AI Chatbots and Adolescent Mental Health: A Qualitative Thematic Analysis of High School Students’ Perspectives

Description

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23492085

Gurpreet Kaur Sandhu¹ and Sohila Shavinder Singh² (
Department of Psychology, Government Mohindra College, Patiala, Punjab¹ and High School Research Intern (XII Liberal Arts), Yadavindra Public School Patiala, Punjab²)

Adolescent mental health issues are escalating into a “silent crisis” in India, and high school students are increasingly turning to AI-based chatbots for emotional support. This study explores the role of AI-based chatbots in the mental health support of adolescents, with a specific focus on usage, experiences, perspectives, risk-benefit analysis and future directions. This study employed a qualitative research design with In-depth Interviews of 18 adolescents, aged 15-19 years, who had been using AI-based mental health chatbots for the past year. The data were analyzed using Clarke’s and Braun (2017) six- steps thematic analysis. Five main themes were identified:(1) 24*7 AI Companions; (2) Adolescent Mental Health;(3) Promising Prospects of AI chatbots; (4) The dark side of AI chatbots; (5) Supplementary Tools. These themes captured the multifaceted experiences of the teens, ranging from the overwhelming usage of AI-based mental health chatbots for personalized conversational agents, mental health support, sexual and reproductive education, stress coping tools and relaxation techniques. The qualitative findings suggest increasing usage of AI chatbots by adolescents in India for emotional support, personalization, mental health tools, an instantaneous response mechanism and an integrated therapy framework. While adolescents recognized the potential benefits of AI chatbots, they also acknowledged their limitations and potential risks. The findings highlight the need for culturally and linguistically adapted chatbot interfaces complemented by human- based counselling services to address the unique mental health challenges of Indian adolescents. In conclusion, AI chatbots offer a promising hybrid future model for promoting and sustaining adolescent mental health support for adolescents in India.