SCAMP Wave 2

Mental illness commonly emerges during adolescence, but the reasons for this are not well understood. Adolescence is a period of great change in family, school, and peer relationships, use of mobile phones/social media (i.e. digital technology use), cognition (i.e. how people think, make decisions and process information), puberty hormones, and physical activity. Previous research has shown links between overuse of digital technology and poor mental health. However, this link could be explained by various factors, such as cognition, puberty hormones, how much physical activity people do, or obesity. There is currently little scientific evidence on which factors are responsible and how they might all interact with one another. It is likely that mental health varies according to an individual's genes, gender, wealth, social class and ethnicity, and it is important to understand this variation to identify groups in the population who may be more susceptible to the negative impacts of digital technology use. The Study of Cognition, Adolescents and Mobile Phones (SCAMP) is the largest long-term study of digital technology use and cognition in adolescence. It is currently the only study that can answer detailed research questions about how digital technology used by adolescents in today's digital era may affect their mental health as they move into adulthood. We previously collected data from ~6,600 SCAMP study participants ages 11-15 about how they use digital devices, their cognition, physical and mental health, and lifestyle (e.g. smoking and diet), together with urine and saliva samples (to measure e.g. puberty hormone levels), and physical measurements e.g. height and weight. Here, we plan to collect data, samples (urine and saliva), and physical measurements from SCAMP participants at ages 17/18 at a face-to-face session, and we will ask SCAMP participants to download an app so that we can continue to collect data remotely for 3-4 years, including after participants have left school. We will ask participants to wear a fitness tracker wristband for up to 2 months so that we can collect accurate data on physical activity. We will also link to participants' routinely collected health and educational records if they permit this. The proposed waves of data collection will allow continued and more in-depth assessment of participants' mental health, cognition, digital technology use, lifestyle, and physical health during the time period when they move from adolescence into adulthood. We will analyse genetics from biological samples provided by participants to obtain data on genetic variation. We will use these data to investigate research questions such as: 1) is the relationship between overuse of digital technology and poor mental health explained by lack of physical activity, or obesity?; 2) does cognitive development and puberty during adolescence explain relationships between digital technology use and mental health?; and 3) are some people more susceptible to the impacts of digital technology use on mental health than others, due to their genes? This research will address current gaps in scientific knowledge about links between digital technology use and mental health. It may allow us to identify specific aspects of digital technology use that increase an individual's risk of poor mental health, or specific aspects of lifestyle that are "protective" and boost mental wellbeing. Our proposal has high policy relevance, both nationally and internationally, at government and education levels for action to prevent mental illness in early life. Supported by co-design from stakeholders, we aim to ensure that our research findings inform the development of future evidence-based policies and interventions for mental health to enhance quality of life for young people and provide long-term economic benefits to society.