Odds are your adolescent has already encountered online pornography. Your role is to openly address it, scholars say.The average American first sees online pornography at age 12, and nearly three-quarters of all teenagers have encountered it, according to a 2023 survey of adolescents by Common Sense. It’s enough to make most any parent squirm, but Brian Willoughby, a social scientist at Brigham Young University who studies the pornography habits of adolescents and the impact on relationships, has some advice: “Don’t panic.” Instead, he says, help your child understand that “this is a normal and acceptable topic, even if you’re stressed out.” Here are some suggestions for how to broach the subject:Build a DialogueFirst, try to take some of the intense emotion — yours and your child’s — out of the conversation. “Start with helping them feel calm and validated,” Dr. Willoughby said. “They can’t have a conversation with you if they are feeling strong emotions.” Then, he said, “assess their reaction to porn — were they excited, disgusted, attracted, disinterested? — and make them feel safe sharing this with you.”That shared trust forms the basis for a next step, he said: “Tie your own values into the conversation. Share what your view of porn is and why.”He noted that adolescents crave a clear explanation, not merely a pronouncement that pornography is “wrong.” Dr. Willoughby suggested that parents “talk through some of the details of porn to point out problems with expectations and intimate behaviors” and then “tie these thoughts and views to your overall hopes and values about sexual intimacy.”Try Content BlockersNumerous phone and computer apps offer help blocking pornographic content.These can “potentially buy a few years of protection” if loaded on a child’s phone and other devices, said Melea Stephens, a family therapist in Alabama who speaks to universities, legislators and church groups about the harm that exposure to pornography can present to children and teenagers.Despite such barriers, studies indicate that most young people will stumble across the content or find their way to it. At that point, Ms. Stephens said, parents should take their adolescent aside and “explain the difference between a real, loving, mutually respectful romantic relationship and the destructive dynamics and meta-messages being depicted in pornography.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

More adolescents than ever are watching it. What’s needed, researchers say, are frank conversations and “porn literacy.”Brian Willoughby knows he’s doing a good job when parents become uncomfortable. That’s because part of his job involves telling them that their teenagers are looking at pornography — hard-core, explicit, often violent. Sometimes, the conversation is with a church group.Dr. Willoughby is a social scientist at Brigham Young University, where he studies the pornography habits of adolescents and the impact this has on relationships. When he goes into the community to explain what the modern world is like, he speaks plainly.“I always have to be careful to couch things by saying, ‘I’m not saying porn is good — but I am saying it’s a reality,’” he said. “You can stick your head in the sand and pretend it doesn’t exist, and say this is bad and pray harder, or use addiction language, but you have to have a realistic understanding of what’s happening.”In the past, many parents have tried to ignore the watching of pornography by their children, forbid its use or wish it away. But scholars who study the adolescent use of online pornography say that the behavior is so commonplace and impossible to prevent that a more pragmatic approach is required. When it comes to pornography, they want us to talk about it.The aim: to teach adolescents that the explicit content they encounter is unrealistic, misleading about many sexual relations and, as a result, potentially harmful. The approach does not condone the content or encourage its use, Dr. Willoughby emphasized, but acknowledges its ubiquity and unrealistic, hard-core nature. Long gone are the days of nude magazines that left much to the imagination.“That was nudity, sexualized,” Dr. Willoughby said of the pornography of yesteryear. “A lot of parents still think that porn is Playboy.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

A new report calls for public education and closing of legal loopholes to keep the public safe.The NewsAs more states have legalized the sale of cannabis, a fractured and inconsistent legal framework has emerged across the country that has prioritized sales income and tax revenue over public health, a new report finds.The report, issued Thursday by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, describes an “urgent need for a coordinated public health response.” The academies, a nonprofit advisory group of the nation’s leading scientists, said that such a response should include a federally led campaign to educate parents, children and others about the risks of a drug that is increasingly potent.Among the other suggestions, the report also calls for a lifting of research restrictions on cannabis. In recent years, many claims have been made about the medicinal and other health effects of the drug but often without substantiation from science.Even as a patchwork of laws and regulations have emerged, the potency of cannabis products has surged.Cindy Schultz for The New York TimesPotencyCurrently 24 states, the District of Columbia and two U.S. territories have legalized the sale of cannabis for recreational use, according to the National Conference on State Legislatures. In 13 other states, cannabis is legal for medicinal use.Even as a patchwork of laws and regulations have emerged, the potency of cannabis products has surged, as measured by the growing concentration of THC, the main psychoactive compound in cannabis. The rapid increases have left the public unaware of the health risks, particularly to young people, pregnant women and seniors, according to Yasmin Hurd, director of the Addiction Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine and the vice chair of the committee that issued the latest report.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

William Cope Moyers told the world he had it all figured out after beating his addiction to crack cocaine. But then a dentist gave him an opioid pain killer.In “Broken,” a memoir published in 2006, William Cope Moyers wrote of his near fatal addiction to crack cocaine and his hard-fought recovery. The book proved to be a humble celebration about the potential for rehabilitation, and Mr. Moyers became a national champion for treatment and recovery.But then his addiction returned.In 2012, while widely sharing his story as a source of inspiration, Mr. Moyers was prescribed an opioid painkiller by a dentist after an oral surgery. Quickly, he began craving the pills and soon couldn’t stop taking them.Now in his latest book, “Broken Open: What Painkillers Taught Me About Life and Recovery,” he describes how he could not shake his new addiction, even as he attended 12-step meetings, prayed and used other recovery tactics that had served him so well for decades.In a recent conversation, Mr. Moyers discussed his struggles with addiction and what he has learned from them. He is the vice president of public affairs at the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, a nonprofit addiction treatment provider based in Minnesota.The setup for your new book is that you appeared to have things figured out. What’s that story in a nutshell?In the ’80s and early ’90s, I’m hooked on substances — crack cocaine and alcohol. My life spirals downward. I hit my bottom, I climb up. What a story of redemption. I’m a national recovery advocate. I’ve got a wife and three children. I have a nice house in Saint Paul. I’m feeling comfortable in my own skin. And I’m a model of success that others aspire to embrace. What’s wrong with that?We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

Dr. Hans Klingemann, pioneering immunotherapy scientist, has studied whether the innovative treatment could save his two pets.Immunotherapy has transformed cancer treatment. It tinkers with the immune system to attack malignancies that have evaded the body’s natural defenses. This advance offers an alternative to treating cancer with surgery or chemotherapy and radiation, which can attack healthy tissue and cause extreme side effects.The treatment is not only scientifically complex but also expensive. The investment of money and time makes sense when it comes to saving humans. But what about when it comes to dogs?Dr. Hans Klingemann has worked on and researched cancer immunotherapy for decades, leading departments at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and Tufts Medical Center in Boston. Now, he’s the chief science officer for cellular products at ImmunityBio, which develops immunotherapy drugs for people. But he has also written two papers exploring whether the new treatments might someday prolong canine lives.The interview below has been condensed and edited for clarity.What interests you about immunotherapy and dogs?I love dogs. I have dogs: Sophie and Maximilian. They are each around 18 pounds, a mix of a bichon and a Cavalier spaniel.Did they develop cancer?Fortunately, they haven’t gotten cancer…. yet. But when dogs get older, many get cancer. Are there some benefits from immunotherapy? Could we make life easier, the remaining life, for the dog and the owner?We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

Contrary to expectation, a major study found that weed use among minors was lower in states where the drug was legal.With weed these days, it’s a Willy Wonka world: chocolate bars, lollipops, exotic-flavored gummies — to say nothing of joints, vapes, drinks and the rest. Twenty-four states and the District of Columbia have now legalized the sale of marijuana for recreational use, prompting innovation, lowering prices and making the drug — more potent than ever — more widely available. The Biden administration this week recommended easing the federal regulations on cannabis.What does all of this mean for adolescents?Studies have demonstrated that marijuana use can harm the developing brain. Some new strains have been linked to psychosis. Many health experts have worried that relaxing the laws around cannabis will lead to more use of the drug among minors. But Rebekah Levine Coley, a developmental psychologist at Boston College, is less certain.In April, she and colleagues published a study in JAMA that examined drug use patterns among 900,000 high school students from 2011 to 2021, using self-reported data from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey. They found that fewer minors reported having used cannabis in the previous month in states where the drug had been legalized. But they also found that in the 18 states that had both legalized cannabis and allowed retail sales of the drug, some adolescents who were users of the drug used it more frequently. The net effect was a flat or slight decline in cannabis use among adolescents.Dr. Coley spoke to The New York Times about the study, and its implications for state and federal drug policy. This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.It seems sensible to assume that legalizing marijuana would lead to more use by young people.Yes, common sense might argue that as cannabis becomes legalized, it will be more accessible. There will be fewer potential legal repercussions, hence availability would increase and use would increase.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

Contrary to expectation, a major study found that weed use among minors was lower in states where the drug was legal.With weed these days, it’s a Willy Wonka world: chocolate bars, lollipops, exotic-flavored gummies — to say nothing of joints, vapes, drinks and the rest. Twenty-four states and the District of Columbia have now legalized the sale of marijuana for recreational use, prompting innovation, lowering prices and making the drug — more potent than ever — more widely available. The Biden administration this week recommended easing the federal regulations on cannabis.What does all of this mean for adolescents?Studies have demonstrated that marijuana use can harm the developing brain. Some new strains have been linked to psychosis. Many health experts have worried that relaxing the laws around cannabis will lead to more use of the drug among minors. But Rebekah Levine Coley, a developmental psychologist at Boston College, is less certain.In April, she and colleagues published a study in JAMA that examined drug use patterns among 900,000 high school students from 2011 to 2021, using self-reported data from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey. They found that fewer minors reported having used cannabis in the previous month in states where the drug had been legalized. But they also found that in the 18 states that had both legalized cannabis and allowed retail sales of the drug, some adolescents who were users of the drug used it more frequently. The net effect was a flat or slight decline in cannabis use among adolescents.Dr. Coley spoke to The New York Times about the study, and its implications for state and federal drug policy. This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.It seems sensible to assume that legalizing marijuana would lead to more use by young people.Yes, common sense might argue that as cannabis becomes legalized, it will be more accessible. There will be fewer potential legal repercussions, hence availability would increase and use would increase.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

In Canada, cannabis poisonings rose sharply among people 65 and older after the country legalized the drug, a new study found.The NewsAs more places legalize marijuana, policymakers and health officials have worried about the health risks that the drug may pose to adolescents. But a new study suggests that an additional demographic is at risk: seniors.The study, published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine, found that after Canada legalized marijuana, the number of emergency room visits for cannabis poisoning rose sharply among people ages 65 and older. Poisonings doubled after Canada legalized sale of the cannabis flower, and then tripled just 15 months later, when Canada legalized the sale of edibles.“It’s often a baked good, a chocolate or a gummy,” said Dr. Nathan Stall, a geriatrician at Mount Sinai Hospital and researcher at Women’s College Hospital in Toronto, and lead author on the study. Dr. Stall noted that researchers and emergency room doctors were finding that seniors used drugs intentionally but also sometimes by accident, when edibles were mistaken for regular food or snacks.Symptoms of cannabis poisoning can include dizziness, confusion, nausea, loss of coordination and balance, drowsiness and hallucinations.The findings were consistent with other research published in the United States, Dr. Stall said, and showed that more attention needed to be paid to drug use by seniors, and to the health effects.“It’s somewhat in the shadows, and there is some ageism and bias in thinking that older adults aren’t using drugs,” Dr. Stall said.Edible marijuana samples at a cannabis testing laboratory in Santa Ana, Calif.Chris Carlson/Associated PressThe StudyThe study looked at 2,322 emergency room visits for cannabis poisoning among people 65 and older in Ontario. The visits spanned 2015 through 2022, allowing researchers to see what happened before and after October 2018, when Canada legalized the sale of dried cannabis, and January 2020, when the sale of edibles was legalized.In 2015, there were 55 emergency room visits caused by cannabis poisoning. That figure rose steadily to 462 by 2021, and then fell off slightly to 404 in 2022.Dr. Stall said he was motivated to undertake the study after being called into the emergency room to consult on an octogenarian who was experiencing severe confusion. The patient was barely conscious and showed strokelike symptoms. Multiple tests revealed no clear cause, until Dr. Stall ordered a toxicology test and found cannabis in the patient’s urine.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

The psychologist studies how to recognize emotions and cope with them. She learned the hard way.When it comes to your brain, who’s in charge: you, or the onslaught of incoming stimulation? In “Sovereign: Reclaim Your Freedom, Energy, and Power in a Time of Distraction, Uncertainty and Chaos,” Emma Seppälä, a psychologist with academic postings at Yale and Stanford, argues that modernity has forced the human brain into a highly reactive mode, effectively hijacking it with nonstop information and noise.To soothe ourselves, Dr. Seppälä says, we mindlessly adopt an array of coping mechanisms, some of which are self-destructive, from excessive eating and alcohol intake to angry outbursts and social withdrawal. But there are ways to interrupt our kneejerk reactions and cope more thoughtfully, Dr. Seppälä argues. She spoke to The New York Times about her work and the science of resilience. This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.In the book, you describe a formative experience in college involving your relationship to food. What happened?Starting at the age of about 16 or 17, I developed an eating disorder. I would binge-eat when I was feeling low, and then I would feel worse. It was an addictive habit, a compulsion.In college, in 1996, I went to a meditation session. It was Korean Zen, strict: You stared at the carpet for an hour with little to no instruction. I thought, I’m never ever doing this again.But I felt peaceful afterward. Then, the next day, I felt down again. There was an old leftover pizza in the dorm room. It wasn’t even a kind I liked; it was gross. But I had this impulse to binge, because that’s what I did when I felt bad. And suddenly a light went off in my head and I thought: I always cry after I binge, and that makes me feel a little better, so why don’t I cry first? In that moment I thought, OK, I’ll cry and then I’ll binge all I want.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

A new study bolsters existing research suggesting that exercise can protect against anxiety, depression and attention challenges.Physical fitness among children and adolescents may protect against developing depressive symptoms, anxiety and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, according to a study published on Monday in JAMA Pediatrics.The study also found that better performance in cardiovascular activities, strength and muscular endurance were each associated with greater protection against such mental health conditions. The researchers deemed this linkage “dose-dependent”, suggesting that a child or adolescent who is more fit may be accordingly less likely to experience the onset of a mental health disorder.These findings come amid a surge of mental health diagnoses among children and adolescents, in the United States and abroad, that have prompted efforts to understand and curb the problem.In a study, improved performance with activities such as 800-meter runs, curl-ups and standing jumps was linked with lower risk of mental health disorder.Michelle Gustafson for The New York TimesThe StudyThe new study, conducted by researchers in Taiwan, compared data from two large data sets: the Taiwan National Student Fitness Tests, which measures student fitness performance in schools, and the National Insurance Research Databases, which records medical claims, diagnoses prescriptions and other medical information. The researchers did not have access to the students’ names but were able to use the anonymized data to compare the students’ physical fitness and mental health results.The risk of mental health disorder was weighted against three metrics for physical fitness: cardio fitness, as measured by a student’s time in an 800-meter run; muscle endurance, indicated by the number of situps performed; and muscle power, measured by the standing broad jump.Improved performance in each activity was linked with a lower risk of mental health disorder. For instance, a 30-second decrease in 800-meter time was associated, in girls, with a lower risk of anxiety, depression and A.D.H.D. In boys, it was associated with lower anxiety and risk of the disorder.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.