Introduction Several studies have documented increases in adolescent loneliness and depression in the U.S., UK, and Canada after 2012, but it is unknown whether these trends appear worldwide or whether they are linked to factors such as economic conditions, technology use, or changes in family size. Methods The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) survey of 15‐ and 16‐year‐old students around the world included a 6‐item measure of school loneliness in 2000, 2003, 2012, 2015, and 2018 (n = 1,049,784, 51% female) across 37 countries. Results School loneliness increased 2012–2018 in 36 out of 37 countries. Worldwide, nearly twice as many adolescents in 2018 (vs. 2012) had elevated levels of school loneliness. Increases in loneliness were larger among girls than among boys and in countries with full measurement invariance. In multi‐level modeling analyses, school loneliness was high when smartphone access and internet use were high. In contrast, higher unemployment rates predicted lower school loneliness. Income inequality, GDP, and total fertility rate (family size) were not significantly related to school loneliness when matched by year. School loneliness was positively correlated with negative affect and negatively correlated with positive affect and life satisfaction, suggesting the measure has broad implications for adolescent well‐being. Conclusions The psychological well‐being of adolescents around the world began to decline after 2012, in conjunction with the rise of smartphone access and increased internet use, though causation cannot be proven and more years of data will provide a more complete picture.

Recent advances in mobile sensing technology provide innovative methods for understanding how individuals think, feel, and behave in vivo. Despite the utility of these new methods, as of yet, researchers have not been able to see the environments people encounter in their daily lives. In this article, we introduce wearable cameras as a new tool for sampling from participants’ everyday situations. Wearable cameras are small devices that capture pictures on a fixed interval (e.g., 30 s). This article discusses the benefits and disadvantages of incorporating wearable cameras into personality and social psychological research. Drawing on our experiences using wearable cameras in research, we provide insights into ethical and legal considerations when designing studies using these devices. Lastly, we report data on situation change and perceived obtrusiveness from, to our knowledge, the first wearable camera study in personality and social psychology.

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Abstract. This study explores whether photos posted on online social networks can be used to assess personality. We have demonstrated that personality is connected to human- and machine-detected situational cues, characteristics, classes, behavior, and affect displayed in Instagram photos. Observations of individual relationships between normal or dark side personality characteristics and situational features of photos give insight into the various aspects of online portrayal of oneself and the personality behind the photos.

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