Background
Weight bias is a social justice issue that manifests in social and health inequities, affecting the lives of millions of individuals globally. Although weight bias research has increased over the last two decades, it remains pervasive, and more work is needed to establish effective strategies to reduce it. The 2024 International Weight Bias Summit aimed to collaboratively identify future research directions for prioritization as well as perceived barriers in the global field of weight bias and stigma. This paper presents the primary findings from the Summit.

Method
Experts in weight bias (N = 33 researchers, clinicians, representatives of professional/national organizations with interests in weight bias and stigma, and individuals with lived experiences) from across North and Latin America, Europe, and Australia attended the two-day Summit. Attendees participated in semi-structured small group discussions using the Nominal Group Technique (NGT). Notes were collected from all discussions and thematically analyzed to identify the most prominent research directions and barriers that emerged from the Summit.

Results
Experts identified six key research directions (presented without hierarchical ranking): (1) consequences of weight bias, (2) conceptual and methodological clarity, (3) diversity in sampling, cultures, and settings, (4) interventions, (5) policy, and (6) implementation science. Three key barriers were also identified in weight bias and stigma research: (1) widespread misconceptions and lack of recognition of weight bias as a legitimate issue, (2) funding challenges, and (3) lack of collaborations and working in silos.

Conclusion
Experts identified six critical research directions that should be prioritized to advance weight bias and stigma research and drive meaningful progress. Continued international collaboration was recognized as essential to driving this work forward.

Objective: Teenage pregnancy rates are high in the United States. Teenagers with epilepsy are at a particular health risk due to challenging transitions of care and unique considerations for contraception as well as at increased risk for fetal and maternal complications in pregnancy. The objective of this study was to explore the live birth rate among teenaged girls with epilepsy in Michigan.

Methods: In this retrospective open-cohort epidemiological study, we estimated the live birth rate and identified predictors for births among Medicaid-insured teenaged girls (aged 15-19 y) with epilepsy in Michigan, using administrative data from the Michigan Children?s Special Health Care Services Program from 2016-2022.

Results: Among teenaged girls with epilepsy in Michigan, the birth rate was 1.6 per 100 population. Significant factors associated with giving birth (vs not) included use of fewer antiseizure medications, lack of contraceptive use, and low annual household income.

Conclusion: Given the risk factors identified (eg, no use of contraceptives, low income), teenaged girls with epilepsy may need greater access to care, resources, and/or support than teenaged girls without epilepsy. Our data suggest that targeted interventions to facilitate access to contraceptives could be beneficial. Improving data tracking and diagnosis coding practices will be important for the future study of the birth rate among teenaged girls with epilepsy.

This study investigates how regulatory focus and portrayals of alternative medicinal treatments as illegal versus legal affect consumers' responses to social media messages in the virtual presence of similar others. Across a pilot study and two experiments, the findings show that when an alternative medicinal treatment is portrayed as illegal, promotion-focused consumers engage more with social media messages that promote the treatment than prevention-focused consumers. No such difference arises following exposures to legal frames. The online presence of more similar peers, who support an alternative medicinal treatment even when it is depicted as illegal, increases promotion-focused consumers' engagement with social media messages that promote marijuana as an effective medical treatment, more so than among prevention-focused consumers; relaxation mechanisms appear to underlie this influence. The virtual presence of less similar peers mitigates the effect. These results provide practical insights for the effective marketing communication of medical marijuana, as well as other forms of risky consumption.

The rapid adoption of Gen artificial intelligence (AI) by universities and students suggests that many applicants to and trainees in our health service psychology graduate programs will be using Gen AI and may have received Gen AI training during college. I obtained and examined 140 handbooks out of 179 APA-accredited clinical psychology PhD programs, of which 27 (19.3%) included a policy on the use of artificial intelligence or Gen AI. Of 60 randomly selected programs, none included a Gen AI policy in the application instructions, although one was in a graduate school that had a clear policy. The use of Gen AI by applicants could be a barrier for less privileged applicants and may degrade the informational value of personal statements. Programs should continue to develop policies for inclusion in admission instructions and student handbooks or clearly reference existing institutional policies.

Introduction: Co-occurring conditions like sleep disturbances are prevalent in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and have been linked to greater variability in clinical presentation, including social communication and behavioral challenges. This study examined the relationship between sleep disturbances and ASD characteristics in school-aged children.

Method: In this descriptive, observational study, 24 children with ASD (ages 6–12) wore actigraphy monitors for up to seven nights to provide objective data on sleep onset latency, total nighttime sleep, and nighttime awakenings. Parents completed sleep diaries and the Autism Spectrum Rating Scale to assess impairments in social and communication, behaviors associated with ASD, and self-regulation.

Results: Of the 24 participants, 23 wore actigraphy monitors. Twenty-two children experienced at least one sleep disturbance, and of these, 21 had usable actigraphy data, with an average of 6.43 nights analyzed. A greater number of sleep disturbances was associated with increased parent-reported social-communication difficulties but lower parent-reported behavioral dysregulation scores.

Conclusions: Findings suggest that sleep disturbances may differentially influence the expression of ASD characteristics across social-communication and behavior. Considering sleep patterns in ASD research and clinical care may enhance understanding of variability in ASD and support the development of targeted interventions.

This article investigates the rhetorical dynamics emerging within Reddit communities, focusing on discussions surrounding the video game franchise The Last of Us. Building on the concept of procedural rhetoric, the paper suggests framing the collective articulation of meaning that emerges from the interaction between digital affordances—such as upvoting, moderation, and subreddit structures—and community practices in terms of "community rhetoric." Drawing from a thematic analysis of posts and comments in two dedicated subreddits, the article identifies how content, attitude, and discursive climate shape participatory discourse. This framework is enriched by considering Reddit’s distinctive technical configurations, including pseudonymity and community self-governance, which foster specific discursive cultures. Rather than presenting Reddit as a neutral container, the study highlights how its infrastructural features actively mediate rhetorical production and sense-making. The paper contributes to digital rhetoric and media studies by offering a model that integrates platform affordances with user-driven cultural practices, showing how community engagement shapes knowledge, authority, and cultural narratives in online spaces. Limitations and future directions are discussed in light of applying the framework to other media fandoms and social platforms.