Social Media Campaigns and Mental Health Awareness Among South African Teenagers: A Longitudinal Study,

Social media platforms have become integral to communication among teenagers in South Africa, offering both opportunities and challenges for health campaigns. A longitudinal study design was employed with mixed methods including surveys and qualitative interviews, analysing trends in social media engagement related to mental health topics among teenagers aged 13-18 years in South Africa. Over the study period, there was a significant increase (p < 0.05) in positive posts about mental health on social media by 24%, reflecting heightened awareness and discussion of these issues. The findings suggest an effective role for social media campaigns in fostering greater understanding and support around mental health among teenagers. Further research should explore the long-term effects of sustained social media interventions and consider diverse cultural contexts to inform future strategies. Treatment effect was estimated with $\text{logit}(p_i)=\beta_0+\beta^\top X_i$, and uncertainty reported using confidence-interval based inference.