Literature shows that minority individuals face cultural barriers to mental health care. Few studies examine whether these barriers are influenced by acculturation to Western culture. This study explores attitudes toward depression treatment among Spanish- and Mandarin-speaking young adults. We conducted five language-specific focus groups with 6 Spanish- and 7 Mandarin-speaking participants (Mage = 19.92; NFemale = 10). Focus groups used structured open-ended questions examining cultural and familial attitudes, perceived barriers, and treatment decisions. Transcripts were analyzed using the NRC Emotion Lexicon to classify words as positive/negative sentiment. We hypothesized discussions would contain more negative than positive sentiment words, and negative sentiment word use would be higher among participants with lower Western cultural adaptation. Contrary to our hypotheses, a paired t-test showed more positive than negative sentiment words, t(12) = 2.88, p = .014, and no significant correlation was found between negative sentiment word use and U.S. cultural adaptation. Total sentiment word count was negatively correlated with Western cultural adaptation (β = -0.035, p = .019), indicating participants more adapted to U.S. culture used fewer sentiment words during discussions. These findings suggest minority individuals tend to use positive sentiment words when discussing depression, while greater adaptation to Western culture may reduce emotional expression, highlighting the need for culturally responsive care.

Combined oral contraceptives (OCs) are not only prescribed for contraceptive use but also to help regulate hormone levels and relieve problems associated with hormonal unbalance. On top of being important hormones for reproductive health, estrogen and progesterone have receptors in the brain and are crucial neurosteroids. A literature review was conducted to find the links between mood disorders and OCs in adolescents. Adolescence is a time of increased hormonal fluctuation and crucial brain development. The addition of exogenous hormones could disrupt an already delicate situation and OC use may increase the user’s risk for depression, years after first exposure, and should be considered a potential adverse effect. It is important for physicians to listen to their patients' feedback when they talk about their mood on hormonal contraceptives and work with their patient to curate a personalized prescription plan.

Impairment in motor development is often the earliest indicator of atypical neurodevelopment in infants with an elevated genetic likelihood for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, standard clinical assessments frequently overlook subtle motor divergences because high-risk infants often achieve major milestones within typical age ranges. This study shifts the focus from static milestones to locomotor transitions—the dynamic movements between postures (e.g., sit-to-crawl). We hypothesized that infants with a familial history of ASD (FHx) would exhibit higher transition frequencies than those without (nFHx), reflecting a compensatory effort to manage motor instability. Using 128 30-minute free-play videos of infants aged 6–20 months, we coded transition type, frequency, and duration using Datavyu software. Preliminary analyses indicate that FHx infants exhibit significantly more frequent transitions alongside delayed posture onset. These results support a "cognitive-action trade-off" model, wherein the high attentional demands required to maintain postural stability may divert resources away from other critical developmental processes. These findings suggest that locomotor transitions are more sensitive predictors of neurodevelopmental trajectories than traditional milestone achievement. Identifying these dynamic markers prior to a formal ASD diagnosis provides a critical window for earlier, targeted intervention, potentially improving long-term developmental outcomes.

In college classrooms, many students use Artificial Intelligence (AI) in their studies (e.g., create study guides, summarize materials, etc). However, the impact of AI use on learning is not well understood. In the current study, we explore how the availability of AI-generated notes impacts students’ note-taking behavior and memory for lectures. To test this, participants watched a short lecture and took notes as they normally would in class (i.e., either handwritten or typed). Participants randomly assigned to the AI-generated notes condition were told before the lecture that they would be given additional AI-generated notes to review in the study phase, whereas participants assigned to the Traditional notes condition only had access to their own notes. After the lecture, all participants were given 5 minutes to study, followed by a 30-minute intervening task. Learning was assessed using a multiple-choice and short-answer quiz. We hypothesize that although AI-generated notes might help supplement students’ own notes, reliance on AI notes could discourage active note-taking during the lecture, which may impact both note quality and assessment performance. Preliminary data (N = 20) suggest that even though there were no significant differences between conditions, individuals who took handwritten notes performed better on average than those who took typed notes. This study provides insight into how AI notes might impact engagement with lecture materials and offers recommendations for the optimal use of AI-generated notes.