Description: You cannot have missed the increasing level of discussion and concern regarding the possible impacts of social media use on the mental health of teens and youth in recent years. The available new coverage of this topic ranges widely from articles that seek out and dive into recent, population level research on social media… Read more »
Posts Tagged: Teens
Teens as Developmental Mine Canaries
Description: It has been theorized that the ancient historic wholesale movements of people out of Africa, into Europe and over land bridges to North America were initiated not by group elders but by adolescents who decided that their futures were better pursued in places other than where they were. The thought is that others followed,… Read more »
Which Treatment is Best for Self-Harming and Suicidal Teens?
Description: Perhaps you have heard about the alarming increases that are being observed in rates of self-harming behavior and suicidal thoughts and actions among teenagers. These stats are often discussed in relation to the question of whether they might be linked to recent generational jumps in use of social media and the attendant shifts in… Read more »
Teens and Covid: Maybe the Kids are Alright!
Description: Is statement this true? Teenagers are struggling with a significant increase in mental health issues due to the social impacts of the Covid pandemic. You have heard this more than once or twice, haven’t you? Have you taken a closer look to see if there is actually any data supporting this statement? Think for… Read more »
Video Games, Social Media and Mental Health: Research Debates on Screen Time Continue
Description: The debates and the research focused upon the impacts of video gaming and social media use on developing children and youth are heated and ongoing. The primary difficulty in sorting out the effects of video gaming and social media use is tied up in the comprehensive nature of their uptake in the population. As… Read more »
Psychology and Covid-19: Young Teen Resets
Description: No doubt you have heard about the stresses being experienced by parents as they isolate at home with their children and try to manage, entertain, and perhaps educate them until schools and other places children can go re-open. Which parents would you predict are experiencing the hardest stress hit, based on the age of… Read more »
Teen Dating and Development: Normative?
Description: Often when we are looking at what is going on at certain points in human developmental trajectories, we make assumptions. We assume that something that most individuals at that particular age or stage are doing is normative. Normative technically just means most frequent but additional meaning is usually included with term. We frequently assume… Read more »
Research on the Impacts of Screen Time: What should it look like?
Description: Even if you are barely paying attention you cannot have missed media accounts and speculations regarding the impacts of screen time on development in childhood and on wellbeing among adolescents. Before we push panic buttons and start to crusade against another new technology (like we did about television a few decades ago) we should… Read more »
Child and Teen Anxiety Increasing: What to Do?
Description: To carry the epidemiology theme a bit further think about the answer to this question: Are children and teens more anxious today than in the past (in previous generations)? Think about what you have heard or read in the media about this question and then think about whether you have seen any research data… Read more »
What’s Wrong? … “Nothing”!! Changing the Conversations Between Parents and Teens
Description: Think about this either based on personal experience or hypothetically. A teenager goes to school in the morning seeming rather relaxed and happy. At the end of the day they return home quiet (sullen) and clearly distracted. When one of their parents asks what is up they respond “nothing” in a grumpy tone and… Read more »
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