Social Threat, Adolescent Relationships, and Suicidality Study

Summary

In recent years, adolescents are having higher rates of emotional health problems, such as suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs). The goal of this study is to learn about how teens' attention to different types of information relates to their real-world relationships and their emotional health. The investigators hope this study will help understand why some teens go on to have suicidal thoughts and behaviors and other teens do not. This information will help investigators learn how to improve emotional health in teens and reduce teen suicides.

Participants will be 100 female adolescents (ages 12-17) at high risk for STBs who will complete a series of assessments over the course of 6 months. Assessments include a baseline clinical interview, a visit to examine neural responses during a computer tasks, daily smartphone surveys about social experiences and social connectedness, and follow up questionnaires assessing STBs. Participants will also be asked to donate their text messages during the month that they complete smartphone surveys.

The research procedures will help investigators learn how adolescents react to different types of social situations. Investigators want to see if these reactions affect:

1. How connected adolescents feel to others in their daily lives
2. Adolescents' longer-term risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs)

Participants will be asked to:

* Complete a 10-15 minute screening call to determine eligibility for the study
* Complete one 3 hour virtual (or in-person) interview consisting of a clinical assessment and questionnaires.
* Complete a 2.5-hour in person visit to complete computer tasks while record brain signals are recorded
* Complete \~5 minute smartphone surveys three times a day for 30 days, asking about their daily social experiences and their mood and feelings.
* Provide investigators with retrospective access to their text/direct messages from the month the participant was completing the smartphone surveys.
* Complete online follow-up questionnaires at 3 and 6 months

Conditions

• Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors
• Social Connectedness
• Responses to Social Threat

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Social threat

EEG Visit: Participants will be presented with pictures of female actors with emotional expressions. They will be asked to remember the identities of actors displaying happy, sad, angry, and neutral expressions and tested on their memory. This task examines participants' internal attention to facial cues of emotion while asking them to remember the identities of actors displaying emotional expressions. EMA Over 30 days, participants will be asked to be report on their social experiences and suicidal thoughts and behaviors three times a day.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

  collaborator NIH

• University of Pittsburgh

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Kiera M James, PhD · University of Pittsburgh

Study Design

Allocation

NA

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

NONE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age

12 Years

Max Age

17 Years

Sex

FEMALE

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2026-01-19

Primary Completion

2030-06-30

Completion

2030-08-30

Countries

• United States

Study Locations