Screen time, phone usage, and social media usage: Before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objective: Technology use has increased in the past several years, especially among younger generations. The COVID-19 pandemic drastically changed how people work, learn, and interact, with many utilizing technology for daily tasks and socializing. Methods: The current study investigated a sample of college students using a cross-sectional design to determine whether there was a change in how much time students spent on screens, phones, and social media. Results: Findings indicated that time on screens and phones was significantly higher during the pandemic; however, time spent on social media did not differ significantly. Conclusion: These findings suggest that students are spending more time working and socializing on their screens and phones, yet social media may not be the platform in which students are doing this. Future studies should further explore technology usage and whether these trends during the COVID-19 pandemic will be lasting.

Weight Loss Expectations of Adults With Binge Eating: Cross-sectional Study With a Human-Centered Design Approach.

BACKGROUND: People tend to overestimate their expectations for weight loss relative to what is achievable in a typical evidence-based behavioral weight management program, which can impact treatment satisfaction and outcomes. We are engaged in formative research to design a digital intervention that addresses binge eating and weight management; thus, understanding expectations among this group can inform more engaging intervention designs to produce a digital intervention that can achieve greater clinical success. Studies examining weight loss expectations have primarily focused on people who have overweight or obesity. Only one study has investigated weight loss expectations among people with binge eating disorder, a population that frequently experiences elevated weight and shape concerns and often presents to treatment with the goal of losing weight. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study is to investigate differences in weight loss expectations among people with varying levels of binge eating to inform the design of a digital intervention for binge eating and weight management. Such an evaluation may be crucial for people presenting for a digital intervention, given that engagement and dropout are notable problems for digital behavior change interventions. We tested the hypotheses that (1) people who endorsed some or recurrent binge eating would expect to lose more weight than those who did not endorse binge eating and (2) people who endorsed a more severe versus a low or moderate overvaluation of weight and shape would have higher weight loss expectations. METHODS: A total of 760 adults (n=504, 66% female; n=441, 58% non-Hispanic White) completed a web-based screening questionnaire. One-way ANOVAs were conducted to explore weight loss expectations for binge eating status as well as overvaluation of shape and weight. RESULTS: Weight loss expectations significantly differed by binge eating status. Those who endorsed some and recurrent binge eating expected to lose more weight than those who endorsed no binge eating. Participants with severe overvaluation of weight or shape expected to lose the most weight compared to those with low or moderate levels of overvaluation of weight and shape. CONCLUSIONS: In the sample, people interested in a study to inform a digital intervention for binge eating and weight management overestimated their expectations for weight loss. Given that weight loss expectations can impact treatment completion and success, it may be important to assess and modify weight loss expectations among people with binge eating prior to enrolling in a digital intervention. Future work should design and test features that can modify these expectations relative to individuals' intended treatment goals to facilitate engagement and successful outcomes in a digital intervention.

A comparison of anxiety levels before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 Pandemic upended the lives of nearly everyone worldwide, and recent studies have reported higher rates of anxiety, depression, and other mental health problems. Using a repeated crosssectional design, the current study compares anxiety levels from a representative sample of college students prior-to and during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Additionally, differences in anxiety prior to and following U.S. approval for use of the Pfizer-BioNTtech COVID-19 vaccine were also compared. Findings indicate that state-anxiety levels did not differ significantly prior to and during the Pandemic as well as before the vaccine and during and after the vaccine (M = 43.01, 44.10, 44.77, respectively). Surprisingly, trait anxiety levels were significantly higher during the Pandemic than before (p = .003), and anxiety levels trend down after the approval of the vaccine, but not significantly (M = 45.10, 48.85, 47.58, respectively). Future research should continue to investigate and compare anxiety levels during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Conduct Problems As a Pathway From Childhood Adversity to Community Violence Exposure: The Protective Roles of Caregiver Knowledge and Involvement.

Exposure to community violence (ECV) poses a prevalent threat to the health and development of adolescents. Research indicates those who have more Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are at higher risk for ECV, which further exacerbates risk of negative mental and physical health impacts. Additionally, those with more ACEs are more likely to exhibit conduct problems, which has also been linked to risk for ECV. Despite the prevalence and impact of ECV, there is limited longitudinal research on the risk factors that precede this exposure as well as family-level factors that may prevent it. The current study examined conduct problems as a potential mediator between ACEs and future indirect (i.e. witnessing) ECV in adolescents. Additionally, this study included caregiver factors, such as caregiver knowledge about their adolescent, caregiver involvement, and caregiver-adolescent relationship quality as potential protective moderators. Participants included (N = 1137) caregiver-adolescent dyads identified as at-risk for child maltreatment prior to child's age four for inclusion in the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN). Conduct problems at age 14 mediated the relationship between ACEs from ages 0-12 and indirect ECV at age 16 (standardized indirect effect = .03, p = .005). Caregiver knowledge moderated the indirect relationship (b = -.40, p = .030), and caregiver involvement moderated the direct relationship between ACEs and indirect ECV (b = -.03, p = .033). Findings expand our knowledge about the longitudinal pathways that increase risk of violence exposure over the course of adolescent development, as well as the protective benefits caregivers can offer to disrupt these pathways and reduce risk of future traumatization. Implications are discussed for interventions that aim to address and prevent trauma and adverse outcomes among youth exposed to child maltreatment, household dysfunction, and community violence.

Understanding self-monitoring to inform a mobile intervention for binge eating and weight management: A proof-of-concept randomized trial.

OBJECTIVE: This study explored consumers' perspectives on self-monitoring, a common feature in behavioral interventions that helps inform consumers' progress and answer their questions, to learn what outcome metrics matter to consumers and whether self-selection of these metrics leads to greater engagement (i.e., compliance, satisfaction) in self-monitoring than monitoring only default options. METHODS: In a proof-of-concept randomized trial, 48 adult participants were randomly assigned to "clinician-determined monitoring" or "clinician + self-determined monitoring" conditions. Before starting monitoring, all participants shared outcomes that would matter to them in a mobile intervention for binge eating and weight management. Then, for 3 weeks, participants in the "clinician-determined" condition monitored their weight and binge-eating episodes, and participants in the "clinician + self-determined" condition monitored these and another metric of their choosing. After, satisfaction and compliance were assessed. RESULTS: Participants identified 116 metrics, grouped into 12 themes, that mattered to them. During monitoring, participants in the "clinician + self-determined" condition monitored 41 metrics. Surprisingly, participants in the "clinician-determined" condition also monitored metrics besides weight and binge eating. This resulted in a failure of our experimental manipulation, which represents a significant limitation of this research. No significant differences emerged in satisfaction or compliance between conditions. DISCUSSION: Although our proof-of-concept trial yielded null quantitative results, findings also suggested binge eating and weight management interventions may benefit from including an individually customizable monitoring option in addition to default metrics, warranting testing in future research. PUBLIC SIGNIFICANCE: Examining consumers' self-monitoring preferences for a mobile intervention for binge eating and weight management revealed a variety of metrics that matter to consumers, although binge eating and weight were still most valued. Findings from our proof-of-concept trial suggest design implications of encouraging an individually customizable monitoring option, in addition to default metrics, which needs to be tested in future research over a longer period and during actual mobile intervention delivery.