Frontiers in Health Psychology, special Issue

Deadline: May 14, 2021

The special issue in Frontiers in Health Psychology will focus on studies examining the effectiveness of the use of social influencers to promote health behavior among minors and young adults. Mounting evidence has shown that people, in particular minors and young adults, are susceptible to the promotional activities of influencers on platforms such as Instagram, YouTube and TikTok. Until now, limited knowledge exists on how health interventions through social influencers can be implemented to effectively and efficiently promote important health behavior among minors and young adults (8-35 years). Social influencers could also play an important role in social marketing strategies, such as promoting healthier diets, increased physical activity, less substance use, less smoking, safer sex, more and better quality of sleep, more conscious consumption of screen time, health care seeking, increased adherence to medical treatment, and other health-related behavior.

Examples of important research questions that this Research Topic hopes to address include (but are not limited to):

• Which promotion techniques for health behavior do social influencers use and how do these affect people?
• Are some groups, in particular youth, more susceptible to social influencers than other groups?
• How has the use of digital and social media affected how health behavior is promoted to youth and young adults?
• What is the impact of existing governmental programs to stimulate health behavior via social influencers, for example during the COVID-19 crisis, and what is the potential impact of these programs?

The deadline for abstracts is May 14, 2021. The deadline for full papers is September 11, 2021. For the full call and submission website, please visit:

https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/20416/social-influencing-for-the-better-how-social-influencers-effectively-promote-healthier-behavior#overview