Can TikTok Be Good for Teen Mental Health?
We’ve all heard a lot about the effects of social media on teen mental health. If you haven’t already, I did enjoy reading Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation.
However, given that TikTok is the most popular social media platform among youth ages 12-17, and over a quarter of TikTok users are 12-17 (and that’s just who actually endorse this age in their profile), researchers thought it worthwhile to better understand how teens are actually using TikTok for their mental health.
In fact, in comparison to other social media apps, more users of TikTok are BOTH creators and consumers of content. Consistently, most content on TikTok is created by and watched by teens.
Content is often “infotainment,” or a hybrid of information and entertainment, and this is the context in which many teens are getting their information about mental health.
How did they research TikTok and teen mental health?
The researchers looked up the top 100 videos associated with the hashtag #teenmentalhealth on TikTok
They then conducted a directed, qualitative content analysis on these videos
What did they find about TikTok and teen mental health?
The top 100 videos were watched over 144 million times in total and liked 28 million times. The average video was watched almost 1.5 million times and liked over 282,000 times.
Half of the videos were generated by teens, and less than half by therapists.
The most common categories were personal experience and coping techniques.
Evidence-based treatment approaches was only included in 1 video!
Conclusions
Teens and therapists can create content on TikTok to promote topics of teen mental health
TikTok has a massive capacity for reach, especially in marginalized communities, so theoretically it can help some teens feel less alone.
There was high engagement even with the therapist-generated content, suggesting there could be “TikTok therapists” that can reach teens despite the barriers and stigma to mental health treatment; however, it should be recalled that less than 1/5 of the videos were focused on coping techniques when it was generated by an “influencer.”
The authors suggest that clinicians and researchers should get involved in mental health outreach on TikTok, but note that their study has many limitations.
Lessons to Apply Today
Here are likely a few helpful takeaways for parents:
Recognize that despite reservations or rules, most teens are on some kind of social media, and often TikTok
Consider not just overall use, but what your teen is consuming or creating as content
Ask and open a dialogue about what they’re seeing and learning
Help teens have a critical perspective on using social media and what they consume
Remember that each child is unique! While we may be developing better apps (currently most aren’t evidence-based) and treatment manuals, each child, teen, and young adult is an individual. They want to feel seen and appreciated, and that what they interact with is personalized to them. Social media algorithms have nearly perfected this, but too often simply feed into pre-existing beliefs.
If you’re looking for personal services that will feel unique but also challenge and encourage your teen in a positive, healthy, and resilient way, please remember that real-life, in person or video-based services with approachable but expert professionals are available!
Reference:
Nancy Lau, Kavin Srinakarin, Homer Aalfs, Xin Zhao, Tonya M Palermo, TikTok and teen mental health: an analysis of user-generated content and engagement, Journal of Pediatric Psychology, Volume 50, Issue 1, January 2025, Pages 63–75, https://doi.org/10.1093/jpepsy/jsae039