Posts

Five Ways to Improve How We Measure Young People’s Well-Being

By Kathryn L.S. Pettit, Hannah Daly, and Amelia Coffey, Reprinted from the Urban Institute Young people need resources and support to thrive both during adolescence and into adulthood. To work toward this, we need to be able to measure, track, and determine indicators that represent all aspects of well-being. Policymakers, funders, researchers, advocates, and practitioners […]

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Outcomes Are Declining Despite Continued Improvements in Well-being Indicators

By Nathaniel W. Anderson, Frederick J. Zimmerman, Anna J. Markowitz, Neal Halfon, Daniel Eisenberg, and Kristin Anderson Moore, Reprinted from Child Trends Anderson, N.W., Zimmerman, F.J., Markowitz, A.J., Halfon, N., Eisenberg, D., & Moore, K.A. (2023). Child and adolescent mental health outcomes are declining despite continued improvement in well-being indicators. Child Trends. https://doi.org/10.56417/3158p5450w Recent trends […]

Q&A with Nancy Deutsch: Social Media’s Impact on Teens Can Be Both Good and Bad

By Audrey Breen, Reprinted from UVA Today U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy recently released an advisory warning of the “profound risk of harm” social media use can have on adolescents, in hopes of calling attention to “significant public health challenges” that he feels need urgent attention and action. The report focuses on the […]

Teen Girls Are Faring Worse Than Boys on Nearly All Mental Health Measures—Here’s Why

By Anita Slomski, Reprinted from JAMA Network Child and reproductive psychiatrist Misty Richards, MD, MS, puts it bluntly: “Our teen girls are not okay.” The program director for UCLA’s Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship recently cared for a girl who attempted suicide after receiving a college rejection letter. “Her self-worth was measured in achievement and […]

It’s going to help me in life”: Forms, sources, and functions of social support for youth in natural mentoring relationships

Varga, S. M., Yu, M. V. B., Johnson, H. E., & Deutsch, N. L. (2023). “It’s going to help me in life”:  Forms, sources, and functions of social support for youth in natural mentoring relationships. Journal of Community Psychology.  https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.23045 Summarized by Ariel Ervin Notes of Interest: Research shows that social support is linked to psychological […]

Large new study highlights inequality in access to important adults.

Hagler, M. A., & Poon, C. Y. S. (2023). Contextual antecedents and well-being indicators associated with children’s and adolescents’ access to supportive nonparent adults. Journal of Community Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.23016 Summarized by Ariel Ervin Notes of Interest: Evidence indicates that having supportive non-parent adults (SNPAs) correlates with a myriad of positive youth outcomes. Research shows that longer-lasting and […]

Commentary on CDC Report Finds Alarming Levels of Mental Health Symptoms in High School Students

By Alexandra Werntz, Ph.D. On February 13, 2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  results of a survey conducted with American high school students in the fall of 2021. According to the data, the kids are not alright.   More specifically, the report highlights three major takeaways:  “New CDC report raises urgency to invest in […]

Teen Girls Report Record Levels of Sadness, C.D.C. Finds

  By Azeen Ghorayshi and Roni Caryn Rabin, Reprinted from The New York Times Nearly three in five teenage girls felt persistent sadness in 2021, double the rate of boys, and one in three girls seriously considered attempting suicide, according to data released on Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The findings, […]

“We Make a Life by What We Give”: The Impact of a High School Mentoring Program on the Perceptions and Academic Achievement of Black Males.

Ross, B. R.(2022). “We Make a Life by What We Give”: The Impact of a High School Mentoring Program on the Perceptions and Academic Achievement of Black Males. (Doctoral Dissertation, University of South Carolina). Scholar Commons. Summarized by Ariel Ervin Notes of Interest:  There is a shortage of support from interventions (e.g., mentoring) that foster post-secondary planning […]

Dismantling stereotypes: How adolescence can be reframed?

Telzer, E. H., Dai, J., Capella, J. J., Sobrino, M., & Garrett, S. L. (2022). Challenging stereotypes of teens: Reframing adolescence as window of opportunity. American Psychologist, 77(9), 1067–1081. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0001109 Summarized by Ariel Ervin Notes of Interest:  Adolescents are associated with stereotypes that negatively affect their behaviors and self-concept. For example, many people believe they are self-centered, […]