Misleading News Coverage of Research Findings Poses a Risk to Youth Mental Health and Safety
2022; Elsevier BV; Volume: 70; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1016/j.jadohealth.2021.12.018
ISSN1879-1972
Autores Tópico(s)Health Policy Implementation Science
ResumoConcerns around youth mental health and safety have recently taken front stage because of pandemic-related upheavals in children's schooling, socializing, and access to school-based supports. The news media has helped draw much-needed attention to these issues and may have influenced recent boosts in federal funding for school-based mental health services. In the context of careful, credible reporting, we can feel confident that the public and policymakers have an accurate view of what is known about the state of youth mental health, including risk for substance use and its consequences. Unfortunately, some recent media coverage of research on these topics, especially as portrayed in news stories' headlines, underscore the all-too-common problem of misleading media representation of scientific research. Misleading news coverage about research can pose a potential threat to youth health and well-being by offering summaries of research findings that (1) minimize a real and ongoing problem, (2) exaggerate the severity of a problem, or (3) distort the cause of a problem. Such coverage can divert scarce attention and resources away from pressing issues and the solutions most needed for addressing them. At times, the media extrapolates sweeping conclusions from a single study's finding about the seeming resolution or abatement of a long-standing public health problem. Coverage of recent national data on youth vaping rates [[1]Park-Lee E. Ren C. Sawdey M.D. et al.E-cigarette use among middle and high school students – national Youth Tobacco Survey, United States, 2021.MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2021; 70: 1387-1389Google Scholar], for example, has been dangerously misleading. Headlines in reputable news outlets touted "a big drop in U.S. teen vaping" [[2]Perrone M. Big drop in US teen vaping seen with COVID school closures. Associated Press.https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-business-science-health-tobacco-industry-regulation-42c74433853293af2ea65caa10e9cb7eDate: 2021Date accessed: November 2, 2021Google Scholar] and "youth vaping declined sharply for second year," [[3]Richtel M. Youth vaping declined sharply for second year, new data show. New York Times.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/30/health/youth-vaping-decline.htmlDate: 2021Date accessed: November 2, 2021Google Scholar] despite study authors' explicit warnings against making comparisons to prior years because of coronavirus disease (COVID)-related methodological changes in data collection. Implying a statistically significant drop in youth vaping, without solid evidence, can impede efforts to address the youth vaping crisis just as the Food and Drug Administration is reviewing the risk-benefit ratio of allowing vaping products to remain on the market. Indeed, the vaping industry pounced on such coverage, suggesting youth use of their products is not a significant problem [[4]American Vaping AssociationCdc: Teen vaping fell by over 40% in 2021. Vaping.org.https://vaping.org/press-release/cdc-teen-vaping-fell-by-over-40-in-2021/Date: 2021Date accessed: November 2, 2021Google Scholar]. With the Food and Drug Administration issuing its first authorization in October 2021 for the marketing of R.J. Reynold's VUSE tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes—a high-nicotine-content brand popular among youth—this is not the time to be lulled into a false sense of resolution around the youth vaping epidemic. Just as minimizing the severity of a threat such as youth vaping can lead to inadequate responses or divert attention from the problem, headlines representing a problem as worse than it might be also can be harmful to young people's health. For example, a recent headline [[5]Murez C. No drop in teens' use of pot, binge drinking despite pandemic lockdowns. Healthday.https://consumer.healthday.com/b-6-25-no-drop-in-teen-s-use-of-pot-binge-drinking-despite-pandemic-lockdowns-2653526933.htmlDate: 2021Date accessed: November 2, 2021Google Scholar] reported no significant decline in teens' marijuana use or binge drinking amid pandemic lockdowns. While the study [[6]Miech R. Patrick M.E. Keyes K. et al.Adolescent drug use before and during U.S. national COVID-19 social distancing policies.Drug Alcohol Depend. 2021; 226: 108822Google Scholar] upon which this and similar news articles were based did find that marijuana use and binge drinking among a sample of 12th-graders, as a whole, stayed at prepandemic levels, there are crucial nuances not reported in the media: Perceived availability of these substances and reported ease of access to and use of nicotine vaping products did decrease during the pandemic. Furthermore, results differed based on respondents' reported social distancing practices, such that those who were social distancing engaged in significantly less binge drinking than those who were not. Highlighting the lack of change in marijuana use or binge drinking but not the decline in vaping gives extra weight to the findings that suggest the presence of a problem, at the expense of those that may tamp down concerns. Failing to mention the decline in binge drinking among those who engaged in social distancing or to highlight in the headline the decline in youth vaping during the pandemic also obscures critical findings supporting the known protective effect of reducing the accessibility and availability of substances to youth [[7]Griffin K.W. Botvin G.J. Evidence-based interventions for preventing substance use disorders in adolescents.Child Adolesc Psychiatr Clin N Am. 2010; 19: 505-526Google Scholar]. The news coverage makes the problem of youth substance use seem intractable when, in fact, there are significant, evidence-based solutions that have been accentuated by pandemic-imposed social circumstances. Headlines ascribing a problem to something that is not necessarily the cause can misdirect responses and waste scarce resources. For example, recent news articles [[8]Kamenetz A. The pandemic has researchers worried about teen suicide. NPR.https://www.npr.org/2020/09/10/911117577/the-pandemic-has-researchers-worried-about-teen-suicideDate: 2020Date accessed: November 2, 2021Google Scholar,[9]Green E.L. Surge of student suicides pushes Las Vegas schools to reopen. New York Times.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/24/us/politics/student-suicides-nevada-coronavirus.htmlDate: 2021Date accessed: November 2, 2021Google Scholar] reported concerns of a national wave of youth suicides due to the pandemic. These reports were based on local anecdotal information, fears expressed by mental health professionals, and studies of increased youth anxiety, depression, and emergency room visits for mental health concerns assumed to be predictive of suicide risk. The pandemic has undeniably worsened mental health for many youth, but adolescent suicide rates had been trending upward before the pandemic and appeared to be plateauing or declining according to recent national estimates [[10]Hedegaard H. Curtin S.C. Warner M. Suicide mortality in the United States, 1999-2019. National Center for Health Statistics Data Brief, Hyattsville, MD2021: 398Google Scholar,[11]Curtin S.C. Hedegaard H. Ahmad F.B. Provisional numbers and rates of suicide by month and demographic characteristics: United States, 2020.National Vital Statistics Rapid Release. 2021; 16Google Scholar]. Misattributing youth suicide to COVID-related shutdowns can dangerously pit measures critical to protecting people from a disease such as COVID against measures to protect youth mental health. It can derail focus and prevention resources dedicated to less salient but more direct contributing factors to youth suicide that are unrelated to the pandemic. Furthermore, stressful life events, such as those experienced by many young people during the pandemic, do not typically translate to increased suicide risk in the absence of underlying mental illness [[12]Boston Children's HospitalSuicide and teens. Childrenshospital.org.https://www.childrenshospital.org/conditions-and-treatments/conditions/s/suicide-and-teensDate accessed: November 2, 2021Google Scholar]. Distorting the presentation and implications of evidence can contribute to a misdirection of resources sorely needed to address the full continuum of youth mental health and substance use problems, from prevention to early intervention and treatment. Both researchers and journalists bear responsibility for improving the accuracy of media coverage of scientific findings. In communicating with the media, researchers should clearly articulate the main message of the study, explain both what the study has found and what it has not found, identify the most important qualifiers or methodological limitations, and explain why the findings are still important despite the study's limitations [[13]The National Academies of SciencesEngineering, and Medicine. Communicating newsworthy social and behavioral science. Nap.edu.https://www.nap.edu/resource/sbs/interactive/Date: 2016Date accessed: December 13, 2021Google Scholar]. While journalists might not have a background in science or statistics, speaking with the researchers, as well as outside experts, can help them accurately report study findings. Because editors, rather than reporters, often write headlines, reporters can include suggested headlines as well as methodological caveats with their submitted articles and ask to review headlines before publishing to help prevent inaccurate or misleading reporting. In addition, journalists should use the guidance provided in resources such as the AP Stylebook. The section on research provides information on how to recognize research worthy of reporting, explains types of study designs, instructs on reporting numbers (e.g., risk, statistical values, percentages), and provides writing tips. Critically, it stresses that reporters should read the actual research rather than rely on press releases, which may exaggerate or otherwise misrepresent claims [[14]Associated press. Associated Stylebook Online.Apstylebook.comDate accessed: December 13, 2021Google Scholar]. For additional help and guidance, journalists can avail themselves of several other resources provided by reputable organizations that seek to support journalists in accurately reporting health- and science-related research findings [15Poynter InstitutePoynter Pointer.org.https://www.poynter.org/Date accessed: December 13, 2021Google Scholar, 16Knight Science Journalism at the Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyJournalism resources. Ksj.mit.edu.https://ksj.mit.edu/resources/Date accessed: December 13, 2021Google Scholar, 17Association of Health Care JournalistsAssociation of health Care journalists. Healthjournalism.org.https://healthjournalism.org/Date accessed: December 13, 2021Google Scholar, 18Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of PennsylvaniaScience of science communication. Annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org.https://www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/science-communication/Date accessed: December 13, 2021Google Scholar, 19Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of PennsylvaniaHealth and risk communication. Annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org.https://www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/ahrci/Date accessed: December 13, 2021Google Scholar, 20Northeastern University School of Law Health in Justice Action LabChanging the narrative. Changingthenarrative.news.https://www.changingthenarrative.news/Date accessed: December 13, 2021Google Scholar]. With alarm bells justifiably ringing about the precarious state of young people's mental health, misrepresenting data-based findings on these issues is dangerous. Research should guide how we address youth mental health and substance use, but media coverage that misinforms about what is most pressing and what needs to be done can divert the limited attention and resources away from what we know works.
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