BACKGROUND: Empirical evidence on how health literacy affects diabetes outcomes is inconsistent. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to quantitatively summarize the findings on the associations between health literacy and diabetes knowledge, self-care activities, and glycemic control as disease-related outcomes, with specific focus on the type of health literacy assessment. DATA SOURCES: Nine databases (MEDLINE, CINAHL, Communication and Mass Media Complete, PsychInfo, PsychArticles, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, ERIC, Sociology, Embase) were searched for peerreviewed original research articles published until 31 March 2018. METHODS: Studies with type 1 and/or type 2 diabetes patients aged 18 or older, providing a calculable baseline effect size for functional health literacy and diabetes knowledge, self-care activities, or HbA1C were included. RESULTS: The meta-analysis includes 61 studies with a total of 18,905 patients. The majority were conducted in the USA, on type 2 diabetes patients, and used the S-TOFHLA as a performance-based or the BHLS as a perception-based measure of functional health literacy. Meta-analytic results show that all three outcomes are related to health literacy. Diabetes knowledge was best predicted by performance-based health literacy measures, self-care by self-report measures, and glycemic control equally by both types of health literacy assessment. DISCUSSION: Health literacy plays a substantial role in diabetes knowledge. Findings for the role of health literacy in self-care and glycemic control remain heterogeneous, partly due to the type of health literacy assessment (performance-vs. perception-based). This has implications for the use of health literacy measures in clinical settings and original research. This meta-analysis was limited to functional health literacy and, due to the paucity of studies, did not investigate the role of other dimensions including communicative and critical health literacy. . formulated the research questions and defined the search terms. L.M. carried out the electronic searches. L.M. and A.L.C. carried out the search process, the methodological assessment, and the extraction of studies information. L.M. carried out the meta-analysis. All authors were involved in writing and reviewing the final manuscript. Compliance with Ethical Standards:Not applicable.

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The Covid-19 physical distancing measures had a detrimental effect on adolescents' mental health. Adolescents worldwide alleviated the negative experiences of social distancing by spending more time on digital devices. Through a systematic literature search in eight academic databases (including Eric, Proquest Sociology, Communication & Mass Media Complete, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Pubmed, and Web of Science), the present systematic review and meta-analysis first summarized the existing evidence from 30 studies, published up to September 2021, on the link between mental health and digital media use in adolescents during Covid-19. Digital media use measures included social media, screen time, and digital media addiction. Mental health measures were grouped into conceptually similar dimensions, such as well-being, ill-being, social well-being, lifestyle habits, and Covid-19-related stress. Results showed that, although most studies reported a positive association between ill-being and social media use (r = 0.171, p = 0.011) and ill-being and media addiction (r = 0.434, p = 0.024), not all types of digital media use had adverse consequences on adolescents' mental health. In particular, one-to-one communication, self-disclosure in the context of mutual online friendship, as well as positive and funny online experiences mitigated feelings of loneliness and stress. Hence, these positive aspects of online activities should be promoted. At the same time, awareness of the detrimental effects of addictive digital media use should be raised: That would include making adolescents more aware of adverse mechanisms such as social comparison, fear of missing out, and exposure to negative contents, which were more likely to happen during social isolation and confinement due to the pandemic.

Cyberbullying perpetration (CP) and victimization (CV) are prevalent issues in adolescent development. However, previous meta-analyses focused only on cross-sectional findings. The present study aims to meta-analytically summarize 56 longitudinal studies on CP, CV, and related factors in children and adolescents. Forty meta-analyses on CP and CV as both predictors and outcomes of person-related, Internet activity-related, and contextual factors were performed. Additional moderator analyses took into account study design, sample population, and quality of the studies. Results highlight reciprocal longitudinal effects among CP, CV, and both traditional bullying and victimization: CP causes externalizing problem behaviors over time, whereas CV constitutes a risk factor of internalizing problems, such as depression and anxiety. Conversely, behavioral problems and increased Internet use predict involvement in CP, while depression, anxiety, and Internet use also predict CV over time. Further longitudinal research is needed to provide empirical evidence on understudied concepts.

Background: The pervasiveness of smartphones has raised concerns about an increase in the prevalence of problematic smartphone use (PSU), which depends on a set of psychological and behavioral risk factors. Previous research has yielded mixed results on factors predicting PSU, including social anxiety and trust. In particular, the role of trust remained largely unexplored. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between social anxiety and PSU, via the mediating role of time spent on the phone, and to explore the moderating role of dispositional trust toward others, by using a moderated mediation model with PSU as the outcome. Methods: A total of 240 young adults (Mage = 23.33, SD = 3.90, 50% male) answered an online questionnaire, which included the 12-item Social Anxiety Scale, a question on the daily duration of smartphone use, a single-item measure of dispositional trust, and the 10-item Smartphone Addiction Scale Short Version. Gender and occupational status were included as covariates. Results: Social anxiety was significantly and positively related to PSU; however, smartphone use did not mediate this relationship. Although the relationship between smartphone use and PSU was significant and positive, the link between social anxiety and smartphone use was not. Dispositional trust moderated and strengthened the direct relationships between social anxiety and PSU as well as smartphone use and PSU. Conclusions. Heavy smartphone users as well as socially anxious individuals, with the tendency of trusting others, are more at risk of PSU, which can be explained by their preference and search for online connections.

The widespread diffusion of screen-based devices in adolescence has fueled a debate about the beneficial and detrimental effects on adolescents’ well-being and development. With the aim of summarizing the existing literature on the associations between screen time (including Internet-related addictions) and adolescent brain development, the present scoping review summarized evidence from 16 task-unrelated and task-related neuroimaging studies, published between 2010 and 2020. Results highlight three important key messages: (i) a frequent and longer duration of screen-based media consumption (including Internet-related addictive behaviors) is related to a less efficient cognitive control system in adolescence, including areas of the Default Mode Network and the Central Executive Network; (ii) online activities act as strong rewards to the brain and repeated screen time augments the tendency to seek short-term gratifications; and (iii) neuroscientific research on the correlates between screen time and adolescent brain development is still at the beginning and in urgent need for further evidence, especially on the underlying causality mechanisms. Methodological, theoretical, and conceptual implications are discussed.

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