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Related Research Units

Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine Research

Research Overview

Zhiying “Zoey” Yue, PhD, studies how adolescents’ digital media experiences shape mental health, social connection, and well-being. Her research focuses on moving beyond broad measures of “screen time” to identify the specific features of media use that may support or undermine adolescent development, including social interaction, emotional tone, family communication, parenting practices, and platform context. At Boston Children’s Hospital, Dr. Yue leads a translational research program examining adolescent social media use, video gaming, loneliness, and family media practices, with the goal of generating evidence that clinicians, families, and policymakers can use to support healthier digital engagement.

Research Background

Dr. Yue received her PhD in Communication from the University at Buffalo, SUNY, where her work focused on digital media use, social relationships, and well-being. She completed postdoctoral training in Pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital and is now an Instructor in Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and a Scientist in the Division of Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital. Her background bridges communication science and pediatric research, with a focus on adolescent digital media use and mental health.

Publications

  1. Who They Play With Matters: An Exploration of Behavioral Pathways Linking Loneliness, Social Anxiety, and Problematic Gaming. J Adolesc Health. 2026 Feb; 78(2):294-301. View Abstract
  2. Challenges with using popular entertainment to address mental health: a content analysis of Netflix series 13 Reasons Why controversy in mainstream news coverage. Front Psychiatry. 2023; 14:1214822. View Abstract
  3. Passive social media use and psychological well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic: The role of social comparison and emotion regulation. Comput Human Behav. 2022 Feb; 127:107050. View Abstract
  4. Compassionate goals, prosocial emotions, and prosocial behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic. J Community Appl Soc Psychol. 2022 May-Jun; 32(3):476-489. View Abstract
  5. Fast and Frugal: Information Processing Related to The Coronavirus Pandemic. Risk Anal. 2021 05; 41(5):771-786. View Abstract
  6. An Accelerated Physarum Solver for Network Optimization. IEEE Trans Cybern. 2020 Feb; 50(2):765-776. View Abstract

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