Research & Publications

Preprints

Joseph B. Bak-Coleman*, Stephan Lewandowsky, Philipp Lorenz-Spreen , Arvind Narayanan, Amy Orben, Lisa Oswald. (2025) Moving towards informative and actionable social media research. arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2505.09254

Davidson, B.C., Turner, G., Tomova, L., Palminteri, S., Eichstaedt, J.C., Salecha, A., Subrahmanya, S., Gunschera, L. J.*, & Orben, A.* (2025). Prolonged Social Isolation is Associated with Increased Behavioural Sensitivity to ‘Likes’ on Social Media. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/65tdz_v1.

Ferguson, A., Richards, M., Gunschera, L.J., Quennerstedt, M., Mutak, A., Modecki, K., Goldberg, R., & Orben, A. Digital Parenting in the 21st Century: Development and Validation of a New Digital Parenting Scale. SSRN. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5346687

Gunschera, L.J., Achterberg, M., Speyer, L.G., Wise, T., Orben, A. Cognitive phenotypes of risk and resilience for the relationship between social media and mental health. (2025). PsyArXiv. https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/bgqyj_v1.

Skeggs, A., Mehta, A., Katiyar, T., Yap, V., Burn, A.M., Slovak, P.*, Orben, A*. Youth Perspectives on Social Media Harms: A Large-Scale Micro-Narrative Study. (2025). PsyArXiv. https://osf.io/m38u6_v2/

Turner, G., Gunschera, L. J., Subrahmanya, S., Salecha, A., Eichstaedt, J. C., Palminteri, S.*, & Orben, A.* (2024). A computational model of reward learning and habits on social media. https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/xe25k

Publications

2025

Dienlin, T.*, Smahel, D, Orben, A. (2025) Global Analysis of Perceived Social Media Effects on Well-Being. Cyberpsychology Behavior and Social Networking,2025 Aug;28(8):588-593. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/21522715251359204

Barreda Ángeles, M*., Amendola, S., Da Silva, C., Somià, T., Boucher, P., Schade, S., Meier, A., Mansfield, K., Gunschera, L., Orben, A., Turner, G., Griffiths, M.D., Hartmann, T., Freeman, G., Gui, X., Kou, Y., Baumgartner, S., Vuorre, M., Ohme, J., Hine, E., López Richart, J. and Belmoussi, O. (2025) Virtual Worlds and Well-being: Current Research and Future Directions. JRC Publications Repository. https://dx.doi.org/10.2760/7811534

Albajara Sáenz, A.*, Kurten, S., Saxton, J., Kardefelt‐Winther, D., Ford, T., Orben, A., & White, S. R. (2025) Mental health measures among adolescents in 12 low-and-middle-income countries: Measurement invariance and cross-sectional analyses of Disrupting Harm survey data. JCPP Advances. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcv2.70087

Goodyear, V.A., James, C., ORBEN, A., Quennerstedt, M., Schwartz, G., pALLAN, m. (2025) Approaches to children’s smartphone and social media use must go beyond bans. thebmj. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2024-082569

Fassi, L., Ferguson, A.M., Przybylski, A.K., Ford, T.J., Orben, A. (2025). Social media use in adolescents with and without mental health conditions. Nature Human Behaviour. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02134-4.

Katiyar, T., Hunt, A., Orben, A., Chaudhary, N., Jaeggi, A. (2025). Digital Technologies & Evolutionary Mismatch: Harming, but Also Healing Mental Health. Psychological Review. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.122049

Kurten, S., Ghai, S., Odgers, C., Kievit, R., & Orben, A. (2025). Deprivation’s role in adolescent social media use and its links to life satisfaction. Computers in Human Behaviour. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2024.108541

Orben, A., Matias, N.J. (2025). Fixing the science of digital technology harms. Science. DOI: 10.1126/science.adt6807

Orben, A. (2025). The fight to keep big tech in check: digital researchers are in a ‘David and Goliath’ battle. Nature. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01141-9

Purba, A. K., Katikireddi, S. V., McKee, M., & Orben, A. (2025). Addressing youth violence on social media: time to prioritise digital sanitation. Archives of Disease in Childhood. https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2025-329117

Skeggs, A., & Orben, A. (2025). Social media interventions to improve well-being. Nature Human Behaviour. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02167-9

Skeggs, A., Mehta, A., Yap, V., Ibrahim, S.B., Rhodes, C., Gross, J.J., Munson, S.A., Klasnja, P., Orben, A.* & Slovak, P.* (2025). Micro-narratives: A Scalable Method for Eliciting Stories of People’s Lived Experience. CHI '25: Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.371399

Turner, G., Ferguson, A. M., Katiyar, T., Palminteri, S., & Orben, A. (2025). Old strategies, new environments: Reinforcement Learning on social media. Biological Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2024.12.012.

Yap, V., Skeggs, A., Ferguson, A., Leyland-Craggs, A., Boeschoten, L., Welbers, K., Kurten, S., & Orben, A. (2025). Digital data donation with adolescents. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.70140

2024

Fassi, L., Thomas, K., Parry, D. A., Leyland-Craggs, A., Ford, T., & Orben, A. (2024). Social media use and internalising symptoms in clinical and community adolescent samples: A systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Paediatrics. 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2024.2078

Ferguson, A., Turner, G., & Orben, A. (2024). Social uncertainty in the digital world. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2024.02.005

Orben, A., Meier, A., Dalgleish, T., & Blakemore, S. J. (2024). Mechanisms linking social media use to adolescent mental health vulnerability. Nature Reviews Psychology, 1-17. https://www.nature.com/articles/s44159-024-00307-y

Miller, J., Mills, K. L., Vuorre, M., Orben, A., & Przybylski, A. K. (2024). Impact of digital screen media activity on functional brain organization in late childhood: evidence from the ABCD study. Cortex, 169, 290-308. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2023.09.009

2023

David, C., De Gelder, B., Caldarelli, G., de Rosnay, M.D., Casilli, A.A., Delanoë, A., Fassi, L., Frau-Meigs, D., Jouve, B., Nowak, A., Rodríguez-Doncel, V., […] Orben, A., […] , 2023. Toward a Research Agenda on Digital Media and Humanity Well-Being. CNRS. https://hal.science/hal-04091733/

Piera Pi‐Sunyer, B., Andrews, J. L., Orben, A., Speyer, L. G., & Blakemore, S. J. (2023). The relationship between perceived income inequality, adverse mental health and interpersonal difficulties in UK adolescents. Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, 64(3), 417-425. https://acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jcpp.13719

Orben, A., & Blakemore, S. J. (2023). How social media affects teen mental health: A missing link. Nature, 614(7948), 410-412. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-00402-9

Lamberton, C., Wein, T., & Ghai, S. (2023). From What to How: Dignity, Human Rights, and the Sustainable Development Goals. Human Rights, and the Sustainable Development Goals. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4380622

Ghai, S., de-Wit, L., & Mak, Y. (2023). How we investigated the diversity of our undergraduate curriculum. Nature. https://europepmc.org/article/med/36859679

Livingstone, S., Orben, A., & Odgers, C. (2023). Debate: Should academics collaborate with digital companies to improve young people's mental health?. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 28(1), 150-152. https://acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/camh.12630

McCrosky, J. D., Parry, D. A., Sewall, C. J., & Orben, A. (2023). Using Browser Data to Understand Desires to Spend Time Online. https://assets.pubpub.org/rfdjthbg/51678401203465.pdf

2022

Ghai, S., Magis-Weinberg, L., Stoilova, M., Livingstone, S., & Orben, A. (2022). Social media and adolescent well-being in the Global South. Current Opinion in Psychology, 101318. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352250X22000288

Ghai, S. (2022). The diversity–innovation paradox. Nature Reviews Psychology, 1(2), 66-66. https://www.nature.com/articles/s44159-021-00009-9

Ghai, S. (2022). Expand diversity definitions beyond their Western perspective. Nature, 602(7896), 211-211. https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v602y2022i7896d10.1038_d41586-022-00330-0.html

Kievit, R. A., McCormick, E. M., Fuhrmann, D., Deserno, M. K., & Orben, A. (2022). Using large, publicly available data sets to study adolescent development: opportunities and challenges. Current Opinion in Psychology, 44, 303-308. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352250X21001950

Metherell, T. E., Ghai, S., McCormick, E. M., Ford, T. J., & Orben, A. (2022). Digital access constraints predict worse mental health among adolescents during COVID-19. Scientific Reports, 12(1), 19088. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-23899-y

Minihan, S., Orben, A., Songco, A., Fox, E., Ladouceur, C. D., Mewton, L., ... & Schweizer, S. (2022). Social determinants of mental health during a year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Development and Psychopathology, 1-13. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/development-and-psychopathology/article/social-determinants-of-mental-health-during-a-year-of-the-covid19-pandemic/4489DFD61F88A0400D21DAA6CDA40085

Modecki, K. L., Goldberg, R. E., Wisniewski, P., & Orben, A. (2022). What is digital parenting? A systematic review of past measurement and blueprint for the future. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 17(6), 1673-1691. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/17456916211072458

Orben, A., Lucas, R. E., Fuhrmann, D., & Kievit, R. A. (2022). Trajectories of adolescent life satisfaction. Royal Society open science, 9(8), 211808. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsos.211808

Orben, A., Przybylski, A. K., Blakemore, S. J., & Kievit, R. A. (2022). Windows of developmental sensitivity to social media. Nature Communications, 13(1), 1649. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-29296-3

Orben, A. (2022). Digital diet: A 21st century approach to understanding digital technologies and development. Infant and Child Development, 31(1), e2228. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/icd.2228

2021

Ghai, S., Fassi, L., Awadh, F., & Orben, A. (2021). Lack of sample diversity in research on adolescent depression and social media use: a scoping review and meta-analysis. Clinical Psychological Science. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/21677026221114859

Ghai, S. (2021). Getting personal. Science, 374(6565), 366-366. https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.acx9301

Ghai, S. (2021). It’s time to reimagine sample diversity and retire the WEIRD dichotomy. Nature Human Behaviour, 5(8), 971-972. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-021-01175-9

Vuorre, M., Orben, A., & Przybylski, A. K. (2021). There is no evidence that associations between adolescents’ digital technology engagement and mental health problems have increased. Clinical Psychological Science, 9(5), 823-835. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2167702621994549

2020

Kaye, L., Orben, A., Ellis, D., C. Hunter, S., & Houghton, S. (2020). The conceptual and methodological mayhem of “screen time”. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(10), 3661. https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/10/3661

Orben, A., Tomova, L., & Blakemore, S. J. (2020). The effects of social deprivation on adolescent development and mental health. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, 4(8), 634-640. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352464220301863

Orben, A., Weinstein, N., & Przybylski, A. K. (2020). Only holistic and iterative change will fix digital technology research. Psychological Inquiry, 31(3), 235-241. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1047840X.2020.1820221

Orben, A. (2020). The Sisyphean cycle of technology panics. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 15(5), 1143-1157. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1745691620919372

Orben, A., & Przybylski, A. K. (2020). Reply to: Underestimating digital media harm. Nature Human Behaviour, 4(4), 349-351. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-020-0840-y

Orben, A. (2020). Teenagers, screens and social media: a narrative review of reviews and key studies. Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 55(4), 407-414. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00127-019-01825-4?wt_mc=Internal.Event.1.SEM.ArticleAuthorOnlineFirst&utm_source=ArticleAuthorOnlineFirst&utm_medium=email&utm_content=AA_en_06082018&ArticleAuthorOnlineFirst_20200111?utm_source=modulosPL&utm_medium=linkinterno&utm_campaign=ux

Orben, A., & Przybylski, A. K. (2020). Teenage sleep and technology engagement across the week. PeerJ, 8, e8427. https://peerj.com/articles/8427/

Orben, A., & Lakens, D. (2020). Crud (re) defined. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 3(2), 238-247. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2515245920917961

Przybylski, A. K., Orben, A., & Weinstein, N. (2020). How much is too much? Examining the relationship between digital screen engagement and psychosocial functioning in a confirmatory cohort study. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 59(9), 1080-1088. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890856719314376

2019

Orben, A. (2019). A journal club to fix science. Nature, 573(7775), 465-466. https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA600698972&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=00280836&p=HRCA&sw=w

Orben, A., Dienlin, T., & Przybylski, A. K. (2019). Reply to Foster and Jackson: Open scientific practices are the way forward for social media effects research. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(31), 15334-15335. https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.1909553116

Orben, A., Dienlin, T., & Przybylski, A. K. (2019). Social media’s enduring effect on adolescent life satisfaction. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(21), 10226-10228. https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.1902058116

Orben, A., & Przybylski, A. K. (2019). The association between adolescent well-being and digital technology use. Nature human behaviour, 3(2), 173-182. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562%20018%200506%201

Orben, A., & Przybylski, A. K. (2019). Screens, teens, and psychological well-being: Evidence from three time-use-diary studies. Psychological science, 30(5), 682-696. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0956797619830329

2018

Orben, A., Mutak, A., Dablander, F., Hecht, M., Krawiec, J. M., Valkovičová, N., & Kosīte, D. (2018). From face-to-face to Facebook: Probing the effects of passive consumption on interpersonal attraction. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1163. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01163/full

2017

Orben, A. C., & Dunbar, R. I. (2017). Social media and relationship development: The effect of valence and intimacy of posts. Computers in Human Behavior, 73, 489-498. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0747563217302364