Social media use linked to poorer mental health in early adolescence

 

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.

The decade-long study, led by Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI), found that higher levels of social media use between the ages of 12-18 years were associated with small but noticeable increases in mental health problems one year later, underscoring the need for policies that reduce excessive screentime.

MCRI and Deakin University Dr Nandi Vijayakumar said the findings added much needed insight into the potential impacts of social media on young people’s mental health, particularly during the early teenage years.

The longitudinal study followed almost 1,200 children in Melbourne from age nine to 19 who participated in the Child to Adult Transition Study (CATS). The study collected annual data, prior to Australia’s age-restrictions, on social media use and mental health outcomes including depression, anxiety, wellbeing and self-harm.

Published in the Medical Journal of Australia, it found adolescents who used social media for at least two hours a day were at increased risk of experiencing high depressive symptoms and poor wellbeing at the following annual assessment, compared with those who used these platforms for less than one hour a day. The strongest impact on mental health was seen in girls 12–13 years old.

Dr Vijayakumar said the results supported a focus on early adolescence as a critical window for intervention.

“Early adolescence stands out as a time when higher levels of social media use are linked to a greater risk of mental health problems one year on,” she said.  

“While the increases in risk were modest in our study, even small effects can have important public health implications when large numbers of young people are exposed. This is why early adolescence may be the key time to intervene.”  

MCRI Professor Susan Sawyer said the findings supported the need for a balanced approach to social media policies and practices.

“Concerns about the impact of social media on adolescent mental health have fuelled community and policy debates globally and driven Australia’s world-first social media legislation,” she said. “Despite all this, robust evidence of population-level impacts has remained limited, making our findings particularly significant.”

Many adolescents report positive experiences with social media around social belonging and self-expression. But high levels of mental health problems, cyberbullying and exposure to harmful online content have sparked widespread alarm.

“Our results don’t suggest that social media is universally harmful but it’s not without some harms,” Professor Sawyer said. “It reinforces the need for age-appropriate limits, better education and literacy programs and clearer parental guidance.”

Previous MCRI-led research has showed almost three quarters of adolescents in Australia experience clinically significant depression or anxiety symptoms, noting that beyond clinical care, wider preventive strategies were urgently required. 

MCRI and Deakin University are also monitoring the impact of Australia’s social media age-restrictions on teenagers’ phone use, screentime, mental health and wellbeing.

The Connected Minds Study involves 13- to 16-year-olds who use social media apps such as Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube, and their parents. They are sharing their experiences before and after the changes came into effect on 10 December 2025.

Research proposes fairness framework for faculty promotion and tenure decisions

Granting promotions and tenure to faculty members is among the most consequential decisions a university makes. Growing evidence suggests the process doesn't always work as it should.

A commentary published in Science Advances finds that extraneous factors, including a candidate's race, gender and whether they took a university-approved leave of absence, can influence who earns promotion and tenure, threatening the integrity of a process intended to reward scholarly merit.

To address those vulnerabilities, researchers from the Center for Excellence in Faculty Advancement (CEFA) — a multi-institution consortium led by University of California, Merced Professor Christiane Spitzmueller and University of Houston Professor Juan Madera — have proposed a comprehensive framework for reform.

The framework, which the authors call SET, is built on three principles:

• Structure: Standardize the process to reduce arbitrary variation
• Empowerment: Give promotion and tenure candidates meaningful tools and protections
• Transparency: Open up the process in areas where it has been historically opaque

SET identifies targeted, evidence-based changes that institutions can make in existing processes to reduce bias and inconsistency and ensures that the most meritorious faculty are recognized regardless of their background.

The commentary draws on a decade of CEFA research involving nearly 2,000 promotion and tenure candidates and more than 10,000 external review letters.

Here is a closer look at the recommendations behind the three principles and the issues they are designed to address:

Structure

• Promotion and tenure (P&T) committees operate with high autonomy and low accountability. The framework would require committees to document the rationale behind their decisions so that inconsistent or unexplained judgments can be identified and addressed.
• Evaluate candidates jointly, either alongside a peer going up for tenure the same year, or against a previous candidate's portfolio. CEFA research shows this can significantly reduce racial disparities in outcomes. Underrepresented minority faculty — particularly Black faculty and Black women — faced harsher evaluations than non-URM peers, with productivity judged more critically. At the college level, underrepresented minority candidates received 7% more negative votes and were 44% less likely to receive a unanimous vote. CEFA's research found that racial disparities were significantly reduced when candidates were evaluated jointly rather than in isolation.
• The premium placed on unanimous committee votes as a "gold standard" for P&T should be reconsidered; underrepresented minority faculty are less likely to achieve them, making unanimity a de facto penalty.
• Faculty who used tenure clock extensions — university-approved delays typically taken for caregiving, illness, or other life circumstances — received significantly more negative committee votes in CEFA's dataset. Women are disproportionately affected because they are more likely to take extensions. Institutions should adopt explicit policies protecting candidates from being penalized for using approved extensions
• External review letters carry significant weight in tenure decisions, yet the process for selecting who writes them is inconsistently tracked and varies widely. CEFA's research shows the letters often reflect the writer’s characteristics more than the candidate’s accomplishments. Writers are disproportionately senior, male, and white. Candidates whose letters were written by women are more likely to be promoted; letters written by women use more positive language and less doubt-laden phrasing.
• Publicly disclose committee composition and ensure committees reflect diversity in both academic discipline and lived experience.

Empowerment

• Connect incoming faculty with a formal mentorship network and individual development plans from the start of their appointment. Candidates with established professional networks or senior sponsors navigate the process with significant informal advantages that peers without such connections lack.
• Standardize portfolio formats and provide explicit templates and performance benchmarks so candidates know exactly what is expected of them.
• Give candidates the opportunity to review committee reports before a vote occurs and provide formal mechanisms to rebut inaccurate or misrepresented information.
• Extend formal mechanisms that allow candidates to flag potential conflicts of interest among committee members or proposed external review letter writers.

Transparency

• Make committee composition publicly available before deliberations begin.
• Give candidates clear, accessible information about the P&T process, including access to the institution's informal norms and expectations — what the researchers call the "hidden curriculum."
• Ensure candidates have equal access to information about how their cases will be evaluated — not just those with well-connected mentors or senior colleagues willing to share insider knowledge.
• Require that the rationale for committee decisions be documented and available to equity reviewers, creating accountability without eliminating confidential deliberation.

"Given emerging evidence on bias and mechanisms for building equity in promotion and tenure decisions, now is the time for continued discourse, further experimental and field research to elucidate barriers and interventions to support equity and validity, and evidence-based reform," the authors wrote.

The commentary urges university leaders, faculty affairs administrators, and policymakers to treat the P&T process not as a fixed tradition but as a system that can and should be strengthened to ensure it consistently rewards genuine scholarly merit.

The research was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

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Journal

Science Advances

DOI

10.1126/sciadv.aed6134  

Science educator calls for climate change to be taught more in US schools

Given that today’s children will inherit the consequences of climate change, schools are instrumental in mobilizing a global response to the climate crisis, a science educator argues.

Climate literacy advocate Kelley T. Lê argues that climate change is the defining issue of our time, and in her new book, Teaching Climate Change for Grades 6–12: Activating Science Teachers to Take on the Climate Crisis Through NGSS, Lê provides teachers, administrators, and global leaders with practical tools to empower students as climate leaders in their communities.

With over 15 years of experience in science education, Lê draws on her work as a teacher, instructional coach, and educational leader. Her advocacy for climate literacy has earned national recognition, including the Friends of the Planet Award from the National Center for Science Education.

A Blueprint for Transformation

The climate crisis is no longer a future concern but is occurring in real-time. However, on average, schools dedicate only one to two hours per year to climate-specific education. Many young people are ill-equipped to understand or respond to this critical issue, according to Lê, who suggests schools are the perfect place to fix this issue by empowering students to become informed decision-makers and change agents.

In Teaching Climate Change for Grades 6–12, Lê, Executive Director of the Grades of Green Nonprofit and former inaugural Executive Director of the UC-CSU Environmental and Climate Change Literacy Projects, advocates for action. Using practical tools to teach climate science, this timely resource equips educators with the tools to teach climate change and foster students’ hope and resilience.

The book includes custom guides that help teachers address the complexity of climate change while tying the concept to urgent social and environmental justice issues. By linking lessons to climate events and culturally relevant teaching, Teaching Climate Change for Grades 6–12 transforms science education into a tool for empowerment.

“Education is the Hidden Superpower in the Fight Against Climate Change”

Lê believes education is the key to tackling the climate crisis: “Teachers have a unique opportunity to inspire and empower students to take meaningful action against climate change. This isn’t just about teaching science—it’s about equipping the next generation with the tools they need to build a sustainable and just future. Education has the power to catalyze change, and that work begins in our classrooms.”

The book comes at a critical time as climate literacy becomes an increasingly urgent global priority. Recent surveys show that while 90% of high school students believe climate change is happening, many lack the knowledge to explain its causes and consequences. Teachers are the bridge, bringing awareness and action and providing students with the skills to confront these challenges head-on.

Strategies to Empower Students in Addressing the Climate Crisis

• NGSS Alignment: This book inspires teachers to incorporate real-world climate phenomena into their lessons, aligning with Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) while captivating students in enriching and impactful learning experiences.
• Equity and Justice Focus: It highlights the disproportionate impact of climate change on marginalized communities, encouraging teachers to address these issues through culturally responsive practices.
• Student Agency: By linking classroom lessons to actionable solutions, the book empowers students to become advocates for change in their communities.

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DOI

10.4324/9781003478584 

Effect of major policy changes to US science funding on PhD students and postdoctoral researchers

 Shortly after major policy changes to US science funding began in early 2025, the authors of this study surveyed 916 young biomedical scientists – PhD students and postdoctoral researchers – about their career intentions and expectations. 

The results document a dramatic shift in sentiment. 

• Barely half of respondents now say they are likely to remain in academia, down 22 percentage points from how they felt six months earlier. 
• The fraction likely to stay in the United States fell by 21 percentage points. 
• Even satisfaction with having pursued a PhD in science declined by 16 percentage points. 

These are not the complaints of established scientists defending their budgets, but rather the stated intentions of the next generation – the scientists who would, in ordinary times, become the principal investigators of the future.

Effect of Government Policy Uncertainty: Evidence from Student Loan Forgiveness

 

How does uncertainty about future government policy affect households’ beliefs and subsequent borrowing, spending and debt payment behavior? 

This study examines these questions through the lens of student loan forgiveness in the United States, which following electoral promises, was announced in 2022 but never implemented due to judicial rulings, utilizing a customized information provision experiment embedded in a survey eliciting real-time beliefs about future debt forgiveness and repayment, linked to to credit bureau data, employment verification data, and nondurables consumption. 

Eligible borrowers who are more optimistic about forgiveness reduce payments on student loans by \$40 per month and increase non-durable spending by $100 per month.  Optimistic borrowers may postpone durable spending waiting for uncertainty to resolve. Borrowers optimistic about future payment pauses make fewer payments on their student loans, reduce payment by $40 per month and are 7.5 percentage points more likely to be delinquent after payments resume.

Children improve their fraction skills by playing basketball in class

 

Combining fractions with a basketball improves pupils’ mathematical skills in primary school, a new study from the University of Copenhagen shows. The researchers call for the approach to be integrated into primary and lower secondary education.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

University of Copenhagen

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image: 

There was no blackboard or sedentary math tasks when the students had fractions incorporated into their physical education classes. The students not only found it more fun – they also became better at math.

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Credit: Anders Rostgaard Bystrup

A dribble and a jump shot – followed by a fractions task. That is what physical education classes looked like for a group of pupils and the pupils not only found the lessons more engaging than usual; they also became better at mathematics with a basketball in their hands. That is the conclusion in a new study from the University of Copenhagen.

The study involved more than 300 pupils aged 11 to 13 who took part in an eight-week teaching programme called BasketballMathematics. Here, fractions were directly linked to basketball activities during physical education classes. For example, pupils would take ten shots at the basket and then calculate what fraction of the shots were successful and convert the result into percentages.

Afterwards, pupils who participated in BasketballMathematics performed 15 per cent better in a fractions test compared with a control group that received standard physical education. The results please Jacob Wienecke, Associate Professor at the Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports at the University of Copenhagen and lead researcher on the study.

"I am convinced that sport and physical activity can open up mathematics for pupils who are not otherwise engaged by the subject," he says.

Basketball Mathematics consisted of one weekly lesson over eight weeks, during which mathematics was integrated into basketball drills. According to the researchers, the results show that even relatively small changes to teaching can make a difference.

"These are quite substantial improvements over a short period of time. This suggests that it is possible to strengthen pupils’ mathematical skills without having to find additional teaching time," says Jacob Wienecke.

More effort in the classroom

Fractions are an area that many pupils struggle with. But how well they understand fractions appears to matter. Several studies have shown that pupils’ fractions skills are a strong indicator of how they will perform in other areas of mathematics later in life.

In the study, pupils experienced the teaching as more engaging than traditional classroom instruction. To a greater extent than usual, they felt they mastered the tasks and took a more active part in the lessons.

This was also reflected in their results. In addition to improvements in fractions, pupils performed around five per cent better in other mathematical tasks.

"Our hypothesis is that the children get positive experiences with mathematics, and that this may encourage them to put more effort into math in the classroom as well," says Jacob Wienecke.

At the same time, the pupils also improved their basketball skills which shows that integrating academic content into physical education does not come at the expense of learning a new sport.

Small changes with a big impact

The researchers stress that the results should be interpreted with caution. This is partly because the pupils received slightly more mathematics teaching than the control group, and partly because the study was relatively short. Thus, it is unclear whether the effect will last in the longer term.

"But we know from other studies that pupils’ level of math at this stage is often linked to their later performance. So, if you can raise their level here, it may potentially influence their educational trajectory long term," says Jacob Wienecke.

More ball games in teaching

So, should schools start integrating more ball-playing activities into other subjects? Yes, says Jacob Wienecke, who is an advocate of this approach.

"Our research shows that you can easily invite other subjects into physical education and make it work. And it can actually make children experience that subject in a completely different way, while still preserving their motivation and enjoyment of learning," he says.

The researchers hope that more schools will work to integrate physical activity into teaching. They have developed a teaching compendium that teachers can use freely if they want to try the method in practice. Although the study is based on basketball, the principles can be transferred to other activities, such as volleyball.

"If it were up to me, one out of five math lessons each week would be active math. The most important thing is that the movement makes sense in relation to what the pupils are meant to learn, so that they are not just solving a task and then running a lap around the school," says Jacob Wienecke.

 

About BasketballMathematics

• The study involved 309 pupils in Years 5 and 6 (aged 11 to 13)
• An eight-week programme with one lesson per week (60 minutes)
• Mathematics was directly linked to basketball teaching, with pupils using their performance (for example shots or dribbling) to work with fractions and percentages
• There were two control groups: one received standard physical education, and the other only had basketball in physical education
• The result was a 15 per cent improvement in fractions and a 5 per cent improvement in other mathematical tasks
• Both pupils in BasketballMathematics and in the basketball control group improved their basketball skills
• Pupils also reported higher motivation, engagement and a sense of mastery during the lessons
• Participants in Basketball Mathematics received slightly more mathematics teaching than the control groups
• BasketballMathematics has also been tested with 756 pupils in Years 1 to 5, although the focus there was not on academic improvement
• Videos and descriptions of the method can be found on the BasketballMathematics site.

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Journal

Educational Psychology Review

DOI

10.1007/s10648-026-10175-y 

Coaching parents of preschool children improved child skills through grade seven

 

Children whose parents received play-based instructional aids displayed fewer conduct problems and higher cognitive skills in middle school

The children of parents who received coaching and support materials in preschool had fewer conduct problems in middle school and higher levels of academic skills more than seven years later, according to a new study by an interdisciplinary team of Penn State researchers.

In a recent study published in Development and Psychopathology, the research team examined seventh grade data from children who participated during preschool in the Research Based, Developmentally Informed (REDI) program, a supplemental educational program. Results demonstrated that the subset of REDI students whose parents received coaching and support materials had fewer conduct problems in middle school and higher levels of working memory — the ability to hold and manipulate information in the brain.

“This study shows how important it is to involve parents in the development of key educational skills,” said Karen Bierman, Evan Pugh University Professor of Psychology and lead author of the study.

Children who are ready for school when they enter kindergarten — those who have skills such as following classroom rules, sitting still and listening to directions — are much more likely to succeed throughout their education, Bierman said. However, children from environments that lack educational and financial resources are less likely to have these skills when they start school.

“Head Start, a federally funded preschool program for children from low-income families, gives children with fewer resources a better chance of success in school and later life,” Bierman said. “But the program was not fully bridging the achievement gap between children from lower and higher income households, so we developed REDI to promote the development of school readiness skills. Now, we are seeing those skill improvements pay off over the long term.”

Around 20 years ago, Bierman and her collaborators created and tested REDI, which targeted social-emotional learning and literacy development in Head Start classrooms. Even though the program improved student performance both in emotional and academic skills, some benefits faded by the end of first grade. Later in elementary school, REDI students were performing academically like their peers who had not participated in REDI.

To see if the duration of more benefits could be extended, the researchers developed another program for REDI children’s parents. Parents received coaching on how to build their children’s skills and play-based instructional materials and activities to help connect the home environment with the preschool environment. For example, parents received grocery store props for pretend play, along with coaching on how to support their child’s language and emerging literacy skills using these props.

In this study, the researchers compared 105 Head Start participants who received REDI at school to 95 Head Start participants who received REDI at school and whose parents also received the coaching and materials.

When former REDI participants were in seventh grade, a research assistant from Penn State visited their homes. Students were assessed on their reading achievement and memory skills. They also answered questions about how competent they felt in social situations and how often they associate with children who misbehave or engage in antisocial behavior. Additionally, the students’ language arts teachers completed surveys that ranked students’ social aggression and other antisocial behaviors.

The results demonstrated that the parent program improved children’s abilities in multiple dimensions. Children whose parents had received the coaching scored higher on working memory tasks, and — though it was not statistically significant — they also trended toward better performance in reading. These students were more likely to report feeling socially confident and reported fewer associations with children who misbehave or engage in antisocial behavior. Additionally, their teachers reported that these children displayed lower levels of conduct problems.

The researchers also studied the mechanisms through which the REDI program worked. They found that immediately after the parent program, students displayed improvements in learning behaviors and social competence. Over time, these improvements indirectly led to the outcomes of this study.

“Notably, this is not a comparison between children who received REDI and those who did not,” said Damon Jones, research professor of health and human development and co-author of the study. “This is a comparison between children who received REDI enrichments at school whose parents did or did not receive the REDI coaching and materials at home. All the children in the program experienced long-term social and behavioral improvements that were reported in other studies. The improvements reflected in this study are specifically related to the parent-focused program.”

The researchers said this research demonstrates the potential to improve people’s lives by involving parents in early childhood education.

“I’m very excited to see that supporting parent engagement when a child is in preschool can have this kind of positive influence over time,” Bierman said. “One third of the participating parents had not finished high school and only 4% had a college degree. Families had few financial resources but were invested in supporting their children’s school success. Providing them with some play-based materials and coaching enabled them to build skills in their children that lasted many years into their educations.”

Other Penn State researchers who contributed to this research include Janet Welsh, research professor in the Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center, and Brenda Heinrichs, lead statistician on the REDI project.

The National Institutes of Health’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development funded this research.

At Penn State, researchers are solving real problems that impact the health, safety and quality of life of people across the commonwealth, the nation and around the world.

For decades, federal support for research has fueled innovation that makes our country safer, our industries more competitive and our economy stronger. Recent federal funding cuts threaten this progress.

Learn more about the implications of federal funding cuts to our future at Research or Regress.

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Journal

Development and Psychopathology

DOI

10.1017/S0954579426101497