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Articles on Adolescent psychology

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The mortality rate among young adults is higher than it should be, statistically. Sammie Chaffin/Unsplash

Excessive mortality of young adults: a natural trait?

The risk of dying changes over the course of a lifetime. Very high at birth, it falls and then gradually rises again… except for a peak after adolescence. Why such a statistical anomaly?
Boosting someone else may deliver a mood boost to you too. Mohamed Nohassi/Unsplash

Teens who feel down may benefit from picking others up

Psychology researchers found that daily acts of kindness were linked to increases in positive mood – especially for teens who felt depressed.
Mental health problems are common in young people but very few seek professional help. Alain Wibert/Flickr

Is ‘headspace’ really improving young people’s mental health?

The number of youth mental health centres known as headspace has rapidly expanded in the last decade. But we have yet to see evaluation of whether the services improve young people’s mental health.
When we talk about sexting, are we focusing on the real risks? Image of people texting from www.shutterstock.com

Everything you wanted to know about sexting, but were afraid to ask

Stories of teens taking and sending a naked picture of themselves with their phones have been all over the news media in recent years. The outcome? Shocking, according to reports which have suggested that…
Climbing the social ladder can be slippery in parts for teenagers. Sadie Hernandez/Flickr

Popular school students get bullied too

The stereotype that popular kids don’t get bullied has been busted by a new study that found becoming more popular at school can actually increase a student’s risk of being bullied. The study, published…
Industry insiders spoke of how mainstream porn has moved from being ‘lovey dovey’ in the mid-1990s to rough and aggressive. Cher Amio/Flickr

Aggressive and debasing: the real issues in porn debates

It’s a well-worn political trick that you caricature and call your opponents names when you don’t want to engage with the substance of their claims. In debates about porn, pornography advocates often seek…
The latest research has found that quite a lot of young people are accessing sexually explicit material. Alejandro Lorenzo

Do we need to protect young people from porn?

Porn. Just utter the word aloud and hearts pound, pulses quicken, and minds start racing. Depending on the context, these effects may be the result of concern for young people’s well-being rather than…
Children who go through puberty early have poorer mental health than their peers. But it’s not a simple case of cause and effect. Image from shutterstock.com

Growing up too fast: early puberty and mental illness

Puberty has long been recognised as a transition point in which many emotional and behavioural problems emerge. These include depression and anxiety, substance use and abuse, self-harm and eating disorders…
As an adolescent and child psychiatrist, I dispense all sorts of labels – but what do they mean? emildom

Psychiatric labels and kids: benefits, side-effects and confusion

MATTERS OF THE MIND – a series which examines the clinician’s bible for diagnosing mental disorders, the DSM, and the controversy surrounding the forthcoming fifth edition. As a child and adolescent psychiatrist…
Cast – Elizabeth Banks (L-R), Liam Hemsworth, Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson – and director Gary Ross at the premiere of The Hunger Games in Germany. EPA/BRITTA PEDERSEN

Serious themes for young adults sets The Hunger Games apart

The film adaptation of the first of Suzanne Collins’ trilogy, The Hunger Games, will premiere nationally tomorrow. The books and film are set in a post-apocalyptic America, where teenagers are forced to…

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