Man up! Open up? Teenage boys’ interpretations of social media content about mental health

Research problemStudies indicate that boys who suffer from mental health problems are less likely to seek help from traditional caregivers and more likely to turn to social media. However, research on social media and young people’s mental health has mainly focused on girls.

The research project aims to increase knowledge about the mental health-related messages teenage boys encounter in the content published by social media influencers, and how boys interpret them.

It addresses two research questions: what discourses on mental health, well-being and masculine subjectivities can be traced in the content shared by influencers who teenage boys follow? How do teenage boys interpret influencers’ opinions or advice on mental health?

The project will fill the existing knowledge gap about how representations of mental health are created and interpreted in relation to different ideals of masculinity, and what role social media plays in boys´ understanding of mental illness.Data and methodData is collected in a multistage process, including a survey in which teenage boys are invited to name relevant influencers, the selection of videos published by those influencers for a thematic analysis, and thematic analysis of interviews with teenage boys that was based on video sequences relevant to mental health (video elicitation).

The project has an original design that contributes to filling the knowledge gap by combining analyses of online social media content with analyses of how such content is interpreted and consumed.Societal relevance and utilisationPrevailing norms of masculinity have proven to stigmatise boys’ mental health problems and many boys avoid talking about their experiences and seeking help.

At the same time, studies have shown that boys are overrepresented among young people committing suicide.

The project contributes to making visible the representations of mental health that boys encounter in social media as well as how boys understand these representations.

This knowledge is valuable for the development of support initiatives aimed at boys.Project realisationThe research project will be placed at Child Studies at the Department of Thematic Studies, Linköping University in collaboration with the School Health Services in Linköping. Boys who give informed consent will be recruited at two upper secondary schools.

The application concerns funding for wages, IT, premises costs for two researchers, conference participation and transcription of interviews.