Links between screen use and depressive symptoms in adolescents over 16 years: It is concluded that screens and social media use are unlikely to bear major responsibility for youth suicide trends

Links between screen use and depressive symptoms in adolescents over 16 years: Is there evidence for increased harm? Christopher J. Ferguson. Developmental Science, June 23 2020. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13008

Abstract: Recent scholarship has been divided on whether an observed increase in suicides in the United States among teenagers and preteens (12–18) can be attributed to an increased use in social screen media beginning in 2009. If these concerns are accurate effect sizes for the relationship between screen use and suicide should increase over the 16 years since 2001. The current study used the Florida Youth Risk Behavior Survey data (n  = 45,992) from 2001 to 2017, to track effect sizes for screen/depression correlations, controlling for age and gender. A second dataset from the UK Understanding Society dataset (ns for each wave ranged between 3,536 and 4,850) was used to study associations between time spent on social media and emotional problems. Metaregression was be used to examine whether effect sizes increase across time. Results generally did not support the hypothesis that effect sizes between screen and social media use are increasing over time. Aside from the trends over time, for any given year, most effect sizes were below the r  = .10 threshold used for interpretation with the exception of computer use which was just at that threshold. It is concluded that screens and social media use are unlikely to bear major responsibility for youth suicide trends.

Breakfast skipping may have a modest impact on weight loss compared to breakfast consumers, and may increase LDL cholesterol in the short term

Breakfast Skipping, Body Composition, and Cardiometabolic Risk: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis of Randomized Trials. Jonathan P. Bonnet  Michelle I. Cardel  Jaqueline Cellini  Frank B. Hu  Marta Guasch‐Ferré. Obesity, April 18 2020. https://doi.org/10.1002/oby.22791

Abstract
Objective The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of skipping breakfast on body composition and cardiometabolic risk factors.

Methods This study conducted a systematic review and meta‐analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating breakfast skipping compared with breakfast consumption. Inclusion criteria included age ≥ 18, intervention duration ≥ 4 weeks, ≥ 7 participants per group, and ≥ 1 body composition measure. Random‐effects meta‐analyses of the effect of breakfast skipping on body composition and cardiometabolic risk factors were performed.

Results Seven RCTs (n  = 425 participants) with an average duration of 8.6 weeks were included. Compared with breakfast consumption, breakfast skipping significantly reduced body weight (weighted mean difference [WMD] = −0.54 kg [95% CI: −1.05 to −0.03], P  = 0.04, I 2 = 21.4%). Percent body fat was reported in 5 studies and was not significantly different between breakfast skippers and consumers. Three studies reported on low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), which was increased in breakfast skippers as compared with breakfast consumers (WMD = 9.24 mg/dL [95% CI: 2.18 to 16.30], P  = 0.01). Breakfast skipping did not lead to significant differences in blood pressure, total cholesterol, high‐density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, triglycerides, C‐reactive protein, insulin, fasting glucose, leptin, homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance, or ghrelin.

Conclusions Breakfast skipping may have a modest impact on weight loss and may increase LDL in the short term. Further studies are needed to provide additional insight into the effects of breakfast skipping.

Chemical engineers, computer & information systems managers, & management analysts are virtually all Republican; epidemiologists, computer programmers, & historians are virtually all Democrats

Occupational Engagement and Partisanship in the United States. Darin DeWitt. Political Studies Review, July 4, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1177/1478929920932129

Abstract: In this article, I present a portrait of the American power elite and their relationship with the party system. I focus on occupational categories as institutional positions and take up three questions: Which occupational categories wield social influence? How politically mobilized is each of these occupational categories? And what partisan tilt is exhibited by each category? My results help clarify the contemporary structure of American electoral competition. Furthermore, they also shed light on which social groups have a voice in American politics and, thus, speak to questions of political equality.

Keywords: power elite, occupational subcultures, party identification, political inequality