Jim Liebelt's Youth Culture Watch

Social Media Can Create 'Profound Risk' for Teenagers, Surgeon General Says

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by Washington Examiner.

The United States surgeon general said that social media can pose substantial and meaningful risks to the mental health of teenagers, a statement that will give extra motivation to members of Congress calling for new rules for Big Tech.

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy released an advisory that reviewed the risks of social media use on teenage brains and bodies. Murthy said that while the effects on teen mental health are not entirely understood, there are indicators that social media can harm the mental health of teenagers and children.

"More research is needed to fully understand the impact of social media; however, the current body of evidence indicates that while social media may have benefits for some children and adolescents, there are ample indicators that social media can also have a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents. At this time, we do not yet have enough evidence to determine if social media is sufficiently safe for children and adolescents,

"Frequent social media use may be associated with distinct changes in the developing brain in the amygdala (important for emotional learning and behavior) and the prefrontal cortex (important for impulse control, emotional regulation, and moderating social behavior), and could increase sensitivity to social rewards and punishments," the report says.

Other noted harms include excess exposure to inappropriate content, such as suicide or self-harm, and damage caused by features designed to promote addictive behavior.

The report also notes the positive benefits for teenagers, including creating online communities for those with similar identities and interests.

Source: Washington Examiner
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/technology/social-media-can-create-profound-risk-for-teens-surgeon-general-says

Adolescent Vapers Much Likelier to Use Cannabis and Binge Drink

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by MedicalXpress.

A new study of more than 50,000 US adolescents across the country indicates that vaping nicotine is strongly linked with an increased likelihood of high levels use of binge drinking and cannabis usage.

The findings, published in Substance Use and Misuse, will add to growing public health concerns about the increased popularity of electronic cigarette (or "vaping") use among young people.

"While the overall health risks of vaping are lower than smoking, electronic cigarettes are still harmful to adolescents and warrant ongoing surveillance—especially as the long-term impacts remain unknown," says lead author Noah Kreski from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

"Our results indicate that vaping is not an isolated behavior, but rather strongly tied to other substance use that can harm adolescents and make quitting nicotine more difficult. Recognizing the strong overlap between various forms of substance use, effective intervention efforts should work to simultaneously address vaping, drinking and cannabis use to encourage the health and well-being of young people."

The researchers used the Monitoring the Future survey—conducted by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)—to track trends in the use of cigarettes, alcohol, cannabis, vaping of both nicotine and cannabis, and other substances for children in school grades 8 (13-14 years old), 10 (15-16 years old) and 12 (17–18 years old).

The team examined data from 51,872 adolescents who took part in the survey between 2017 and 2019. They assessed the links between past 30-day nicotine use (non-, smoking-only, vaping-only, and any smoking plus vaping) with past 30-day cannabis use—making adjustments to account for certain demographic factors, such as age, sex, race, parental education and urbanicity of the participants.

Looking at nicotine use and cannabis use (in any form, including vaping), they found that compared to those who did not use nicotine at all, adolescents who vaped were 20.31 times more likely to use cannabis, and 21.60 times more likely to participated in binge drinking on three to five occasions.

"The links between vaping-only, or both smoking and vaping, and cannabis use and binge drinking outcomes in adolescents are particularly striking—especially at the highest levels of binge drinking. While the causal direction of these associations is unclear, the size of the effect is concerning given the harms these substances pose to adolescents," adds Kreski, who is a data analyst at Columbia.

Source: MedicalXpress
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-05-national-adolescent-vapers-likelier-cannabis.html

Teen Dating Violence Sets Stage for Future Abusive Relationships

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by HealthDay.

Teens who are abused by a romantic partner may suffer long-lasting repercussions, and this is especially true for girls, a new analysis finds.

Investigators who reviewed 38 studies concluded that teenage dating violence was linked to a higher risk for additional relationship violence in the teen years and even into adulthood.

These unhealthy relationships were also associated with higher long-term risk for substance abuse (drugs and alcohol) and mental health struggles.

“Teen dating violence has been defined as a variety of harmful partner-directed behaviors — including physical, sexual, psychological, cyber violence — that occur within adolescent romantic relationships,” said study lead author Antonio Piolanti.

For the new study, Piolanti and his colleagues looked over studies that collectively focused on the various forms of violent behavior that can occur within a youthful romance. Most of the studies were conducted in the United States. Participants were 13 to 18 years old. More than half the studies tracked participants for more than five years.

Both victims and perpetrators of teen violence were found to have higher odds for post-relationship problems, though risk was greatest among victims. The authors did not seek to quantify that risk, however.

Teens who had experienced relationship violence were found to face a higher risk for more relationship violence going forward, with one-third of the studies finding greater odds among kids who continued to date while still teens.

The findings were published in the journal Pediatrics.

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/dating-violence-2659908524.html

Which Kids Face the Highest Risk of Self-Harm?

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by HealthDay.

Growing numbers of American kids and teens are cutting or burning themselves, banging their heads against walls, pulling out their hair and even trying to die by suicide. But figuring out who is at highest risk for harming themselves has been a daunting challenge until now.

Researchers report they have developed risk profiles that can help doctors pinpoint which kids or teens are in the most danger.

"The U.S. is in the midst of a mental health crisis, with mental health diagnoses and hospitalizations surging over the past few years, and many of these hospitalizations are for self-harm events or concern for future self-harm," said study author Dr. James Antoon, an assistant professor of pediatrics and hospital medicine at Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.

"Self-harm is a big bucket of events from mild things like cutting on the arms or thighs to taking so much Tylenol that you die on purpose or jumping out of a window, and we wanted to find out which kids require hospitalization and more intensive treatment and monitoring," he said.

His team developed four risk profiles for serious self-harm based on age, gender, and psychiatric and medical conditions. Of nearly 1,100 children hospitalized for psychiatric reasons at two children's hospitals from April 2016 to March 2020, 37% were there for self-harm.

The researchers found that boys aged 10 to 13 with ADHD, bipolar disorder, autism spectrum disorder, or another developmental disorder were 80% more likely to engage in serious self-harm behavior that requires hospitalization. Meanwhile, teen girls aged 14 to 17 with depression and anxiety, substance- and trauma-related disorders, and personality and eating disorders were also at high risk for serious self-harm, the study showed.

Suicide attempts comprised the majority of serious self-harm behaviors in the study.

In a counterintuitive finding, kids who were at moderate risk for serious self-harm didn't necessarily have depression, Antoon said. "It is assumed that if you are suicidal, you must be depressed, but there are other things that can drive self-harm and suicide, including anxiety disorders," he noted.

The study was published online in the journal Pediatrics.

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/self-harm-2659908631.html

Suicide Rates Among US Adolescents Doubled in 10 Years

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by MedicalXpress.

Suicides among the youngest U.S. teenagers were rising for years before the pandemic—with school stress, social media, and guns standing as potential factors, according to a new study. Researchers found that between 2008 and 2018, the suicide rate among 13- and 14-year-olds nationwide more than doubled—from roughly two deaths per 100,000 teens in 2008 to five per 100,000 a decade later.

It was a stark reversal of a decline that began in the late-1990s.

And if fact, suicide is now the leading cause of death for 13- and 14-year-olds in the United States, said senior researcher Dr. Sarah Wood, a professor of pediatrics at Florida Atlantic University's Schmidt College of Medicine.

The study published online recently in the Annals of Pediatrics and Child Health comes amid growing concerns about U.S. kids' mental well-being.

"In my mind, this study is another warning bell," Wood said. "Things are not improving. They're getting worse."

The study found certain other patterns, too. One was related to geography, with suicide rates being higher in rural areas than in big cities, specifically when it came to firearm deaths: There are 2.3 such deaths per 100,000 in rural areas versus 1.6 per 100,000 in large cities.

The researchers also found that young teens' suicide rates spiked during the school year and dropped off in the summer, suggesting that school stress may be a factor.

Although studies paint a grim picture, Wood also pointed out that teen suicide remains relatively rare. She sees findings like these as a way to raise awareness and "mobilize us."

Source: MedicalXpress
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-05-suicide-adolescents-years.html

Early Teen Vapers May Be at Higher Risk of Persistent and Heavier Smoking Later in Adolescence

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by NewsMedical.

Young teen smokers who also vape may be at heightened risk of persistent and heavier smoking in their late teens, reveal the combined findings of two nationally representative UK and US studies, published online in the journal Tobacco Control.

Despite national differences in e-cigarette regulation and marketing between the two countries, the findings suggest that e-cigarettes may deepen early patterns of smoking, known as the 'entrenchment hypothesis,' conclude the researchers.

The researchers drew on 1893 early teen smokers from two large, nationally representative cohort studies in the UK and USA:  the UK Millennium Cohort Study (1090); and the US Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study (803).

Participants in these studies were regularly surveyed about their use of vapes and how often they smoked conventional cigarettes up to the age of 17.

Among the UK early teen smokers, 57% said they also vaped. The equivalent figure for the US early teen smokers was 58%.

By their late teens, those who had concurrently vaped while smoking in their early teens were more likely to continue smoking.

Among UK participants, 61% of early vapers were smoking in their late teens compared with 50% of non-vapers. The equivalent figures for the US participants were 42% and 24%.

The odds of continuing to smoke in their late teens among early teen concurrent vapers were 45% higher than they were for non-vapers in the US and 119% higher than they were for non-vapers in the UK.

And by their late teens, frequent smoking—defined as more than 6 cigarettes/week or at least 27/month—was almost twice as common among UK early vapers (37%) as it was among non-vapers (23%).

Similarly, frequent smoking was nearly 3 times as common among US early teen vapers (20%) than it was among non-vapers (7%).

Overall, the odds of frequent smoking versus not smoking in their late teens were twice as high among the early concurrent vapers than they were among those who hadn't vaped in their early teens in the UK.

Source: NewsMedical
https://www.news-medical.net/news/20230419/Early-teen-vapers-may-be-at-higher-risk-of-persistent-and-heavier-smoking-later-in-adolescence.aspx

COVID-19 Pandemic Saw Major Increase in Children and Adolescents Attempting Suicide by Poison

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by MedicalXpress.

The rate of suspected suicide attempts by poisoning among children and adolescents ages 10-19 reported to U.S. poison centers increased 30% during 2021—the COVID-19 pandemic's first full year—compared with 2019, a new University of Virginia Health study has found.

The researchers published their findings in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

The rate of suspected suicide attempts by poisoning among children ages 10-12 increased 73% during 2021 compared with 2019. Among adolescents ages 13-15, the rate of suspected suicide attempts by poisoning in 2021 increased 48.8% over 2019. The rate of suspected suicide attempts by poisoning among females ages 10-19 increased 36.8% in 2021 over 2019.

The findings are based on a review of cases reported to the National Poison Data System by U.S. poison centers as "intentional suspected suicide," which encompasses both suspected suicide attempts and intentional self-harm. Girls accounted for 81.2% of the suspected suicide attempts among adolescents ages 10-19 in 2021, compared with 77% in 2019. These increases in suspected suicides occurred while overall calls to the nation's poison centers decreased 3.1% from 2019 to 2021.

"This significant increase in suicide attempts during the pandemic surprised us," said Christopher Holstege, MD, medical director of the Blue Ridge Poison Center at UVA Health and chief of the Division of Medical Toxicology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. "We are alarmed at the dramatic increase in suicide attempts in such a young population, which continues to escalate according to our data."

The two most common substances involved in the reported suicide attempts were acetaminophen and ibuprofen, two commonly available, over-the-counter pain relievers.

Source: MedicalXpress
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-covid-pandemic-major-children-adolescents.html

School Prevalence of Stimulant Therapy for ADHD Associated with Higher Rates of Misuse Among Teens

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by MedicalXpress.

Researchers have identified a strong association between prevalence of prescription stimulant therapy for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and rates of prescription stimulant misuse (taken in a way other than as directed by a clinician) by students in middle and high schools.

The study, which appeared in JAMA Network Open, highlights the need for assessments and education in schools and communities to prevent medication-sharing among teens. This is especially important considering non-medical use of prescription stimulants among teens remains more prevalent than misuse of any other prescription drug, including opioids and benzodiazepines.

Supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) at the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the study used data collected between 2005 and 2020 by the Monitoring the Future (MTF) study.

"The drug supply has rapidly changed, and what looks like medications—bought online or shared among friends or family members—can contain fentanyl or other potent illicit substances that can result in overdoses. It's important to raise awareness of these new risks for teens," said NIDA Director Nora Volkow, M.D.

Researchers at the University of Michigan examined both school- and individual-level characteristics associated with prescription stimulant misuse. Across 231,141 student participants surveyed at 3,284 secondary schools, the school-level prevalence of nonmedical use varied from 0% to over 25% of students. Schools with a greater number of students (12% or higher) reporting prescription stimulant therapy for ADHD tended to have the highest percentages of their student body reporting prescription stimulant misuse (8% of total student body). By comparison, schools with fewer students (0 to 6% of student body) reporting stimulant therapy for ADHD were associated with lower rates of prescription stimulant misuse (4 to 5% of student body).

"The key takeaway here is not that we need to lessen prescribing of stimulants for students who need them, but that we need better ways to store, monitor, and screen for stimulant access and use among youth to prevent misuse," said study author Sean Esteban McCabe, Ph.D.

Source: MedicalXpress
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-school-prevalence-therapy-adhd-higher.html

Driving on Less Than 5 Hours Sleep Is as Risky as Driving Drunk

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by ScienceAlert.

A new study published in Nature and Science of Sleep has found if you had less than five hours of sleep last night, you are just as likely to have a vehicle crash as if you were over the legal limit for alcohol.

About 20 percent of all vehicle crashes are caused by fatigue. Over the past 20 years, the number of crashes caused by alcohol has decreased significantly. However, there has been little progress over this period in decreasing the number of crashes caused by fatigue. The study sought to find whether the number of fatigue-related crashes on Australian roads could be reduced by following a strategy similar to the established practice of setting a blood-alcohol limit for drinking and driving . Could it be possible to determine a point at which a driver could be deemed to be impaired due to fatigue?

After synthesizing the findings of 61 unique studies, the research team found having less than 4 to 5 hours of sleep in the previous 24 hours is associated with an approximate doubling of the risk of a vehicle crash. This is the same risk of a crash seen when drivers have a blood alcohol concentration of 0.05 percent.

Additionally, a driver's risk of a crash significantly increased with each hour of sleep lost the night before. Some studies even suggested that when a driver had between zero and 4 hours of sleep the previous night, they may be up to 15 times more likely to have a crash.

The review of studies suggests that based on scientific evidence, it may be reasonable to require drivers to have a certain amount of sleep before getting behind the wheel. The research team suggested requiring a minimum of four to five hours of sleep prior to driving may be appropriate.

Source: ScienceAlert
https://www.sciencealert.com/driving-on-less-than-5-hours-sleep-is-as-risky-as-driving-drunk

Rate of Kids Hospitalized in Mental Health Crisis Keeps Rising

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by HealthDay.

Children with mental health problems are flooding America's hospitals.

A new study of 4.8 million pediatric hospitalizations between 2009 and 2019 found that the number of acute care hospitalizations for kids with mental health problems increased significantly. In 2019, most were due to attempted suicides, suicidal thoughts, or self-injury, researchers said.

"What we're seeing are more and more hospital stays by children and adolescents due to mental health concerns in terms of absolute numbers, and a substantially larger fraction of these stays are related to suicide or self-injury," said study leader Mary Arakelyan, research project manager at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H.

The study found that pediatric mental health hospitalizations rose 26% between 2009 and 2019.

And, over that same period, those owing to attempted suicide, suicidal thought, or self-injury increased from 31% to 64%.

Senior researcher Dr. JoAnna Leyenaar, vice chair of research in the pediatric department at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, said kids with mental health issues go to hospitals because they have nowhere else to turn.

The hospitalizations are a marker of the increasing prevalence and severity of mental health conditions in kids, Leyenaar said.

The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/mental-health-for-kids-2659647939.html