News

A new study suggests that adolescent brains may have matured more rapidly during the pandemic. Ron Dahl, founding director of CDA and host of the CDA’s Adaptivity podcast, spoke with New York Times reporter Ellen Barry about why we shouldn’t jump to negative conclusions about what these changes mean.

On September 4, 2024, the Co-Director of the UCLA Center for the Developing Adolescent, Andrew Fuligni, spoke to EducationWeek reporters at a webinar and media briefing about the importance of sleep in improving adolescent mental health. At the briefing, Fuligni explained that there is a rich body of research showing that poor sleep leads to poor mental health, and it’s a link that is getting overlooked in the current frenzy over cellphones and social media.

At a media briefing on youth mental health organized by the FrameWorks Institute, Co-Director Andrew Fuligni spoke to EdSurge reporters about how crisis-framing youth mental health hinders the ability to find solutions that help adolescents find support.

On August 20, 2024, NSCA Member Candice Odgers joined other researchers in a roundtable discussion focused on what the research says about the perils and promise of social media for youth and adolescents. This conversation was a part of the Child Mind Institute’s webinar series on Technology and Youth Mental Health, which asks how tech might be used to improve mental health outcomes for all young people. Watch the recording or read more about the event below.

NSCA member Jacqueline Nesi attempts to answer the question, ‘When Should Kids Get a Smartphone?’ in her new op-ed published in Scientific American. Although research shows there is no “right” age to give a child a smartphone because the “research consistently demonstrates that the ways in which children respond to technologies are highly individualized,” Dr. Nesi provides some interesting facts and suggestions about how to give young people technology in a way that supports healthy development.