Adolescents News and Research

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Depression shapes how children pay attention to emotional faces

A smile. A frown. The faces a child pays closer attention to might offer invaluable insight into their mental health.

16 Jun 2026

Study shows branding on cannabis products appeals to youth

Unlike cigarettes or alcohol, cannabis products often come packaged as colorful gummies, chocolates, candies and snacks that can look remarkably similar to items found in a grocery store aisle.

16 Jun 2026

Persistent anxiety and depression may delay emotional maturity into midlife

A long-running Australian cohort study found that personality traits generally matured from early to middle adulthood, with agreeableness and conscientiousness rising and extraversion, openness, and neuroticism declining. People with persistent common mental disorders showed the clearest decline in neuroticism by midlife, but they still had higher emotional instability than peers without persistent mental health difficulties.

15 Jun 2026

New EHR-based marker flags transplant patients at high risk for organ rejection

A new multicenter study led by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai suggests that a novel electronic health record-based marker can help clinicians identify transplant patients at high risk for organ rejection due to not taking their medications as prescribed-and intervene before the rejection happens.

15 Jun 2026

Puerto Rico sees sharp rise in adolescent type 1 diabetes

The incidence of type 1 diabetes among teens in Puerto Rico more than doubled from 2009 to 2021 and remained elevated through 2024, with an average annual increase of 4.1 percent, according to a study being presented Saturday at ENDO 2026, the Endocrine Society's annual meeting in Chicago, Ill.

14 Jun 2026

High social media use increases mental health risks for adolescents

Adolescents who spend at least two hours a day on social media are more likely to experience depressive symptoms and poorer wellbeing, with the strongest effects in early adolescence, according to new research.

11 Jun 2026

Teenage risk-taking linked to lower baseline dopamine levels

Teenage risk-taking, such as experimentation with alcohol, cannabis, nicotine and other substances, may reflect a compensatory response to lower baseline dopamine, the brain chemical for reward activity, suggests a new University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine study, published today in Nature Communications.

11 Jun 2026

Physical punishment linked to detrimental childhood outcomes, UCL researchers warn

Hitting children (often referred to as smacking) by parents or caregivers as a form of punishment is linked to behavioral problems and worse exam results and should be prohibited in England and Northern Ireland as soon as possible, UCL researchers say.

11 Jun 2026

European study connects youth mental health to economic parity

Xabi Martinez-Mendia, a researcher at the EHU-University of the Basque Country, has analysed how adolescent psychotropic drug consumption is linked to gender inequality and economic factors in 32 European countries.

10 Jun 2026

Study finds indoor cats do not trigger child asthma flares

Asthma is the most common chronic disease and one of the main causes of hospitalization among children. The Global Asthma Network has estimated that its global prevalence is 9.1% for children and 11.0% for adolescents, but this percentage varies greatly between countries, regions, and environments.

10 Jun 2026

Injectable semaglutide may improve fertility outcomes in PMOS

Researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz have published a proof-of-concept study in Fertility and Sterility demonstrating that injectable semaglutide may offer meaningful reproductive benefits for women with polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS), formerly known as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

9 Jun 2026

New clinical guidelines target interconnected heart, kidney and metabolic risks

The American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology, along with two other leading medical organizations have developed the first-ever guideline aimed at preventing and managing cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic (CKM) syndrome, an interconnected set of health conditions that significantly increase the risk of multiorgan complications and negative cardiovascular outcomes.

9 Jun 2026

Active β-catenin promotes aggressive spread of childhood bone cancer

A new research paper was recently published in Volume 17 of Genes & Cancer, titled "Active Beta-Catenin (ABC) promotes an invasive phenotype in pediatric osteosarcoma."

9 Jun 2026

New project launches to advance chikungunya vaccine in Africa

Funded by the Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking, a new €15.3 million project coordinated by Institut Pasteur brings together seven partners across four continents to advance clinical trials and prepare for the manufacturing of a chikungunya vaccine in Africa.

8 Jun 2026

Expert review examines widely-held beliefs about dietary protein needs and benefits

A newly published peer-reviewed paper in Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition synthesizes findings from a February 2025 scientific workshop.

8 Jun 2026

Study links pre-bedtime smartphone use to longer teen late nights

A new study to be presented at the SLEEP 2026 annual meeting found that on evenings when adolescents used their smartphone before bedtime more than their own usual, they used their smartphone for longer later that same night, compared with nights when they used their phones less before bedtime.

5 Jun 2026

Global decline in child mortality slowed down significantly since 2015

Global progress in reducing preventable deaths among newborn babies, children, and adolescents has slowed substantially since 2015, and many countries risk missing international child survival targets by 2030, find a series of papers published by The BMJ today.

4 Jun 2026

Constipation may be tied to more than discomfort

Constipation was associated with approximately twofold higher odds of depression in a meta-analysis of 18 observational studies involving 730,263 participants. The findings support integrated gastrointestinal and mental health assessment, especially for adolescents and young adults, while emphasizing that causality cannot yet be established.

3 Jun 2026

The best foods for brain health may change as you age

Investigating brain foods, this review highlights dietary influences on cognition and neurodevelopment, while addressing significant gaps in current research.

3 Jun 2026

TikTok promotes a thriving illicit vaping culture among young people

TikTok videos glamorizing illicit vaping highlight challenges in public health communication, as youth engage more with social media than educational resources.

3 Jun 2026