Recruiting

Observational Study

Sponsor:

University of Pittsburgh

Code:

NCT06817993

Conditions

Depression

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 13 - 17

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

Rejection and Acceptance Feedback

Study Details

Brief summary:

There has been much interest in the potential role of social media (SM) use in driving a current mental health crisis among teens, with a dire need for evidence that goes beyond self-report. One important avenue is to understand the role of the brain in driving the effects of SM use on emotional health and vice versa. However, there is almost no research addressing these questions, largely due to a lack of tasks that can probe the neural correlates of modern SM use. The goal of this clinical trial is to develop and validate a new developmentally-appropriate and ecologically-valid functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and eyetracking task, the TeenBrainOnline (TBO) Task, that is more realistic and similar to modern SM platforms. Participants will be 50 teens (ages 13-17) with depressive symptoms who will complete the final version of TBO task during fMRI with eye-tracking, an older Chatroom Interact (CHAT-I) Task, daily surveys of SM use, and measures of depressive symptoms. Our goal is to show that the task works by:

  • Demonstrating that it activates expected regions of the brain and visual attention biases toward feedback cues.
  • Showing that brain and eyetracking (visual attention) activity on the task explain variability in depressive symptoms at baseline and three months later, and work better than similar indices from an older task.
  • Showing that brain and eyetracking (visual attention) activity on the task are associated with real-world measures of social media use collected during daily surveys. Specifically, The investigators expect that teens whose brain and eyetracking activity suggests they are more sensitive to feedback on SM will report a social evaluation orientation toward social media use in daily life, such as engaging a lot in social comparison, worrying about missing out, and caring about getting a lot of likes and comments.

Participants will be asked to:

  • complete a 10-15 minute screening call to determine eligibility for the study
  • complete one 90 minute virtual study visit to complete questionnaires and prepare for the MRI visit (visit 1)
  • submit 24 photos to our study specific social media site
  • complete an (in person) MRI scan visit (\~4 hours), which consists of 2 tasks where they will interact with peers (visit 2)
  • complete \~5 minute smartphone surveys 3 times a day for 16 days, asking about their daily experiences online and emotional reactions.
  • complete 2 online questionnaires asynchronously 3 months after their scan date

Conditions

Depression

Study ID

NCT06817993

Start date

Mar 21, 2025

Status verified date

May, 2026

Completion date

Mar 30, 2027

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Mar 30, 2027

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 13 - 17

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Between ages 13-17
  • Depression screening scores on the MFQ-C in the mild (MFQ = 12-25; N = 20) or moderate-to-severe range (MFQ ≥25; N=30)
  • Possess their own smartphone to complete web-based ecological momentary assessments (EMA) using WebDataExpress.
  • use social media apps (e.g. Instagram, twitter, reddit, discord, YouTube, etc.) at least 3 times a week, on average, per teen report

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Presence of a serious neurological or medical condition, by parent report
  • Unable to read or speak English or cognitive impairment preventing ability to complete assessments.
  • Hearing impairment preventing ability to hear and understand instructions conveyed via headphones in the MRI scanner
  • Possible pregnancy, as determined by participant report
  • Presence of probable substance use disorder, as determined by participant report
  • Presence of MRI contraindications (e.g., dental braces, history of metallic foreign objects in body such as aneurysm clips or other devices or questionable history of metallic fragments, claustrophobia, or a weight of above 300 lbs)
  • Taking medications that affect the central nervous system other than antidepressants (stable dose allowed due to high rates of use among teens with depressive symptoms) or stimulants if required 36 hours before the scan.
  • Completion of Chatroom Interact Task or TBO Task in prior studies
  • Screening positive on the Autism Spectrum Screening Questionnaire, or screening positive on the Youth Inventory-4/ for a potential psychotic disorder or substance use disorder.

Study Design

Enrollment

60 participants

Anticipated

Intervention Model

Single group

Primary purpose

Basic Science

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Adolescents aged 13-17 with at least mild symptoms of depression

Adolescents in Phase 2 will be screened for depressive symptoms using the MFQ-c. 20 teens will have MFQ-c scores within the mild range (MFQ = 12-25). The sample will be stratified, with 30 teens who will have moderate to severe depressive symptoms as assessed by the MFQ-C. (MFQ ≥25; N=30)

Interventions

Rejection and Acceptance Feedback

Participants will be administered cues of peer acceptance and rejection from virtual peers during an fMRI task. In the CHAT-I task, they will be chosen or not chosen to discuss various topics with a virtual peer. In the TBO Task, they will receive a high or low number of likes relative to the other photos displayed of peers. They will also view comments on their posts from peers, which may have positive, negative, or neutral content.

Primary outcome measure

  • Average Affective Salience Network Activation to Social Reward and Threat stimuli [ Time Frame: During the MRI Scan/intervention (occurring once ~4 weeks into the study) ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Jennifer S Silk, Ph.D

412-624-4428jss4@pitt.edu

Sarah E Nelson, B.S.

443-933-0785SEN102@pitt.edu

Locations

University of Pittsburgh

Recruiting

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, 15213

Contacts

Jennifer S Silk, Ph.D

412-624-4428jss4@pitt.edu

Sarah E Nelson, B.S.

443-933-0785SEN102@pitt.edu

More Information

Sponsor

University of Pittsburgh

Last update posted

May 6, 2026

Last verified

May, 2026

Keywords

  • Depression
  • Adolescent
  • Teen
  • Social Media
  • Social Acceptance
  • Social Rejection
  • fMRI
  • Neuroimaging

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-10-24. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by University of Pittsburgh on 2026-05-06. Recruitment status is synced daily from ClinicalTrials.gov and may not reflect the sponsor's current status. Confirm during your call.