Project Overview

The goal of Project LIBRA is to learn about how the everyday experiences of adolescents influence their mental and physical development. We are interested in how different technologies can be used to better understand the positive and negative aspects of their daily lives (e.g., academics, experiences at school/home) and health and well being. Participation in this study will advance the scientific understanding of students and their personal experiences in order to improve young people’s well-being.

We surveyed 8th grade students in the 2016-2017 and 2017- 2018 school years. All Project LIBRA participants have parental permission to participate, as well as agreeing themselves to participate in the study.

We conducted follow-up surveys with student participants when they reached 10th grade (2018-2019 and 2019-2020) and 12th grade (2020-2021 and 2021-2022). Students received monetary compensation for completing these surveys. Student also received compensation for participating in additional parts of the study such as interviews, biomarker sample collection, daily diaries, and wearing an activity sensor.

Data collection for Project LIBRA is now complete. You can learn about Dr. Benner’s current project, Project TAURUS, here: https://sites.utexas.edu/projecttaurus/ Our research team is very excited to explore the data collected as part of Project LIBRA, and we look forward to learning important information from the student participants in our Austin and central Texas schools!