ABSTRACT
Adolescents are particularly vulnerable to health misinformation and are at risk for suboptimal adherence to protective health behaviors in the COVID-19 pandemic. Guided by factors consistent with the theories of planned behavior and rumor transmission, this study sought to analyze the impact of multiple information sources, including social media, television media, internet and parental counseling, on masking behaviors in adolescents. Responses from the December 2020 COVID-19 survey, representing 4,106 U.S. adolescents ages 12-14 from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (ABCD) were analyzed. The majority of parents (61.1%) reported counseling their children on the importance of wearing masks all the time in the past week. A minority of adolescents reported more than one hour of daily exposure to COVID-19 related information on social media (9.1%), the internet (4.3%) and television (10.2%). In unadjusted and adjusted models, greater frequency of parental counseling and exposure to COVID-19 television or social media were associated with 'always masking' behaviors. Our findings provide support for the importance of parent counseling and suggest that socialmedia and television may overall support rather than dissuade protective COVID-19 health behaviors in adolescents.
ABSTRACT
An array of novel and important studies advancing the treatment of eating disorders (EDs) were published in Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment & Prevention in 2021. In an unprecedented year of challenges to the delivery of ED treatment, and the volume of patients requiring it, this review summarizes the recent contributions to the literature on the treatment of EDs. Notably, an emphasis on assessing and addressing barriers to collaborative care offers much promise in augmenting treatment delivery and patient outcomes. In keeping with recent data illustrating an elevated risk for increased symptom severity during the COVID-19 pandemic, a focus on further disseminating treatments to higher level of care settings will be critical as the field meets the challenge presented by COVID-19. In addition, we review recent findings relating to the broader assessment and treatment of comorbidities which exacerbate ED symptom severity-which offer critical insights into the development of novel treatments. These recent contributions pave the way for more nuanced approaches to treating EDs across the diagnostic spectrum.