Predictors of Problematic Social Media Use in a Nationally Representative Sample of Adolescents in Luxembourg.

Social media use has increased substantially over the past decades, especially among adolescents. A proportion of adolescents develop a pattern of problematic social media use (PSMU). Predictors of PSMU are insufficiently understood and researched. This study aims to investigate predictors of PSMU in a nationally representative sample of adolescents in Luxembourg. Data from the Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) study in Luxembourg were used, in which 8687 students aged 11-18 years old participated. The data were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression. A range of sociodemographic, social support, well-being and media use predictors were added to the model in four blocks. The predictors in the final model explained 22.3% of the variance in PSMU. The block of sociodemographic predictors explained the lowest proportion of variance in PSMU compared with the other blocks. Age negatively predicted PSMU. Of the predictors related to social support, cyberbullying perpetration was the strongest predictor of PSMU. Perceived stress and psychosomatic complaints positively predicted PSMU. The intensity of electronic media communication and preference for online social interaction were stronger predictors of PSMU than the other predictors in the model. The results indicate that prevention efforts need to consider the diverse range of predictors related to PSMU.

"What's a normal weight?" - Origin and receiving country influences on weight-status assessment among 1.5 and 2nd generation immigrant adolescents in Europe.

Many adolescents struggle with adequately assessing their weight-status, often leading to unnecessary weight-related interventions or preventing necessary ones. The prevalence of weight-status over- and underestimation differs considerably cross-nationally, suggesting that individual weight-status assessment is informed by cross-nationally differing standards of evaluation. For adolescents with a migration background, this brings up the possibility of a simultaneous influence of origin- and receiving country standards. The current study examines the magnitude of both influences using data from the 2014 Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children study. The cross-national design of the study enabled us to aggregate weight-evaluation standards for 41, primarily European, countries. Subsequently, we identified a sample of 8 124 adolescents with a migration background whose origin as well as receiving country participated in the study. Among those adolescents, we assessed the effects of origin and receiving country weight-evaluation standards using cross-classified multilevel regression analyses. Descriptive analyses revealed considerable differences in weight-evaluation standards between the countries. Regression analyses showed that both origin- and receiving country weight-evaluation standards were significantly associated cross-sectionally with weight-status assessment among the immigrant adolescents, with a stronger impact of receiving country standards. Results illustrate the context-sensitivity of adolescent weight-status assessment and reinforce the theoretical notion that immigrant adolescent development is not only informed by factors pertaining to their receiving country but also, albeit to a lesser extent, by those pertaining to their origin country.

Patterns of Health-Related Gender Inequalities-A Cluster Analysis of 45 Countries.

PURPOSE: The paper explores gender inequalities between 45 countries across 10 health indicators among adolescents and whether those differences in health correlate with gender inequality in general. METHODS: Data from 71,942 students aged 15 years from 45 countries who participated in the 2018 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey were analyzed. For this purpose, 10 indicators were selected, representing a broad spectrum of health outcomes. The gender differences in the countries were first presented using odds ratios. Countries with similar risk profiles were grouped together using cluster analyses. For each of the 10 indicators, the correlation with the Gender Inequality Index was examined. RESULTS: The cluster analysis reveals systematic gender inequalities, as the countries can be divided into seven distinct groups with similar gender inequality patterns. For eight of the 10 health indicators, there is a negative correlation with the Gender Inequality Index: the greater the gender equality in a country, the higher the odds that girls feel fat, have low support from families, have low life satisfaction, have multiple health complaints, smoke, drink alcohol, feel school pressure, and are overweight compared with boys. Four indicators show a divergence: the higher the gender equality in a country in general, the larger the differences between boys and girls regarding life satisfaction, school pressure, multiple health complaints, and feeling fat. CONCLUSIONS: Countries that are geographically and historically linked are similar in terms of the health risks for boys and girls. The results challenge the assumption that greater gender equality is always associated with greater health equality.

School-Class Co-Ethnic and Immigrant Density and Current Smoking among Immigrant Adolescents.

Although the school-class is known to be an important setting for adolescent risk behavior, little is known about how the ethnic composition of a school-class impacts substance use among pupils with a migration background. Moreover, the few existing studies do not distinguish between co-ethnic density (i.e., the share of immigrants belonging to one's own ethnic group) and immigrant density (the share of all immigrants). This is all the more surprising since a high co-ethnic density can be expected to protect against substance use by increasing levels of social support and decreasing acculturative stress, whereas a high immigrant density can be expected to do the opposite by facilitating inter-ethnic conflict and identity threat. This study analyses how co-ethnic density and immigrant density are correlated with smoking among pupils of Portuguese origin in Luxembourg. A multi-level analysis is used to analyze data from the Luxembourg Health Behavior in School-Aged Children study (N = 4268 pupils from 283 classes). High levels of co-ethnic density reduced current smoking. In contrast, high levels of immigrant density increased it. Thus, in research on the health of migrants, the distinction between co-ethnic density and immigrant density should be taken into account, as both may have opposite effects.

Suicide prevention: Using the number of health complaints as an indirect alternative for screening suicidal adolescents.

BACKGROUND: Suicide is the second leading cause of death in adolescents. Screening for persons at risk usually includes asking about suicidal ideation, which is considered inappropriate in some societies and situations. To avoid directly addressing suicide, this paper investigates whether the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Symptom Checklist (HBSC-SCL), a validated non-clinical measure of eight subjective health complaints (e.g. headache, feeling low), could be used as a tool for screening suicidal ideation and behavior in adolescents. METHODS: 5262 secondary school students aged 12-18 answered the Luxembourgish HBSC 2014 survey, including the HBSC-SCL items and suicidal ideation and behavior questions. RESULTS: Each HBSC-SCL item correlates with suicidal ideation and behavior. A sum score was calculated ranging from zero to eight health complaints to predict respondents who considered suicide (area under the ROC curve = 0.770). The ideal cut-off for screening students who consider suicide is three or more health complaints: sensitivity is 66.3%, specificity is 75.9% and positive predictive value is 32.9%. LIMITATIONS: One limitation is HBSC-SCL's low positive predictive value. This is a general problem of screening rare events: the lower the prevalence, the lower the positive predictive value. Sensitivity and specificity could be improved by taking age-, gender- and country-specific cut-off values, but such refinements would make the score calculation more complicated. CONCLUSIONS: The HBSC-SCL is short, easy to use, with satisfactory screening properties. The checklist can be used when suicide cannot be addressed directly, and also in a more general context, e.g. by school nurses when screening adolescents.

Aggregation, Validation, and Generalization of Qualitative Data - Methodological and Practical Research Strategies Illustrated by the Research Process of an empirically Based Typology.

The article deals with the question of how aggregated data which allow for generalizable insights can be generated from single-case based qualitative investigations. Thereby, two central challenges of qualitative social research are outlined: First, researchers must ensure that the single-case data can be aggregated and condensed so that new collective structures can be detected. Second, they must apply methods and practices to allow for the generalization of the results beyond the specific study. In the following, we demonstrate how and under what conditions these challenges can be addressed in research practice. To this end, the research process of the construction of an empirically based typology is described. A qualitative study, conducted within the framework of the Luxembourg Youth Report, is used to illustrate this process. Specifically, strategies are presented which increase the likelihood of generalizability or transferability of the results, while also highlighting their limitations.

TIMING DEEP DIVERGENCE EVENTS IN CALCAREOUS DINOFLAGELLATES(1).

Based on morphological and molecular data, calcareous dinoflagellates (Thoracosphaeraceae, Peridiniales) are a monophyletic group comprising the three major clades Ensiculifera/Pentapharsodinium, Thoracosphaera/Pfiesteria, and Scrippsiella sensu lato. We used stratigraphically well-documented first occurrences of particular archeopyle types to constrain relaxed Bayesian molecular clocks applied to nuclear rRNA sequences of 18 representatives of the three main clades. By comparing divergence estimates obtained in differently calibrated clocks with first stratigraphic occurrences of taxa not themselves used as constraints, we identified plausible divergence times for several subclades of calcareous dinoflagellates. The initial diversification of extant calcareous dinoflagellates probably took place in the Late Jurassic, with the three main clades all established by the Cretaceous. The two mesoepicystal operculum types observed in calcareous dinoflagellates probably evolved independently from simple apical archeopyles. Based on our taxon sample, the K/T boundary had relatively little effect on the diversity of the group, with several lineages dating to before 65 mya (million years ago). The first stratigraphic occurrences of key taxa, such as Thoracosphaera and Calciodinellum (not themselves used as constraints), are in agreement with the molecular time estimates. Conflicts that involve "Calciodinellum"levantinum, Leonella, Pentapharsodinium, Pernambugia, and the Scrippsiella trochoidea species complex may be due to inaccurate assignment of fossils because of high morphological homoplasy and insufficient knowledge of the extant diversity of calcareous dinoflagellates.

Phylogeny of calcareous dinoflagellates as inferred from ITS and ribosomal sequence data.

The phylogenetic relationships of calcareous dinoflagellates (i.e., Calciodinellaceae and Thoracosphaera) are investigated. Molecular data from the ribosomal 5.8S rRNA and highly conserved motifs of the ITS1 show Calciodinellaceae s.l. to be monophyletic when few non-calcareous taxa are included. They segregate into three monophyletic assemblages in a molecular analysis that considers the 5.8S rRNA and both the Internal Transcribed Spacer regions ITS1 and ITS2: a clade comprising species of Ensiculifera and Pentapharsodinium (E/P-clade), Scrippsiella s.l. (including fossil-based taxa such as Calciodinellum and Calcigonellum), and a heterogeneous group (T/P-clade) of calcareous (e.g., Thoracosphaera) and non-calcareous taxa (e.g., the highly toxic Pfiesteria). The potential to produce calcareous structures is considered as apomorphic within alveolates, and non-calcareous taxa nesting with calcareous dinoflagellates may have reduced calcification secondarily. Molecular results do not contradict general evolutionary scenarios provided by previous morphological (mainly paleontological) investigations.