Matilda Gosling
matildagosling.bsky.social
Matilda Gosling
@matildagosling.bsky.social
Independent social researcher and non-fiction author. Teenagers: The Evidence Base and Evidence-Based Parenting (both Swift Press) are out now.
In Life On Mars this week:

⏺️ How rumination affects teenage well-being and sleep
⏺️ Risk factors for problematic internet gaming
⏺️ Long-term effects of adolescent nicotine

matildagosling.substack.com/p/chewing-th...
September 5, 2025 at 6:58 AM
This week’s Life On Mars:

▶️ The impact of mental fatigue on teenage sporting performance by age/experience
▶️ Short-term benefits of noticing good things in nature
▶️ Why teenagers with poor mental health can’t always do what would help them most

matildagosling.substack.com/p/mental-fat...
August 22, 2025 at 6:48 AM
This week’s Life On Mars investigates links between breakfast and mental health, the importance of creative pursuits over the teenage years, and why teenagers who’ve had brushes with the law take more sexual risks.

matildagosling.substack.com/p/skipping-b...
August 1, 2025 at 6:37 AM
Why obvious-sounding policy levers may not get the results intended and the problem with therapy chatbots – this week’s Life On Mars.

matildagosling.substack.com/p/unintended...
June 27, 2025 at 6:35 AM
Does ‘I-talk’ – the amount of times teenagers say the word ‘I’ – tell us anything about their minds? What’s the link between childhood maltreatment and risk? And why should teenagers (parents, teachers etc) be lifting weights?

This week’s Life On Mars: matildagosling.substack.com/p/i-talk-fro...
June 13, 2025 at 6:41 AM
This week’s Life On Mars: the double bind of civic engagement programmes, research about parents of chronically ill or disabled children, and the structure of a possibly perfect teenage day.

matildagosling.substack.com/p/civic-enga...
May 30, 2025 at 6:42 AM
Can we learn anything about human blue light exposure from adolescent mice? What happens when links between social media and mental ill-health are tested using different teenagers? How do sleep/wake cycles link to depression?

This week’s Life On Mars: matildagosling.substack.com/p/blue-light...
May 16, 2025 at 6:39 AM
This week’s Life On Mars explores the social contagion of illness online, a study adding further bulk to evidence suggesting universal mental health interventions don’t work, and why avoiding avoidance may be unhelpful.

matildagosling.substack.com/p/online-ill...
May 2, 2025 at 7:02 AM
This week’s Life On Mars: research and counter-research on the impact of smartphones, eye tracking in social anxiety, and strategies that may help young adults with public speaking.

matildagosling.substack.com/p/ongoing-sm...
April 18, 2025 at 6:59 AM
Are we asking the right questions about school phone bans?

Also: the potential role of blue, green and grey spaces, and tolerance of uncertainty as a life skill.

New Substack: matildagosling.substack.com/p/school-pho...
April 4, 2025 at 6:49 AM
This week’s Substack covers studies on boosting resilience through exercise, stress and depression in teenage girls, and a sleep intervention that works.

matildagosling.substack.com/p/life-on-ma...
March 21, 2025 at 7:51 AM
Reposted by Matilda Gosling
The research Akua refers to - which was put before the Supreme Court - was conducted by @matildagosling.bsky.social on behalf of the Lesbian Project and is linked below (this is just one of several papers in the series)

www.thelesbianproject.co.uk/resources/le...
March 7, 2025 at 8:05 AM
Reposted by Matilda Gosling
@akuareindorfkc.bsky.social on the pending For Women Scotland judgment, and its essential importance for lesbians.

Karon Monaghan KC and Beth Grossman instructed in the case on behalf of Scottish Lesbians, LGB Alliance and the Lesbian Project

(Share Token)

t.co/RQ4wp9TZLk
https://www.thetimes.com/article/6a59421a-6945-4121-9c02-44c5059e0602?shareToken=ffc46e4dac9bc647d3a7d20659d147bd
t.co
March 7, 2025 at 8:01 AM
This week’s Life On Mars: a sceptical glance at ‘no mobile phone phobia’, new and unexpected links between socioeconomic status and mental health, and normalised appearance preoccupation.

matildagosling.substack.com/p/life-on-ma...
March 7, 2025 at 7:55 AM
New Life On Mars: the grandparent effect, new evidence from the DfE on the downsides of universal school mental health interventions, and links between anxiety and sensitivity to noise/light.

matildagosling.substack.com/p/life-on-ma...
February 21, 2025 at 8:07 AM
Reposted by Matilda Gosling
Important new evidence published today: large-scale DofE trial (N=12,166) found that two universal MH awareness interventions, in secondary schools, led to an *increase* in emotional symptoms at long term (9-12 month) follow up

tinyurl.com/4ffday8y

Thread below

/1
February 10, 2025 at 12:05 PM
Reposted by Matilda Gosling
#Teenagers by @matildagosling.bsky.social is reviewed in @thetimes.com

'A bracingly no-nonsense parenting guide ... Breezy [and] authoritative'

Read the full review: shorturl.at/ogfeI #Parenting
Advice for parents of teens — don’t bang on about mental health
Teenagers: The Evidence Base by Matilda Gosling is a bracingly no-nonsense parenting guide
shorturl.at
February 10, 2025 at 10:51 AM
This week’s Life On Mars: the role of working memory in teenage mental health and a training programme that may boost it, the potentially misleading role of personality, and which whole-school interventions actually work.

matildagosling.substack.com/p/life-on-ma...
February 7, 2025 at 8:15 AM
Reposted by Matilda Gosling
It's publication day for Unkind, on why women and girls shouldn't have to make up for the world by "just" being kinder (but men and boys possibly could...)! geni.us/Unkind
(Un)kind: How 'Be Kind' Entrenches Sexism
Pre-order now
geni.us
February 6, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Why assigning labels like ‘anxiety’ or ‘depression’ may not be brilliant for teenagers’ mental health – my piece today for Welldoing

welldoing.org/article/teen...
February 6, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Reposted by Matilda Gosling
'Adolescence may bring particular vulnerability to the negative effects that can arise from labelling mental health symptoms'

Author of #Teenagers @matildagosling.bsky.social writes for Welldoing.org about assigning mental health labels.

Read the full article: shorturl.at/BXTvF
February 6, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Reposted by Matilda Gosling
Author of #Teenagers @matildagosling.bsky.social shares what’s really going on behind the scenes, and how to best support your teen with @netmums.bsky.social

Read the article: shorturl.at/S8KVc
Pre-order: bit.ly/TeenagersBook
‘I’m a scientist, here’s a parent’s guide for surviving the teenage years’ - Netmums
Got a tween or teen in the house and feeling overwhelmed? Try these parenting tips from social scientist and researcher Matilda Gosling.
shorturl.at
January 28, 2025 at 10:54 AM