Tag: adolescents

Categories : Mental HealthTags :

Psychotic-like Experiences in Teens Linked to Depression, Self-destructiveness

On By ModernMedia
Photo by Inzmam Khan: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-in-black-shirt-and-gray-denim-pants-sitting-on-gray-padded-bench-1134204/

A study by researchers at the University of Helsinki and HUS Helsinki University Hospital found a significant association among adolescents between having psychotic-like experiences and depressive symptoms, as well as with self-destructive behaviours.

Psychotic-like experiences resemble symptoms of psychosis, but are milder, less frequent and much more common than psychotic disorders. While these symptoms do not constitute a disorder diagnosed as psychosis, they can still be disruptive, distressing or detrimental to functional capacity. Typical psychotic-like experiences include perceptual distortions and hallucinations, suspicious paranoid thinking, delusions and bizarre, unusual thoughts.

Psychotic-like experiences are abundant among adolescents referred to care, but are generally considered fairly neutral, with only some of the adolescents reporting them as frightening, worrisome or harmful. In the study, published in the journal Psychosis, the correlation between psychotic-like experiences and depressive symptoms turned out to be strong. This link was not explained by connections between individual psychotic-like experiences and depressive symptoms, but by factors that more broadly measure paranoia and unusual thoughts. In addition to depressive symptoms, paranoid thoughts and unusual thought content were also associated with self-destructive thinking.

Making questions about psychotic-like experiences part of care

The findings show that psychotic-like experiences should be systematically surveyed in all adolescents seeking psychiatric care. It should also be assessed how frightening, worrisome or harmful they are considered to be. Particularly in the case of responses emphasising bizarre thinking and exaggerated suspiciousness, attention should also be paid to assessing mood and self-destructive thinking, as these factors can remain hidden without further enquiry.

“Our findings provide a clear recommendation for treatment practices: psychotic-like experiences should be assessed as part of routine procedures, but it is also important to determine how they are perceived. These phenomena cannot be uncovered unless separately and systematically asked,” says the principal investigator, Docent Niklas Granö.

It should be clearly explained to adolescents and their families that these symptoms are common and often manageable. In addition, applications of cognitive psychotherapy, even brief interventions, can help adolescents understand their symptoms and alleviate the strain they cause.

Source: University of Helsinki

Categories : Cardiovascular Disease PaediatricsTags :

Adequate Sleep Significantly Reduces Hypertension Risk in Teens

On By ModernMedia
Photo by Eren Li

Adolescents who meet the recommended guidelines of nine to 11 hours of sleep per day were shown to have a significantly lower risk of hypertension, according to a new study from UTHealth Houston.  

Recently published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, the research revealed that adolescents had a 37% lower risk of developing incidents of high blood pressure by meeting healthy sleep patterns, and underscoring the importance of adequate sleep behaviour. The research further explored the impact of environmental factors potentially impacting sleep.  

“Disrupted sleep can lead to changes in the body’s stress response, including elevated levels of stress hormones like cortisol, which in turn can increase blood pressure,” said first author Augusto César Ferreira De Moraes, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology at UTHealth Houston School of Public Health. 

De Moraes and his team analysed data from 3320 adolescents across the US to investigate incidents of high blood pressure during nighttime sleep cycles. Scientists identified a rise in hypertension incidents over two data periods, 2018-2020 and 2020-2022, showing an increase from 1.7% to 2.9%. The data included blood pressure readings and Fitbit assessments, which measured total sleep time and REM sleep duration at night. The study’s design analysed covariates such as Fitbit-tracked sleep, blood pressure, and neighbourhood noise by residential geocodes, allowing for a thorough examination of environmental noise exposure for each participant. 

Neighbourhood/community noise was not significantly associated with the incidence of hypertension. Environmental factors, such as neighbourhood noise, point to the need for longer-term studies to investigate the relationship between sleep health and hypertension, particularly in relation to socioeconomic status, stress levels, and genetic predispositions. 

The study emphasises the importance of improved sleep behaviours and meeting recommendations. “Consistent sleep schedules, minimising screen time before bed, and creating a calm, quiet sleep environment can all contribute to better sleep quality,” advises Martin Ma, MPH, second author of the study and recent graduate of the school. “Although environmental noise didn’t directly affect hypertension in this study, maintaining a quiet and restful sleep environment is still important for overall well-being.” 

Source: University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

Categories : NeurologyTags :

Cannabis Use in Adolescence has Visible Effects on Brain Structure

On By ModernMedia
Photo by Anna Shvets

Cannabis use may lead to thinning of the cerebral cortex in adolescents according to a recent study.  The study demonstrates that THC – or tetrahydrocannabinol, an active substance in cannabis – causes shrinkage of the dendritic arborisation, neurons’ “network of antennae” whose role is critical for communication between neurons. This results in the atrophy of certain regions of the cerebral cortex – bad news at an age when the brain is maturing.  

The study, led by Graciela Pineyro and Tomas Paus, involved researchers at CHU Sainte-Justine and professors at the Université de Montréal Faculty of Medicine, was published in The Journal of Neuroscience.

“If we take the analogy of the brain as a computer, the neurons would be the central processor, receiving all information via the synapses through the dendritic network,” explains Tomas Paus, who is also a professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at Université de Montréal. “So a decrease in the data input to the central processor by dendrites makes it harder for the brain to learn new things, interact with people, cope with new situations, etc. In other words, it makes the brain more vulnerable to everything that can happen in a young person’s life.”

A multi-level approach to better understand the effect on humans

This project is notable for the complementary, multi-level nature of the methods used. “By analysing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of the brains of a cohort of teenagers, we had already shown that young people who used cannabis before the age of 16 had a thinner cerebral cortex,” explains Tomas Paus. “However, this research method doesn’t allow us to draw any conclusions about causality, or to really understand THC’s effect on the brain cells.”  

Given the limitations of MRI, the introduction of the mouse model by Graciela Pineyro’s team was key. “The model made it possible to demonstrate that THC modifies the expression of certain genes affecting the structure and function of synapses and dendrites,” explains Graciela Pineyro, who is also a professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology at Université de Montréal. “The result is atrophy of the dendritic arborescence that could contribute to the thinning observed in certain regions of the cortex.”  

Interestingly, these genes were also found in humans, particularly in the thinner cortical regions of the cohort adolescents who experimented with cannabis. By combining their distinct research methods, the two teams were thus able to determine with a high degree of certainty that the genes targeted by THC in the mouse model were also associated to the cortical thinning observed in adolescents. 

With cannabis use on the rise among North American youth, and commercial cannabis products containing increasing concentrations of THC, it’s imperative that we improve our understanding of how this substance affects brain maturation and cognition. This successful collaborative study, involving cutting-edge techniques in cellular and molecular biology, imaging and bioinformatics analysis, is a step in the right direction for the development of effective public health measures.

Source: University of Montreal

Categories : Mental Health PaediatricsTags :

Do Videogames Made to Improve Children’s Mental Health Work?

On By ModernMedia
Photo by Igor Karimov on Unsplash

In a review of 27 different studies, a Johns Hopkins Children’s Center team concludes that some video games created as mental health interventions can be helpful – if modest – tools in improving the mental well-being of children and teens with depression and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). They did not significantly help with anxiety, however.

A report on the review of studies from peer-reviewed journals between 2011 and March 20, 2024, was published in JAMA Pediatrics.

An estimated 20% of children and teenagers ages three to 17 in the US have a mental, emotional, developmental or behavioural disorder.

“We found literature that suggests that even doubling the number of paediatric mental health providers still wouldn’t meet the need,” says Barry Bryant, MD, a resident in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and first author of the new study.

In a bid to determine if so-called “gamified digital mental health interventions,” or video games designed to treat mental health conditions, benefited those with anxiety, depression and ADHD, the research team analysed their use in randomised clinical trials for children and adolescents.

Bryant and child and adolescent psychologist Joseph McGuire, PhD, identified 27 such trials from the US and around the world. The studies overall included 2911 participants with about half being boys and half being girls, ages six to 17 years old.

The digital mental health interventions varied in content, but were all created with the intent of treating ADHD, depression and anxiety. For example, for ADHD, some of the games involved racing or splitting attention, which required the user to pay attention to more than one activity to be successful in gameplay. For depression and anxiety, some of the interventions taught psychotherapy-oriented concepts in a game format. All games were conducted on technology platforms, such as computers, tablets, video game consoles and smartphones. The video games are available to users in a variety of ways. Some are available online, while others required access through specific research teams involved in the studies.

The research team’s analysis found that video games designed for patients with ADHD and depression provided a modest reduction (both with an effect size of .28) in symptoms related to ADHD and depression, such as improved ability to sustain attention and decreased sadness, based on participant and family feedback from the studies. (An effect size of .28 is consistent with a smaller effect size, where as in-person interventions often produce moderate [.50] to large [.80] effects.)  By contrast, video games designed for anxiety did not show meaningful benefits (effect size of .07) for reducing anxiety symptoms for participants, based on participant and family feedback.

Researchers also examined factors that led to improved benefit from digital mental health interventions. Specific factors related to video game delivery (i.e., interventions on computers and those with preset time limits) and participants (i.e., studies that involved more boys) were found to positively influence therapeutic effects. Researchers say these findings suggest potential ways to improve upon the current modest symptom benefit.

“While the benefits are still modest, our research shows that we have some novel tools to help improve children’s mental health – particularly for ADHD and depression – that can be relatively accessible to families,” says Joseph McGuire, Ph.D., an author of the study and an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioural sciences in the school of medicine. “So if you are a paediatrician and you’re having trouble getting your paediatric patient into individual mental health care, there could be some gamified mental health interventions that could be nice first steps for children while waiting to start individual therapy.”

The team cautioned that their review did not indicate why certain video game interventions performed better than others. They also note that some of the trials included in the study used reported outcome measures, and the studies did not uniformly examine the same factors which could have influenced the effects of the treatment. Some of the video games included in the studies are not easily accessible to play.

The researchers also noted that while video game addiction and the amount of screen time can be concerns, those children who played the games studied in a structured, time-limited format tended to do best.

Source: Johns Hopkins Medicine

Categories : Obstetrics & GynaecologyTags :

First Menstrual Periods are Arriving Earlier for Younger Generations

On By ModernMedia
Photo by Marta Branco

The average age at menarche, the first menstrual period, has been decreasing among younger generations in the US, especially those belonging to racial minorities and lower socioeconomic statuses, according to a new study led by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. It also found that the average time it takes for the menstrual cycle to become regular is increasing.

The study, published in JAMA Network Open, is the latest publication from the Apple Women’s Health Study, a longitudinal study of menstrual cycles, gynaecological conditions, and overall women’s health conducted by Harvard Chan School, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and Apple.

“Our findings can lead to a better understanding of menstrual health across the lifespan and how our lived environment impacts this critical vital sign,” said co-principal investigator Shruthi Mahalingaiah, assistant professor of environmental, reproductive, and women’s health at Harvard Chan School.

While previous studies have shown trends towards earlier menarche over the past five decades, data has been limited on how these trends present within different racial groups and socioeconomic statuses. Additionally, few studies have had sufficient data to identify any trends regarding time to menstrual cycle regularity.

The researchers used the Apple Women’s Health Study’s large, diverse dataset to fill this research gap. The 71 341 participants who enrolled between November 2018 and March 2023 self-reported the age at which they first began menstruating and their race and socioeconomic status. The researchers divided the participants into five age brackets: born between 1950–1969, 1970–1979, 1980–1989, 1990–1999, and 2000-2005. Ages of menarche were defined as early (younger than 11 years old), very early (younger than 9), and late (ages 16 and above). A subset of participants (61 932) self-reported the time it took for their menstrual cycle to become regular and were divided into five categories: up to two years, between three and four years, longer than five years, hasn’t become regular, or became regular with use of hormones. Another subset (9865) provided their body mass index (BMI) at their age of menarche.

The study found that as birth year increased (meaning younger participants), average age at menarche decreased and time from menarche to menstrual cycle regularity increased. Among participants born from 1950–1969, the average age at menarche was 12.5 years, and the rates of early and very early menarche were 8.6% and 0.6%, respectively. Among participants born from 2000–2005, the average age of menarche was 11.9 years, and the rates of early and very early menarche were 15.5% and 1.4%, respectively. Across the two groups, the percentage of participants who reached menstrual cycle regularity within two years of menarche decreased from 76% to 56%. The researchers observed that these trends were present among all sociodemographic groups but were most pronounced among the participants who identified as Black, Hispanic, Asian, or mixed race, and who rated themselves as belonging to a low socioeconomic status.

The findings showed that BMI at age of menarche could explain part of the trend toward periods starting earlier. Other possible factors that might explain the trend include dietary patterns, psychological stress and adverse childhood experiences, and environmental factors such as endocrine-disrupting chemicals and air pollution.

“Continuing to investigate early menarche and its drivers is critical,” said corresponding author Zifan Wang, postdoctoral research fellow in Harvard Chan School’s Department of Environmental Health. “Early menarche is associated with higher risk of adverse health outcomes, such as cardiovascular disease and cancer. To address these health concerns – which our findings suggest may begin to impact more people, with disproportionate impact on already disadvantaged populations – we need much more investment in menstrual health research.”

The authors noted some limitations to the study, including that it relies heavily on retrospective self-reporting.

Source: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Categories : Neurology PaediatricsTags :

Poor Sleep, Social Media Use and Adolescents’ Developing Brains

On By ModernMedia
Photo by Steinar Engeland on Unsplash

A new study to be presented at the SLEEP 2024 annual meeting found a distinct relationship between sleep duration, social media usage, and brain activation across brain regions that are key for executive control and reward processing.

Results show a correlation between shorter sleep duration and greater social media usage in teens. The analysis points to involvement of areas within the frontolimbic brain regions, such as the inferior and middle frontal gyri, in these relationships. The inferior frontal gyrus, key in inhibitory control, may play a crucial role in how adolescents regulate their engagement with rewarding stimuli such as social media. The middle frontal gyrus, involved in executive functions and critical in assessing and responding to rewards, is essential in managing decisions related to the balancing of immediate rewards from social media with other priorities like sleep. These results suggest a nuanced interaction between specific brain regions during adolescence and their influence on behaviour and sleep in the context of digital media usage.

“As these young brains undergo significant changes, our findings suggest that poor sleep and high social media engagement could potentially alter neural reward sensitivity,” said Orsolya Kiss, who has a doctorate in cognitive psychology and is a research scientist at SRI International. “This intricate interplay shows that both digital engagement and sleep quality significantly influence brain activity, with clear implications for adolescent brain development.”

This study involved data from 6516 adolescents, aged 10–14 years, from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study. Participants answered questionnaires about sleep duration and recreational social media use. Brain activities were analysed from functional MRI scans during the monetary incentive delay task, targeting regions associated with reward processing. The study used three different sets of models and switched predictors and outcomes each time. Results were adjusted for age, COVID-19 pandemic timing, and socio-demographic characteristics.

Kiss noted that these results provide new insights into how two significant aspects of modern adolescent life, social media usage and sleep duration, interact and impact brain development.

“Understanding the specific brain regions involved in these interactions helps us identify potential risks and benefits associated with digital engagement and sleep habits,” Kiss said. “This knowledge is especially important as it could guide the development of more precise, evidence-based interventions aimed at promoting healthier habits.”

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends that teenagers 13 to 18 years of age should sleep 8 to 10 hours on a regular basis. The AASM also encourages adolescents to disconnect from all electronic devices at least 30 minutes to an hour before bedtime.

Source: American Academy of Sleep Medicine

Categories : Mental HealthTags :

Mental Disorders can Spread within Young People’s Social Networks

On By ModernMedia
Photo by Inzmam Khan

Using population-wide registry data, researchers investigated whether mental disorders can be transmitted within social networks formed by school classes.

The study is the largest and most comprehensive so far on the spread of mental disorders in social networks, with more than 700 000 ninth-grade pupils from 860 Finnish schools participating. The adolescents were followed from the end of ninth grade for a median of 11 years.

The researchers, from the University of Helsinki, the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, the University of Jyväskylä and the University of Manchester, demonstrated that the number of classmates diagnosed with a mental disorder was associated with a higher risk of receiving a mental disorder diagnosis later in life.

“The observed link was the strongest during the first year of follow-up in the study. This was not explained by a number of factors related to parents, school and residential area. The link was most pronounced in the case of mood, anxiety and eating disorders,” says Associate Professor Christian Hakulinen of the University of Helsinki.

Schools well-suited to social network research

According to Hakulinen, prior studies have yielded similar results: for example, American researchers have observed indications of depressive symptoms potentially being transmitted from one individual to another in social networks.

In prior research, however, social networks have typically been chosen independently by the research subjects, which may result in bias in the data. Hakulinen points out that school classes are social networks well suited to research, as people are usually not able to choose their classmates.

“Defining the social networks and following adolescents were made possible by extensive Finnish registers. The findings significantly deepen our understanding of how mental health problems develop and affect other people in our social networks,” he says.

Hakulinen nevertheless notes that the connection observed in the study is not necessarily causal. Furthermore, the study did not investigate how mental disorders can potentially be transmitted between individuals.

“It may be possible, for instance, that the threshold for seeking help for mental health issues is lowered when there are one or more people in your social network who have already sought help for their problems. In fact, this kind of normalisation of diagnosis and treatment can be considered beneficial contagion of mental disorders,” Hakulinen says.

The study involved a total of 713 809 Finnish citizens born between 1985 and 1997. The adolescents were investigated from the end of comprehensive school until they received their first mental disorder diagnosis, relocated from the country or died. At the latest, the follow-up was discontinued at the end of 2019, resulting in a median follow-up period of 11.4 years.

More preventive measures?

Mental disorders are a significant global challenge, adversely affecting individuals, society and the economy. According to Hakulinen, anxiety and mood symptoms in particular have in recent years increased among young people.

Previous studies have shown that, in roughly half of all cases, the onset of mental disorders in adulthood occurs when people are under 18. In fact, Hakulinen emphasises the importance of preventive measures and early intervention.

“When taking preventive measures, it’s worthwhile considering that mental disorders can spread from one adolescent to another,” Hakulinen says.

Source: University of Helsinki

Categories : Mental Health PaediatricsTags :

Is There a Risk of Manic Episodes in Children Taking Antidepressants?

On By ModernMedia
Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash

Mania is a possible but rare side effect of treatment with antidepressant medication in adults, but there is little known about its occurrence in children and adolescents. A newly published paper in JAMA Psychiatry investigated this, finding no evidence of mania/hypomania induced by antidepressants by 12 weeks after treatment initiation. However, caution is necessary in treatment for children with more severe depression or where a parent has bipolar disorder.

“In children and adolescents with unipolar depression, we did not find evidence of antidepressant-induced mania/hypomania by 12 weeks after treatment initiation”, says first author Suvi Virtanen, postdoctoral researcher at Karolinska Insitutet. “This corresponds to the timeframe for antidepressants to exert their psychotropic effect and when treatment-induced mania is expected to emerge. Hospitalisations, parental bipolar disorder, and the use of antipsychotics and antiepileptics were the most important predictors of mania/hypomania.”

Antidepressants are increasingly prescribed to paediatric patients with unipolar depression (as opposed to bipolar depression which is seldom diagnosed in childhood), but little is known about the risk of treatment-emergent mania (ie, the transition from depression into mania shortly after the initiation of antidepressant treatment). Previous research suggests paediatric patients may be particularly vulnerable to this adverse outcome. The results provide complementary information to randomised clinical trials (RCTs) from a large cohort of patients treated in a real-world setting.

The researchers conducted a register-based study on children and adolescents, aged 4–17, diagnosed with unipolar depression between 2006 and 2019. They applied the emulation of target trial framework to guide the study design and analysis, reducing the bias of observational studies and mimicking a RCT.

Antidepressant treatment was unrelated to the risk of mania/hypomania, suggesting other characteristics are more relevant when evaluating which patients may have an increased risk of switching from unipolar depression into mania. “Our model using administrative information from several national registers had a moderate predictive ability, suggesting it is possible to identify patients at high risk for mania/hypomania with a prognostic clinical prediction model. The model has potential to be improved in later work”, says senior author Zheng Chang, Principal Researcher at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics.

Source: Karolinska Institute

Categories : Lab Tests and Imaging Mental HealthTags :

Plasma Protein Biomarkers Could Detect Early Mental Health Problems in Adolescents

On By ModernMedia
Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash

Researchers at the University of Eastern Finland have identified plasma protein-based biomarkers capable of identifying adolescents at risk of developing mental health issues. Such biomarkers could revolutionise early detection and prevention of mental health problems in young people.The results were published in Nature Mental Health.

Some 10–20% of adolescents struggle with mental health conditions, with the majority going undiagnosed and untreated. This points to a need for new, early indicators of mental health problems to catch these cases and intervene with treatment before the conditions progress.

In the study carried out in the research group of Professor Katja Kanninen, the researchers used self-reported Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) scores to evaluate mental health risk in participants aged between 11 and 16 years. Blood sample analyses showed that 58 proteins were significantly associated with the SDQ score. Bioinformatic analyses were used to identify the biological processes and pathways linked with the identified plasma protein biomarker candidates. Key enriched pathways related to these proteins included immune responses, blood coagulation, neurogenesis, and neuronal degeneration. The study employed a novel symbolic regression algorithm to create predictive models that best separate low and high SDQ score groups.

According to Professor Kanninen, plasma biomarker studies in mental disorders are an emerging field.

“Alterations in plasma proteins have been previously associated with various mental health disorders, such as depression, schizophrenia, psychotic disorders, and bipolar disorders. Our study supports these earlier findings and further revealed that specific plasma protein alterations could indicate a high risk for mental dysfunction in adolescents,” Professor Kanninen notes.

According to the researchers, this pilot study will be followed by more specific investigations of the potential biomarkers for identification of individuals at risk of mental health problems, opening a new avenue for advancements in adolescent mental health care.

Source: University of Eastern Finland

Categories : Metabolic DisordersTags :

More Adolescents Are Underestimating Their Body Weight

On By ModernMedia
Photo by I Yunmai on Unsplash

A study involving more than 745 000 adolescents from 41 countries across Europe and North America identified an increase in the amount of teenagers who underestimate their body weight. Tracking data from 2002 to 2018, the findings, published in Child and Adolescent Obesity, also show fewer adolescents overestimating their weight.

The team of international experts, who carried out the research, warn these shifting trends in body weight perception could reduce the effectiveness of public health interventions aimed at weight reduction in young people.

“During this impressionable age, body weight perception may influence a young person’s lifestyle choices, such as the amount and types of food they eat and their exercise habits,” says lead author Doctor Anouk Geraets, from the Department of Social Sciences, at the University of Luxembourg.

“So it’s concerning that we’re seeing a trend where fewer adolescents perceive themselves as being overweight — as this could undermine ongoing efforts to tackle increasing levels of obesity in this age group. Young people who underestimate their weight and therefore do not consider themselves to be overweight may not feel they need to lose excess weight and, as a result, they may make unhealthy lifestyle choices.”

A person’s perception of their body weight may not accurately reflect their actual weight. A discrepancy in body weight perception (BWP) may either be an underestimation (where actual weight is higher than perceived weight) or an overestimation (where actual weight is lower than perceived weight).

In the present study, the researchers examined survey data from 746,121 11-, 13- and 15-year-olds from 41 countries collected at four-yearly intervals between 2002 and 2018 in the International Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC), a WHO collaborative study.

The team modeled trends in BWP among adolescents across different countries over time, making adjustments for age, gender, and family socioeconomic status. They found:

  • Underestimation of weight status increased, and overestimation of weight status decreased over time among both sexes, with stronger trends for girls.
  • Correct weight perception increased over time among girls, while it decreased among boys.
  • Changes in correct weight perception, underestimation and overestimation of weight status differed across different countries — but these changes could not be explained by an increase in country-level overweight/obesity prevalence.

The authors speculated that the observed differences between girls and boys in BWP may support the idea there are sex differences in body ideals — and that these body ideals have changed over time. Notably, the increased underestimation and decreased overestimation of weight status over time for girls may be explained by the emergence of an athletic and strong body, as a new contemporary body ideal for both sexes.

“This study has clinical and public health implications. The increase in correct weight perception and the decrease in overestimation may have a positive effect on unnecessary and unhealthy weight loss behaviors among adolescents, while the increase in underestimation might indicate the need for interventions to strengthen correct weight perception,” says lead author Doctor Anouk Geraets.

“More research is now needed to understand the factors underlying these time trends and to develop effective public health interventions.”

While the large number of participating countries is a strength of the present study, but as these only included countries in Europe, the USA and Canada, the results can’t be generalised to other regions. In addition, although steps were taken to adjust the models for certain potential confounding factors, several other factors – such as body image, dieting, changing eating patterns, or migration – may also have played a role in the observed trends over time.

Source: Taylor & Francis Group