Craig J.R. Sewall, PhD

Research Scientist

University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Biography

Dr. Sewall is a Clinical Data Scientist in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. His research has two interrelated foci: (1) understanding the relationship between digital media use and well-being among youth, and (2) leveraging advancements in ubiquitous computing and computational modeling to develop suicide prevention tools. Dr. Sewall’s current NIMH-funded work applies machine learning to passive sensing data collected from smartphones and wearables to predict suicidality among high-risk youth. Dr. Sewall’s research has been published in top-tier academic journals such as Nature Human Behavior, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Journal of Affective Disorders, and Clinical Psychological Science, and featured in popular media outlets such as Fast Company, Psychology Today, and Medical News Today.

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Interests

Mental Health
Computational Modeling
Passive Sensing
Social Media

Education

PhD in Quantitative Social Science, 2021
University of Pittsburgh
Master of Social Work (MSW), 2012
University of Pittsburgh
BA in Sociology, 2009
Westmont College

Research

Suicide Research

Investigate processes that increase suicide risk among youth and how they vary across people and contexts.

Passive Sensing

Leveraging passive sensing data and machine learning to predict psychological distress

Digital Well-being

Using digital trace data to understand the link between digital media use and well-being.

Selected Publications

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Douglas A. Parry, Jacob T. Fisher, Hannah Mieczkowski, Craig J.R. Sewall, Brittany I. Davidson (2022). Social media and well-being: A methodological perspective. Current Opinion in Psychology.

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Craig Jeffrey Robb Sewall, Tina R Goldstein, Aidan G.C. Wright, Daniel Rosen (2022). Does objectively-measured social media or smartphone use predict depression, anxiety, or social isolation among young adults?. Clinical Psychological Science.

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JD McCrosky, DA Parry, Craig Jeffrey Robb Sewall, Amy Orben (2022). Using Browser Data to Understand Desires to Spend Time Online. Technology, Mind, and Behavior.

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Douglas A. Parry, Brittany I. Davidson, Craig J. R. Sewall, Jacob T. Fisher, Hannah Mieczkowski, Daniel S. Quintana (2021). A systematic review and meta-analysis of discrepancies between logged and self-reported digital media use. Nature Human Behaviour.

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Craig Jeffrey Robb Sewall (2021). Flawed data led to findings of a connection between time spent on devices and mental health problems - new research. The Conversation.

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Craig J.R. Sewall, Douglas A. Parry (2021). The role of depression in the discrepancy between estimated and actual smartphone use: A cubic response surface analysis. Technology, Mind, and Behavior.

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Craig J.R. Sewall, Jeffrey M. Girard, John Merranko, Danella Hafeman, Benjamin I. Goldstein, Michael Strober, Heather Hower, Lauren M. Weinstock, Shirley Yen, Neal D. Ryan, Martin B. Keller, Fangzi Liao, Rasim S. Diler, Mary Kay Gill, David Axelson, Boris Birmaher, Tina R. Goldstein (2021). A Bayesian multilevel analysis of the longitudinal associations between relationship quality and suicidal ideation and attempts among youth with bipolar disorder. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

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Craig Jeffrey Robb Sewall, Tina R Goldstein, Daniel Rosen (2021). Objectively measured digital technology use during the COVID-19 pandemic: Impact on depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation among young adults. Journal of Affective Disorders.

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Craig J R Sewall, Aidan G C Wright (2021). Personalizing Suicidology. Crisis.

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Craig Jeffrey Robb Sewall, Todd M. Bear, John Merranko, Daniel Rosen (2020). How psychosocial well-being and usage amount predict inaccuracies in retrospective estimates of digital technology use. Mobile Media and Communication.

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