Adolescents News and Research

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Cat training program benefits children with developmental disabilities

A cat-training program for children with developmental disabilities fostered healthy child behaviors, strengthened relationships between children and their family cats and improved cats' social behavior, a new study found.

4 Aug 2026

Large US trial supports silver diamine fluoride for severe early childhood caries

A phase 3 randomized trial of 830 young children with severe early childhood caries found that 38% silver diamine fluoride arrested 54.0% of eligible cavitated dentin lesions at six months, compared with 22.5% after placebo. The noninvasive treatment showed clinically meaningful efficacy, but about half of the lesions remained active, supporting close monitoring and additional preventive care.

3 Aug 2026

Five large corporations dominate Medicaid mental health care for adolescents

The United States is in the middle of a well-documented adolescent mental health crisis. Because Medicaid provides medical coverage for roughly half of all children in the country, the program has an essential role in responding to that crisis.

3 Aug 2026

The everyday habits linked to better grades in teenagers

Researchers found that regular meals, Mediterranean diet adherence, sufficient sleep, and limited television viewing were independently associated with better grades among 974 adolescents. Meeting more healthy lifestyle recommendations was consistently associated with stronger performance across first, second, and third languages.

29 Jul 2026

Study links adolescent digital use to specific psychosocial profiles

A study led by Dr. Zeynep Seda Albayrak from Koç University identified three distinct psychosocial profiles among 158 adolescents receiving psychiatric outpatient care, each associated with different patterns of digital technology use.

28 Jul 2026

Parenthood impacts women's health more than men's health

According to OPIK, the research group of the EHU-University of the Basque Country, the arrival of children is associated with changes in women's health that are not observed in men's health.

28 Jul 2026

New survey reveals high mobile food delivery use among teens

Nearly one-quarter of teens reported using mobile food delivery services during school hours and almost half said they use them after school, according to a national survey of over 1,000 U.S. adolescents.

27 Jul 2026

Primary care practices successfully deliver family-based childhood obesity treatment

Childhood obesity affects one in five children in the U.S., yet most families have limited access to specialized weight-management programs for children.

27 Jul 2026

Stuffed toys can release short-chain PFAS into saliva, study finds

Researchers tested 18 stuffed toys and found that all released at least one targeted PFAS into artificial saliva under mouthing-relevant conditions, with PFHxA driving much of the variation between products. Modeled intake of the four PFAS covered by EFSA’s group tolerable weekly intake remained below that benchmark, but some high-PFHxA toys had reduced margins of exposure, and water rinsing produced mixed results.

22 Jul 2026

Dietary emissions vary substantially across different stages of life

A new international study published in Nature Food reveals that age plays an important but often overlooked role in shaping global food-related greenhouse gas emissions.

22 Jul 2026

Childhood ultra-processed food intake associates with altered insulin responses

Researchers analyzed dietary and metabolic data from 508 nondiabetic Mexican American children in the SAFARI family cohort, finding that higher ultra-processed food scores were associated with lower insulin sensitivity and altered early insulin secretion measures. The exploratory cross-sectional study did not establish causality, and its multiple comparisons, historical dietary data, and questionnaire-based UPF estimates warrant confirmation in longitudinal studies and trials.

21 Jul 2026

Copper isotope shows promise for early childhood anemia detection

The rising incidence of anemia and overweight has been identified as a serious public health problem worldwide, especially among children and adolescents.

21 Jul 2026

Dexamphetamine and methylphenidate work similarly for ADHD but differ in weight effects

A head-to-head trial of ADHD treatments finds dexamphetamine and methylphenidate equally effective, with notable differences in weight management over time.

17 Jul 2026

Online harassment and screen time linked to suicidal thoughts

In the digital age, adolescents and young adults increasingly form social connections through online spaces, including social media, gaming and messaging platforms, which serve as venues for identity exploration, peer connection and emotional validation.

16 Jul 2026

Brain signals explain speech communication differences in autistic children

Why do some children with autism communicate more easily than others, even when they hear the same words?

16 Jul 2026

New body mass index could overcome limitations of BMI

The Consistent Body Mass Index (CBMI) offers a promising alternative to traditional BMI, aligning with waist-to-height ratio for better body size assessment.

16 Jul 2026

Social media restrictions for adolescents require broader systems approach

Amrit Kaur Purba and colleagues argue that social media restrictions operate within a wider system of adolescents, families, schools, governments, and commercial actors - and therefore should be treated as complex systems interventions rather than isolated behavioral policies.

15 Jul 2026

Experts recommend renaming PCOS to better reflect whole-body impacts

A condition affecting approximately 170 million adolescents and women worldwide has a new name – one that better reflects its complexity and far-reaching health impacts.

15 Jul 2026

Low-nicotine cigarettes do not cause increased compensatory smoking

People who switch to cigarettes with dramatically reduced nicotine levels are unlikely to smoke more cigarettes or inhale more smoke to compensate for the lower nicotine content, according to a new study led by researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and published in JAMA Network Open.

15 Jul 2026

Biological markers reveal clinical vulnerability in abused children and adolescents

In children and adolescents who have experienced child abuse, the body appears to remain in a state of alert for too long, and this situation can affect several bodily systems, such as the neuroendocrine, immune and metabolic systems.

14 Jul 2026