About the lecture

In this lecture, we think about cross sectional studies in mental health research, focusing in particular on: (i) defining cross sectional studies as a type of observational research which assesses a population at a specific moment in time; (ii) some strengths of analytic and descriptive cross sectional studies, including their inexpensive and quick procedures, as well as the minimal potential for human error in data interpretation; (iii) some limitations of analytic and descriptive cross sectional studies, including that they are less helpful for determining cause and effect relationships and that they only present a snapshot of what is happening in the participants’ lives; (iv) a summarised comparison between longitudinal and cross sectional research; (v) Coyne and colleagues’ 2020 eight year longitudinal study investigating the link between social media usage and mental health disorders; (vi) the present difference in results between cross sectional and longitudinal research when investigating links between social media usage and mental health; (vii) Keles and colleagues’ 2020 systematic review of the influence of social media use on depression, anxiety and psychological distress in adolescents.

About the lecturer

Dr Cody Porter is a senior lecturer in social psychology in the department of Health and Social Sciences at the University of the West of England. Dr Porter’s research interests are in information elicitation, lie detection and offending behaviour. Some of Dr Porter’s recent publications include ‘Implementing converged security risk management: Drivers, barriers, and facilitators’ (in press) and ‘Applying the asymmetric information management technique to insurance claims’ (2022).