Link between ADHD and mental ill health in teens

 Scientists have shed light on some reasons why young people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder – known as ADHD – are prone to anxiety and depression.

Young people with ADHD symptoms are more likely to experience emotional issues such as anxiety and low mood partly because ADHD puts them at risk of low self-esteem and having a parent with poor mental health.

The study, led by the University of Edinburgh and funded by the Medical Research Foundation, is the first to study a wide range of factors which link ADHD symptoms and mental ill health symptoms over time.

It is estimated that ADHD affects around five per cent of children and young people in the UK. One in four young people with ADHD have an anxiety disorder and 40 per cent experience depressive episodes.

Researchers from the University of Edinburgh examined survey data from over 5,000 adolescents aged 11 to 17 from the UK Millennium Cohort Study, which follows young people born between 2000 and 2002 across the UK.

They tested fourteen possible factors linking ADHD and mental ill health, including relationships with family and friends, behaviour issues and low self-esteem.  

Other factors assessed were behaviour at school, general health and if their parent had mental health difficulties.

The team analysed questionnaires which surveyed parents and the young people on ADHD symptoms and emotional problems such as low mood and anxiety symptoms at ages 11,14 and 17.

Findings showed that self-esteem and parental mental health had a small but statistically significant link to both ADHD and mental ill health risk. Among girls difficulties with peers had a small but significant link.

This was the case even when other factors such as any pre-existing neurodevelopmental and mental health issues were taken into account.

The results suggest that several different factors may be working collectively with a small effect to connect ADHD and other emotional issues during adolescence. 

The study could help in tailoring targeted wellbeing support systems for young people with ADHD, experts say.

Professor Aja Murray, of the University of Edinburgh’s School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, who led the study, said: “The findings suggest that to help reduce the risk of adolescents with ADHD symptoms developing other mental ill health symptoms, two things are supporting parents to improve their mental health, and supporting adolescents to foster high self-esteem. For girls in particular supporting social skills development is also important.”

Dr Angela Hind, Chief Executive of the Medical Research Foundation, said:

“ADHD can have a profound impact on a young person’s life, yet relatively little is known about the mental health challenges they might face as they grow up. This important research sheds new light on why teenagers with ADHD are at greater risk of anxiety and depression than those without, highlighting self-esteem and a parent’s mental health as two of the most crucial factors that shape their wellbeing.

"These findings demonstrate the importance of funding medical research into children and young people’s mental health, and bring us a step closer to developing more targeted support for teenagers with ADHD, ensuring they can thrive during some of their most formative years.”

The study is published in the Journal of Attention Disorders, link to study:  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41789525/

The Long-Term Effects of Grade Inflation

 Average grades continue to rise in the United States, raising the question of how grade inflation impacts students. This study provides comprehensive evidence on how teacher grading practices affect students' long-run success. 

Using administrative high school data from Los Angeles and from Maryland that is linked to postsecondary and earnings records, the authors develop and validate two teacher-level measures of grade inflation: one measuring average grade inflation and another measuring a teacher's propensity to give a passing grade. These measures of grade inflation are distinct from teacher value-added, with grade inflating teachers having moderately lower cognitive value-added and slightly higher noncognitive value-added. These two measures also differentially impact students' long-term outcomes. 

Being assigned a higher average grade inflating teacher reduces a student's future test scores, the likelihood of graduating from high school, college enrollment, and ultimately earnings. In contrast, passing grade inflation reduces the likelihood of being held back and increases high school graduation, with limited long-run effects. 

The cumulative impact is economically significant: a teacher with one standard deviation higher average grade inflation reduces the present discounted value of lifetime earnings of their students by $213,872 per year.

School Choice and Segregation

This study asks do changes in school priorities to reduce income segregation in a context of centralized school assignment, accounting for behavioral responses to school offer work.

Promoting integration is a central objective for large urban school districts in the US, and reforms to school assignment priorities are a prominent means of pursuing this goal. Such efforts may be constrained by students' decisions to exit the public school system in response to less-preferred school offers. 

Using data on kindergarten applicants to the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD), the study shows that offers of spots at first-choice schools boost the likelihood that applicants remain in OUSD. Nevertheless, simulations show that policy reforms giving priority for low-income students at high-income schools can substantially reduce segregation with minimal impacts on retention in the district.

Universities Are Struggling to Keep AI Talent

This study creates a novel dataset linking academic publication records to U.S. Census employer–employee data to track 42,000 AI researchers over two decades, documenting systematic changes in the allocation of AI talent.

Industry increasingly attracts younger and foreign-born researchers, while gender representation improves more in academia. The top 1% of publishing industry scientists now earn $1.5 million more annually than comparable academics, a fivefold increase since 2001. Rising wage premia coincide with greater sorting into large incumbent firms. Researchers who move to industry publish less but patent more, consistent with a shift from open science toward proprietary innovation. 

Teens and young adults with ADHD and substance use disorder face treatment gap

 

ADHD treatment improves outcomes for young people with ADHD and substance use disorder — including a 30 percent decrease in mortality — but they are less likely to receive ADHD medication.

— Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder, affecting 12%–13% of adolescents in the United States, according to some studies. The pattern of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity can interfere with daily life, raising problems at home, work or school. At the same time, individuals diagnosed with ADHD are at a higher risk of developing substance use disorder.

But treating the combination of these two conditions can be complicated. A team, led by researchers from Penn State College of Medicine, identified a treatment gap among adolescents and young adults diagnosed with both ADHD and substance use disorder.

In a study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the researchers found that despite having an ADHD diagnosis, young people who also have a substance use disorder were significantly less likely to be prescribed central nervous system (CNS) stimulants, which is the first-line medication-based treatment for ADHD symptoms. Yet, among individuals receiving this type of ADHD medication, better health outcomes were observed and serious complications were reduced, including fewer emergency visits, hospitalizations and thoughts of suicide. Over five years, ADHD treatment was linked to approximately a 30% reduction in risk of death.

“For young adults with ADHD and substance use disorder, appropriate treatment for ADHD could potentially save lives,” said Raman Baweja, professor of psychiatry and behavioral health and of public health sciences at Penn State College of Medicine and the first author on the study. “Clinicians shouldn’t hesitate to provide evidence-based ADHD treatment when it is indicated.”

According to the research team, up to 50% of individuals diagnosed with ADHD develop a substance use disorder, and these individuals face worse outcomes than if they had one of the conditions alone. They are more likely to be hospitalized or have thoughts of suicide as well as have higher rates of suicide attempts.

ADHD symptoms can be treated with both CNS stimulant and non-stimulant medications. CNS stimulant medications typically have higher response rates. Yet, clinicians often have concerns about prescribing medication, particularly stimulants, due to their controlled substance nature and Food and Drug Administration warnings about misuse, the researchers explained. There’s a fear that the medication could be misused or could make substance use symptoms worse, especially among young adults who have already struggled with a substance use disorder. As a result, clinicians may steer patients away from stimulants, which are an evidence-based treatment for ADHD symptoms.

Understanding how individuals with ADHD and substance use disorder are currently treated and the health outcomes people experience could help better guide clinicians when making treatment decisions and improve outcomes for patients, Baweja said.

In this study, the research team examined a national sample of de-identified health records of adolescents and young adults between the ages of 15 and 25. Over 1.2 million of the individuals were diagnosed with ADHD and of these, approximately 288,000 were diagnosed with both ADHD and substance use disorder, ranging from nicotine use disorder to alcohol, cocaine and opioid use disorders. The team then analyzed ADHD treatment patterns and clinical outcomes over one year and mortality over five years.

Among the young people diagnosed with both ADHD and substance use disorder, the researchers found that receiving ADHD treatment — either stimulants or non-stimulants — was associated with fewer hospitalizations, emergency room visits, and accidental overdoses; fewer suicidal thoughts; lower risk of suicide attempts; and more consistent use of psychiatric services compared to those who did not receive ADHD medication. Overall, young people had a 30% lower risk of dying over five years.

In particular, patients receiving stimulants experienced even greater reductions in risk compared to those on non-stimulant alternatives. For example, thoughts of suicide and suicide attempts were 4% lower among those treated with stimulants.

However, the researchers identified that young people were less likely to be prescribed ADHD medication after a substance use disorder diagnosis. Prescriptions for ongoing stimulant treatment dropped by approximately 15% and the number of new stimulant prescriptions decreased by more than 17% after a young person with ADHD was also diagnosed with substance use disorder.

“Although CNS stimulants are first-line, evidence-based treatments for ADHD, some clinicians appear hesitant to prescribe them in patients with substance use disorder based on these findings. We theorize that it is because of concerns about misuse, which we agree are a real risk,” Baweja said. “Our findings suggest that, when used appropriately, treating ADHD — including with stimulants — can be associated with significantly better outcomes.”

The research team is building on this work by examining a broader age range — ages 16 to 65 — of individuals with ADHD and substance use disorders. This analysis will explore how demographic factors — such as age, sex, and race/ethnicity — and clinical factors, including the type of substance use disorder and co-occurring psychiatric conditions, influence both the likelihood of receiving ADHD treatment and the type of medication prescribed.

Students with lower self-control procrastinate with short-form video: sleep suffers/not grades

 

Young people who use social media to escape also tend to use short videos to put off responsibilities

 Who among us hasn’t put off doing something we know we need to do while scrolling through just a few more TikToks, Instagram reels or YouTube shorts? 

New research from the William Allen White School of Journalism & Mass Communications at the University of Kansas has found that college students with lower self-control, stronger habitual short-form video use and who tended to use them to escape and fulfill the need to belong were prone to procrastinating via such short clips. 

While the behaviors did not appear to negatively affect students' grades, procrastinatory short-form video use was found to be associated with worse sleep health and higher stress.

Researchers and parents alike have been warning of problematic media use for decades, whether it is too much TV or too much gaming. However, limited research has established the connection between short-form video use and its effects on young people’s well-being — although it is known unhealthy social media habits can foster procrastination, which in turn can lead to negative psychological and behavioral outcomes. 

In one of her classes, Yunwen Wang asked students what time they went to bed the night before.

“Very few students, only two in a classroom of over 100, went to bed before 10 p.m. I thought that was a very alarming moment, especially concerning how TikTok and YouTube shorts are gaining in popularity. In media psychology, a concept called ‘flow’ describes when audiences enter a moment of full immersion and lose track of time,” said Wang, assistant professor of journalism & mass communications at KU and an author of the study. “That happens when users enjoy the media and when the activity carries either high mental weight requiring concentration or little mental weight as the repetitive behavior creates automaticity, such as automatic scrolling of short-form videos. 

“In the past, there were diversified ways of interacting with different media, but now, because of the ease of use of these mobile apps and social media platforms, they are becoming more dominant over other hobbies that college students have,” Wang said. “Research on problematic media use isn’t a new thing, but by extending the area to these emerging platforms with short-form videos, we are addressing a gap in current research.”

For the study, Wang and co-author Danny Yihan Jia of Boston University surveyed more than 500 students from KU and Boston University. They asked students about their use of short-form videos, personal and health traits, and academic performance. The study was published in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking.

Students were asked about how they viewed short-form videos, both in normal use and in procrastinatory ways. They were also asked about how frequently they engaged and their motivations for doing so, such as escapism, entertainment or to feel a sense of belonging. Researchers also considered the effects of short-form video use by asking about four aspects of sleep health and levels of stress.

Short-form videos and sleep quality

Results showed that students who had lower self-control and more habitual use of short-form videos also reported poorer sleep health and higher levels of stress. Sleep health was poorer in terms of perceived sleep quality overall, when they went to sleep, how often they woke up during the night and how well they functioned on days after a poor night’s sleep.

“We found that the lower the self-control, the more likely the students will develop procrastinatory short-form video use,” Wang said. “And the motivation to enjoy, escape and feel socially connected also contributed to the procrastination behavior. Ultimately, the more procrastinatory short-form video consumption, the higher the stress level and the worse the sleep health among these students.”

Effects on academic performance

Researchers also examined the association between short-form video use and academic performance. Students were asked about their grade point average on a 4.0 scale. Results, however, did not show an association between procrastinatory short-form video use and diminished GPA. That does not mean one should infer problematic short-form video use cannot or does not affect academic achievement, the researchers wrote, but it could indicate that they sampled from a high-achieving group of students or that the sample is not representative of the broader young population across the country.

Wang also emphasized that while the associations between procrastinatory short-form video use and lower sleep health and higher stress were strong, it should not be assumed that TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts or the like are the sure cause. Some respondents indicated they use such media when they are having trouble sleeping. College students are often under stress for academic, social, financial and other reasons and may use such short-form videos to escape unpleasant realities of life.

However, the connections should also not be ignored or simply accepted as the state of media that young people consume today.

“College students especially are in an important transitional and developmental stage of life,” Wang said.

Research recommendations

The KU researcher said both institutions of higher learning and society at large could help by providing more holistic mental health and student health outreach services. Beyond simply informing young people that problematic use of social media could be harmful, those developing such approaches could collaborate with young people to learn more about their needs and how best to serve them.

While problematic media use is not new, the short-form video dynamic is relatively new, and more research could help add to the understanding of its detriments, which could inform strategies to understand motivations, reduce procrastinatory uses of media as well as help form healthier media habits, Wang said.

“The novel contribution of our work is understanding motivators and consequences of problematic media use and that we are bridging the gap by testing this paradigm on emergent platforms of short-form videos,” Wang said. “My research area is at the intersection of computer-mediated communication and human-computer interaction. The next emergent technology that could be studied would be agentic AI serving as social companions, friends, partners or collaborators. Students who grow up with it are going to become used to using it for everything from academics to asking general questions and perhaps then addressing those conditions like loneliness and friendship.”

---

Journal

Cyberpsychology Behavior and Social Networking

DOI

10.1177/21522715251404199 

Teens spend nearly one-third of the school day on smartphones

Frequent checking linked to poorer attention

A new study from researchers at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill finds that middle and high school students spend nearly one-third of the school day on their smartphones, checking them dozens of times, often for social media and entertainment, with frequent checking linked to weaker attention and impulse control. 

The research examined how often adolescents use their phones during school and whether that behavior is related to their ability to focus and regulate attention. By objectively tracking smartphone use every hour over a two-week period, the study generated thousands of real-world data points, allowing researchers to see how phone use unfolds throughout the school day rather than relying on self-reports or daily averages. 

“Smartphones are no longer something students use occasionally during school—they’re present during every hour of the day,” said Eva Telzer, professor of psychology and neuroscience at UNC-Chapel Hill and lead author of the study. “Our findings show that frequent phone checking may undermine the very skills students need to succeed in the classroom.” 

The study found that students who checked their phones more frequently showed poorer cognitive control, a key skill for learning and academic success. 

“What surprised us most was the sheer amount of time teens are on their phones during school,” said Kaitlyn Burnell, research assistant professor at UNC-Chapel Hill and co-author of the study. “Students were on their phones every hour during school, spending one-third of the school day on their phones, with social media and entertainment accounting for over 70% of their time.” 

By capturing phone use moment to moment, the researchers were able to identify frequent checking, not just total screen time, as a critical behavior linked to attention fragmentation and weaker self-control. This distinction is important, as it suggests that interruptions caused by repeated phone checking may be particularly disruptive to learning. 

“As states and school districts across the country adopt new phone policies, our findings provide support for limiting access to smart phones during school hours” said Telzer. “Policies that restrict access to highly reinforcing platforms, including social media and entertainment apps, during instructional time may help protect students’ attention and academic engagement.” 

The findings provide concrete, objective evidence that can inform future school policies and digital literacy programs, offering a path toward more targeted approaches to managing smartphones in educational settings while preserving the benefits of technology when used intentionally.