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Suicide is one of the leading causes of death among persons aged 18 to 20 years in the U.S., and firearms are the leading mechanism of death for this age group. A new study published in the American Journal of Public Health looked at the impact of minimum handgun purchase age and background check legislation on young adult suicide in the United States between 1991 and 2020. [More]

A new study published in Child Development looked at how children and adolescents rectify unequal allocations of leadership duties in the classroom. “This study is about whether children and adolescents recognize when biases occur in the classroom and what they think about it,” study author Melanie Killen told us. “One context where this happens is when teachers assign students to take on highly valued leadership duties (e.g., assigning only boys to become crossing guards)." [More]

A new study published in Science Direct looked at residence in coastal communities in adolescence and health in young adulthood. “The study is about whether teenagers living in coastal communities of England had worse health up to 11 years later, than their peers inland,” study author Emily T. Murray told us. “We didn’t just look at one measure of health, but five measures that would give a good idea of a young person’s overall health: self-rated health, whether they had a disability, whether they were mentally distressed and how they rated their ability to function physically and mentally.” [More]

A new study published in the Journal of Psychology and Sexuality looked at polyamorous and ambiamorous adolescents. “This study examines the social and mental health experiences of polyamorous and ambiamorous LGBTQ+ adolescents (ages 12 to 17) compared to their LGBTQ+ peers,” study author Traci K. Gillig told us. “Specifically, the study tests for baseline differences in depressive symptoms and anxiety between these two groups and changes in these outcomes over time.” [More]

A new study published in PLOS ONE looked at long-term recreational exercise patterns in adolescents and young adults. “The study investigates long-term patterns of recreational physical exercise in young Australians during the transition from youth to young adulthood,” Associate Professor Oliver Schubert of the University of Adelaide’s Adelaide Medical School told us. “We hoped to get a better understanding how many young people engage in, stick to, or change recommended exercise volumes between the age of 15 and 25. We also hoped to learn more about the factors that make it more likely or unlikely for young people to establish healthy long-term exercise habits.” [More]

A new study published in the Journal of School Violence looked at assessing the relationship between exposure to violence and perceptions of school safety and emergency preparedness in the context of lockdown drills. “Our study considers the relationship between students’ participation in lockdown drills, their exposure to violence at school, and their perceptions of school safety and emergency preparedness,” study author Jaclyn Schildkraut told us. [More]

A new study published in the Journal of Neurology looked at the association between peer victimization, gender diversity, mental health, and recurrent headaches in adolescents. “In this study, we wanted to try and understand if bullying and being gender diverse are associated with frequent headaches in teens,” study author Serena L. Orr told us. “Although some past studies have looked at the relationship between bullying and headaches, they have not adequately controlled for other risk factors associated with both of these, including mental health, age, and sex." [More]

A new study published in the Journal of Youth and Society looked at the influence of the neighborhood environment on stress among Black American adolescents. “My study uses this scoping review method to explore what is known about various aspects of the neighborhood environment and how these aspects contribute to stress among Black children and youth aged 10-18 years old. We were hoping to identify specific characteristics of the neighborhood environment and home in on how these characteristics have contributed to stressors among Black children and youth – with the goal of brainstorming some strategies for resolving this relationship," study author Dr. Melissa L. Villodas told us. [More]

A new study published in the Journal of Nature Mental Health looked at plasma proteomics discovery of mental health risk biomarkers in adolescents. “Our study primarily focused on discovering plasma protein-based susceptibility biomarkers that could indicate adolescents at risk of developing mental health issues,” study authors Katja M. Kanninen and Alexey Afonin from the University of Eastern Finland told us. [More]

A new study published in the Journal of Child Development looked at moral reasoning about gang violence by children and adolescents exposed to maras in Honduras and not exposed in Nicaragua. “My interest in child moral development and community violence involving gangs comes from my own personal experiences growing up,” study author Franklin Moreno told us. “My study is about how children and adolescents morally evaluate and reason about acts of physical violence associated with gangs that impact the communities they live in. [More]