Jim Liebelt's Youth Culture Watch

Religious Identity Remains Constant Through High School

A new study finds many American teens maintain their religious identity through high school, even though their participation in church and other religious activities declines.

This was true of teens in all three groups studied -- from Asian, Latin American and European backgrounds -- according to University of California, Los Angeles psychiatry professor Andrew J. Fuligni and colleagues.

The study of 500 teens in the Los Angeles area also found that those from Latin American and Asian backgrounds had higher levels of religious identity, and teens from Latin American backgrounds had higher rates of religious participation.

Changes in religious identity that did occur among some teens were associated with changes in ethnic and family identities. This suggests important links in the development of these social identities during the teen years, the researchers said.

The study was released online recently in advance of publication in an upcoming print issue of the journal Child Development.

"Greater change likely occurs at prominent points of transition, such as the upcoming transition to adulthood," Fuligni said in a UCLA news release. "Moving away from home, encountering new work environments, attending college, developing long-term romantic relationships -- those markers in our lives -- are all features of the period after high school that may cause more significant change in religious identity."

Source: U.S. News & World Report
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/boomer-health/articles/2011/07/07/religious-identity-remains-constant-in-teen-years-study

Happy Teen Years Increase Chances for... Divorce?!

Really?! This item bears more watching - as the report of this new study doesn't provide much in the way of detail into the findings. Using conjecture, I can imagine the possibility where really happy teens might find it difficult to resolve conflict in marriage particularly if they have sailed through the adolescent years without ever learning how to do so. But, as a demographic whole, I can't really envision happiness in the teen years being the cause for later divorces. What do you think?

A recently conducted research by experts at the Cambridge University has reported that a healthy upbringing during teenage years might increases the probability of people getting divorced later on in life. To be precise the likelihood of people with a happy upbringing getting divorced later on in life is 60% more than others.

For the study, experts had carried out an assessment of 2776 people who were involved in a 1946 study carried out by British researchers. The scrutinized study was basically regarding the mental health being of people.

Following a proper analysis it was found by experts that youngsters who had a happy adolescence were more likely to get a divorce later on in life.

Source: Top News
http://topnews.us/content/235809-happy-teen-years-increase-your-chances-divorce-later-life-study

Middle School is When the Right Friends May Matter Most

As adolescents move from elementary school into their middle or junior-high years, changes in friendships may signal potential academic success or troubles down the road, say University of Oregon researchers.

A new study, appearing in the February issue of the Journal of Early Adolescence, found that boys and girls whose friends are socially active in ways where rules are respected do better in their classroom work. Having friends who engage in problem behavior, in contrast, is related to a decrease in their grades. Having pro-social friends and staying away from deviant peers proved more effective for academic payoffs than simply being friends with high-achieving peers.

The middle school/junior high years are a major transition for children, as students move away from grade-school classrooms led by one teacher every day into an environment of multiple classes with different teachers and opportunities to make new friends. This new study -- conducted by Marie-Helene Veronneau and Thomas J. Dishion of the UO Child and Family Center -- focused solely on the role played by friendship on academic achievement.

These transitional years may be pivotal, Dishion said. In a previous longitudinal study, he said, he and colleagues looked at the impacts of peer relationships of young people at ages 13, 15 and 17 to look for predictive indicators of life adjustments at age 24. Those influences at age 13 -- going back to middle school -- were the most influential, he noted. While instruction is school is vitally important, he said, it may be that more eyes should be looking at shifting peer relationships.

In their conclusions, Dishion and Veronneau suggested that responsible adults -- at school and at home -- "should pay special attention" to changes in friendships and encourage students to pursue and participate in adult-supervised activities to promote pro-social relationships.

Source: EurekAlert!
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-01/uoo-msi011211.php

Fat Surgery for Teen Girls May Raise Birth Defect Risks Later

Teenage girls who’ve undergone obesity surgery may not absorb enough of a vitamin needed to have healthy babies, raising the risk of bearing children with spine and brain birth defects, a study suggests.

While more adolescents are having gastric bypass surgery, little is known about long-term consequences of the procedure, said Diana Farmer, who presented the study today at the American Association of Pediatrics meeting in San Francisco. “The possibility of future birth defects may outweigh the benefit of this bariatric procedure” for adolescent girls, said Farmer, chief of pediatric surgery at Benioff Children’s Hospital at the University of California, San Francisco.

“I am not saying the procedure should be ruled out or that obesity is not a problem,” Farmer said in a telephone interview Oct. 1. “But no kids are dropping dead at the age of 18 from obesity.”

Farmer’s report highlights a consequence of gastric bypass surgery that leads to insufficient absorption of Vitamin B9, or folic acid, which occurs in the upper intestine. Folate, or folic acid, is a key element in the prevention of spina bifida and other neural tube defects. Patients who undergo the procedure are placed on vitamin supplements to counteract the reduction. Limited research shows adherence to the supplements by teens is 14 percent, according to Farmer’s presentation.

Source: Bloomberg
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-03/teen-girls-fat-surgery-may-raise-birth-defect-risk-study-says.html

Early Puberty in Girls May be Linked to Absent Fathers

A new study finds there may be a link between early puberty and girls living in higher-income households without a biological father.

The study, published this week in the Journal of Adolescent Health, looked at data on 444 ethnically diverse girls age 6 to 8, 80 of whom had no biological father living at home at the time of the study. Researchers noted the girls' onset of puberty (breast and pubic hair development), body mass index, ethnicity and income. Among the 80 participants, 21% had other men living at home, including stepfathers.

Not having a biological father at home was associated with earlier breast development, but only for girls who lived in families with incomes over $50,000. Not having a father at home was linked with  earlier development of pubic hair among African American girls living in higher income homes. Factoring in BMI did not change the results.

The study offered some reasons for the link: higher-income families may have weaker support systems than lower-income families; mothers working outside of the home may put extra stress on family life and relationships; and having fathers leave while kids are young may indicate early familiarity with marital discord; and children living in higher-income households may have more exposure to environmental toxins that may have an effect on puberty.

Source: Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-puberty-20100918,0,909618.story

Early Puberty for Girls is Raising Health Concerns

American girls are hitting puberty earlier than ever — a change that puts them at higher risk for behavioral problems as adolescents and breast cancer as adults, a new study shows.

About 15% of 1,239 girls studied showed the beginnings of breast development at age 7, according to an article in today's Pediatrics. One in 10 white girls, twice as many as in a 1997 study, showed breast growth by that age, as did 23% of black girls and 15% of Hispanic girls.

The median age of breast development fell from 10.9 years in 1991 to 9.9 in 2006, according to a Danish study published in Pediatrics last year.

The new study doesn't explain why girls are developing earlier, but it did find heavier girls with a higher body-mass index were more likely than others to begin puberty early, says pediatrician Frank Biro, director of adolescent medicine at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.

A growing number of researchers also are concerned about hormone-disrupting chemicals in the environment.

Source: USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-08-09-1Apuberty09_ST_N.htm

Teenage Boys Really Do Eat A Lot

In a lunch-buffet experiment involving 200 kids ages 8 to 17, researchers found that boys routinely ate more compared with girls their own age. But boys in their mid-teens were the most ravenous of all -- downing an average of nearly 2,000 lunchtime calories.

The pattern makes sense, given that boys usually hit their growth spurt -- putting on height and muscle mass -- in late puberty, according to senior researcher Dr. Jack A. Yanovski, of the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Yet, while teenage boys have a storied reputation for packing it away, there had actually been little objective evidence that this is the norm.

"There's a lot of folk wisdom that says boys can eat prodigious amounts, but we haven't had much data," Yanovski told Reuters Health.

To fill the gap, he and his colleagues had 204 8- to 17-year-old boys and girls come to a lunch buffet on two separate days. On one day, the kids were instructed to eat as much as they normally would during lunch; on the other day, they were told to eat as much as they wanted.

Overall, the researchers found, boys ate more than girls did at each stage of puberty. Prepubescent boys -- generally between the ages of 8 and 10 -- averaged nearly 1,300 lunchtime calories, versus 900 among prepubescent girls.

Girls showed the biggest increase in appetite during early- to mid-puberty, roughly between the ages of 10 and 13. Girls that age averaged almost 1,300 lunchtime calories, and that figure was only slightly higher among girls who were in late puberty.

Boys, on the other hand, tend to develop later. And their calorie needs appear to shoot up significantly in late puberty, or between the ages of 14 and 17.

While boys in this study showed little change in calorie intake between pre- and mid-puberty, their average lunchtime calorie intake reached nearly 2,000 calories in late puberty. And as long as their teenage sons are healthy and normal-weight, a sudden surge in eating should not be alarming, according to the researcher.

Source: Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65E3ZA20100615

Teenagers Programmed to Take Risks

Risk-taking peaks in adolescence, according to scientists at UCL (University College London).

In research published today in the journal Cognitive Development, children, adolescents and adults aged 9-35 years chose between risky and safe options in a computer gambling game. Scientists found that the teenagers took the most risks compared with the other groups, with the most risky behavior seen in 14-year olds.

The results suggest that teenagers are good at weighing up the pros and cons of their decisions (unlike children) but take risks because they enjoy the thrill of a risky situation more than other age groups - especially when they have a 'lucky escape'.

"The reason that teenagers take risks is not a problem with foreseeing the consequences. It was more because they chose to take those risks," said Dr Stephanie Burnett from the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, and the lead author.

"This is the first evidence from a lab-based study that adolescents are risk-takers. We are one step forward in determining why teenagers engage in extremely risky behaviors such as drug use and unsafe sex," she added.

Source: EurekAlert!
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-03/ucl-tpt032310.php

Tech-savvy 'iGeneration' Kids Multi-task, Connect

Interesting read yesterday, in USA Today. Having watched the PBS' Frontline "Digital Nation" program (you can view it online here,) last week which raised some concerns about the effect technology is having on kids' brains and their abilities to think clearly and focus on one issue at a time, it's not clear to me that this new generation will be better off than previous generations. Different, yes, but better, maybe not. The PBS program noted that with each generational shift, comes some losses as well as benefits. Only in time will we ultimately know how the rapid shifts in technology have changed our kids...and us.

Move over, Millennials. You're not the younger generation anymore.

For the past decade, you were the ones to watch. But now, as the eldest among you are fast approaching 30, there's a new group just begging for some attention. They're still kids, and although there's a lot the experts don't yet know about them, one thing they do agree on is that what kids use and expect from their world has changed rapidly.

And it's all because of technology.

"It's simply a part of their DNA," says Dave Verhaagen, a child and adolescent psychologist in Charlotte. "It shapes everything about them."

To the psychologists, sociologists, and generational and media experts who study them, their digital gear sets this new group (yet unnamed by any powers that be) apart, even from their tech-savvy Millennial elders. They want to be constantly connected and available in a way even their older siblings don't quite get. These differences may appear slight, but they signal an all-encompassing sensibility that some say marks the dawning of a new generation.

Source: USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2010-02-10-igeneration10_CV_N.htm

Teenage Girls as Aggressive as Boys

Girls are starting puberty earlier and as a result are more likely to become aggressive teenagers, Queensland researchers have found.

The study found that at 14, girls were also just as likely as boys to be involved in fights, threats and stealing – reinforcing the perception that young women are behaving more like their male friends.

University of Queensland sociologist Jake Najman, lead author of the research, said children were experiencing puberty at earlier ages because of increasing rates of obesity.

He said while early puberty for girls was related to an increased risk of aggression in adolescence, the same could not be said for boys.

"The most important finding we have is that when we look at the overall level of aggressive and/or delinquent behaviour by boys and girls at 14 years of age, the girls were just as aggressive as the boys, they were just as likely to be delinquent," Professor Najman said.

"What we're seeing, I think for the first time, is that many of the more common aggressive or delinquent types of behaviours that exist in society are now being exhibited by females in much the same way they were exhibited by males."

Professor Najman said more research was needed to find why some young females were starting to behave like males.

"The argument that it's males doing it because they're driven by their testosterone fails because the same thing is happening in females," he said.

Source: Couriermail.com.au
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,,26578316-3102,00.html?utm_source=YS+Update&utm_campaign=a980810c93-YSU_1_12_10&utm_medium=email&mc_cid=a980810c93&mc_eid=c59c563fac