These data further reflect an increasing trend toward self-medication among college students. Investigators must conduct reliability and validity studies to evaluate the clinical utility of the measurement tool developed in this study.

Consumption of an energy drink containing 6% alcohol by volume negatively influenced performance on a global measure of cognitive functioning.

Social media usage is on the rise, with the majority of American adults using Facebook. The present study examined how Facebook activity affects mood in a subset of emerging adults, specifically undergraduates attending a private 4-year university. Participants (N ϭ 312) were randomly assigned to one of the following 20-min activities: browse the Internet, passively browse others' Facebook profiles, actively communicate with others on Facebook via messages/posts, or update their own personal profile on Facebook. Participants also completed questionnaires assessing mood, feelings of envy, and perceived meaningfulness of their time online. The results demonstrated that using Facebook led to significantly worsened mood compared with browsing the Internet, especially when participants passively browsed Facebook. Furthermore, perceptions of meaningfulness, but not feelings of envy, mediated the relationship between online activity and mood. Overall, these findings add to the mounting evidence that social media use may, at times, adversely affect psychological well-being. Public Policy Relevance StatementCollege students reported lower mood when passively browsing Facebook compared with other online activities, possibly due in part to feelings of wasted time. Results suggest that repeated use of social media may adversely affect psychological well-being in some emerging adults.

Žitniaková-Gurgová, B. (2011). Perfectionistic cognitions as related to optimism and pessimism in college students.

No abstract