I don't think this is the right take. I'm going to venture that pretty much everyone thinks it was worse than this, i.e. that the more young people feel depressed than happier in COVID-time. So "it's actually on average no effect" very much is a "story", it would be something that would cause most people to substantially update their models of the world if it's sound research.
Put differently, "1 in 3 young people felt depressed" isn't surprising at all. "1 in 3 young people felt happier" is surprising to me. So leading with the surprising bit makes sense for a lede.
All of this is meta-level, I have no opinion on the object-level validity of the research.
I don't think this is the right take. I'm going to venture that pretty much everyone thinks it was worse than this, i.e. that the more young people feel depressed than happier in COVID-time. So "it's actually on average no effect" very much is a "story", it would be something that would cause most people to substantially update their models of the world if it's sound research.
Put differently, "1 in 3 young people felt depressed" isn't surprising at all. "1 in 3 young people felt happier" is surprising to me. So leading with the surprising bit makes sense for a lede.
All of this is meta-level, I have no opinion on the object-level validity of the research.