This blog is part of the Children, young people and families newsletter
At LSHTM, a diverse range of research is being undertaken relating to children and young people, ranging from the impacts of vaping on teens’ mental health to evaluating their views on unhealthy food outlet takeaways near schools.
Greg Hartwell recently undertook one-to-one with 18 young people in secondary schools, documenting a wide range of concerns they had around potential mental health impacts from both social media and e-cigarettes.
Social media
In terms of social media, there were particular risks raised around the mental health implications of TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat, which varied by site/platform. For TikTok, respondents cited worries around attention deficit impacts and addictiveness, such as the ‘time sink’ phenomenon whereby much larger periods of time could be lost on the app than intended, potentially leading to associated feelings of guilt or frustration. In the case of Instagram, risks were raised around seeing inappropriate material unexpectedly or being subjected to body image pressures. Snapchat was viewed more as a communication tool but still prompted concerns around mental overwhelm, for example, from the sheer volume of messages involved or the pressure to maintain ‘Snapchat streaks’ of days in contact with high numbers of peers.
E-cigarettes
In terms of e-cigarettes, interviewees cited potential loneliness and stigma arising from vaping behaviours, particularly for heavier users, as mental health risks. Many articulated gender differences in the levels of judgement or shame that could be associated with vaping, as well as ‘knock-on’ mental health impacts from punitive behaviour management by schools when dealing with e-cigarette issues.
Hot food take-aways
Beyond social media and vaping, LSHTM also undertakes a wide range of research into the food industry’s influence on young people’s lives. Bea Savory, for instance, has investigated young people’s perspectives on local authority policies to manage hot food takeaways being opened near schools via . Specifically, this used group discussions while walking (known as ‘go along’ interviews) to elicit young people’s views on takeaway ‘management zone’ restrictions being implemented by local authorities, with almost 50 young people in London involved. Findings suggested that young people were sceptical about the impact of these zones if they only focused on takeaways (the merits of widening to convenience stores was often discussed) but found them acceptable and felt they could have some benefits for young people’s diets. The study also drew out insights about young people’s concerns with the broader food environment (school dining offers, for instance, or access to apps providing food delivery).
Calorie labelling
Dalya Marks and Vanessa Er have meanwhile been working with 13–18-year-olds lately to explore their views on calorie labelling for out of home purchases using photovoice (a research method where people document their experiences or environments via photography) and ‘walkabout’ methods, exploring Camden with young people to look at food outlets. These walkabouts were used to discuss the local food environment, with young people also using cameras to record their views, all of which was then used as a basis for group discussion about what they would tell a policy maker in charge of planning their food environments (including designing posters). A photo exhibition took place at LSHTM in February this year showing their photographs along with their captions and stories linked to these images.
Intersections between exclusion, mental health and involvement in criminal behaviour
Finally, Rhiannon Barker has explored the intersections between school exclusion, mental health, and involvement in criminal behaviour. This has led to around how schools might be modified to help improve mental health and engagement, and to take a more proactive role in safeguarding young people from these kinds of risks. Her findings suggest that schools should consider broadening their focus (away from a narrow pursuit of academic excellence), to include more group-based and project-based learning, while putting more emphasis on life skills and vocational training.
This is just a flavour of the wide array of young people-related work that we undertake here at LSHTM though – we would be delighted to hear from anyone interested in finding out more about these projects or collaborating on future work.
Please contact Greg Hartwell (gregory.hartwell@lshtm.ac.uk) for further details on any of these projects or to explore future collaborations.
