Public Policy

February 2023

The Digital Well-Being Index
Key Research Results
Snap Inc. conducted research into the digital well-being of teens and young adults. Fielded fromApril 22 to May 10, 2022, the study polled a total of 9,003 people, including 500 teens (aged13-17), 500 young adults (age 18-24) and 500 parents of teens aged 13-19 in each of six
countries: Australia, France, Germany, India, UK and the U.S. The results produced our irst
Digital Well-Being Index (DWBI) for each country and a combined reading across all six. Below
are some top-line research results.
•The inaugural Digital Well-Being Index came in at 62 – on a scale of 0-100, the score isneither particularly strong nor especially worrisome.

•Of the six countries included in the research, India scored the highest DWBI at 68, while
France and Germany both posted the lowest readings at 60. Australia’s DWBI is 63; the UK
matched the six-country average of 62, and the U.S. scored 64.

•The research asked teens about their exposure to 14 di erent risks1 over the three-month
period prior to the study, roughly February to May 2022. We also asked about respondents’relationships online and sought their re lections about the quality of those digital interactions.

•All elements combined to generate four DWBI groups. Young people in the six countries were
found to be Flourishing (10%), Thriving (43%), Middling (40%) or Struggling (7%). These results
have basically adhered to the 80/20 rule, with roughly 10% at each end of the scale andapproximately 80% in the middle. Results o er an opportunity to continue to propel young
people toward more positive and rewarding online experiences.

Risks
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Of the 6,002 teens and young adults surveyed, 76% said they had experienced at least one
online risk over the three-month period.

•Teens’ risk exposure (68%) was less than that of the Generation Z young adults (83%), andparents were quite accurate in estimating that their teens, aged 13-19 (66%), had experiencedrisk.

•Perhaps not surprisingly, females reported being exposed to sexual risks and unwanted
contact more so than males – the case across both age demographics. (% of teen females
exposed to sexual risks: 24% v. teen males: 18%; % of Gen Z young adult females exposed tosexual risks: 37% v. Gen Z young adult males: 27% - % of teen females exposed to unwanted
contact: 35% v. teen males: 30%; % of Gen Z young adult females exposed to unwanted
contact: 43% v. Gen Z young adult males: 33%).

1 The 14 risks are: unwanted contact, fake news and misinformation, online bullying and harassment, hate speech, non-consensual intimate imagery,

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online impersonation, account hijacking, threats of violence, unwanted sexual attention, thoughts of self-harm, violent extremist content/messages,weapons sales, illegal drug sales and thoughts of suicide.

Public Policy

February 2023

Relationships•

According to parents, 62% of teens aged 13-19 told their parents when they experienced
some risk online, and more than seven in 10 parents (71%) of 13-17-year-olds said they regularly
checked in with their teens about the teens’ online activities.

•Parents of older teens (18 or 19) were less likely to check in (54%), and were less accurate intheir predictions of what their older teens were experiencing online, sometimes
underestimating risk exposure by around 20 points.

•According to teens, 77% said they went to a parent when seeking help after experiencing anonline risk, while a preponderance of Gen Zers (51%) sought help from a friend.

•Of those who reached out to a parent, both teens and young adults preferred speaking with
their moms, by a wide margin, compared to their dads: Teens who talked to mom v. dad: 48%,25%; young adults who talked to mom v. dad: 43% v. 23%.

•On average, just 12% of teens and 18% of young adults sought help from online platforms.

•Nearly eight in 10 parents said they agree completely, a lot or a little with the statement: “Itrust my teen to act responsibly online and don’t feel the need to actively monitor them.”•Young people who reported having a larger number of “support assets” also registered higher
digital well-being. Support assets were de ined as people who look out for Gen Zers at homeor school, within the community, and among friends and peers. Of those with zero to three
support assets, the majority (72%) were also in the Struggling DWB category. Of those whoreported seven to 12 assets, 64% were deemed Flourishing.

Re lections•

To calculate the DWBI, we asked respondents to rate their agreement with a total of 20
sentiment statements across ive well-being categories, that we call the PERNA model,
adapted for the online environment from a long-standing research theory. PERNA stands for
Positive Emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Negative Emotions, and Achievement. There
were four such statements in each of the ive categories.

•A list of all 20 sentiment statements can be found here.

•Across the six countries, 78% of respondents said social media had a positive in luence on
their daily lives. That belief was signi icantly stronger among teens (84%) compared to Gen Z
young adults (71%).

•Full research results can be found here.

Snapchat’s Family Centerff

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These and other research indings were used to inform Snapchat’s new Family Center, an in-app suite of tools
designed to enable parents, caregivers and other trusted adults to know who their teens are friends with andwho they are communicating with on Snapchat. For more on Family Center, see this link.