Youth screen use can cause family conflict, exacerbate mental health problems

Cellphones may have a negative impact on adolescent well-being and connection

University of Georgia

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The presence of cellphones can have a negative impact on family relationships and youth mental health, according to two new studies from the University of Georgia.

The studies from the UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences suggest that electronic media use, especially among young girls, can increase family conflict as well as widen gaps in emotional sharing between parents and kids.

“We’re seeing typical adolescent development in a new, emerging digital area that is tough to deal with. Introducing a smartphone earlier in life is a risk,” said Kalsea Koss, co-author of the study and an associate professor in the department of human development and family science. “Parents may want to think about navigating when the best time to do that is. They have to be ready to set boundaries that everybody can get on board with and then enforce those.”

Families with youth phone use argued more intensely and frequently

Using data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development repository, the researchers analyzed shifting dynamics of over 11,000 families with kids for a decade, starting at age 9.

They found that by age 11, youth who used screens related to more family conflict, such as arguments or subsequent criticism of the child by the parent. This trend continued through their teenage years.

“On average, kids are getting phones and using social media around 10 years old, which is super early, and even that age is going down,” said Cory Carvalho, lead author of the study and an alumnus of the University of Georgia. “As kids are becoming differentiated from their parents because of these profound neurological and biological emotional changes, we saw social media cause a variety of disagreements, trouble with resolution, fighting and expressions of anger.”

This was especially the case for young girls who spent time on social media, as they began engaging in social relationships and possibly comparing themselves to others online at a younger age.

Video games and viewing video clips (such as on YouTube), however, did not cause strife on their own.

Time spent online can isolate teens during emotional struggles

In that same dataset, the researchers found electronic media use had a negative impact on how adolescents and teens dealt with emotional turbulence.

That study suggested that the earlier a child gets a smartphone, the less aware a parent might be if the child had anxiety or depression, at a key time where those symptoms increase.

“Our findings suggest that when kids get smartphones earlier, they may be less likely to disclose emotional problems to their parents. Smartphone ownership can therefore create gaps in parent and child communication,” said Niyantri Ravindran, assistant professor in the department of human development and family science and supervising faculty of the study.

"Our findings suggest that when kids get smartphones earlier, they may be less likely to disclose emotional problems to their parents.”

— Niyantri Ravindran, College of Family and Consumer Sciences

The younger children were when they owned their first smartphone, the more they internalized their problems over time.

“Family members are still important, but kids are finding more and more support and comfort outside of them with social media,” Carvalho said. “We know that there’s a robust association between adolescent internalizing symptoms of depression and anxiety and mental health in adulthood. It’s really important to detect these things early on so that parents can intervene and mitigate against it.”

Although it may be unrealistic to avoid purchasing one altogether, the researchers advise delaying smartphone ownership until children are older, or placing time limits on screentime as well as prioritizing face to face interactions in the family.

These studies were published in the Journal of Family Psychology and Development and Psychopathology.

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Journal

Journal of Family Psychology

DOI

10.1037/fam0001390 

Article Title

Youth electronic media use and family conflict: Bidirectional associations across early adolescence.

 

Dark Matter might leave a ‘fingerprint’ on light, scientists say

University of York

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Dark Matter, the substance that makes up most of the Universe, could potentially be detected as a red or blue light ‘fingerprint’, new research shows.

Previously assumed to be invisible, the study, from researchers at the University of York, suggests that Dark Matter could leave faint, measurable marks on light as it passes through regions where the elusive substance is present — challenging long-held assumptions that the two never interact.

The presence of Dark Matter is known only through its gravitational pull, which shapes galaxies and holds them together, and it is therefore rarely questioned whether Dark Matter could be detected through light.

But the York team says the picture may be more complex. Their findings indicate that light could pick up a subtle tint — slightly red or blue — depending on the type of Dark Matter it encounters. Detecting such effects could open up a new way to study the invisible mass that dominates the cosmos.

The theoretical study uses the idea of the “six handshake rule” - the notion that any two people on Earth are connected by just a few mutual acquaintances. They suggest a similar chain of connections might exist among particles.

Even if Dark Matter doesn’t interact directly with light, it might still influence it indirectly through other particles. For example, some Dark Matter candidates, known as Weakly Interacting Massive Particles - or WIMPs - could connect to light via a series of intermediate particles such as the Higgs boson and the top quark.

Dr Mikhail Bashkanov, from the University of York’s, School of Physics, Engineering and Technology, said:  “It’s a fairly unusual question to ask in the scientific world, because most researchers would agree that Dark Matter is dark, but we have shown that even Dark Matter that is the darkest kind imaginable — it could still have a kind of colour signature. 

“It’s a fascinating idea, and what is even more exciting is that, under certain conditions, this ‘colour’ might actually be detectable. With the right kind of next-generation telescopes, we could measure it. That means astronomy could tell us something completely new about the nature of Dark Matter, making the search for it much simpler.

The study outlines how these indirect particle interactions could be tested in future experiments, potentially allowing scientists to rule out some theories of Dark Matter while focusing on others, and so researchers argue that the new study could point to the importance of factoring these possibilities in future developments of telescopes.

Understanding Dark Matter remains one of the greatest challenges in modern physics, and so the next stage of this work could be to confirm these findings, which could offer a new way of searching for a substance that has, until now, only revealed itself through gravity.

Dr Bashkanov said: “Right now, scientists are spending billions building different experiments — some to find WIMPs, others to look for axions or dark photons. Our results show we can narrow down where and how we should look in the sky, potentially saving time and helping to focus those efforts.”

The research is published in the journal Physics Letters B

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Journal

Physics Letters B

 

Origins of Ancient Egypt’s Karnak Temple revealed

Most complete study of the temple complex and its land- and waterscapes establishes earliest occupation and suggests link to creation myth

Uppsala University

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Coring in the 'garden of Amun' Karnak

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Credit: Angus Graham/Uppsala University

The most comprehensive geoarchaeological survey of Egypt’s Karnak Temple complex has been carried out by an international research team led from Uppsala University. The temple is one of the ancient world’s largest temple complexes and part of a UNESCO World Heritage site within the modern-day city of Luxor.

The study, published in Antiquity reveals new evidence on the foundation of the temple, possible links to ancient Egyptian mythology, and new insights about the interplay between the temple’s riverine landscape and the people who established, occupied and developed the complex over its 3,000 years of use.

“Our research presents the clearest understanding of the landscape upon which the ancient Egyptians founded their temple at Karnak approximately 4000 years ago,” says Dr Angus Graham, Uppsala University, who led the team.

From Flooded Land to Temple Foundation

Karnak temple is located 500 meters east of the present-day River Nile near Luxor, at the Ancient Egyptian religious capital of Thebes, but this was not always the case.

The team analysed 61 sediment cores from within and around the temple site and studied tens of thousands of ceramic fragments to help date their findings. Using this evidence, the team have been able to interpret how the landscapes and waterscapes around the site changed throughout its history.

They found that prior to about 2520 BCE, the site would have been unsuitable for permanent occupation as it would have been regularly flooded by fast-flowing water from the Nile. The earliest occupation at Karnak would have likely been during the Old Kingdom (c.2591–2152 BCE). Ceramic fragments found at the site support this finding, with the earliest dating from sometime between c.2305 to 1980 BCE.

The land on which Karnak was founded was formed when river channels cut their beds to the west and east of a terrace, creating an island of high ground in what is now the east/south-east area of the temple precinct. This emerging island provided the foundation for occupation and early construction of Karnak temple.

A New Interpretation of the Temple Site's Role

Over subsequent centuries and millennia, the river channels either side of the site migrated, creating more space for the temple complex to develop.

Researchers were surprised to find that the eastern channel – until this study not much more than a supposition – was more well-defined, and perhaps even larger than the channel to the west, which archaeologists had previously focussed on.

“What also surprised us was the longevity of this eastern channel. It remains a very minor channel until the arrival of the Romans in the first century BCE. We also have evidence of how the Ancient Egyptians engineered the landscape. They may well have been impatient to expand their temple footprint as they dumped desert sands into a minor river channel that was already starting to silt up,” adds Angus Graham.

The Landscape Reflects the Creation Myth

This new knowledge of the temple’s landscape has striking similarities to an Ancient Egyptian creation myth, leading the team to believe that the decision to locate the temple here could have been linked to the religious views of its inhabitants.

Ancient Egyptian texts of the Old Kingdom say that the creator god manifested as high ground, emerging from ‘the lake’. The island upon which Karnak was found is the only known such area of high ground surrounded by water in the area.

“It’s tempting to suggest the Theban elites chose Karnak’s location for the dwelling place of a new form of the creator god, ‘Ra-Amun’, as it fitted the cosmogonical scene of high ground emerging from surrounding water,” says Dr Ben Pennington, lead author of the paper and a Visiting Fellow in Geoarchaeology at the University of Southampton.

“Later texts of the Middle Kingdom (c.1980–1760 BC) develop this idea, with the ‘primeval mound’ rising from the ‘Waters of Chaos’. During this period, the abating of the annual flood would have echoed this scene, with the mound on which Karnak was built appearing to ‘rise’ and grow from the receding floodwaters.”

The paper has built upon the project’s 2024 Nature Geoscience paper (doi.org/10.1038/s41561-024-01451-z), which demonstrates how climatic and environmental changes have shaped the landscape of the Egyptian Nile Valley over the past 11,500 years.

The work was carried out under the auspices of the Egypt Exploration Society (London) with a permit from the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (Egypt).

Karnak from south west

Coring outside the First Pylon at Karnak

Credit

Angus Graham

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Journal

Antiquity

DOI

10.15184/aqy.2025.10185 

Article Title

Conceptual origins and geomorphic evolution of the temple of Amun-Ra at Karnak (Luxor, Egypt)

Article Publication Date

16-Oct-2025

 

Spanish-language counseling cuts heavy drinking among latinx adults by 22%, UC San Diego study finds

A culturally tailored program led by Spanish-speaking community health workers reduced alcohol use and may help close care gaps among Latinx adults

University of California - San Diego

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A culturally adapted behavioral intervention delivered in Spanish by community health workers significantly reduced unhealthy alcohol use among Latinx adults, according to new research led by the University of California San Diego. The peer-reviewed study, published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs on Oct. 8, 2025, found that participants receiving the three-session program showed nearly twice the reduction in heavy drinking days compared to those who received an educational booklet with tools to reduce drinking.

“Our findings highlight the importance of meeting people where they are — both linguistically and culturally,” said Alison A. Moore, M.D., M.P.H., lead author and professor of medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine, where she serves as chief of the Division of Geriatrics, Gerontology and Palliative Care. “By working through trusted community health workers, we were able to create a bridge between evidence-based behavioral strategies and the real-world experiences of Latinx adults, who are too often underserved by traditional treatment systems.”

The Latinx community is the fastest growing ethnic group in the U.S. and makes up nearly 20% of the U.S. population, yet this population faces persistent barriers to accessing substance use treatment, including stigma, cost and a shortage of culturally and linguistically appropriate services. Roughly one in four Latinx adults (26.4%) reported binge drinking in the past month — higher than the 23.1% rate among non-Latinx groups — and those who develop alcohol use disorders often experience more severe health and social consequences. About one in four Latinx individuals in the U.S. are monolingual or have limited English proficiency, further compounding these barriers to care.

To address this gap, Moore and colleagues tested a culturally adapted version of Motivational Enhancement Therapy combined with Strengths-Based Case Management (CA-MET/SBCM). The approach focuses on personal motivation, goal setting and connecting participants with needed health and social services.

In partnership with Providence Health and Services in Los Angeles County — a community-based organization — the intervention was delivered in Spanish by trained community health workers who share the cultural background and language of the participants and who can provide culturally and linguistically appropriate health information.

The randomized controlled trial enrolled 236 Latinx adults who were not currently in treatment but exceeded low-risk drinking limits. Participants were assigned to either the CA-MET/SBCM program or to receive the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism’s “Rethinking Drinking” booklet, a freely available self-help resource developed by the National Institute on Alcohol and Alcoholism.

At 12 weeks, participants in the CA-MET/SBCM program were already showing meaningful progress, with significantly greater reductions in heavy drinking days compared to the control group (an 18.5% decrease vs. a 10.3% decrease). By 26 weeks, these improvements grew even stronger: participants in the intervention group reduced their percentage of heavy drinking days by 21.7%, compared to a 12.9% reduction in the control group. They also reported a greater decrease in the number of drinks consumed per week.

“This study shows that community health workers — not just clinicians — can play a pivotal role in reducing risky drinking,” said Mitchell Karno, Ph.D., research psychologist in the Department of Psychiatry and director of Alcohol Studies at the Integrated Substance Use and Addiction Programs at UCLA during the study. “Their connection to the community makes them powerful agents of change, particularly for populations who may mistrust or feel excluded from the healthcare system. With proper training and supervision, community health workers can expand the reach of evidence-based treatments and bring culturally meaningful care to those who need it most.”

A potential strategy for addressing unhealthy alcohol use in Latinx communities could entail broadly disseminating the “Rethinking Drinking” booklet through community-based organizations, while offering the more personalized CA-MET/SBCM intervention to those who need additional support. This tiered approach could maximize reach while reserving higher-touch interventions for those at greater risk — an idea the researchers say warrants further testing. The team also noted that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, some sessions were successfully delivered by phone, suggesting the model could be adapted for telehealth or hybrid formats in the future. Together, these findings point toward scalable, culturally grounded strategies that could be integrated into community health centers and public health initiatives to reduce alcohol-related disparities.

Beyond reducing alcohol consumption, the model could help address broader health disparities. Community health worker programs have improved outcomes in chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension, yet their use for alcohol use disorders remains limited.

“Reducing unhealthy drinking is not just about abstinence, it's about helping people align their behaviors with their values and life goals,” said Moore. “When we do that in a way that honors their culture and language, we not only improve individual health, but also strengthen entire communities.

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Link to full study: https://doi.org/10.15288/jsad.24-00380.

Additional co-authors on the study include: Jaclyn Bergstrom from UC San Diego; Christina S. Lee from Boston University School of Social Work; Blanca X. Dominguez, Veronica Barenstein and Mitchell P. Karno from UCLA; Melissa Garcia from UCLA and University of Washington; and Juan Mendez from Providence Health and Services.

The study was funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (grant RO1 AA025564).

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Journal

Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs

DOI

10.15288/jsad.24-00380