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Title: The Experience and Effect of Adolescent to Robot Stress Disclosure: A Mixed-Methods Exploration
Social robots hold the potential to be an effective and appropriate technology in reducing stress and improving the mental health of adolescents. In order to understand the effect of adolescent-to-robot disclosure on momentary stress, we conducted an exploratory, mixed-methods study with sixty-nine US adolescents (ages 14–21) in school settings. We compared a generic, minimalist robot interaction among three different robot embodiments: physical, digital computer screen, and immersive, virtual reality. We found participants’ momentary stress levels significantly decreased across multiple interactions over time. The physical and virtual reality embodiments were most effective for stress reduction. In addition, our qualitative findings provide unique insights into the types of stressors adolescents shared with the social robots as well as their experiences with the different interaction embodiments.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1734100
PAR ID:
10292248
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
International Conference on Social Robotics
Volume:
12483
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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