ADHD misinformation on TikTok is shaping young adults’ perceptions

University of British Columbia

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The most popular ADHD-related content on TikTok often does not match mental health professionals’ views, potentially influencing how young adults perceive the disorder, a new University of B.C. study has found.

An analysis of the 100 most-viewed TikTok videos related to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) revealed that fewer than half the claims regarding symptoms made in those videos actually align with clinical guidelines for diagnosing ADHD.

"TikTok can be an incredible tool for raising awareness and reducing stigma, but it also has a downside," said Vasileia Karasavva, lead author of the study published today in PLOS One and a PhD student in clinical psychology. "Anecdotes and personal experiences are powerful, but when they lack context, they can lead to misunderstandings about ADHD and mental health in general."

In the videos, many TikTok creators shared personal experiences without indicating that they don’t necessarily apply to everyone with ADHD, and might even occur for people who don’t have the disorder. This lack of nuance may lead viewers to misinterpret symptoms or incorrectly diagnose themselves.

ADHD is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders diagnosed in childhood, and often continues into adulthood​. It is characterized by having difficulty paying attention, hyperactivity and impulsive behaviour. It is estimated to affect about three to seven per cent of adults worldwide.

How TikTok influences perceptions

The study found that the more ADHD-related TikTok content a young adult consumes, the more likely they are to overestimate both the prevalence and severity of ADHD symptoms in the general population. Participants who watched more of this content were also more likely to recommend the videos—despite the unreliability of the information.

Researchers had two clinical psychologists evaluate the top 100 most-viewed TikTok videos under the hashtag #ADHD for accuracy, nuance and overall quality. Then, 843 undergraduate students were surveyed about their TikTok habits and asked to rate 10 videos: the five highest-rated and five lowest-rated by the psychologists.

The results showed a clear difference in how each group assessed the content:

• Clinical psychologists gave the more accurate ADHD videos an average rating of 3.6 out of five, while young adults gave them 2.8.
• The psychologists rated the least reliable videos at 1.1 out of five. Young adults rated them significantly higher at 2.3.

This suggests that misinformation may be slipping through unnoticed by most young people.

The need for professional engagement on social media

Clinical psychologists and other mental health professionals could play a more active role in TikTok discussions around ADHD, the researchers say. By providing expert-backed content, they could help counter misinformation and ensure young people have access to reliable resources.

“Some young adults turn to TikTok because of access barriers, or negative experiences they have had with mental health professionals,” said Dr. Amori Mikami, a professor of psychology at UBC and the study’s senior author. “It is also our responsibility to address equity gaps in who can see a psychologist.”

A balanced approach to ADHD information

The study underscores the importance of seeking professional guidance when considering an ADHD diagnosis. While TikTok can be a valuable tool for community building, it should not replace evidence-based resources. The researchers advise young adults to:

• Cross check TikTok information with reputable sources such as medical websites, books and healthcare professionals.
• See doctors, therapists or university mental health services for guidance on ADHD and other concerns.
• Consider whether stress, anxiety or cognitive overload could be contributing to  difficulties before assuming you have ADHD.

Interview language(s): English, Greek (Karasavva)

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Journal

PLOS One

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0319335 

Method of Research

Survey

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

A double-edged hashtag: Evaluation of #ADHD-related TikTok content and its associations with perceptions of ADHD

Article Publication Date

19-Mar-2025

Study of top 100 ADHD TikToks finds significant misinformation about symptoms

Psychologists differ from young adult viewers in their perceptions of ADHD content on TikTok

PLOS

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Hashtag word cloud.

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Credit: Karasavva et al., 2025, PLOS One, CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

In a new analysis, fewer than half of claims about attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in popular TikTok videos aligned with clinical standards, with young adults’ perceptions of the informational value of the videos differing from those of psychologists. Vasileia Karasavva of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS One on March 19, 2025.

Young adults increasingly use social media platforms such as TikTok as key sources of support and education about ADHD. While these platforms have powerful potential to benefit users interested in such content, they may also help to spread misinformation. However, few studies have examined the ADHD content encountered by social media users and how they interact with it. Karasavva and colleagues therefore assessed ADHD-related content on TikTok and compared how it is perceived by professionals versus young adults.

First, two of the researchers—both clinical psychologists and ADHD experts—assessed the content of the 100 most popular TikTok videos with the #ADHD hashtag. They found that fewer than half of the videos’ claims about ADHD symptoms were in accord with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which is used by clinicians worldwide to diagnose mental disorders.

Next, the researchers asked 843 undergraduate students about their TikTok #ADHD viewing habits and their perceptions of TikTok videos previously ranked by the psychologists as the five they would be most likely to recommend as ADHD psychoeducation and the five they would be least likely to recommend.

Students either formally or self-diagnosed with ADHD reported watching #ADHD TikToks more frequently than students without ADHD. After statistically accounting for diagnosis and student demographics, the researchers found that students who watched #ADHD TikToks more frequently were more likely to say they would, themselves, recommend both the top- and bottom-five psychologist-ranked videos.

The researchers describe this study as a starting point for research exploring how ADHD is portrayed on TikTok. A better understanding of the discrepancies they identified between psychologists’ and young adults’ perceptions could help inform efforts to better serve people with ADHD.

The authors add: “TikToks about ADHD are very popular among young adults, however, often they do not match the scientific literature about ADHD. Additionally, people who consumed a large amount of ADHD-related TikToks also tended to overestimate ADHD's prevalence by as much as ten times and think more negatively about their own symptoms.”

 

 

In your coverage, please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS One: https://plos.io/41wlXvt

Citation: Karasavva V, Miller C, Groves N, Montiel A, Canu W, Mikami A (2025) A double-edged hashtag: Evaluation of #ADHD-related TikTok content and its associations with perceptions of ADHD. PLoS ONE 20(3): e0319335. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0319335

Author countries: Canada, US

Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.

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Journal

PLOS One

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0319335 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

A double-edged hashtag: Evaluation of #ADHD-related TikTok content and its associations with perceptions of ADHD

Article Publication Date

19-Mar-2025

 

New study compares people’s views on voluntary childlessness across Europe

Different factors associated with approval of childlessness decision versus perception of negative consequences

PLOS

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The new study compares people’s attitudes towards voluntary childlessness across 27 countries.

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Credit: davegerber, Pixabay, CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)

A new study compares people’s attitudes towards voluntary childlessness across 27 countries and finds that different results may emerge depending on whether the measurement focuses on social expectations or perceived consequences of childlessness. Ivett Szalma of the HUN-REN Center for Social Sciences in Budapest, Hungary, in collaboration with Marieke Heers (FORS - the Swiss Centre of Expertise in the Social Sciences) and Maria Letizia Tanturri from the University of Padova, Italy (within the framework of the Childzero project), present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS One on March 19, 2025.

More and more people in Europe are choosing not to have children, prompting researchers to study how attitudes towards voluntary childlessness may be evolving. However, such attitudes can be nuanced, and it has been unclear how to measure people’s perspectives most effectively. To shed new light, Szalma and colleagues conducted a new analysis of data from 27 countries that had been collected for two prior surveys.

The researchers aimed to distinguish between two different categories of attitudes on voluntary childlessness: prescriptive versus proscriptive. Prescriptive attitudes focus on the expectation for people to have children, and can be measured with questions like, “How much do you approve or disapprove if a woman/man chooses never to have children?” Meanwhile, proscriptive attitudes highlight perceived negative consequences of childlessness, and are measured with questions about whether people need to have children to be fulfilled.

The analysis revealed that certain sociodemographic characteristics were statistically linked in different ways to prescriptive versus proscriptive attitudes towards voluntary childlessness. People in countries with higher childlessness rates tended to have higher acceptance of voluntary childlessness in a proscriptive sense, but no such trend was seen for prescriptive attitudes about consequences.

People in countries with more gender equality had higher rates of acceptance in both a prescriptive and proscriptive sense – perhaps because here, women often play a larger role in economic stability and are seen in roles beyond motherhood.

Women, more highly educated people, and in some cases, younger people, were more likely to be accepting of voluntary childlessness – potentially because of a heightened awareness of the physical, emotional, psychological and career costs of bearing children.

While employment status was not associated with any trends in proscriptive attitudes, from a prescriptive viewpoint, retirees were relatively more disapproving of people choosing not to have children – perhaps again reflecting generational differences. Interestingly, the religiosity of countries showed no trends for either category – although at the individual level, people who were more religious were less accepting of both dimensions of voluntary childlessness.

These findings suggest that distinguishing between prescriptive and proscriptive attitudes on voluntary childlessness can more precisely capture people’s viewpoints. This study could therefore help shape ongoing research into how such attitudes may change over time, in Europe and elsewhere.

The authors add: “Our study finds that lower gender inequality predicts higher acceptance of voluntary childlessness, while the level of religiosity does not make any differences.”

 

 

In your coverage, please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS One: https://plos.io/4bXcvpx

Citation: Szalma I, Heers M, Tanturri ML (2025) Measuring attitudes towards voluntary childlessness: Indicators in European comparative surveys. PLoS ONE 20(3): e0319081. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0319081

Author countries: Hungary, Switzerland, Italy

Funding: This work was supported by the Momentum Programme of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences under Grant LENDULET_2021-78, received by the author Ivett Szalma. The study and the publications are supported by the Cariparo Foundation Program ‘Scientific Research of Excellence 2018, Project: CHILDZERO under Grant No. 52024 (‘Behind the ‘Childless Boom’ in Italy: Insights via Statistical Experimental Design), received by the author Maria Letizia Tanturri. The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs' support also played a significant role in launching the collaboration; this funding was received by the author Ivett Szalma.

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Journal

PLOS One

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0319081 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Measuring attitudes towards voluntary childlessness: Indicators in European comparative surveys

Article Publication Date

19-Mar-2025

 

Tracing the geological history of spring rains: Why diminished in North America while emerged in East Asia

Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

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Spring views in present-day southeastern North America (upper) and southeastern East Asia (bottom).

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Credit: Huimin Shen

In ancient China, spring rains were called “as precious as oil” for their vital role in nature’s spring revival. Today, a unique climate phenomenon known as “spring persistent rainfall” (SPR) prevails in East Asia, bringing about 600 mm of rainfall—more than 35% of the region’s annual mean total rainfall.

But why does North America, despite its comparable geographical setting to East Asia, lack a distinct rainy season like that of East Asia? A recent study published in Communications Earth & Environment unravels this mystery by tracing the evolution of SPR over the past 55 million years. Led by scientists from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the research reveals how shifts in paleogeography and climate change have shaped the spring rainfall pattern we see today.

Based on time-slice climate simulations and proxy data, the study finds that SPR in East Asia has prevailed since the Miocene (15-13 million years ago), a relatively recent epoch of the Earth’s history with warmer climate than today. Before that, during the Eocene (about 55 million years ago), an epoch featured with the appearance and diversification of many modern groups of organisms, especially mammals and mollusks, SPR only flourished in North America. This striking contrast is primarily driven by changes in paleogeography, with additional effects from climate change—especially CO₂-induced warming.

The key driver of SPR shifts lies in paleogeography—specifically, the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau and the westward movement of the Rocky Mountains as North America drifted. The Tibetan Plateau and the Rocky Mountains not only determine the evolution of SPR in East Asia and North America, respectively, but also exert a remote influence on each other’s rainfall patterns. Together, they triggered a mid-latitude Rossby wave train, altering the position and intensity of subtropical highs and, consequently, spring rainfall patterns.

While climate warming has played a secondary role in the geological evolution of SPR, it is expected to be the dominant driver of future changes. The Eocene warming, likely exceeding 10 °C relative to today, increased the amount of SPR rainfall and decreased its proportion of the annual total. These changes align with the observed changes in tropical rainfall in today’s warming climate, i.e., the “wet gets wetter” paradigm and the “seasonal delay” phenomenon. This suggests that, under extreme warming scenarios, East Asia’s spring climate could experience changes like those we have already seen in today’s tropics.

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Journal

Communications Earth & Environment

DOI

10.1038/s43247-025-02136-0 

Article Title

Cenozoic evolution of spring persistent rainfall in East Asia and North America driven by paleogeography

 

Researchers develop new nanoplastic for sustainable street lighting

Technology improves the energy efficiency of streetlights while reducing carbon emissions

King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST)

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NanoPE reflects visible light but transmits infrared light.

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Credit: Ivan Gromicho

A new study with collaboration between King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) shows how nanomaterials can significantly reduce the carbon emissions of LED (light emitting diode) streetlights. The Researcher team estimate that by adopting this technology, the United States alone can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than one million metric tons. 

The nanomaterial, called nanoPE, enhances the emission of thermal radiation from the surface of the LED to reduce the LED temperature. LEDs generate heat, which raises their temperature and risks damaging the LED electronics and shortening the LED's lifespan. In fact, approximately 75% of the input energy in LEDs is eventually lost as heat.  

Study leader, KAUST Professor Qiaoqiang Gan, said, "LEDs are preferred light sources because of their superior efficiency and lifespan. But small enhancements can improve them even more, and that can make a big difference on sustainability because even small improvements have a big effect when used everywhere," said Gan. He added that lighting is approximately 20% of the world's annual electricity consumption and contributes to nearly 6% of global greenhouse gas emissions. 

Dr. Hussam Qasem, General Manager of the Future Energy Technologies Institute at KACST and contributor to the study, said, "Our design significantly improves LED cooling while maintaining high illumination efficiency, making it a promising solution for sustainable lighting in Saudi Arabia." 

Typical LED streetlights direct their light toward the object to be illuminated, which is why they point towards the ground. They also are designed such that thermal radiation stays trapped inside the LED. On the other hand, streetlights coated with nanoPE are literally turned upside down so that they are directed towards the sky and away from the object to be illuminated. 

The reason for this inversion is that NanoPE is designed so that infrared light, the light most responsible for thermal radiation, passes through it while visible light is reflected. The study showed that more than 80% of the infrared light emitted by LED streetlights coated with nanoPE passes through nanoPE and continues towards the sky. In contrast, more than 95% of the visible light emitted reflects off nanoPE and back to the ground, illuminating the area beneath.  

NanoPE is based on polyethylene, the most widely produced plastic in the world. To create a nanoplastic that reflects low wavelength light (visible light) but passes high wavelength light (infrared), the scientists carefully made pores as small as 30 nm – about 1000 times smaller than the thickness of a human hair – into the plastic as well as stretching and transforming it into a thinner sheet.  

The study can be read in Light: Science & Applications. KAUST Professors Osman Bakr and Boon Ooi, postdoctoral researcher Saichao Dang, master’s students Hasan H. Almahfoudh and KACST Assistant Professor Abdulrahman M. Alajlan also contributed to this work. 

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Journal

Light Science & Applications

DOI

10.1038/s41377-024-01724-7 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Sky cooling for LED streetlights