TikTalk: The effects of mental health content on TikTok users

Abstract

Over recent years, TikTok has undeniably become a highly popular social media platform, particularly among young adults (Feldkamp, 2021; McLachlan, 2023). Although numerous studies have been conducted on how social media might affect users' mental health (Milton, Ajmani, DeVito, & Chancellor, 2023; McCashin & Murphy, 2022; Zheluk, Anderson, & Dineen-Griffin, 2022; Kyparissiadis & Diamantaki, 2022; Miodus & Jimenez, 2021), there remains a sparse number of studies investigating how users perceive the effects of consuming mental health information on social media on their mental health awareness (Kyparissiadis & Diamantaki, 2022; McCashin & Murphy, 2022; Gallagher, 2022; Mandzufas, et al., 2023; Basch, Donelle, Fera, & Jaime, 2022; Zhu, Xu, Zhang, Chen, & Evans, 2019; Caron, 2022; Kong, Song, Zhao, Zhu, & Sha, 2021). The aim of this study is to investigate how users' perspectives and experiences concerning mental health are affected by their exposure to mental health content on TikTok. The selected research method for the current research study is the survey method, utilizing a purposive sampling strategy to select participants who are active TitTok users. The study aligns with the quantitative research paradigm and will test six hypotheses, suggesting potential effects or associations between TikTok use and various facets of mental health.