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(https://www.psypost.org/adolescents-with-smaller-amygdala-region-of-the-brain-have-higher-risk-of-developing-adhd/) Adolescents with smaller amygdala region of the brain have higher risk of developing ADHD
Sep 3rd 2024, 10:00

A study conducted in Hungary found that adolescents with a smaller volume in the amygdala region of the brain have a higher risk of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). They also tend to experience more severe symptoms of this disorder. The research was published in (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-024-01190-0) Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology.
ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by symptoms such as inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity, which are severe enough to interfere with daily functioning. People with ADHD often have difficulty focusing on tasks, organizing activities, and following through with instructions. Hyperactive behaviors may include excessive fidgeting, talking, or an inability to stay seated when expected, particularly during class in school.
The disorder is most commonly diagnosed in childhood, especially at the start of primary school. However, in 65% of affected individuals, symptoms persist into adulthood with sufficient severity to cause impairments. Overall, ADHD affects 5%-9% of children and adolescents worldwide.
The causes of ADHD are not fully understood. Some studies suggest that alterations in the structure and function of certain brain areas may be involved in the disorder. Previous research has reported differences in brain volume between adults and children with and without ADHD.
Study author Ádám Nárai and his colleagues aimed to examine whether atypical brain region volumes predict the risk of ADHD and the severity of its symptoms, such as inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity. If this were the case, medical professionals could compare the volumes of specific brain regions in their patients to standard brain charts, potentially identifying individuals at an increased risk of developing ADHD.
The researchers analyzed data from the Budapest Longitudinal Study of ADHD and Externalizing Disorder, a larger longitudinal project. The study included 140 adolescents, selected to overrepresent individuals with ADHD, meaning they comprised a larger share of participants than in the general population. The average age of the participants was 16 years, with 38% being female. The socioeconomic status of their families was above average. Twelve participants were taking ADHD medication at the time of the study.
Study participants underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). They also completed an assessment of anxiety and depressive symptoms using the Youth Self-Report. Their parents completed assessments of their ADHD symptoms with the ADHD Rating Scale-5 and oppositional defiant disorder symptoms using the Disruptive Behaviors Disorders-Rating Scale.
The results showed that participants with more severe oppositional defiant disorder symptoms were more likely to be at risk for ADHD. Participants with smaller volumes of subcortical gray matter were at a higher risk for ADHD. Subcortical gray matter refers to the volume of neuronal cell bodies in regions of the brain located beneath the cerebral cortex. The thickness of the cortex was not associated with ADHD risk.
Further analyses revealed that individuals with a smaller volume of the amygdala region in both brain hemispheres tended to have a higher risk of ADHD and more severe symptoms. In other words, they tended to show higher levels of inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity.
The amygdalae are small, almond-shaped clusters of neurons located deep within the temporal lobes of the brain. They play a crucial role in processing emotions, particularly fear and pleasure, and are involved in forming and storing emotional memories.
“Individual differences in amygdala volume meaningfully add to estimating ADHD risk and severity. Conceptually, amygdalar involvement is consistent with behavioral and functional imaging data on atypical reinforcement sensitivity as a marker of ADHD-related risk. Methodologically, results show that brain chart reference standards can be applied to address clinically informative, focused and specific questions,” the study authors concluded.
The study sheds light on the association between amygdala volume and the risk of ADHD. However, the study could not disentangle ADHD from oppositional defiant disorder symptoms, a condition that often co-occurs with ADHD. Therefore, it remains unclear whether the specific brain structure differences reported are specific to ADHD, oppositional defiant disorder, or common to both disorders.
The paper, “(https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-024-01190-0) Amygdala Volume is Associated with ADHD Risk and Severity Beyond Comorbidities in Adolescents: Clinical Testing of Brain Chart Reference Standards,” was authored by Ádám Nárai, Petra Hermann, Alexandra Rádosi, Pál Vakli, Béla Weiss, János M. Réthelyi, Nóra Bunford, and Zoltán Vidnyánszky.

(https://www.psypost.org/cbd-amplifies-thcs-impact-instead-of-mitigating-it-new-cannabis-research-reveals/) CBD amplifies THC’s impact instead of mitigating it, new cannabis research reveals
Sep 3rd 2024, 08:00

A recent study published in (https://doi.org/10.1002/cpt.3381) Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics challenges conventional wisdom about the interaction between cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), revealing that it may be not only incorrect but actually the opposite of what is commonly believed. Contrary to popular belief that CBD can reduce the negative effects of THC, the study found that CBD did not mitigate these adverse effects. In fact, a high dose of CBD (450 mg) significantly enhanced the effects of THC, likely due to a pharmacokinetic interaction that increased THC levels in the bloodstream.
Cannabis has gained attention not only as a recreational drug but also for its potential therapeutic benefits, especially in pain management. THC, the main psychoactive compound in cannabis, is known for its analgesic properties but also for causing a range of adverse effects, such as cognitive impairment, anxiety, and psychomotor disturbances. CBD, on the other hand, is non-intoxicating and has been suggested to counteract some of THC’s negative effects. This belief has led to the widespread use of CBD-rich cannabis products, both for recreational and medicinal purposes.
However, the scientific evidence supporting the idea that CBD can mitigate THC’s adverse effects is inconsistent. Some studies have shown that CBD can reduce THC-induced anxiety and psychosis, while others have found no such protective effects. Scientists sought to clarify this issue by rigorously testing whether CBD could reduce the adverse effects of THC without compromising its analgesic benefits. By doing so, they aimed to provide clearer guidance on the safe and effective use of cannabis-based products.
“People active in the cannabis field always say that CBD takes off the edge from THC, anxiety can be less, there is an ‘entourage effect’ of other cannabinoids that plays a role in how THC in cannabis is experienced, but the scientific evidence was very thin. We are pharmacologists and know how to scientifically demonstrate interaction between drugs, which is why we performed a rigorous scientific experiment,” explained study author (https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/staffmembers/geert-jan-groeneveld) Geert Jan Groeneveld, a professor of clinical neuropharmacology at Leiden University Medical Center and CEO of the Centre for Human Drug Research.
The study involved 37 healthy volunteers, aged 18 to 45, who had experience with cannabis but used it infrequently. To participate, volunteers had to meet strict health criteria, including being free from any psychotic disorders or conditions that could affect their sensitivity to pain. Importantly, participants had to abstain from cannabis and other substances that could influence the study results for several weeks before the experiment.
The research was conducted at the Centre for Human Drug Research in the Netherlands using a double-blind, placebo-controlled, five-way crossover design. This means that each participant received five different treatments in a random order, with a sufficient washout period between sessions to ensure no carryover effects from previous treatments. The treatments included THC alone, THC combined with three different doses of CBD (10 mg, 30 mg, and 450 mg), and a placebo.
Participants received the treatments orally, with CBD administered 30 minutes before THC to ensure that both substances would peak in the bloodstream at the same time. The researchers then measured various effects at multiple time points over six hours, using a combination of subjective self-reports and objective tests.
The subjective measures included assessments of mood, anxiety, and the sensation of feeling “high,” while objective measures evaluated cognitive and psychomotor performance, such as reaction times and postural stability. Additionally, the researchers measured the analgesic effects using a series of pain tests that involved heat, pressure, electrical stimulation, and cold exposure.
Rather than reducing THC’s effects, the researchers found that the highest dose of CBD (450 mg) significantly increased them. Participants reported feeling more intoxicated, and their cognitive and psychomotor performance was more impaired compared to when they took THC alone. This increase in effects was likely due to CBD interfering with the metabolism of THC, leading to higher levels of THC and its psychoactive metabolite in the bloodstream.
The lower doses of CBD (10 mg and 30 mg) did not significantly alter the effects of THC. There was no reduction in THC-induced anxiety, cognitive impairment, or other adverse effects at these dose levels, suggesting that CBD does not counteract THC’s effects when taken together orally.
“CBD does not in any way alleviate psychomimetic effects of THC or reduce anxiety,” Groeneveld told PsyPost. “If anything, in higher dose levels it will enhance the effects of THC because the breakdown of THC in the liver is inhibited by CBD.”
Despite the increase in THC’s psychoactive effects with the highest dose of CBD, the pain-relieving effects did not significantly differ between the different treatment conditions. This finding suggests that while CBD may alter the overall experience of THC, it does not enhance its pain-relieving properties.
While the study was well-designed and controlled, it is not without its caveats. One limitation is the route of administration. The study only examined the effects of oral THC and CBD. Since different methods of consumption, such as inhalation, result in different metabolic pathways and effects, the findings may not generalize to other common ways of using cannabis.
Furthermore, the study did not include a CBD-only condition, which would have provided clearer insights into the specific effects of CBD without the influence of THC. However, the researchers have been conducting additional studies focused solely on high doses of CBD.
“We’ve continued to perform a study with CBD only, also very high dose levels, and to try to demonstrate effects on the central nervous system, on brain function,” Groeneveld said. “We haven’t published this yet, but we can tell you that there is no evidence whatsoever that CBD is active on the central nervous system. It does not cause sedation or lead to subjective drug effects that can be picked up by our very sensitive test battery that we also use to measure drug effects of drugs being developed by the pharmaceutical industry.”
The new findings are in line with (https://www.psypost.org/new-neuroscience-research-cbd-does-not-temper-thcs-effects-on-brain-connectivity-may-enhance-disruption/) a recent neuroimaging study published in Neuropsychopharmacology, which found that CBD did not mitigate and may even worsen the disruptive effects of THC on brain connectivity. Researchers observed significant reductions in connectivity across key brain networks after cannabis use, with the addition of CBD leading to even greater disruptions in some cases.
Similarly, (https://www.psypost.org/prenatal-exposure-to-cbd-and-thc-is-linked-to-concerning-brain-changes/) a study on rodents published in Neurobiology of Disease found that CBD did not protect against the harmful effects of prenatal cannabis exposure; instead, it appeared to exacerbate the impact of THC on brain development and behavior in offspring.
The new study, “(https://ascpt.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cpt.3381) Cannabidiol Increases Psychotropic Effects and Plasma Concentrations of Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol Without Improving Its Analgesic Properties,” was authored by Andriy A. Gorbenko, Jules A.A.C. Heuberger, Linda E. Klumpers, Marieke L. de Kam, Pamela K. Strugala, Saco J. de Visser, and Geert J. Groeneveld.

(https://www.psypost.org/could-this-be-the-key-to-happiness-new-research-suggests-so/) Could this be the key to happiness? New research suggests so
Sep 3rd 2024, 06:00

A recent study published in the journal (https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-024-10069-y) Motivation and Emotion sheds light on a key aspect of happiness: the role of passion and self-regulation in psychological well-being. The findings suggest that the happiest individuals are those who not only immerse themselves passionately in enjoyable activities but also approach less pleasurable tasks, like chores, with a sense of autonomy and self-motivation.
The researchers aimed to explore a fundamental question: Why are some people happier than others? While happiness can be influenced by various factors ranging from biology to social conditions, the researchers focused on how individuals engage in daily activities. They hypothesized that happiness might be linked to how people interact with both enjoyable and less enjoyable aspects of their lives.
The research revolved around several key concepts. Harmonious passion refers to a balanced, flexible engagement in activities that a person loves and values, where the activity fits harmoniously with other aspects of their life. Obsessive passion, on the other hand, is a more rigid and uncontrollable drive to engage in an activity, often tied to external pressures or self-worth.
Self-regulation describes how individuals motivate themselves to perform tasks, especially less enjoyable ones; it can be autonomous, where actions are driven by personal choice and internal values, or controlled, where actions are driven by external pressures or obligations.
“We’ve known for a long time that passion, and especially harmonious passion (not obsessive passion) provides some level to psychological well-being. However, what we didn’t know is if the happiest people in life are those who are surrounded by activities they engage in out of harmonious passion,” said study author Robert J. Vallerand, the Canada Research Chair in Motivational Processes and Optimal Functioning, a professor at the University of Quebec at Montreal, and co-editor of (https://global.oup.com/academic/product/passion-for-work-9780190648626) Passion for Work: Theory, Research, and Applications.
“We wanted to see if like past research, the reason why is that engaging in activities that we’re passionate about leads harmoniously passionate people to experience positive emotions in almost everything they do. The answer is yes. However, these people are not ‘crazy’ as they are not passionate for activities that are clearly difficult to be passionate about (chores and duties like cleaning up the room, doing dishes).”
The researchers conducted five studies over several years, involving young adults primarily from the United States and Canada. These studies employed a combination of surveys, daily diaries, and longitudinal methods to assess participants’ levels of passion, self-regulation, emotions, and overall well-being.
In the first study, the researchers sought to examine whether individuals with high levels of psychological well-being (the “happiest people”) experience passion for a greater number of key life activities than those with lower levels of well-being. The sample included 409 young adults who were recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk. Participants completed a survey that assessed their passion for four major life activities: their studies, favorite hobbies, romantic relationships, and friendships. Psychological well-being was measured using a composite of three scales: thriving, life satisfaction, and meaning in life.
The findings revealed that individuals with the highest levels of psychological well-being (the top 25% of the sample) reported being passionate about all four life activities and exhibited significantly higher levels of harmonious passion (a balanced, healthy form of passion) compared to those with lower well-being. Notably, there were no significant differences in obsessive passion (a more rigid, less adaptive form of passion) between the two groups. This suggests that the happiest people are those who are passionately engaged in multiple areas of life in a harmonious way.
Study 2 aimed to replicate and extend the findings of Study 1 by also examining how the happiest people regulate their motivation for less enjoyable activities, such as chores and duties. The sample size for this study was 516 young adults, again recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk. Participants completed the same passion assessments for the four life activities as in Study 1, along with additional measures of their self-regulation for chores and duties. The researchers were interested in whether these individuals were passionate for anything and everything, or if their passion was more selectively applied to enjoyable activities.
The results showed that, similar to Study 1, the happiest individuals were passionate about the four enjoyable activities. However, they were not passionate about chores and duties; instead, they approached these tasks with higher levels of autonomous regulation—meaning they completed these tasks out of a sense of choice and personal responsibility. These findings support the idea that the happiest people are not simply passionate about everything; rather, they selectively apply their passion to enjoyable activities while maintaining a self-determined approach to less enjoyable tasks.
“Something to keep in mind is that in the first two studies we compared the happiest people (highest 25% of the samples) to the rest of the sample and not to the bottom 25%. Thus, this is a very conservative test. The fact that the findings came out so clearly is a testament of the validity of the findings,” Vallerand told PsyPost.
The third study moved beyond self-report surveys to examine the real-time impact of passion and self-regulation on emotions and psychological well-being. The researchers recruited 251 American students from Amazon Mechanical Turk to participate in an online experiment that simulated a typical day in a student’s life. Participants engaged in a series of academic and non-academic tasks, including completing puzzles, reading jokes, emailing friends, and performing a cleaning task. Before and after completing these tasks, participants were asked to report on their current emotions (both positive and negative) and their overall psychological well-being.
The findings indicated that harmonious passion for the enjoyable tasks positively predicted positive emotions, which in turn were associated with higher psychological well-being. Obsessive passion was linked to both positive and negative emotions, but its overall impact on well-being was less favorable compared to harmonious passion. Autonomous regulation for chores was associated with more positive emotions, although its impact was less pronounced than that of passion.
In Study 4, the researchers sought to understand the role of broader personality traits, specifically global motivational orientations, in predicting how people engage in both enjoyable and non-enjoyable activities. Global motivational orientations refer to a person’s general tendency to approach activities in an autonomous way, driven by intrinsic motivation and personal values, or in a controlled way, driven by external demands and pressures.
The sample for this study included 526 young adults, who completed surveys assessing their global motivational orientation (whether they generally approach activities with a sense of autonomy or external control), their passion for the four life activities, and their self-regulation for chores and duties. The researchers also measured participants’ emotions and psychological well-being.
The results showed that individuals with an autonomous global orientation were more likely to exhibit harmonious passion for enjoyable activities and autonomous regulation for chores. Conversely, those with a controlled global orientation were more likely to exhibit obsessive passion and controlled regulation. Harmonious passion was again found to positively predict positive emotions and well-being, while obsessive passion had a weaker and sometimes negative impact.
The final study, Study 5, built on the findings of Study 4 by employing a daily diary and longitudinal design to assess how daily experiences of passion, self-regulation, and emotions contribute to long-term psychological well-being. The study involved 255 young adults who completed baseline assessments of their global orientations, passion for life activities, and self-regulation for chores. Over the next seven days, participants completed daily diaries reporting on their engagement in these activities, their emotions, and their well-being. Six months later, participants were surveyed again to assess changes in their overall psychological well-being.
The findings revealed that daily experiences of harmonious passion and autonomous regulation were associated with more positive emotions and higher daily well-being. Moreover, these daily experiences predicted changes in overall well-being over the six-month period, supporting the idea that daily positive emotions can create a spiraling effect that enhances long-term psychological well-being. In contrast, obsessive passion and controlled regulation were linked to more negative emotions, which undermined well-being.
Vallerand was surprised by the consistency and clarity of the results: “Studies 1 and 2 were very clear as to how the happiest people were much more passionate and harmoniously so from the rest of the participants. Further, the role of positive affect as a mediator between harmonious passion and well-being was found in three studies using different types of designs (controlled, longitudinal and diary studies). Overall, these findings are super clear.”
The findings highlight that “trying to be passionate for at least one thing (and if possible more than one) in life is important and especially if the passion is harmonious in nature,” he explained. “This can be done by both selecting activities that they will be passionate about and by adding some elements in activities that will enhance passion for the activity.”
“By having more than one activity one is passionate about has some added benefits as it prevents people from being obsessive about just one thing. Devoting oneself to several things protects one from obsessive passion and its potential negative effects.”
But the study, like all research, includes some caveats. For instance, it relied heavily on self-report measures, which can be subject to biases. Future studies could benefit from incorporating other forms of data collection, such as observational methods or reports from close friends and family members. Another limitation is the cultural context of the study, as it primarily involved participants from North America.
“We need to replicate the present findings with various cultures,” Vallerand said. “However, because hundreds of studies in various cultures (Russia, China, Japan, Australia, Brazil, Arabic countries, etc.) have yielded results that are similar to those conducted in North America, we feel very confident that they will replicate.”
The study, “(https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11031-024-10069-y) Who’s the Happiest and Why? The role of passion and self-regulation in psychological well-being,” was authored by Robert J. Vallerand, Jean-Michel Robichaud, Sonia Rahimi, and Jocelyn J. Bélanger.

(https://www.psypost.org/mothers-shoulder-the-mental-load-of-housework-and-its-impacting-their-well-being/) Mothers shoulder the “mental load” of housework – and it’s impacting their well-being
Sep 2nd 2024, 14:00

When you think about housework, you likely think of actions: scrubbing the dishes, running errands, chopping vegetables for dinner. And it’s not news to say that (https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12762) mothers often shoulder the burden for most of those activities.
But there’s an invisible dimension of household labor that unfolds behind the scenes: the cognitive effort that goes into anticipating needs, planning, organizing and delegating household tasks. In other words, someone has to remember to replace the dish soap and select which vegetables to chop.
Our new research found that this cognitive dimension of housework, often called the “mental load,” is divided even more unevenly within couples than the physical dimension – and it seems to take a particular mental health toll on women. According to the study we published in the Archives of Women’s Mental Health, mothers who take on a more (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00737-024-01490-w) disproportionate share of cognitive household labor report higher levels of depression, stress, relationship dissatisfaction and burnout.
Tracking who does what
We asked 322 mothers of young children about who in their family is responsible for 30 common household tasks. We collaborated with the creators of the Fair Play system – a book and (https://www.fairplaylife.com/the-cards) card game designed to better quantify the division of labor within households – to divide each task into two dimensions: cognitive (anticipating, planning, delegating and thinking about household tasks) and physical (the hands-on execution of household tasks). We then examined how these tasks are shared between partners.

We found a striking gender disparity: Mothers not only performed more physical housework but also carried a significantly greater share of cognitive labor compared with their partners.
On average, mothers reported being responsible for about 73% of all cognitive household labor compared with their partners’ 27%, and 64% of all physical household labor compared with their partners’ 36%. Indeed, for every single task we examined, the gender difference was larger for the cognitive dimension than the physical execution dimension.
There was only one task in which fathers did more planning and execution: taking out the garbage. Fathers also carried out more home maintenance tasks, but mothers did more of the related planning.
Interestingly, while an unequal division of physical tasks was linked to worse couple relationship quality, it was the cognitive labor that had a more profound impact on women’s psychological well-being.
Family dynamics have societal impact
An unequal division of household labor is a key driver of (https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/csw61/redistribute-unpaid-work) global gender inequity, suppressing women’s (https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2022/05/unpaid-domestic-labor-essential-work/629839/) full participation in the paid workforce and significantly affecting (https://www.newamerica.org/better-life-lab/better-life-lab-experiments/bllx-blogs/gender-and-household-labor/) women’s health and well-being.
Our study is one of the first to investigate the cognitive dimension of household labor and its effects on maternal mental health. Cognitive labor may be particularly taxing for women because it often runs behind the scenes and goes (https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/what-is-the-mental-load) unacknowledged or unappreciated by others. It also pulls mental energy away from other priorities.
Additional studies indicate that women experience (https://doi.org/10.2307/2676377) more negative effects from child care and housework compared with men, such as higher depression rates, partly due to the heavier cognitive load they carry.
What still isn’t known
Our study was limited by its reliance on self-reported household labor and by the fact that we were able to collect data only from mothers in cohabiting, heterosexual couple relationships. Future studies can survey both partners and directly observe what chores couples do at home. They can also look at different kinds of relationship configurations, including gay and lesbian couples.
We also don’t know much about the long-term effects of the division of cognitive labor on women’s mental health and cognitive functioning.
The unfair division of housework is a (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/30/upshot/women-mental-health-labor.html) frequent source of stress in relationships and often cited by women as a (https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_an_unfair_division_of_labor_hurts_your_relationship) reason for divorce. The cognitive load may be an underappreciated aspect of the domestic workload that warrants more attention from couples therapists, mental health counselors and premarital relationship educators.
 
This article is republished from (https://theconversation.com) The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the (https://theconversation.com/moms-think-more-about-household-chores-and-this-cognitive-burden-hurts-their-mental-health-233953) original article.

(https://www.psypost.org/adolescents-addicted-to-short-form-videos-tend-to-have-more-sleep-problems-and-social-anxiety/) Adolescents addicted to short-form videos tend to have more sleep problems and social anxiety
Sep 2nd 2024, 12:00

A study in China found that adolescents with more severe addiction to short-form videos tend to have worse sleep quality and higher levels of social anxiety. The paper was published in (https://bmcpsychology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40359-024-01865-9) BMC Psychology.
Short-form videos are brief, engaging videos that typically last between 15 seconds and a few minutes. They are designed to capture attention quickly, often featuring fast-paced edits, catchy music, or trending topics. Platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts have popularized this format, making it a key tool for digital content creators. These videos are ideal for mobile viewing and are often widely shared.
Short-form videos have become extremely popular among adolescents. Statistics from China indicate that there were 934 million users of such videos in December 2021. However, researchers believe that many individuals exhibit signs of addiction to these videos, considering it a new form of video addiction. The researchers define short-form video addiction as “a chronic or periodic obsession characterized by the repeated use of short-form video apps (such as TikTok, Kwai, etc.), resulting in strong and continuous craving and addiction.”
The study authors, Li Jiang and Yizoon Yoo, aimed to explore the relationship between the severity of addiction to short-form videos, social anxiety, and sleep quality. They hypothesized that addiction to short-form videos could lead to reduced sleep quality, with social anxiety potentially playing a role in this relationship. To investigate, they conducted a survey.
The survey included 1,629 first- and second-year high school students in Shandong Province, China, of whom 831 were male. The average age of the participants was 16-17 years.
The survey assessed addiction to short-form videos using a version of the Social Media Dependence Scale adapted specifically for short-form videos, social anxiety using the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale, and sleep quality using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index.
The results showed that adolescents with more severe symptoms of short-form video addiction tended to report poorer sleep quality and higher levels of social anxiety. Additionally, students with more pronounced social anxiety also reported poorer sleep quality.
The study authors tested a statistical model proposing that addiction to short-form videos increases social anxiety, which, in turn, reduces sleep quality. The results suggested that this relationship is indeed possible, but they also found that the link between short-form video addiction severity and sleep quality is not entirely mediated by social anxiety.
“Short‐form video addiction is positively correlated with adolescents’ sleep quality and social anxiety. Social anxiety partially mediates the relationship between short-form video addiction and sleep quality. The adverse effects of short-form video addiction and social anxiety on the sleep quality of this group must be minimized. Schools are recommended to implement measures to promote sleep quality among adolescents,” the study authors concluded.
While the study sheds light on the link between the severity of short-form video addiction symptoms and sleep quality, the study’s design does not allow for cause-and-effect conclusions. Although the authors suggest that short-form video addiction leads to poorer sleep quality and higher social anxiety, the results only show associations, not causal relationships. Future studies will need to investigate whether addiction to short-form videos indeed reduces sleep quality, or whether students with sleep problems simply spend more time watching short-form videos, potentially as a method of falling asleep.
The paper, “(https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-024-01865-9) Adolescents’ short-form video addiction and sleep quality: the mediating role of social anxiety,” was authored by Li Jiang and Yizoon Yoo.

Forwarded by:
Michael Reeder LCPC
Baltimore, MD

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