Family and media pressure to lose weight in adolescence linked to how people value themselves almost two decades later

People who as teenagers felt pressure to lose weight from family or from the media, females, people who are not heterosexual, and people experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage, are most at risk of ‘internalised’ weight stigma, new research led by the University of Bristol has found. The study is published in The Lancet Regional Health Europe today [16 April].

Close Relationships with Parents Promote Healthier Brain Development in High-Risk Teens, Buffering Against Alcohol Use Disorder

For teens at elevated risk of developing alcohol use disorder (AUD), close relationships with parents can help mitigate their genetic and environmental vulnerability, a new study suggests. The offspring of people with AUD are four times more likely than others to develop the disorder. Increasing evidence suggests that this heritable risk may be either amplified or mitigated by the quality of parenting.

Greater Empathy in Adolescents Helps Prevent Bias-based Cyberbullying

Little is known about cyberbullying and empathy, especially as it relates harming or abusing others because of race or religion. A study is the first to examine general cyberbullying, race-based cyberbullying, and religion-based cyberbullying in young adolescents. Results show that the higher a youth scored on empathy, the lower the likelihood that they cyberbullied others. When it came to bias-based cyberbullying, higher levels of total empathy were associated with lower odds of cyberbullying others based on their race or religion.

Five New Studies Examine Eating Behaviors in Teens and Young Adults

The developmental changes and growing independence that characterize adolescence and young adulthood can make these stages of life both exciting and challenging. New studies at NUTRITION 2022 LIVE ONLINE shed light on the eating behaviors and diets of teens and young adults around the world.

Featured Research from NUTRITION 2022 LIVE ONLINE

Press materials are now available for NUTRITION 2022 LIVE ONLINE, the flagship annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition (ASN).

Conversations between teenagers can predict future drug and alcohol abuse

A study from Arizona State University and Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands has shown that conversations between a pair of 17-year-old friends can predict future drug and alcohol abuse. If the teens talked positively about alcohol or cannabis, they were more likely to be diagnosed with an alcohol or cannabis use disorder, respectively, by the time they were 27 years old.

Sleep Disruption Predicts Drinking and Cannabis use in Young People, with Middle and High School Students Potentially Most Vulnerable

A five-year study has highlighted the importance of healthy sleep patterns in relation to future binge-drinking and cannabis use in adolescence and young adulthood, as reported in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. The work builds on growing evidence that sleep characteristics are predictive of future substance use and related problems in young people, and could inform strategies for substance use prevention and intervention. Most previous studies assessed only a small range of sleep characteristics, and had limited follow-up. In the new analysis, researchers used six annual assessments from the National Consortium on Alcohol and Neurodevelopment in Adolescence (NCANDA) study to examine whether multiple sleep characteristics in any year predict alcohol and cannabis use the following year. Data from over eight hundred NCANDA study participants, aged 12 to 21 at baseline, were included.

Hackensack Meridian Health Project HEAL Receives $500,000 Grant to Target Community Violence

Hackensack Meridian Health is proud to announce that Project HEAL, a hospital-based violence intervention program based at Jersey Shore University Medical Center, received a $500,000 grant to expand services in the successful multi-disciplined program to address community, domestic, and gang-related violence.

Common anti-seizure medication associated with elevated fracture risk in kids with epilepsy

A study found that one of the two most commonly prescribed anti-seizure medications is associated with a higher risk of fracture for children and teens with epilepsy. This is significant for this population as it comes during a critical period of bone development, a time during which several features coalesce to develop bone strength that peaks in adulthood.

Does cannabis affect brain development in young people with ADHD? Too soon to tell, reports Harvard Review of Psychiatry

At least so far, the currently limited research base does not establish that cannabis has additional adverse effects on brain development or functioning in adolescents or young adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), concludes a review in the July/August issue of Harvard Review of Psychiatry. The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.

Girls Who Are Emotionally Neglected or Severely Sexually Abused When Young Report Riskier Sexual Behaviors in Adolescence

Girls who are emotionally neglected or severely sexually abused early in their lives report riskier sexual behaviors during adolescence, Mount Sinai researchers report. The findings highlight the need—and suggest the potential for tailored approaches—to promote healthy sexual development in vulnerable populations.

Helping Teens with Type 1 Diabetes Improve Diabetes Control with MyDiaText

Adolescence is a difficult period of development, made more complex for those with Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). The challenges of managing multiple doses of daily insulin administration, blood glucose monitoring, dietary and exercise requirements, can make self-care difficult and complicate outcomes. Adolescents with T1DM often have poorer diabetes outcomes than others, indicating that glucose control is difficult for them to maintain.

Mount Sinai Researchers Find Social Isolation During Key Developmental Windows Drives Long-Term Disruptions in Social Behavior

MEDIA ADVISORY Nature Communications study UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL: Friday, February 21 at 5:00pm EST Mount Sinai Researchers find social isolation during key developmental windows drives long term changes to activity patterns of neurons involved in initiating social approach in an…

To BOLDly Go (or No-go): Brain imaging predicts frequent binge drinking in adolescents

A study published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research could inform efforts to prevent adolescents from escalating to harmful patterns of drinking. Binge drinking in adolescence has many short- and long-term heath consequences, including risk of future alcohol use disorder and potential for harm to the developing brain. The risks are greatest for those who binge frequently – at least once a week. A hallmark of binge drinking is a reduced capacity to control one’s alcohol intake, related to a neurological process of ‘inhibitory control’ involving several regions of the brain. In adolescents who have not yet started drinking, specific alterations in these brain responses have been linked to an increased risk of future alcohol and drug use; however, it was not known if there are changes that could predict escalation of alcohol use among those already drinking. Therefore, researchers from the University of California investigated whether abnormal brain patterns co

Study: Teens who have a loving relationship with their mother are less likely to enter abusive relationships

A mother’s warmth and acceptance toward her teenagers may help prevent those children from being in an abusive relationship later in life, even if her own marriage is contentious, according to a new University at Buffalo study.