Showcase of Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavors (SOURCE)

Effect of Presenter Credentials on Believability of Tik Tok Mental Health Information

We examined participants’ reactions to an online health care professional and an online social media personality sharing information about autism on TikTok. We hypothesized that young adults would perceive personalized information (social media personality) as more believable and entertaining than more formalized information (health care professional). Participants were 123 adults with a mean age of 23.91 (SD = 7.82). The majority were cisgender women (79%), Caucasian (60%) and heterosexual (68%). We assessed participants’ TikTok engagement and then randomly assigned them to one of two conditions. Half of the participants were shown a formal, informative TikTok video about autism. The speaker was a clinical psychologist who described the diagnostic criteria. The other half watched a more entertaining TikTok video of a social influencer, diagnosed with autism, who described her personal experiences. The videos were identical in length and speaker gender. Then, participants gave their opinions about the video they watched and about autism. We found many similarities in young adults’ engagement with TikTok. The more often adults used TikTok, the more they trusted it, including for mental health help. After viewing the TikTok videos, adults found the clinical psychologist provided more factual and educational information about autism than the young woman who shared her personal story about the disorder. However, the two speakers were perceived as equally entertaining and trustworthy, and influenced viewers’ perceptions of autism similarly. These findings suggest that viewers may be receptive to online mental health information, without careful discernment of the quality of the information.