PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas – During Prairie View A&M University’s 2023 Research & Innovation Week, one of our own in the College of Agriculture and Human Sciences took home a first-place win during Student Research Day for their work investigating social media’s impact on mental health on college-aged African American students. Mikayla Oberlton, a CAHS graduate student in the second year of her program, offered a deep dive into internet culture and its effects on the minds of marginalized students.

“Through the use of a Qualtrics questionnaire, we were able to get an understanding of youth’s engagement on different platforms and how they felt towards social media,” Oberlton said. “It was based on the Mammy and Kenneth Clark Doll Studies (a 1940s experiment that showed young black children preferring to play with white dolls instead of black ones, revealing the effects of segregation’s impact on their self-esteem). But this study is still in the preliminary phases.”

Oberlton has been interested in human sciences for most of her educational journey and this research further confirms to her the need for comprehensive mental health resources for younger generations.

Mikayla Oberlton

“I personally have experienced the highs and lows of engaging in these platforms,” Oberlton said. “I thought it would be interesting to look at the ways in which these platforms affect Black youth. I am hoping to bring more knowledge into the research on social media because it is such a new arena. Much of the current research does not include Black youth, so I want to stress the importance of including this group so we can improve their mental health outcomes.”

Oberlton’s work was bolstered by her mentor and teacher, Lauren Foster, Ph.D. Dr. Foster said she was able to guide Oberlton with ease because she already had a background in research, and she trusted that her student would be able to handle the difficult parts of the work.

“I feel like Mikayla was and is still very much in the driver’s seat with this project,” Dr. Foster said. “She started this project in one of our classes, Research Problems, last year, and she wanted to move it from the conceptual to the practical. When we spoke about how to actualize her project, I was able to give her feedback on what elements may work and which may be a bit more difficult to do. From there, she was able to take it and run.”

Winning first place in a university-wide competition was a rewarding moment for both Oberlton and Dr. Foster as it offered validation for Oberlton and set a shining example of what dedication can lead to.

“Mikayla is a wonderful example of our students in the human sciences program,” Dr. Foster said. “Her dedication to working with communities of color as a researcher and future clinician is exciting to see.”

This summer, Oberlton will participate in the Miss Texas pageant competition. Pageantry is a passion for her and it’s another topic she is heavily invested in as a scholar.

“My upcoming research for the summer will be about the ways in which pageantry impacts women psychologically and behaviorally.”

After Oberlton earns her master’s, she will be applying to Ph.D. programs with the hopes of joining a marriage and family therapy program.

Pascale Mondesir
Senior Communication Specialist
pamondesir@pvamu.edu