HappyB2.0


The study

The HappyB2.0 is the natural continuation of the HappyB project in the US context, with cutting-edge methodologies. HappyB2.0 aims to establish to what extent in-person and online social interactions predict adolescents’ well-being, including happiness and loneliness, using objective indicators of both social media/smartphone use and well-being. The study includes an intensive data collection through a smartphone-based application (Avicenna), and the collection of hair cortisol levels as a digital biomarker of stress. In doing so, HappyB2.0 aims to set the ground for future research combing biological and digital information.

Subtitle:

The role of online/offline social relationships in adolescents’ happiness

Aim:

HappyB2.0 aims to investigate how online and offline social relationships predict adolescents’ happiness and loneliness. The study also tests a digital biomarker of stress.

Location:

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, USA

Participants:

About 360 adolescents

Design of the study:

Ecological Momentary Assessments, Trace data, Screenshots, Digital biomarker

Duration:

2 years (2024-2025)

Funding:

National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), USA

Co-Investigators:

Prof. K. “Vish” Viswanath, Harvard University

Prof. Nathaniel Osgood, University of Saskatchewan

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Project Info

How Avicenna works:

  • Ally Zhang

    xiao_zhang@hsph.harvard.edu

  • Eleanor Dong

    edong@edc.org

  • Jennifer Lewis

    jlewis@roxburytenants.org

  • Shari Kessel Schneider

    skschneider@edc.org

  • Geyi Wang

    geyiwang@hsph.harvard.edu

  • Brinleigh Murphy-Reuter

  • James Taylor Jr.

  • Lindsay Fleming

  • Rachel Havekost

  • Khalida Himes