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date: 20 January 2021

Abstract and Keywords

The relationship between computer-mediated communication (e.g., Internet or social media use) and mental health has been a long-standing issue of debate. Various disciplines (e.g., communication, psychology, sociology, medicine) investigate computer-mediated communication in relation to a great variety of negative (i.e., psychopathology) and positive (i.e., well-being) markers of mental health. We aim at charting this vast, highly fragmented, and fast growing literature by means of a scoping review. Using methods of computational content analysis in conjunction with qualitative analyses, we map 20 years of research based on 1,780 study abstracts retrieved through a systematic database search. Results reveal the most common topics investigated in the field, as well as its disciplinary boundaries. Our review further highlights emerging trends in the literature and points to unique implications for how future research should address the various relationships between computer-mediated communication and mental health.

Keywords: computational content analysis, computer-mediated communication, Internet mental health, scoping review, social media

Adrian Meier

Adrian Meier is a PhD candidate at the Department of Communication, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Germany. His research revolves around the question of whether and how communication technologies can improve or impair mental health and well-being. Specifically, he investigates the relationship between technology usage and mental health through the lens of self-regulation processes, using intensive longitudinal surveys (e.g., diaries, experience sampling), and systematic review methodology.

Emese Domahidi

Emese Domahidi is an Assistant Professor for Computational Communication Science at the Technische Universität Ilmenau in Germany. Her research focuses on the psychosocial consequences of online media use and on (biased) information processing in digital media. Emese is especially interested in computational communication science methods and their use to gain insights into her research questions. She is an expert in computational systematic reviews and meta-analysis.

Elisabeth Günther

Elisabeth Günther is a PhD candidate at the Department of Communication, University of Münster, Germany. Her research interests are in computational methods, especially topic modeling, and online journalism. Elisabeth works as a data scientist at Axel Springer Digital.

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