, cannot share phone data, or who need immediate intensive psychiatric care may not benefit from this research approach.
What this research studies
You'll install an app that passively collects phone data like activity, location, sleep patterns, phone use, and social interaction proxies while also reporting brief mood ratings. Researchers will combine these continuous sensor streams with self-reported mood to detect moments of high negative affect and build models that predict future risk of major depression. The work focuses on adolescents and follows them over time to capture real-life mood changes as they happen. Data collection is continuous and unobtrusive, aiming to identify patterns that could signal worsening mental health before clinical symptoms fully emerge.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this approach could help spot acute mood problems sooner and give teens, families, or clinicians a chance to act before depression develops or worsens.
How similar studies have gone: Prior digital-phenotyping studies have shown promise for detecting mood changes from phone data, but predicting future depression onset in adolescents remains relatively new and is still being tested.
Where this research is happening
-
Mclean Hospital
Belmont, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Webb, Christian Anthony — Mclean Hospital
- Study coordinator: Webb, Christian Anthony
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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.