Can depression and anxiety be contagious? A new study from Finland suggests the answer is yes — but surprisingly, it’s not just because having sad friends makes you feel sad, too. It’s possible that emotional distress can spread even through online interaction. Drazen – stock.adobe.com Publishing in JAMA Psychiatry, researchers looked at over 600,000 young … Read more
Don’t mess with him. A father is going viral for stepping in to reprimand a stranger who yelled at teen girls traveling for the first time — and people online are praising him for it. In a video shared on X (formerly Twitter) by user @Suzierizzo1, a crowd of people appears to be standing at … Read more
Talk about mixed messaging. Despite the well-documented dangers, videos posted on TikTok have been normalizing illegal vaping among young people, according to new research. Meanwhile, evidence-based health advice is struggling to cut through the clutter and noise. While the downsides of vaping are numerous, social media is normalizing the illegal habit amongst young audiences. Krakenimages.com … Read more
The world seems intent on locking Gen Z down. As children, they were given smartphones and iPads which taught them to see the world through a screen, rather than with their own eyes. As tweens and teens, their schools were shut down, sending them into the solitude of Zoom classes in their bedrooms. And now … Read more
In 2024, a tech bro predicted that “AI girlfriends” would create a $1 billion business — and it seems that youth are busy building on that dark prophecy. New research suggests Generation Alpha boys would rather have a robo-girlfriend than risk rejection and the formative challenges of an IRL relationship. The study, conducted by Male … Read more
It’s the place to shop and be seen. On a sunny Wednesday afternoon, in between sips of overpriced lattes and bites of creamy frozen yogurt and zesty truffle bagels, four Upper East Side high school students gather around an outdoor table to giggle and gossip about who they might run into on their lunch break … Read more
Your teen might need a new summer or after-school gig. Walmart — long seen as a common starting place for American teens to get their feet wet in the workforce — is being forced to crack down on a no-workers-under-18 rule in several stores, due to standards set by the US Department of Labor under … Read more
Steroid use is down among teenagers, but experts warn that young people are replacing it with a potentially dangerous booster. Researchers from the University of Michigan found that while anabolic steroid use among teens has significantly decreased over the past two decades, creatine use is surging. “I did this study given the rise in social … Read more
Gen Alpha boys might not feel so “alpha” when they hear the depressing claim about their sperm. “In 1970, men had twice the sperm count as our teenagers do today,” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. declared on Monday while joining President Trump at a maternal healthcare event in the Oval Office. … Read more
Sitting in the passenger seat of a car, a high school teen clutches an insulin needle beneath her pursed lips. She overlays the social media video with a sexually charged caption: “when he says he wants to pin me so i lowkey grab the r3ta and he looks at me weird.” No, this isn’t a … Read more
Nowadays, with the exorbitantly high cost of living, more and more young adults are living at home. While some parents are letting their adult children off expense-free, others are writing up contracts, holding their offspring accountable as long as they’re living under their roof. One Redditor posted a lengthy agreement her 20-year-old niece was given … Read more
A new study has found sobering effects of weed on teenage brains. While more teens are staying away from marijuana across the country, the drug is still used by one in five kids in New York, according to a New York Impact Report from November 2025. And though some purport the substance can improve mood … Read more
One of the most common sports injuries is increasingly affecting young women at alarming rates. Teen girls are bearing the brunt of injuries to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in the knees, experiencing up to eight times the rate of injury compared to their male counterparts. So why are young female athletes suffering these setbacks, … Read more
Not all pounds you gain carry the same weight. Being overweight can lead to a host of health problems, like chronic diseases and even premature death, especially in older age. But not all excess weight yields the same risk, according to new research, as pounds packed on earlier in our lives may be the most … Read more
Parents think teens should have their first debit card before their 16th birthday, according to new research. A survey of 2,000 parents of teens ages 13 to 17 revealed that not only should today’s teens have a debit card (at age 15.5, on average), they should also have a checking account around the same age … Read more
Peer pressure isn’t what it used to be — a new study has found more teens feel pressured to be online than they do to smoke, vape, ditch class, and even drink. The poll of 2,000 American children aged 11 to 17 found 44% feel peer pressure to be online or on social media. That’s … Read more
It’s a prom dream come true. The distraction of 1,000 NYC high school students chatting, giggling and simultaneously shopping for the perfect prom look didn’t deter a determined Tiffany Lee from finding the perfect dress for her big night. Battling through the crowds at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on Sunday, the 17-year-old went straight for an … Read more
“It was like a cloud had lifted, and she could think more rationally again.” That’s how one mother described her teenage daughter — a sufferer of “erratic mood swings” — after eight weeks on a high-dose regimen of dietary supplements. In teenagehood, some degree of irritability comes with the territory. But a clinical trial out … Read more
So much for Generation ZZZs. Teens are getting less sleep than ever — and it’s becoming a crisis. The downsides of poor sleep are well-documented, especially for teenagers, who are at risk for depression, anxiety, impaired brain function and multiple sclerosis later in life. And while phones are often the main reason for snooze issues … Read more
It would have been a boss move. Tony Danza was champing at the bit to dust off his apron and reprise his iconic “Who’s the Boss” role opposite TV daughter Alyssa Milano in a spinoff about the pair living in a woke world. “We had a shot at it. I thought it might happen,” Danza, … Read more