Each month our editorial team sifts through hundreds of papers and curates notable findings—for practitioners and informed readers who want to stay current with the evidence. Subscribe to the monthly Research Digest for expert analysis and concise summaries of key papers.
Researchers surveyed 680 people who followed health-food accounts online. They measured eating behaviour and orthorexia nervosa symptoms with the ORTO-15 questionnaire. Higher Instagram use was linked to more orthorexia symptoms, while other social media did not show this effect (Twitter showed a small link in exploratory tests). About 49% of…
Researchers tested the 80-question Ritvo Autism Asperger Diagnostic Scale-Revised (RAADS-R) in 779 adults at nine centers on three continents. The tool showed large score differences between 201 people with confirmed Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and 578 comparison participants, and the authors concluded it is a useful tool to help clinicians…
This review looked at eye-tracking studies of infants, toddlers, and young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or at risk for ASD. Eye tracking is a non-invasive way to record where children look, and studies show early differences: reduced looking at people and faces and trouble shifting attention can appear…
Many children and teens do not get enough sleep. Studies link use of screens, especially in the bedroom or in the hour before bed, to later bedtimes and less total sleep. Experts have set sleep-hour ranges for each age. Research also links short or disrupted sleep to emotional, behavioral, and…
Researchers studied 32-day-old juvenile rats that were allowed 30 minutes of rough-and-tumble play. Right after play, the rats showed higher levels of BDNF messenger RNA in the amygdala and dorsolateral frontal cortex, measured with in situ hybridization. The authors suggested this could mean play helps shape brain areas tied to…
Researchers followed 3,779 Canadian adolescents (mean age 12.8 years, 49% girls) for five years and found that when a teen’s screen time went up in a given year, their ADHD symptoms tended to increase that same year. Impulsivity was the strongest link between screen time and ADHD symptoms. Only social…
This study followed 4,285 U.S. children from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study to look at patterns of addictive use of social media, mobile phones, and video games from about ages 11 to 15. The researchers found that high or steadily increasing patterns of addictive use were common. Those high…
This paper combined nine studies with 81,234 children to look at screen time and ADHD. Children who had screen time of 2 hours a day or more had higher odds of ADHD than those with less than 2 hours (odds ratio 1.51, 95% confidence interval 1.20–1.90). The authors reported a…
This systematic review and meta-analysis looked at studies from 2013–2023 that tested 'digital detox' interventions and their effects on mental health. The authors screened 2,578 records and included 10 studies. Pooled results showed a small but statistically significant reduction in depressive symptoms (SMD = -0.29; 95% CI -0.51 to -0.07;…
This review combined 134 studies (159 experiments) that tried to tell apart people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) from healthy controls using resting-state MRI. Across studies the pooled accuracy was moderate: about 76% sensitivity, 75.7% specificity, and an AUC of 0.823. However, the authors say there is a lot of…
Researchers interviewed 16 teens who frequently used public libraries to learn how they experience anxiety and what digital tools might help them. Teens said they felt loss of control, unpredictability, and anger from anxiety and used tools like breathing exercises, journaling, and mood tracking. They viewed libraries as safe places…
