EDITORIAL article Front. Psychol., 18 August 2021 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.713107

Recent scholarship has been divided on whether an observed increase in suicides in the United States among teenagers and preteens (12-18) can be attributed to an increased use in social screen media beginning in 2009. If these concerns are accurate effect sizes for the relationship between screen use and suicide should increase over the 16 years since 2001. The current study used the Florida Youth Risk Behavior Survey data (n = 45,992) from 2001 to 2017, to track effect sizes for screen/depression correlations, controlling for age and gender. A second dataset from the UK Understanding Society dataset (ns for each wave ranged between 3,536 and 4,850) was used to study associations between time spent on social media and emotional problems. Metaregression was be used to examine whether effect sizes increase across time. Results generally did not support the hypothesis that effect sizes between screen and social media use are increasing over time. Aside from the trends over time, for any given year, most effect sizes were below the r = .10 threshold used for interpretation with the exception of computer use which was just at that threshold. It is concluded that screens and social media use are unlikely to bear major responsibility for youth suicide trends. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76S7cxiaU88.

It is not uncommon for the general public to hear from scholars and advocates that images of thin women in the media are linked to body dissatisfaction and eating disorders among women viewers. However, does the evidence base support such claims? A review of the literature suggests that public claims about media effects in this realm are often misleading and considerable evidence exists to warrant caution in claiming causal effects. Relationships between thin models in media and women’s body satisfaction are likely nuanced and complex, but there does not appear to be evidence that western media caused an epidemic of eating disorders in western countries. Regarding body dissatisfaction, media appears to have little influence on most women but for a small number it may remind them of their body dissatisfaction, although it is unlikely that media caused this body dissatisfaction in the first place. S C I E N T I F I C A B S T R A C T That media thinness (media depicting unrealistically thin actresses or models) contributes to female body dissatisfaction and, potentially, eating disorders has been often reported as established fact for decades. However, like many fields of psychology, particularly those linked to advocacy efforts, a gulf exists between the rhetoric used by some scholars and advocates, and the actual data available to support such claims. This article will document that the evidentiary base for media thinness effects is neither as consistent nor as high-quality as reported. Consistent methodological issues across many studies have increased the potential for spurious positive findings. Best practice approaches to reduce demand characteristics, ensure careful matching of experimental conditions, and control for other important variables in correlational studies are uncommon. Further, studies that do use best practices tend to return weaker evidence for effects. Although examples of good science in this field do exist, overall it may risk ideological rigidity, wherein advocacy goals are primary over careful examination of data. Suggestions for improvement are offered, along with recommendations that media research consider theories of consumer motivation rather than direct effects of content.

The impact of new media in the lives of youth and adults is often controversial. New media commonly experience periods of moral panic in which fears of their potential harm are exaggerated. This article examines research related to the impact of social media use on the well-being of users. Issues such as online gaming, Facebook Depression, and social media use are considered. Overall, evidence suggests that, while a small number of participants may exhibit pathological use symptoms; social media use has generally integrated into society and does not pose a pressing public health concern.

Politicians and advocacy groups concerned about media effects have often turned toward legislation and other public policy efforts to combat what they feel are pernicious public health concerns. This chapter details efforts to curtail, regulate, or censor media, particularly in industrialized democratic nations which have to balance such efforts against free speech concerns. In many cases, proponents of regulation or censorship distort or exaggerate the evidence for media effects to promote an atmosphere of fear conducive to support of legislation. However, across the twentieth century, the general trend in public policy has gradually favored freedom of speech and become increasingly critical of arguments for media effects. These issues and trends are discussed within this chapter.

Controversial therapies to convert gay people are hateful and dangerous, but banning them won't help one bit, says Christopher J. Ferguson

ObjectiveUnderstanding youth violence remains a pressing issue of social concern. Identifying key risk factors for youth violence may help guide prevention and intervention efforts.AimsTo examine the relative impact of varying social influences related to family, community, mental health, television and video games on youth violence in a multivariate format.Study designThe current study involved a one-year prospective study of multiple risk and protective factors for youth violence in a Hispanic-majority sample of early adolescents. Multiple regression was used to examine risk factors from a multivariate format.ResultsResults find that current depression level was the most significant risk factor for youth violence. The influence of depression was most pronounced in individuals with preexisting antisocial personality traits. Risk and protective factors related to schools, neighborhoods, family environment or video game or television violence use were not predictive of youth violence.ConclusionsPotentially, prevention efforts which focus on mental health issues may demonstrate the most positive effects. The degree of resources and rhetoric spent on other factors, particularly television and video game violence may conversely proove unhelpful in reducing youth violence.

Chain transfer to polymer (CTP) in conventional free-radical polymerizations (FRPs) and controlled radical polymerizations (ATRP, RAFT and NMP) of n-butyl acrylate (BA) has been investigated using C-13 NMR measurements of branching in the poly(n-butyl acrylate) produced. The mol-% branches are reduced significantly in the controlled radical polymerizations as compared to conventional FRPs. Several possible explanations for this observation are discussed critically and all except one refuted. The observations are explained in terms of differences in the concentration of highly reactive short-chain radicals which can be expected to undergo both intra- and inter-molecular CTP at much higher rates than long-chain radicals. In conventional FRP, the distribution of radical concentrations is broad and there always is present a significant proportion of short-chain radicals, whereas in controlled radical polymerizations, the distribution is narrow with only a small proportion of short-chain radicals which diminishes as the living chains grow. Hence, irrespective of the type of control, controlled radical polymerizations give rise to lower levels of branching, when performed under otherwise similar conditions to conventional FRP. Similar observations are expected for other acrylates and monomers that undergo chain transfer to polymer during radical polymerization.

Controlled radical polymerization using RAFT has the potential to make polymers with virtually any desired molecular architecture. For this to be implemented on an industrial scale, it must be performed by polymerization in disperse media. However, simply adding a RAFT agent to a conventional emulsion polymerization recipe leads to a loss of molecular weight control and formation of coagulum, probably because of nucleation in droplets, which is normally an unlikely phenomenon in emulsion polymerizations. Recently, a method has been devised for implementing RAFT in ab initio emulsion polymerization that avoids droplets in the particle formation stage. The molecular weight distribution of the polymer thus formed shows that molecular weight control is maintained throughout the polymerization. A model is developed to predict the particle size formed in this new type of emulsion polymerization. The new methodology enables synthesis of novel dispersions where molecular architecture can be precisely controlled, such as structured core-shell particles.