Bidirectional Influences Between Adolescent Social Media Use and Mental Health (R01 Clinical Trial Optional) | RFA MH 23 115

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA MH 23 115

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding opportunity titled "Bidirectional Influences Between Adolescent Social Media Use and Mental Health (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)" (RFA-MH-23-115) supports research aimed at clarifying how adolescent social media use and mental health influence one another over time. The central idea is not simply whether social media is "good" or "bad," but how patterns of social media engagement may shape psychiatric symptoms and overall mental health, and how an adolescent's existing symptoms, vulnerabilities, or strengths may in turn drive the way they use social media. For this announcement, social media is defined broadly as internet-based communication platforms and applications that allow users to interact by sharing or consuming information, which can include a wide range of services and features (for example, posting, commenting, direct messaging, feeds, stories, livestreams, and other interactive functions).

The FOA is focused on adolescents, defined here as ages 10 through 20, reflecting a developmental window when access to phones and online platforms expands and young people gain more independence in how, when, and why they use digital tools. Projects funded under this opportunity are expected to strengthen the evidence base around risk and resilience for psychopathology in relation to social media, including psychiatric symptoms and mental health trajectories. A key emphasis is the bidirectional nature of effects: applicants should be thinking in terms of feedback loops (for example, whether anxiety or depression predicts certain kinds of online behaviors, and whether those behaviors then worsen, maintain, or sometimes alleviate symptoms depending on context, content, and individual differences).

This is an R01 grant mechanism, meaning it is designed for substantial, hypothesis-driven research projects that can support multi-year, well-powered studies. The "Clinical Trial Optional" designation means applications may include a clinical trial if appropriate, but there is an important limitation: the announcement explicitly states that no effectiveness or efficacy trials will be accepted. In practice, this steers applicants away from testing whether an intervention works (or works better than another) and toward studies that are observational, mechanistic, developmental, or otherwise explanatory in nature, or that involve experimental approaches that do not amount to an efficacy/effectiveness evaluation. The spirit of the FOA is to understand relationships and mechanisms rather than to validate interventions as treatments or preventive programs.

Eligible applicants are broad and include many types of U.S. and non-U.S. organizations. In addition to the common categories such as state, county, city, and special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; tribal organizations that are not federally recognized; public housing authorities; and a range of nonprofit organizations (both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3)), the FOA also allows for-profit organizations (other than small businesses) and small businesses to apply. The announcement also highlights additional eligible applicant types such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISISs), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), faith-based or community-based organizations, eligible federal agencies, regional organizations, non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities, and U.S. territories or possessions. This broad eligibility signals interest in diverse settings, populations, and research partnerships, including work that can better represent adolescents from different cultural, geographic, and socioeconomic contexts.

In terms of logistics, the opportunity falls under the NIH health research activity category and is associated with CFDA number 93.242. The original closing date listed for the FOA was March 24, 2023, and the record creation date is December 29, 2022. The provided source data does not specify an award ceiling or the expected number of awards, which often means applicants should consult the full FOA text and NIH budget guidance to understand typical R01 budget expectations and any institute-specific limits or recommendations.

Overall, this FOA is best understood as a call for rigorous adolescent mental health research that takes social media seriously as a dynamic, interactive environment and seeks to disentangle timing, directionality, and underlying processes. Competitive projects would be expected to move beyond simple screen-time totals and instead capture meaningful aspects of social media exposure and behavior (such as types of engagement, social context, content and interactions, and differences between passive consumption and active participation), while also using strong mental health measurement and designs capable of testing reciprocal effects across development.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Bidirectional Influences Between Adolescent Social Media Use and Mental Health (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.242.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2022-12-29.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2023-03-24. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

Apply for RFA MH 23 115

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