Tag: Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

Reading of the Week: Controversies & Kids – Papers on Social Media Bans and Smartphone Restrictions; Also, Sexsomnia for Psychiatrists

July 2, 2026 / / 0 Comments

From the Editor

Canada’s Parliament is debating a ban. Government officials are discussing similar measures in the UK, Poland, Denmark, and Malaysia. As more and more countries think about restricting kids from access to social media, the Australian experiment is interesting and important. In 2024, Australia passed legislation banning youth under the age of 16 years. 

But has the Australian law had an effect on use? In The BMJ, Courtney Barnes (of the University of Newcastle) and her co-authors attempt to answer that question with a prospective observational study. They analyzed survey data collected just before implementation and again three months after it, involving 408 youth. “Despite the intent of the Social Media Minimum Age Act 2024 to delay access to social media platforms and reduce the potential for online harms, little evidence was found of immediate substantive reductions in reported social media use by adolescents under 16 years.” We consider the study and its implications.

In the second selection, Maiara da Silva Martins (of Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul) and her co-authors focus on cellphone restriction in Brazil during the school day. In a letter published in Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, they report on a longitudinal study involving 1 643 students. “Our findings suggest that school-hour restrictions alone are insufficient to alter the trajectory of internalizing problems like anxiety and withdrawal.”

And in the third selection, from The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, Dr. Colin M. Shapiro (of the University of Toronto) and his colleagues write about sexsomnia. They note that the condition is more common than previously believed and offer some clinical tips. “For clinicians, the key point is that sexual behaviours during sleep can occur without conscious awareness and should be considered within the broader spectrum of parasomnias during clinical assessment.”

DG

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Reading of the Week: Adolescent Mental Health With Papers on School-Based Mindfulness, Firearms & Youth Suicide, and GenAI

February 26, 2026 /

From the Editor

The MYRIAD Trial was ambitious, involving more than 8 300 adolescents at 84 schools, with the aim of preventing depression and improving mental well-being by teaching mindfulness through a universal school program. The only catch? There was no difference in outcomes at one year.

Would it be possible to identify adolescents who would benefit from mindfulness? Christian A. Webb (of Harvard University) and his co-authors attempt to answer that question, using AI. And so, a longstanding objective, prevention, was joined with a modern method, machine learning. In the first selection, a paper from JAMA Psychiatry, the authors detail a secondary analysis using two complementary machine learning approaches and the MYRIAD Trial data. “This study found that analyses using machine learning identified a subgroup of participants with a statistically detectable but clinically trivial differential intervention response. These findings highlight the substantial challenges in achieving clinically useful personalization in universal school-based prevention programs.” We consider the paper and its implications.

In the second selection, from the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Alison Athey (of Johns Hopkins University) and her co-authors evaluate the impact of child access prevention laws on youth suicide deaths by firearms. They drew on more than 30 years of mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Laws that require families to store firearms unloaded and secured in a locking device appear to effectively prevent youth suicide deaths and firearm-related youth deaths by accident and homicide.”

And in this week’s third selection, Dr. Scott Monteith (of Michigan State University) and his co-authors write about generative AI and adolescents for The British Journal of Psychiatry. They note a surge in use – some 80% of British teens use generative AI – and consider problems, from cyberbullying to mental healthcare. “There is a need to increase awareness of how GenAI may have a negative impact on the mental health of teenagers.”

DG

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