1. Like this meta-analysis: Screen media and mental health
Ferguson, C. J., et al.
This meta-analysis in Professional Psychology: Research and Practice (Vol. 53, No. 2)opens in new window suggests that exposure to screen time, including smartphones and social media, is not linked to mental health issues in adults or children. Researchers analyzed 37 data sets from 33 separate studies published between 2015 and 2019. They found no evidence that screen media contributes to suicidal ideation or other negative mental health outcomes. This result was also true when specifically investigating the use of smartphones or social media, and it was not affected by participants’ age or ethnicity. DOI: 10.1037/pro0000426opens in new window
2. Conceptual and design thinking for thematic analysis
Braun, V., & Clarke, V.
Thematic analysis (TA) is a method used in qualitative research to examine themes or patterns of meaning within a data set, with the goal of answering a specific research question. This paper in Qualitative Psychology (Vol. 9, No. 1)opens in new window aims to bolster researchers’ conceptual and design thinking when using TA to produce more methodologically sound results. Useful guidance includes best practices on research questions, data collection, participant/data item selection strategy and criteria, ethics, and quality standards and practices. The authors also outline the three primary approaches to TA: coding reliability, codebook, and reflexive. The first two approaches involve sorting data into pre-identified themes, while in the third, coding precedes theme development, and themes are built from coded data. The article ends with guidance on reporting standards for reflexive TA. DOI: 10.1037/qup0000196opens in new window
3. Doomscrolling during Covid-19: The negative association between daily social and traditional media consumption and mental health symptoms during the Covid-19 pandemic
Price, M., et al.
The Covid-19 pandemic triggered a remarkable rise in doomscrolling, the consumption of an excessive amount of negative news resulting in significant negative affect. This article in Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy (Vol. 14, No. 8)opens in new window indicates that doomscrolling was associated with increased symptoms of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Researchers assessed the psychopathology of 61 participants in the United States and asked them to track depression and PTSD symptoms and pandemic-related media consumption over 30 days in spring 2020. They found that an increase in social media use (but not traditional media use) was associated with more depression and PTSD symptoms, particularly in participants with a history of childhood maltreatment. Additionally, participants with more severe baseline psychopathology consumed more social media during this period. DOI: 10.1037/tra0001202opens in new window
4. A comparison of emotion-focused therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder: Results of a feasibility randomized controlled trial
Timulak, L., et al.
This study in Psychotherapy (Vol. 59, No. 1)opens in new window indicates that emotion-focused therapy (EFT) may be as effective as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in treating generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Researchers randomly assigned 58 participants in Ireland with a GAD diagnosis to 16 to 20 sessions of either EFT or CBT, which were run by eight therapists trained in both therapies. The researchers assessed participants at baseline, week 16, the end of therapy, and 6 months after the end of therapy. Dropout from treatments was 10% for EFT and 27% for CBT. The two therapies showed large pre-to-post changes and similar outcomes across all measures, with the benefits of both lasting through the 6-month follow-up. Overall, the findings suggest that EFT is a potentially promising treatment for GAD, broadening the range of treatment choices available for this condition. DOI: 10.1037/pst0000427opens in new window
5. Looking through a filtered lens: Negative social comparison on social media and suicidal ideation among young adults
Spitzer, E. G., et al.
This study in Psychology of Popular Mediaopens in new window (online first publication) suggests that young adults who feel bad about themselves after comparing themselves with others on social networking sites such as Instagram and Facebook are more likely to contemplate suicide. Researchers surveyed 456 undergraduate students in the United States about their social media use as well as incidents of negative social comparison, suicidal ideation, and thwarted belongingness. They found an association between negative social comparison on social networking sites and suicidal ideation. Furthermore, on Instagram, the relationship between thwarted belongingness and suicidal ideation was stronger among those with high levels of negative social comparison. DOI: 10.1037/ppm0000380opens in new window
6. Associations between young adults’ social media addiction, relationship quality with parents, and internalizing problems: A path analysis model
White-Gosselin, C.-É., & Poulin, F.
Young adults with social media addiction symptoms are more likely to be anxious and depressed and have worse relationships with their parents, indicates this study in the Canadian Journal of Behavioural Scienceopens in new window (online first publication). Researchers asked 435 young adults in Canada with a median age of 19 to report their symptoms of anxiety, depression, and the quality of their relationships with their mothers and fathers (along the dimensions of conflict, satisfaction, and equality). The researchers found that the level of participants’ social media addiction was associated with high conflict, low satisfaction, and low equality with their fathers, and high conflict and low equality with their mothers. Furthermore, social media addiction was linked to symptoms of anxiety and depression. Finally, anxiety and depression exacerbated the negative impacts of social media addiction on conflict, satisfaction, and equality with participants’ mothers, as well as conflict and satisfaction with their fathers. DOI: 10.1037/cbs0000326opens in new window
7. On the outside looking in: Social media intensity, social connection, and user well-being: The moderating role of passive social media use
Roberts, J. A., & David, M. E.
This study in the Canadian Journal of Behavioural Scienceopens in new window (online first publication) suggests that intense social media use is sometimes linked with a weaker sense of social connection and well-being. In the first of three studies with 146 participants in the United States, researchers found that passive engagement (viewing social media but not regularly posting or interacting through the platform) was associated with less social connection and lower well-being. The second study with 80 participants revealed that the interaction between heavy social media use (across 11 social media platforms) and consistently passive use of these platforms was linked with lower perceived social connection and, subsequently, higher stress. In the third study, with 160 participants, the researchers manipulated the amount of social media use (heavy versus light) and type of social media use (passive versus active) and found that heavy social media use had a negative impact on social connection when used passively but a positive effect when used actively. DOI: 10.1037/cbs0000323opens in new window
8. Effects of a statewide pre-kindergarten program on children’s achievement and behavior through sixth grade
Durkin, K., et al.
According to this study in Developmental Psychology (Vol. 58, No. 3)opens in new window, children who attended a state-funded pre-K program were doing worse by the end of sixth grade than peers who did not attend a pre-K program. Researchers randomly assigned 2,990 children from low-income families who applied to pre-K program sites across Tennessee in 2009 and 2010 to an offer of admission or a waiting list control. State education records showed that at the end of their first year, the children who went to pre-K scored higher on school readiness. However, by third grade, the pre-K children had lower math and science test scores than the control group. Moreover, at the end of sixth grade, the pre-K children were doing even worse, with lower math, science, and reading scores. They also were more likely to be in special education and were more likely to be suspended for behavioral issues. DOI: 10.1037/dev0001301opens in new window
9. The role of childhood traumas, interpersonal problems, and contrast avoidance model in development of the generalized anxiety disorder: A structural equation modeling
Shafiei, M., et al.
The contrast avoidance model supposes that people with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) unconsciously worry as a way to sustain a negative emotional state to avoid the discomfort that comes with shifting from positive or neutral states into a negative state. In this study in Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy (Vol. 14, No. 3)opens in new window, researchers surveyed 457 participants in Iran with GAD and found that childhood trauma, interpersonal problems, and contrast avoidance of worry were all related to symptoms of GAD. Interpersonal problems and contrast avoidance of worry were able to directly predict symptoms of GAD. In addition, childhood trauma had an indirect effect on GAD by negatively influencing the relationship between interpersonal problems and contrast avoidance of worry. DOI: 10.1037/tra0001117opens in new window
10. The continuing unfairness of death qualification: Changing death penalty attitudes and capital jury selection
Haney, C., et al.
To serve on a death penalty jury, potential jurors must declare under oath that they are willing to impose the death penalty. This study in Psychology, Public Policy, and Law (Vol. 28, No. 1)opens in new window found numerous biases among such “death qualified” jurors. Researchers conducted in-depth surveys with a total of 1,792 representative individuals eligible for jury service in California, New Hampshire, and Florida. Despite differences in location, demographic makeup, and political ideology, the researchers observed very similar patterns of death-qualification bias. Specifically, they found that individuals whose death penalty attitudes qualified them to serve on a capital jury were more punitive overall, less well-informed about the processes involved in death sentencing, more willing to use aggravating factors to impose the death penalty, less willing to use mitigating factors to impose life in prison without the possibility of parole, and less racially diverse than people who would be unwilling to impose the death penalty. DOI: 10.1037/law0000335opens in new window