May 22, 2023
by Elizabeth Pratt
People who frequently watch YouTube have elevated levels of depression, anxiety and loneliness.
Researchers from the Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention found that the most widely used streaming platform had both positive and negative impacts on the mental health of users.
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April 30, 2023
by Elizabeth Pratt
Teenage girls are experiencing record high levels of persistent sadness.
A report from the CDC found that 57% of teenage girls in the US felt hopeless or persistently sad in 2021, that’s a 60% increase over the past ten years.
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April 11, 2023
by Patricia Tomasi
A new study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine compared the burden of sleep disorders among a cohort of US transgender and cisgender youth. “We were looking for any differences in sleep disorders between cisgender and transgender youth and between transgender people using and those not using gender-affirming therapy,” study author Dr. Ronald Gavidia, M.S., M.S. told us.
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April 4, 2023
by Patricia Tomasi
A new study published in the Journal of Depression and Anxiety looked at the association of early exposure to flame retardants to anxiety symptoms in adolescents. “The study focuses on how exposure to certain chemicals found in the environment during pregnancy affects individuals later in life,” study author Dr. Jeffrey Strawn, MD, professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience in UC’s College of Medicine. “We were specifically interested in how in utero exposure to these chemicals impacts the development of anxiety later in life.”
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March 31, 2023
by Elizabeth Pratt
The number of children and adolescents visiting the emergency department for attempted suicide and suicide ideation rose sharply during the pandemic.
Research publish in The Lancet Psychiatry found that while pediatric emergency department visits decreased overall during the pandemic, suicide related visits among youth rose by 22%.
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March 7, 2023
by Patricia Tomasi
A new study published in the Journal of Child Development looked at perceived parental social support and psychological control and how it can predict depressive symptoms for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning youth in the United States. “The purpose of our study was to test how parent support and parent control relate to symptoms of depression for LGBTQ youth,” study author Amy McCurdy of the University of Texas at Austin told us. “We were hoping to establish that general parenting practices matter for LGBTQ youth, which seems obvious, but in fact little research has done this.”
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February 28, 2023
by Patricia Tomasi
A new study published in the Journal of Biological Psychiatry looked at how the experience of corporal punishment might shape how the adolescent brain responds to mistakes and receiving rewards. “One of the co-authors, Alexandria Meyer, has repeatedly shown that harsh parenting is associated with increased neural responses to making mistakes,” study author Kreshnik Burani told us.
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February 21, 2023
by Patricia Tomasi
A new study published in JAMA Open Network looked at the association of benzodiazepine treatment for sleep disorders with a drug overdose risk among young people. “Benzodiazepines are a treatment option for sleep disorders,” study author Greta A. Bushnell told us. “However, overdose is a potential concern with benzodiazepines, particularly when used with other central nervous system depressants such as opioids.
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January 28, 2023
by Elizabeth Pratt
Teenagers with positive psychological assets like optimism and feeling loved are more likely to reach their 20s and 30s in good cardiometabolic health.
A study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association found that teens who felt happy, optimistic, had good self-esteem, felt loved and felt a sense of belonging had better cardiometabolic health later in life compared to their peers without these positive psychological assets.
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January 17, 2023
by Patricia Tomasi
A new study published in Scientific Reports looked at parasocial relationships on YouTube and how they reduce prejudice towards mental health issues. “Prejudice is a big issue among society and it’s been well established that contact between different groups of people is an effect way to help reduce that prejudice,” study author Shaaba Lotun told us.
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