Matilda Gosling

In Life On Mars this week:

⏺️ How rumination affects teenage well-being and sleep
⏺️ Risk factors for problematic internet gaming
⏺️ Long-term effects of adolescent nicotine

matildagosling.substack.com/p/chewing-th...

This week’s Life On Mars:

▶️ The impact of mental fatigue on teenage sporting performance by age/experience
▶️ Short-term benefits of noticing good things in nature
▶️ Why teenagers with poor mental health can’t always do what would help them most

matildagosling.substack.com/p/mental-fat...

This week’s Life On Mars investigates links between breakfast and mental health, the importance of creative pursuits over the teenage years, and why teenagers who’ve had brushes with the law take more sexual risks.

matildagosling.substack.com/p/skipping-b...

Why obvious-sounding policy levers may not get the results intended and the problem with therapy chatbots – this week’s Life On Mars.

matildagosling.substack.com/p/unintended...

Does ‘I-talk’ – the amount of times teenagers say the word ‘I’ – tell us anything about their minds? What’s the link between childhood maltreatment and risk? And why should teenagers (parents, teachers etc) be lifting weights?

This week’s Life On Mars: matildagosling.substack.com/p/i-talk-fro...

Five brilliant books to read if you’re a parent of teens It’s time to reframe the negative conversation around adolescents, says Alice O’Keeffe, a mother of teens. She selects the books which will help you find the joy, even when times are challenging

My book, Teenagers: The Evidence Base, is featured in today's Times: www.thetimes.com/life-style/p...

This week’s Life On Mars: the double bind of civic engagement programmes, research about parents of chronically ill or disabled children, and the structure of a possibly perfect teenage day.

matildagosling.substack.com/p/civic-enga...

Can we learn anything about human blue light exposure from adolescent mice? What happens when links between social media and mental ill-health are tested using different teenagers? How do sleep/wake cycles link to depression?

This week’s Life On Mars: matildagosling.substack.com/p/blue-light...

This week’s Life On Mars explores the social contagion of illness online, a study adding further bulk to evidence suggesting universal mental health interventions don’t work, and why avoiding avoidance may be unhelpful.

matildagosling.substack.com/p/online-ill...

This week’s Life On Mars: research and counter-research on the impact of smartphones, eye tracking in social anxiety, and strategies that may help young adults with public speaking.

matildagosling.substack.com/p/ongoing-sm...

Are we asking the right questions about school phone bans?

Also: the potential role of blue, green and grey spaces, and tolerance of uncertainty as a life skill.

New Substack: matildagosling.substack.com/p/school-pho...

This week’s Substack covers studies on boosting resilience through exercise, stress and depression in teenage girls, and a sleep intervention that works.

matildagosling.substack.com/p/life-on-ma...

Independent review of data, statistics and research on sex and gender An independent review by Professor Alice Sullivan that looks at data, statistics and research on sex and gender.

www.gov.uk/government/p...

Highlighted section of article: “Research shows that lesbians are at higher risk of rape, sexual assault and sexual victimisation than other groups, including heterosexual women and gay men. These risks decrease when lesbians have good social support.”

The research Akua refers to - which was put before the Supreme Court - was conducted by @matildagosling.bsky.social on behalf of the Lesbian Project and is linked below (this is just one of several papers in the series)

www.thelesbianproject.co.uk/resources/le...

@akuareindorfkc.bsky.social on the pending For Women Scotland judgment, and its essential importance for lesbians.

Karon Monaghan KC and Beth Grossman instructed in the case on behalf of Scottish Lesbians, LGB Alliance and the Lesbian Project

(Share Token)

t.co/RQ4wp9TZLk

This week’s Life On Mars: a sceptical glance at ‘no mobile phone phobia’, new and unexpected links between socioeconomic status and mental health, and normalised appearance preoccupation.

matildagosling.substack.com/p/life-on-ma...

New Life On Mars: the grandparent effect, new evidence from the DfE on the downsides of universal school mental health interventions, and links between anxiety and sensitivity to noise/light.

matildagosling.substack.com/p/life-on-ma...

Department for Education. Effectiveness of school mental health awareness interventions Universal approaches in English secondary schools February 2025

Important new evidence published today: large-scale DofE trial (N=12,166) found that two universal MH awareness interventions, in secondary schools, led to an *increase* in emotional symptoms at long term (9-12 month) follow up

tinyurl.com/4ffday8y

Thread below

/1

Advice for parents of teens — don’t bang on about mental health Teenagers: The Evidence Base by Matilda Gosling is a bracingly no-nonsense parenting guide

#Teenagers by @matildagosling.bsky.social is reviewed in @thetimes.com

'A bracingly no-nonsense parenting guide ... Breezy [and] authoritative'

Read the full review: shorturl.at/ogfeI #Parenting

Indeed!

This week’s Life On Mars: the role of working memory in teenage mental health and a training programme that may boost it, the potentially misleading role of personality, and which whole-school interventions actually work.

matildagosling.substack.com/p/life-on-ma...

(Un)kind: How 'Be Kind' Entrenches Sexism Pre-order now

It's publication day for Unkind, on why women and girls shouldn't have to make up for the world by "just" being kinder (but men and boys possibly could...)! geni.us/Unkind

Why assigning labels like ‘anxiety’ or ‘depression’ may not be brilliant for teenagers’ mental health – my piece today for Welldoing

welldoing.org/article/teen...

'Adolescence may bring particular vulnerability to the negative effects that can arise from labelling mental health symptoms'

Author of #Teenagers @matildagosling.bsky.social writes for Welldoing.org about assigning mental health labels.

Read the full article: shorturl.at/BXTvF

‘I’m a scientist, here’s a parent’s guide for surviving the teenage years’ - Netmums Got a tween or teen in the house and feeling overwhelmed? Try these parenting tips from social scientist and researcher Matilda Gosling.

Author of #Teenagers @matildagosling.bsky.social shares what’s really going on behind the scenes, and how to best support your teen with @netmums.bsky.social

Read the article: shorturl.at/S8KVc
Pre-order: bit.ly/TeenagersBook

How to be a good parent to teenagers — the expert’s guide The social scientist and bestselling author Matilda Gosling shares her evidence-led advice with Anna Maxted

#Teenagers by @matildagosling.bsky.social features in @thetimes.com

'Gosling has meticulously examined the data from thousands of studies on adolescence' @annamaxted

Read the article: shorturl.at/MfS6j
Pre-order: bit.ly/TeenagersBook

The 'genuinely helpful' #Teenagers by @matildagosling.bsky.social is available now to pre-order.

Read the rave review in @newstatesman.com by @hannahsbee.bsky.social 📖 shorturl.at/dRe7d

bit.ly/TeenagersBook

This week’s Life On Mars looks at spikes in diagnoses of some mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions, and what these mean; the mental health risks to teenagers of ever-stronger cannabis; and the potential of omega-3 fatty acids.

open.substack.com/pub/matildag...

My author copies of Teenagers have just arrived! Thanks, @swiftpress.bsky.social

It's out on 30 January.

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1800752393