Investigating social media challenges: a qualitative study

Youth involvement in at-risk behavior driven by social media challenges is an emerging and alarming problem among youth worldwide. Despite a growing interest in the topic, psychological research is relatively scarce primarily due to the multifaceted and ever-changing nature of the challenges, making them difficult to define. To fill this gap, an exploratory qualitative study was conducted to explore adolescents’ knowledge, beliefs and experiences of viral social challenges in order to better capture their salient features. Ten focus groups were conducted with Italian adolescents attending from school grades 6th to the 9th to explore what they know about challenges, what they intend to do with them, and whether they have never been involved as witnesses or participants. The focus groups were analyzed using the Grounded Theory methodology, which was applied using Atlas 8.0.3 software. The narratives have led to the creation of 709 codes. The codes were organized into 21 categories and grouped into 6 macro-categories: (1) Social Media Environment; (2) Defining Social Media Challenges; (3) Non-Dangerous Challenges; (4) Dangerous Challenges; (5) Experiences; and (6) Risk and Protective Factors. This study addresses a gap in understanding social media challenges (SMC) and the related motivational theories. By exploring SMC from the perspective of young people, it lays the groundwork for future studies to examine their prevalence among adolescents and associated factors. The findings have significant implications for both research and practice, aiding in the development of effective prevention strategies for adolescents.