TORONTO, Dec. 1 2025 鈥� Between the lack of sleep and free time, physical, hormonal and relationship changes, and juggling work and other life commitments, many couples find their sex lives take a hit in the transition to parenthood. Continuing through the early years of child rearing, this can have a negative impact on the overall relationship. While spontaneous sex is put on a pedestal in Western society, led by researchers at 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Health found that encouraging couples with young children to plan sex led to increased desire and frequency.  

鈥淔谤辞尘 previous research we know that most people idealize spontaneous sex, but that doesn鈥檛 necessarily correlate with actual sexual satisfaction,鈥� says lead author and 91亚色 PhD Candidate Katarina Kovacevic, a registered psychotherapist whose clinical and research focus is on romantic relationships and sexual issues. 鈥淔or this study, we wanted to see if we could shift people's beliefs about planning sex so they could see the benefits, which they did.鈥�

For the paper, 鈥淐an Shifting Beliefs About Planned Sex Lead to Engaging in More Frequent Sex and Higher Desire and Satisfaction? An Experimental Study of Parents with Young Children,鈥� published in The Journal of Sex Research, Kovacevic worked closely with 91亚色 Psychology Professor , also director of the at 91亚色.

The researchers recruited more than 500 participating individuals from Canada, the U.S., U.K., Australia and New Zealand, whose youngest child was five years old or younger. The study was open to all gender and sexual orientations.

All participants were surveyed on their pre-existing notions of planned versus spontaneous sex and were then divided into two groups. One was given a research summary highlighting the importance of planned sex and were encouraged to plan sex with their partner in the next two weeks. The other group was given literature saying that researchers were not sure whether planned or spontaneous sex was more satisfying and were instructed to have sex as they normally would with their partner.

鈥淎t the two-week followup, people in the experimental group reported having more planned sex than the control group and more sex overall,鈥� says Muise. 鈥淭he difference between groups meant that planning sex could translate into at least one more      sexual experience a month for a couple, which can be meaningful.鈥�

Planning also had other benefits. The researchers found, for participants who had reported at least one sexual encounter in the two-week period, that the planners felt less obligated to have sex compared to the control group.

鈥淚n the manipulation, we emphasized that planning sex needs to be a conversation with your partner, we emphasized consent, so that could perhaps explain that finding,鈥� says Kovacevic.

The researchers say that while parents with younger children are at an especially vulnerable stage in their sex lives and relationship overall, they believe planning could be beneficial to many couples.  

鈥淭his could apply fairly broadly 鈥� for example to people who are busy in general, to people who have health and mobility issues who have times when they feel better and worse,鈥� says Kovacevic. 鈥淧lanned sex could be a tool for anyone looking to connect more with their partner.鈥� 

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91亚色 is a modern, multi-campus, urban university located in Toronto, Ontario. Backed by a diverse group of students, faculty, staff, alumni and partners, we bring a uniquely global perspective to help solve societal challenges, drive positive change, and prepare our students for success. 91亚色's fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education. 91亚色鈥檚 campuses in Costa Rica and India offer students exceptional transnational learning opportunities and innovative programs. Together, we can make things right for our communities, our planet, and our future.

Media Contact:

Emina Gamulin, 91亚色 Media Relations, 437-217-6362, egamulin@yorku.ca

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With rising suicide rates and evidence pilling up on dangers of excessive social-media use, 91亚色 researcher in mattering and 鈥榓nti-mattering,鈥� says letting adolescents know they matter is more important than ever

TORONTO, May 29, 2024 鈥� Youth suicide is a growing concern in Canada, the U.S., and around the world, with some research suggesting this might be linked with excessive social media use in vulnerable teens. With Mental Health Awareness Month closing out this week, 91亚色 Psychology says he was motivated by a growing sense of alarm and frustration when undertaking a review of studies on mattering and youth suicide .

Mattering is feeling significant in the eyes of other people, which is further linked to feeling that people are noticing you and keeping track of you, and that you are contributing to other people鈥檚 lives. 鈥淎nti-mattering,鈥� a term coined by Flett to describe the feeling of not mattering, is the opposite: feeling unseen, unheard, and unimportant to others.

鈥淚t's shocking how many indicators there are of an increased problem with young people, including a study that was done in Canada, based on pandemic data last year,鈥� says Flett, Canada Research Chair in Personality and Health. 鈥淣o matter how you measure it, if you're feeling a sense of mattering, you're less likely to have suicidal ideation, less likely to have a plan less likely to have an actual attempt. But if you feel like you don't matter, it goes the other way.鈥�

The paper, just published in the new journal Child Protection and Practice, is the first to review the scientific literature on youth suicide and mattering.  Flett took a look at the situation for younger people after seeing the benefits in his recent research on mattering and suicidality among university students.  For this article, he examined a dozen studies and found mattering to be central to protection against youth suicide, and the feeling of not mattering to be a central risk.

Flett says one reason for growing rates of youth suicide might be linked social media, with new research by Flett and colleagues linking excessive social media with fears and feelings of not mattering in youth. Negative interactions online or not feeling seen or heard might be extra risk factors for youth who are already vulnerable, although Flett says the feeling of mattering acts as a shield.

鈥淲e now have data confirming that both anti-mattering and fear of not mattering are linked with elevated social-media addiction scores. Youth characterized jointly by social-media addiction and anti-mattering will be quite vulnerable,鈥� says Flett. 鈥淗owever, people who are high in mattering are more interpersonally resilient. So if they get slagged online, for instance, they're not going to take it to heart as opposed to the person who will internalize.鈥�

Some of the research on youth goes back decades and given the strong evidence, he argues the concept of mattering should become key to suicide-prevention policy.

Flett says that while 鈥淵ou Matter鈥� is a popular slogan in the U.S., the way our mental-health system operates can often send the opposite message to those who are seeking help. 鈥淚f you're a youth and you've actually taken the brave step of saying, 鈥楬ey, I've been having these thoughts, I need help鈥� and then you can't get treatment or even an assessment in a timely manner, it's like, 鈥榃ell, here's some evidence, again, that I don't matter as much as I should.鈥�

While mattering is often confused with other concepts such as self-esteem or belonging 鈥� even in some of the literature Flett has reviewed 鈥� he says mattering is neither, and is robustly protective over and above many other factors.

鈥淲hile they are correlated, self esteem is essentially feeling like you're a likable person, sometimes in terms of talent, and getting things done, but mattering is the feeling that others essentially care about you,鈥� explains Flett. 鈥淎nd you can be part of a group, but it doesn't mean you'll be recognized or valued within the group. It can feel worse in a way if you belong but don鈥檛 matter.鈥�

While mattering matters for everyone, Flett says some youth, especially racialized, LGBTQ+ and those with difficult family situations and living in poverty, need to hear this message more.

In the U.S, there has been an estimated increase of suicide rates by almost four per cent annually among males between 2009-2020 and almost seven per cent among females between 2007 and 2017. While there are no definitive studies for the most recent years for Canada as a whole, Manitoba reports a 42 per cent increase in youth suicides for 2022-2023 versus the previous reporting period, and the Saskatchewan Advocate for Children and Youth鈥檚 office saw three times as many suicide attempts by young people in care versus the previous year.

For parents or others interacting with youth, Flett says spending time with them, listening to them and validating their feelings will help youth feel as if they matter.

Flett鈥檚 top advice: Show them they matter. Show them you care.

鈥淏ottom line is, if somebody knows that they matter to someone they care about, then they have a reason to not do something that's risky towards themselves. And then they can internalize that message, to start to matter to themselves.鈥�

About 91亚色

91亚色 is a modern, multi-campus, urban university located in Toronto, Ontario. Backed by a diverse group of students, faculty, staff, alumni and partners, we bring a uniquely global perspective to help solve societal challenges, drive positive change, and prepare our students for success. 91亚色鈥檚 fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario鈥檚 Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education. 91亚色鈥檚 campuses in Costa Rica and India offer students exceptional transnational learning opportunities and innovative programs. Together, we can make things right for our communities, our planet, and our future.

Media Contacts: Emina Gamulin, 91亚色 Media Relations and External Communications, 437-217-6362, egamulin@yorku.ca

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Psychology prof says online exposure to idealized images creates 鈥榠nfinite鈥� opportunities for comparison  

TORONTO, May 01, 2024 鈥� There鈥檚 a large and growing body of evidence pointing to potentially negative impacts of social media on mental health, from its addictive nature to disruptions in sleep patterns to effects on body image. Now, found young women who took a social media break for as little as one week had a significant boost in self-esteem and body image 鈥� particularly those most vulnerable to thin-ideal internalization.

鈥淭he statistician inside me was excited  鈥�  we don't often see effect sizes this large in my area of psychology research because human behaviour is complicated and there's lots of variability,鈥� says Psychology Professor , co-author of the paper. 鈥淲e hope this study can be used to help protect young people and influence social media companies to give users more agency in how they interact with these platforms.鈥�

The paper, out this week in the journal Body Image, is thought to be the first to look specifically at social-media breaks and body image. Mills, whose lab has been on the forefront of this kind of research, collaborated on the paper with graduate researcher Lindsay Samson and undergraduate Olivia Smith, both students at 91亚色. They expected that there might be recruitment challenges, but it turns out there was enthusiasm for taking a social media pause among the 66 first-year female undergraduates who participated. Half were instructed to continue their social media as per usual, while the other half were given instructions to refrain from Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok and other social media use for one week. They conducted baseline surveys before the experiment, and tested the participants again after the week was over.

鈥淭here's natural variability in how people feel about their bodies and about themselves in general, so we took that into account statistically, and even after that there were still significant differences between the groups after one week,鈥� says Mills, who is also the director of clinical training for the graduate psychology program.

The differences in the social media landscape are remarkable compared to when Mills started researching eating disorders and the effects of media, like magazines aimed at women.

鈥淏ack then, you could only spend so many minutes or hours looking at fashion and beauty magazines and they only came out once a month. There was a finite amount of content that you would be exposed to. With social media it's infinite. It's always new and novel, which triggers our brain's reward system that makes us want more and more of something.鈥�

Mills says the improvements found in this study might be explained both by women spending far less time engaging in behaviours known to have a detrimental effect, such as comparisons with others, but they may have also replaced social media with healthier behaviours.

鈥淚f we're spending more time in real life, socializing with friends, getting sleep, getting outdoors, getting exercise, there could be secondary behaviours that fill the void left by social media. Future research will try to disentangle that.鈥�

About 91亚色

91亚色 is a modern, multi-campus, urban university located in Toronto, Ontario. Backed by a diverse group of students, faculty, staff, alumni and partners, we bring a uniquely global perspective to help solve societal challenges, drive positive change, and prepare our students for success. 91亚色鈥檚 fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario鈥檚 Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education. 91亚色鈥檚 campuses in Costa Rica and India offer students exceptional transnational learning opportunities and innovative programs. Together, we can make things right for our communities, our planet, and our future.

Media Contacts: Emina Gamulin, 91亚色 Media Relations and External Communications, 437-217-6362, egamulin@yorku.ca

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New research finds American Christians more likely to take 鈥榤orally neutral鈥� risks when thinking about higher power

Thursday Dec. 14, 2023, Toronto 鈥� Does thinking about faith make religious people more likely to take leaps? A new study lead by 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Health says yes, finding that participants were more likely to take risks when thinking about God as a benevolent protector.  

鈥淲hile the theoretical link between a belief in God and risk taking has been around for a while, the methods previous studies employed to test this weren鈥檛 the strongest, based on current best practices,鈥� says lead author , an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology. 鈥淥ur carefully designed study confirmed that those who believe God will protect them from negative consequences will feel more confident in pursuing potentially dangerous or uncertain activities because of a perceived safety net.鈥�

The study, 鈥� published Monday in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, and written by White and collaborators from The University of British Columbia, Chloe Dean and Kristin Laurin 鈥� looked specifically at Christian Americans, who are known to believe in a God who protects them from harm. White also focused specifically on what she refers to as 鈥渕orally neutral鈥� risks.

鈥淲e know from previous research that religious people might be less inclined to take risks that have immoral connotations, such as drug use, and we also know that people might feel more encouraged by God to take on risks that are morally positive, like helping a person in need,鈥� White explains. 

Instead, the researchers focused on scenarios involving recreational risks like mountain climbing, and social and career-based risks, like moving to a new place to pursue a new job opportunity, finding a reliable link.

White says the findings don鈥檛 tell us whether religious people are more likely to pursue risks than non-religious ones, but they may point to a sense of safety a belief in God provides.

鈥淭hese results support the argument that as Christians go through their daily life, these beliefs about God can be used to make them feel better if they choose to pursue a risk. It does make sense that this relationship between beliefs about God and risky behaviour is part of a broader set of religious beliefs that help people cope with uncertainty and fear and stressors in daily life and help them see their lives in a more positive way and therefore, make them more likely to pursue opportunities that they might otherwise avoid.鈥�

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Study co-led by 91亚色 researcher makes important discovery about plasticity of children鈥檚 brains

TORONTO, JUNE 5, 2019 鈥撀�For children with severe epilepsy, surgery is the last resort used to prevent seizures but the treatment can often come with the risk of both visual and cognitive impairments. Now, a new study funded by the National Eye Institute and jointly led by researchers at 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Health and Carnegie Mellon University finds that the brains of children with severe epilepsy can compensate by rewiring for missing regions of the visual cortex after surgery.

鈥淲hat we鈥檙e seeing is remarkable,鈥� said Erez Freud, assistant professor, Department of Psychology in 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Health and Centre for Vision Research, co-lead author of the study. 聽鈥淭he most striking case in our findings was a 14-year-old girl who had severe epilepsy that originated from the left side of the brain. The part of the brain that was removed in the surgery is known to mediate the ability to read. Despite this hemisphere being removed, this patient could read with relatively normal functioning and when we scanned her brain using the fMRI we found that this 鈥榬eading region鈥� of the brain had re-mapped to the healthy right hemisphere.鈥�

Brains of children with epilepsy are able to re-map after epilepsy surgery to retain visual perception.

Researchers say this provides strong evidence that the brain has some degree of plasticity. In order for the brain to process visuals normally, it needs to process information sent from the eye and the part of the brain that allows it to understand what the eye is seeing (perception).聽 In order for an individual to see, signals from the eye are first processed in the early visual cortex 鈥� a region at the back of the brain that is necessary for sight 鈥� and then travel through other parts of the cerebral cortex, to allow recognition of patterns, faces, objects, scenes, and words. In adults, even if sight is still intact, injury or removal of even a small area of the brain鈥檚 vision processing centres can lead to dramatic, permanent loss of perception, making them unable to recognize faces or locations or to read. But in children, who are still developing, this part of the brain seems to have plasticity and is able to rewire itself.

Tina Liu, former Ph.D student at Carnegie Mellon University, is co-lead author of the study, and Marlene Behrmann, Professor, Department of Psychology, at Carnegie Mellon University, is senior author.

The researchers recruited 10 children who had undergone surgery for severe epilepsy between the ages of six and 17, caused in most cases by an injury such as stroke in infancy or a tumor. The team compared the neural and visuoperceptual profiles of these patients with 10 healthy control children. Three of the children who had gone through a surgery had lost parts of the visual cortex on the right side, three on the left side, and four had lost other parts of the brain not involved in perception, serving as a second kind of control group. Of the six children who had areas of the visual cortex removed, four had permanent reductions in peripheral vision on one side due to loss of the early visual cortex. In each case, the epilepsy was resolved or significantly improved in all children after surgery.

In order to better understand how plasticity could be occurring, researchers conducted the study in two phases. In the first phase, each participant was exposed to different series of tasks that tested the children鈥檚 perception abilities, including facial recognition, the ability to classify objects, reading, and pattern recognition. They did this by asking the children to identify objects, places and faces. In the second phase, researchers imaged participants鈥� brains using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI scan). Participants were asked to lie down in the MRI and watch a stream of pictures, words, faces, objects and places. The fMRI allowed researchers to accurately visualize areas in the brain that were activated and measure the response to these pictures.

With the exception of two individuals who had greater portions of the cortex altered, researchers found all patients showed normal perceptual performance on tasks and were able to identify faces and objects, places and words, falling within the normal range even for complex perception and memory activities. Even in participants who did not show clear remapping, results showed the healthy region of the brain was still able to compensate for missing regions in the hemisphere of the brain where lesions were removed, and in a way not usually seen in adults. Researchers say these findings offer new insights into the malleability of the cortex in children.

鈥淚t鈥檚 possible that early surgical treatment for children with epilepsy might be what allows this re-mapping," said Freud. 鈥淭his may be because epilepsy is an on-going condition of the brain and with early removal of the tissue, the brain may have time to rewire itself to the other healthy hemisphere and can, therefore, compensate for the functions that are impaired in the other part of the brain. But more research is needed to better understand exactly what the developmental processes are that mediate this compensation.鈥�

is currently funded by the Vision: Science to Applications program at 91亚色.

The study is published in the

91亚色 champions new ways of thinking that drive teaching and research excellence. Our students receive the education they need to create big ideas that make an impact on the world. Meaningful and sometimes unexpected careers result from cross-disciplinary programming, innovative course design and diverse experiential learning opportunities. 91亚色 students and graduates push limits, achieve goals and find solutions to the world's most pressing social challenges, empowered by a strong community that opens minds. 91亚色 U is an internationally recognized research university - our 11 faculties and 25 research centres have partnerships with 200+ leading universities worldwide. Located in Toronto, 91亚色 is the third largest university in Canada, with a strong community of 53,000 students, 7,000 faculty and administrative staff, and more than 300,000 alumni.

91亚色 U's fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education.

Media Contacts:

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Abby Simmons, Assistant Dean of Communications, Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, 412-268-6094 (office) | 412-956-9425 (cell),聽abbysimmons@cmu.edu

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