Jim Liebelt's Youth Culture Watch

Early College Class Times Can Hurt Students' Grades

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

Early morning college classes can be a prescription for poor attendance and lower grades, a new study suggests.

But starting classes later boosted both, as students got more sleep, were more likely to attend, and were less likely to be groggy, which leads to better grades, researchers reported.

"Early morning classes likely impair learning due to effects on presenteeism -- being in class, but not able to perform at one's best due to sleepiness -- and absenteeism," said lead researcher Joshua Gooley. He's an associate professor in the neuroscience and behavioral disorders department of Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore.

"This is alarming, given that the purpose of formal education is to prepare our students with the knowledge and skills to be successful learners and workers," Gooley said. "Universities should avoid scheduling mandatory early morning classes at 8 a.m. because they are incompatible with optimal sleep health and learning performance.

For the study, Gooley and his colleagues used Wi-Fi connection logs to collect data on nearly 23,400 college students in Singapore to see if early morning classes affected attendance.

They also analyzed data on the day and night patterns of more than 39,400 students to see if early morning classes were linked with waking up earlier and getting less sleep. The researchers then looked at the grades of nearly 34,000 students to see if having early morning classes affected their grade point average.

They found that early classes were tied with lower attendance, as many students slept past these classes. Students who did attend an early class lost about an hour of sleep, the researchers noted. Last but not least, students with morning classes on more days of the week had a lower grade point average.

Their latest report was published recently in the journal Nature Human Behaviour.

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/sleep-school-2659666339.html

Young Adults Living With Their Parents Are Driving a Luxury Boom

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by Yahoo!

In recent years, millennials and Gen Z have chosen to live with their parents instead of leaving the nest, thanks to the groups’ pursuit of higher education and delay of marriage, plus soaring rental costs. Now the two generations are opting to use their new disposable income to purchase high-end luxury items, according to a new report from Morgan Stanley.

And their shopping habits are definitely having an impact: The trend has helped drive sales and increase the appeal of goods such as purses, watches, and jewelry across the luxury industry, according to Bloomberg.

According to recent US Census data, nearly half of young Americans between the ages of 18 to 29 are living with their parents; the highest percentage reached nationwide since 1940—when the country was rebuilding after the decade-long Great Depression.

One of the main reasons millennials and Gen Z are opting to stay put? The two age groups are largely delaying taking the next step in their relationship and having kids to achieve financial security before taking the plunge.

Source: Yahoo!
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/young-adults-living-parents-driving-230000331.html

Fear of Missing Out in College Students Linked to Cheating, Drug Use, Stealing

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

Fear of missing out (FOMO) can influence college students to break both the law and the honor system, new research explains.

Two studies found an association between FOMO among college students and illicit behavior, including illegal drug use and cheating on exams. The term FOMO gained popularity around 2004, with people using it to describe a phenomenon observed on social networking sites.

FOMO includes two processes; firstly, perception of missing out, followed up with a compulsive behavior to maintain these social connections. Researchers from Southern Connecticut State University say that the fear of missing out on rewarding and fun experiences is something most people feel at some point in their lives.

mong college students, however, the degree to which someone experiences FOMO displays a connection to their risk of participating in “maladaptive behaviors.” This includes academic misconduct, substance abuse, and even committing crimes.

For the study, 472 students completed a questionnaire assessing their FOMO levels, history of unethical or illegal behavior while in college, and their individual demographic variables.

Results discovered associations between FOMO and nearly all the bad behaviors examined by the team. Higher levels of FOMO displayed a connection to higher rates of classroom incivility, plagiarism, increased alcohol consumption, drinking at younger ages, as well as increased use of cannabis, stimulants, depressants, and hallucinogens.

High FOMO levels also had a connection to illegal activities, including distributing drugs to others and stealing.

The findings are published in the journal PLoS ONE.

Source: StudyFinds
https://studyfinds.org/fear-of-missing-out-students/

‘Digital Religion’ is Sparking a ‘Spiritual Revolution’ Among Millennials

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

Digital religion is leading to a “spiritual revolution” among many young adults, according to a new study.

Although it may sound like it, this isn’t a worship of technology and social media. Instead, researchers from the University of Waterloo say religious communities are using these tools to reach millennials who are looking to participate in organized religion — without having to attend in-person services.

“We know that more and more people are turning towards digital mediums for spirituality such as chat groups with pastors, online sermons, and religious content on social media,” says Waterloo sociology professor Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme in a university release. “We’ve found that while digital religion isn’t necessarily attracting a lot of new millennials to participate, it is making the experience of those already involved richer.”

During the early months of the pandemic, remote church services allowed many people to continue practicing their faith without having to leave the house. Although the study finds modern technology is making organized religion much more appealing to millennials who are spiritual, the vast majority are not practicing.

While previous studies have examined the role digital technology, social media, and other mediums play in religious services today, Wilkins-Laflamme says this study is the first to look at who actually participates in remote services and how it affects their faith.

The study is published in the Review of Religious Research.

Source: StudyFinds
https://www.studyfinds.org/digital-religion-millennials/

Rising Parental Expectations Linked to Perfectionism in College Students

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

Rising parental expectations and criticism are linked to an increase in perfectionism among college students, which can have damaging mental health consequences, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association.

Researchers analyzed data from more than 20,000 American, Canadian and British college students. They found that young people's perceptions of their parents' expectations and criticism have increased over the past 32 years and are linked to an increase in their perfectionism.

"Perfectionism contributes to many psychological conditions, including depression, anxiety, self-harm and eating disorders," said lead researcher Thomas Curran, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychological and behavioral science at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Study co-author Andrew P. Hill, Ph.D., a professor of sport and exercise psychology at York St John University, added that "the pressure to conform to perfect ideals has never been greater and could be the basis for an impending public health issue."

The first meta-analysis included 21 studies with data from more than 7,000 college students. Parental expectations and criticism had moderate associations with self-oriented and other-oriented perfectionism and a large association with socially prescribed perfectionism.

The second meta-analysis included 84 studies conducted between 1989 and 2021 with a total of 23,975 college students. Parental expectations, criticism, and their combined parental pressure increased during those 32 years, with parental expectations increasing at the fastest rate by far.

"These trends may help explain increasing mental health issues in young people and suggest this problem will only worsen in the future," Hill said. "It's normal for parents to be anxious about their children, but increasingly this anxiety is being interpreted as pressure to be perfect."

Source: MedicalXpress
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-03-parental-linked-perfectionism-college-students.html

Almost 1 in Every 3 College-Age Americans Are Now Obese

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

It's probably fair to say that most people know of the so-called "Freshman 15" — the weight that college students are often said to gain when they're away from home for the first time.

But in recent decades, matters have gotten much worse in the United States. A new study using national data for people aged 18 to 25 found that while the prevalence of obesity was just over 6% in 1976 to 1980, it neared 33% by 2017 to 2018.

"We know that these are the trends that we've seen in children, adults, all age groups, but we were a little bit surprised by the magnitude of the increase," said study author Dr. Alejandra Ellison-Barnes. She is an assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in Baltimore.

"We don't know if it's significantly higher than in children because we didn't conduct that analysis, but it seems to be higher. And we were surprised that the mean BMI [body mass index] in this age group is now in the overweight range," Ellison-Barnes said.

While it's not news that experts are concerned about obesity across most age groups, finding solutions for this age group might offer a huge public health opportunity, the researchers suggested.

The study concluded that this age group may be a key target for preventing obesity, given that habits formed during this period often persist throughout a lifetime.

The study included data on just over 8,000 emerging adults from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. A study limitation was that it included only non-Hispanic white and non-Hispanic Black participants.

The findings were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/11-24-almost-1-in-every-3-college-age-americans-now-obese-2655764471.html

Grow up! Most Americans Don’t Start ‘Adulting’ Until Their 30s

*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on StudyFinds.

When do adults really become adults and begin making responsible decisions to ensure a comfortable future? It turns out half of Americans don’t even start saving up for a home until they’re at least 30 years old, according to new research.

A survey polled 2,000 Americans about all the parts of life that make them feel old. Researchers discovered that the top sign which signaled they were an adult was when respondents finally had to think about saving money (35%).

Other top “adulting” signs include filing their taxes (32%), signing up for life insurance (29%), and sticking to a budget (29%). Nearly three in five (58%) are afraid of taking on “adulting” tasks before living on their own and a similar number wish they were better prepared to take on these responsibilities (56%).

Conducted by OnePoll and commissioned by Fabric, the survey also finds more than half of Americans (51%) feel like they’re off track of where they should be in life. In fact, 39 percent feel like they’re being left in the dust by friends.

On average, people think others should start feeling like an adult at age 25, although 30 percent didn’t start feeling like an adult themselves until later on. People start getting excited about small adult life joys like buying a vacuum or organizing their cabinets at around 22 years old.

Still, half of Americans (51%) rely on elders in their lives to help answer questions they have about “adulting” including paying taxes, a mortgage, or taking out life insurance.

Source: StudyFinds
https://www.studyfinds.org/adulting-saving-money-taxes/

Young Adults Who Spend 5+ Hours Daily on Social Media Much More Likely to be Depressed

*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on Study Finds.

For children and young adults alike, it can sometimes seem like their smartphones are a part of their bodies. While younger people aren’t the only ones who can develop an addiction to surfing social media all day, a new study finds it can have a serious impact on their mental health. Researchers at the University of Arkansas say the more minutes young adults spend on social media, the more likely they are to suffer from depression.

Specifically, the study finds young adults who spend over 300 minutes (five hours) a day on social media are nearly three times more likely to suffer from depression than those who spend less than 120 minutes (two hours) online each day. Researchers believe obsessions with platforms like Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, Snapchat, and Facebook are quickly replacing of forming real-world friendships and achieving goals.

Study authors also think teens are comparing themselves to “photoshopped” perfect lifestyles they see online, which are impossible to obtain in reality. This makes them feel worthless in comparison to these images.

In the first large study to show a link between social media use and depression, researchers fear the COVID-19 pandemic will only increase internet use and worsen mental health problems. Study authors examined more than 1,000 Americans between the ages of 18 and 30, measuring levels of depression and their use of social media.

The results reveal young adults using social media more than five hours per day are 2.8 times more likely to become depressed within six months. This is compared to their peers who browse these platforms under two hours per day.

 

The findings appear in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Source: StudyFinds
https://www.studyfinds.org/young-adults-five-hours-social-media-depression/

A Majority of Young Adults in the U.S. Live with Their Parents for the First Time Since the Great Depression

*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on Pew Research Center.

The coronavirus outbreak has pushed millions of Americans, especially young adults, to move in with family members. The share of 18- to 29-year-olds living with their parents has become a majority since U.S. coronavirus cases began spreading early this year, surpassing the previous peak during the Great Depression era.

In July, 52% of young adults resided with one or both of their parents, up from 47% in February, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of monthly Census Bureau data. The number living with parents grew to 26.6 million, an increase of 2.6 million from February. The number and share of young adults living with their parents grew across the board for all major racial and ethnic groups, men and women, and metropolitan and rural residents, as well as in all four main census regions. Growth was sharpest for the youngest adults (ages 18 to 24) and for White young adults.

The share of young adults living with their parents is higher than in any previous measurement (based on current surveys and decennial censuses). Before 2020, the highest measured value was in the 1940 census at the end of the Great Depression, when 48% of young adults lived with their parents. The peak may have been higher during the worst of the Great Depression in the 1930s, but there is no data for that period.

Among all adults who moved due to the pandemic, 23% said the most important reason was because their college campus had closed, and 18% said it was due to job loss or other financial reasons.

Source: Pew Research Center
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/09/04/a-majority-of-young-adults-in-the-u-s-live-with-their-parents-for-the-first-time-since-the-great-depression/

Looks Like Guys Are More Prone to Pack on the 'Freshman 15'

*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on HealthDay.

When a high school senior becomes a university freshman, change is the name of the game. A new school. New friendships. Even new ways of eating.

As healthy, home-cooked meals give way to a campus diet of beer and pizza, student waistlines tend to expand. But new research shows it is the waistlines of boys that expand the most.

"Males and females display different patterns of body weight and body composition changes during first-year university," explained study author Andrea Josse.

How different? Poll results revealed that girls gained an average of about 4 pounds during their first year at university, said Josse, an assistant professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Sciences at York University in Toronto.

But among the male first-year students, weight gains roughly doubled that, hitting an average of about 8 pounds, she said.

Freshman boys also saw bigger increases in terms of waist size and overall fat mass than girls, Josse added.

And while boys also packed on more lean body mass than girls during their first year at college, in the end they were more likely to end up becoming overweight than girls, the researchers found.

Why? Josse pointed to changing alcohol habits as a possible culprit, noting that while drinking went up across the spectrum, it went up more among boys.

Male students "displayed greater reductions in vegetable intake and greater increases in donuts/cakes, fried chicken, beer and liquor, compared to females," said Josse.

The study included 301 first-year students (229 females and 72 males), aged 17 to 20, who completed the freshman diet survey. Nearly three-quarters lived in a campus residence, while roughly one-quarter lived at home.

Two polls were conducted -- one between 2014 and 2015, and one between 2015 and 2016. Each poll was administered at the start of the first year and again towards the end.

All participants underwent body composition testing to assess overall body weight, body fat percentage and lean body mass.

The investigators found that total caloric intake did not change much over the course of the students' first year at school.

However, food quality did decline, while alcohol consumption increased, particularly among boys.

And while boys and girls both gained weight, male waistlines expanded much more.

For example, freshman girls saw their body mass index (BMI) -- a standard measurement of body fat -- rise on average from 22.6 to 23.3. That still kept most girls "within the normal weight category," said Josse.

In contrast, freshman males saw their BMI rise from 23.9 to 25.1. That change ended up "putting them into the 'overweight' category," particularly given that the students did not experience height changes over the course of the year, she explained.

The findings were published in the journal PLOS ONE.

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/kids-health-information-23/adolescents-and-teen-health-news-719/looks-like-guys-are-more-prone-to-pack-on-the-freshman-15-748049.html