Just one video can change how teens see themselves

Just one video can reshape how teenagers perceive themselves, new evidence has shown, underscoring the power of online content to influence young minds.

Researchers from the University of East Anglia (UEA) found a mental health “hack” that could help teenagers improve their self-image and boost well-being, as debate continues over how to counter the harmful effects of social media on children.

The study shows that watching a single ten-minute video can positively change young people’s beliefs about their personality traits. However, there’s a catch – such an intervention appeared to have little immediate effect on anxiety or depression symptoms.

While the findings add to a growing body of evidence that mental health support delivered online can be valuable, it may work best as part of broader mental health efforts aimed at teenagers, and more research is needed to evaluate its longer-term effects.

“Mental health conditions affect one in seven young people globally. In the UK, around one in five young people have probable mental health disorders, yet 75 per cent of them are not receiving any support,” said Dr. Kenny Chiu, from UEA’s Norwich Medical School.

“This is a huge problem – not least since most adult mental health conditions first emerge in childhood or teenage years,” Dr. Chiu said.

He added: “It is therefore really important to promote positive emotional wellbeing and prevent mental health conditions from developing in the first place.”

As traditional services face growing demand, brief video-based online interventions “could help young people in the UK,” according to Prof Richard Meiser-Stedman, also from UEA’s Norwich Medical School.

The team recruited more than 100 teens through schools, charities, and social media to test their intervention method based on growth mindset principles, or the belief that personal traits and abilities can change over time.

Participants were randomly assigned to either complete a mindset intervention or join a waitlist control group.

They were asked to report their levels of anxiety, depression, and psychological flexibility, as well as what they thought about their personality before the session and then again one month later.

The results showed “promising results,” said Dr. Jessica Ball, who led the research team as part of her doctoral clinical training at UEA.

“While the video didn't significantly reduce feelings of anxiety and depression, it did seem to change how participants thought about their personality, fostering the development of a growth mindset,” she said.

The study potentially offers a low-cost and scalable way to support teenagers’ psychological development, researchers said. The results of their work were published in the journal JCPP Advances.