Cristello Julie V, Strowger Megan, Moreno Megan A, Trucco Elisa M
Department of Psychology, Florida International University.
Center for Children and Families, Florida International University.
Transl Issues Psychol Sci. 2024 Jun;10(2):123-134. doi: 10.1037/tps0000408.
Engagement on social media among adolescents and young adults (AYAs) is almost universal. AYAs use social media for socialization, connection, and expression, as well as to obtain news and information. Adolescence and young adulthood also represent developmental periods characterized by the emergence of risk behaviors and many forms of psychopathology. Given that risk behaviors and mental health depictions are often displayed and observed online, social media platforms have become an optimal research tool to examine AYA behaviors that may not be visible offline. Social media platforms have the potential to increase recruitment and retention, especially among hard-to-reach, and understudied youth, and to connect AYA with resources for risk behaviors and mental health in a more naturalistic setting. Despite these advantages, the limited consensus on social media ethics across institutions and internal review boards, and the rapidly evolving features on each platform has made it difficult to develop study protocols, navigate and adapt to platform changes, and predict ethical issues that may arise in the context of research. Thus, the purpose of this manuscript is to discuss ethical considerations specific to AYA in social media research. Two research approaches, self-report and observational, are discussed with a focus on informed consent, privacy, and confidentiality. The goal of this manuscript is to highlight the nuances associated with social media research, and the implications for the promotion of ethical practices when adopting social media as a research tool to improve our understanding of AYA behavior.
青少年和青年成年人（AYAs）在社交媒体上的参与几乎十分普遍。AYAs 使用社交媒体进行社交、建立联系、表达自我，以及获取新闻和信息。青少年期和青年期也是以出现风险行为和多种形式的精神病理学为特征的发育阶段。鉴于风险行为和心理健康描述常常在网上展示和被观察到，社交媒体平台已成为研究那些可能在离线状态下不可见的 AYA 行为的理想研究工具。社交媒体平台有潜力提高招募率和留存率，尤其是在难以接触和研究不足的青年群体中，并且能在更自然的环境中将 AYAs 与风险行为及心理健康方面的资源联系起来。尽管有这些优势，但各机构和内部审查委员会在社交媒体伦理方面缺乏共识，且每个平台的功能迅速演变，这使得制定研究方案、应对和适应平台变化以及预测研究背景下可能出现的伦理问题变得困难。因此，本手稿的目的是讨论社交媒体研究中特定于 AYAs 的伦理考量。文中讨论了两种研究方法，即自我报告法和观察法，重点关注知情同意、隐私和保密问题。本手稿的目标是突出与社交媒体研究相关的细微差别，以及在将社交媒体用作研究工具以增进我们对 AYA 行为的理解时，对促进道德实践的影响。
