Jim Liebelt's Youth Culture Watch

Teen STD Infections Spreading at High Rates

Latest statistics on chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis show the three highly treatable infections continue to spread in the United States.

"Chlamydia and gonorrhea are stable at unacceptably high levels and syphilis is resurgent after almost being eliminated," said John Douglas, director of the division of sexually transmitted diseases at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"We have among the highest rates of STDs of any developed country in the world," Douglas added in a telephone interview.

The CDC's latest study on STDs found:

* 1.2 million cases of chlamydia were reported in 2008, up from 1.1 million in 2007.

* Nearly 337,000 cases of gonorrhea were reported.

* Adolescent girls 15 to 19 years had the most chlamydia and gonorrhea cases of any age group at 409,531.

Syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhea can all be treated with antibiotics but untreated can cause pelvic inflammatory disease, infertility, ectopic pregnancy and can infect newborns.

Source: Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE5AF14A20091116

New Study: Teen Obesity Caused By Eating Too Much Food

I kid you not.

The new study by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health was conducted to investigate the role of exercise in teen obesity. The researchers found that the amount of teen exercise has remained stable over the past two decades, and thus concluded that the lack of exercise hasn't been the cause of the increase of obesity. Food consumption is the culprit. Except when you also take into account that the study found in 2007, only 34.7% of teens met federal physical activity recommendations, which call for activity strenuous enough to cause heavy breathing for a total of an hour a day for five or more days a week.

So, the study suggests that increased food consumption and lack of adequate exercise might both interact to contribute to teen obesity.

Wow. Aren't you glad we have scientific research to explain this?

It's no surprise that obesity rates among U.S. youngsters have skyrocketed, tripling from 1976 to 2004. Public-health experts and obesity researchers attribute the trend in part to kids' increasingly sedentary lifestyles. As teens spend more and more time anchored before a screen — burning fewer and fewer calories each day — they're storing more of that unused energy as fat. Hence, the ballooning rates of obesity.

That's precisely why the findings of a new study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health came as such a surprise. The report, published last week in the journal Obesity Reviews, finds that the amount of physical activity among U.S. teens has not in fact changed significantly over the past two decades, even while that population has gotten heavier. "On the one hand, we have seen the obesity-prevalence increase, but we don't see a decrease in physical activity," says Dr. Youfa Wang, an associate professor at the Center for Human Nutrition at Hopkins and lead author of the study. "This suggests that physical activity is not a good explanation for the increase in prevalence of obesity."

In simple terms, body weight is a reflection of the balance between two variables: the calories a body takes in and the calories it burns off. As far as the average U.S. teen is concerned, the study suggests, the culprit behind weight gain is not a decrease in exercise but an increase in consumption. Of course, that doesn't mean teens are getting adequate exercise: Wang analyzed data from nearly 16,000 high school students between the ages of 15 and 18, who took part in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's longitudinal Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey, about their physical activity. He and his team found that in 2007, only 34.7% of teens met federal physical activity recommendations, which call for activity strenuous enough to cause heavy breathing for a total of an hour a day for five or more days a week.

But the survey also found that teens' overall rate of daily exercise had not changed much since 1991, when the study sample was first asked to report their participation in gym classes in school and their level of physical activity at home.

So does this mean that exercise isn't important in controlling weight? As tempting as that conclusion might be, Wang and other health experts say that's not exactly what the new data show. The findings may say less about the role of exercise by itself than about the other variable in the weight equation — diet — and the interaction of the two.

Source: Time
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1936777,00.html

19 Out of 20 Young Women 'Would Change Bodies'

Girls as young as seven would like to change something about their appearance and half of 16 to 21-year-olds would consider surgery to achieve their perfect body, a study has revealed.

The research, carried out by Girlguiding UK, shows that 95 per cent of 16 to 21-year-olds would change their bodies, with 33 per cent saying they wanted to be thinner and around a quarter of 16 to 21-year-olds said they would consider resorting to cosmetic surgery.

“We all compare ourselves to our peers, whoever they may be and for girls and young women, their peers are usually other young women,” said Dr Kerry O’Brien, a Psychologist at the University of Manchester.

“For them, as with others it is about finding their place in the world and wanting to compare favourably. Unfortunately, considering the approach of the media, that is often not the case.

“Many girls try to measure up to an image which is not a true reflection and can feel that they are coming up short,” he added.

Source: The Independent
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/19-out-of-20-young-women-would-change-bodies-1813551.html

How Stressed Are Kids? More Than We Think

Worrying about school and about their family's finances are causing the most stress for kids, according to the American Psychological Association, which for the first time included young people ages 8 to 17 in its annual Stress in America survey, released Tuesday.

The survey of 1,206 young people and 1,568 adults, conducted over the summer by Harris Interactive, found that parents underestimated the level of stress children feel and the causes of that stress, often thinking that family relationships or activities cause more stress than children say they actually do.

Among findings:

•44% of young people say doing well in school was a source of stress.

•30% worry about their family having enough money.

•10% felt pressure over their extracurricular activities.

•8% say relationships with their parents were a source of stress.

In the survey, 63% of parents said they believed their stress levels had slight or no influence on their child's stress levels.

But psychologists say that doesn't reflect reality.

"If you ask the typical adult whether children are worried about the economy, you'd say, 'Of course not. They only have to worry about school,' " says pediatrician Kenneth Ginsburg, an associate professor at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

He says young people "absolutely worry about the things they see us worry about."

Source: USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-11-04-APAkidstress04_ST_N.htm

Amphetamine Use In Adolescence May Impair Adult Memory

This item should be of particular interest to parents regarding long term effects for their kids who are taking amphetamines therapeutically to treat conditions such as ADHD.

Rats exposed to high doses of amphetamines at an age that corresponds to the later years of human adolescence display significant memory deficits as adults -- long after the exposure ends, researchers report.

The declines in short-term or "working" memory are most pronounced when the rats are exposed during adolescence, rather than as adults, the researchers found.

"Animals that were given the amphetamine during the adolescent time period were worse at tasks requiring working memory than adult animals that were given the same amount of amphetamine as adults," said psychology professor Joshua Gulley, who led the study with graduate student Jessica Stanis. "This tells us that their working memory capacity has been significantly altered by that pre-exposure to amphetamine."

"Adolescence is a time when the brain is continuing to develop into its mature form, so drug exposure during this critical period could have long-lasting, negative consequences," he said. "Our findings reveal that adolescents are particularly sensitive to the adverse effects of amphetamine on cognitive function and that these effects can persist well after drug use is discontinued."

Gulley and his colleagues will present their findings at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Chicago.

Source: ScienceDaily
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091021172655.htm

Teen Girls' Weight May Affect Sexual Behavior

A teenage girl's weight, or perception of her weight, may affect her odds of risky sexual behavior, a new study suggests.

The study, of nearly 7,200 U.S. high school girls, found that in general, sexually active girls who were underweight were less likely than their normal-weight peers to use condoms. The same was true of girls who viewed themselves as overweight — accurately or not — when compared with girls who perceived themselves as normal-weight.

The findings, researchers report in the journal Pediatrics, "add to a growing body of literature that girls at the weight extremes may be at increased risk for engaging in sexual risk-taking behaviors."

Exactly why this is the case is not fully clear.

Overall, half of the girls said they had ever had sex, and actual body weight showed no influence over those odds.

Perceptions did seem to matter, however. Girls who saw themselves as overweight, however, were about 20 percent less likely to say they were sexually active. At the same time, though, when these girls were sexually active, they were more likely than their peers to have started having sex before age 13.

Across the study group, the only time actual weight was related to sexual behavior was in the case of underweight girls — who were 60 percent less likely than their normal-weight peers to have used a condom the last time they had sex.

Source: Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,568789,00.html

Teenage Girls 'Living on One Meal a Day'

Teenage girls are regularly skipping up to two meals a day because they think they are overweight, according to a new UK survey examining children's lives.

One in 10 girls aged 14 and 15 often go without both breakfast and lunch, the poll found.

A quarter (26 per cent) of them frequently skip breakfast and 22 per cent routinely pass on lunch.

The survey, by the UK Schools Health Education Unit, also found that most teenage girls believe they are overweight, even when they are not.

Even among younger girls, those aged 10 and 11, 40 per cent thought they needed to lose weight.
Breakfast appears to be the meal that is most often missed, despite the old adage that it is the most important meal in the day.

While 26 per cent of 14 and 15-year-old girls said they often missed it, the problem appears to start at a younger age, with 20 per cent of 12 and 13-year-olds going without, and seven per cent of 10 and 11-year-olds.

Source: Telegraph.co.uk
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/6313715/Teenage-girls-living-on-one-meal-a-day.html

Will "Blow" Become Trendy?

Gee, look what some marketers have come up with for the latest energy drink being promoted on social networking sites popular with teens.

If it looks like cocaine, is packaged like cocaine, and causes the user to feel strange and energized like cocaine, is it cocaine? No, it's the latest energy drink called Blow and it's quickly causing controversy.

The energy drink mix, which is sold in a small vial, is measured in grams, just like the actual drug. As if that weren't enough, a small mirror is also included in the package so the energy deprived can grind the rocks into a fine powder.

Pour the Blow in your water bottle and you'll be flying high on caffeine. One vial contains 240mg of caffeine and 200mg of Taurine, which is equivalent to 2 Red Bulls and 3 cups of coffee. Essentially it's an all-nighter in a small and convenient package.

However, experts are concerned that this may be too much for the average person to handle. It is still unclear how this new product will affect different individuals. While it may provide energy for some, others could get sick. One of the main concerns is its potential effect on children and pregnant women.

While the manufacturer says that only those 18 and older are allowed to buy Blow, the website where the product is sold does not enforce age restrictions. Furthermore, the creators of Blow are utilizing social networking sites that are popular with teens, such as MySpace and YouTube, as a key component in their marketing and publicity strategy.

Source: NBC Los Angeles
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/health/Is-Blow-the-Latest-Trend-63322917.html

Study Examines Youth Access to Indoor Tanning

Many indoor tanning businesses require parental consent for teenagers to use their facilities, but most would allow young tanners more than the government-recommended amount of exposure during the first week, according to a report in the September issue of Archives of Dermatology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Facilities with specific state laws regarding parental consent or accompaniment were more likely to require these steps.

"Exposure to UV radiation from indoor tanning lamps has been linked with both melanoma and squamous cell cancer, and first exposure before age 35 years may increase melanoma risk by as much as 75 percent," the authors write as background information in the article.

Indoor tanning is especially popular among adolescent girls in the United States, which may contribute to the recently reported increase in melanoma rates among U.S. women ages 15 to 39. As of 2005, 28 states had laws regulating indoor tanning, including 21 with youth access restrictions.

Approximately 87 percent of the facilities required teens to get parental consent, about 14 percent required a parent to accompany the tanner and 5 percent would not allow a 15-year-old to tan at all. "State law and youth access law each were significantly related to parental consent and parental accompaniment, with facilities in states with a law more likely to require these than facilities in states without such a law," the authors write.

Only around 11 percent of the facilities limited teens to the FDA-recommended three or fewer sessions the first week. The average number of sessions allowed the first week was 6.02, and about 71 percent of facilities reportedly indicated they would allow a teen to tan seven days a week.

Source: EurekAlert!
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-09/jaaj-nse091709.php

CDC: 1 in 3 Teen Girls Got Cervical Cancer Vaccine

 A new government report shows one in three teenage girls have rolled up their sleeves for a relatively new vaccine against cervical cancer, but vaccination rates vary dramatically between states.

The highest rates were in Rhode Island and New Hampshire, where more than half of girls ages 13 through 17 got at least one dose of three-shot vaccination. The lowest rates were in Mississippi, Georgia and South Carolina.

The federal report is the first to give state-by-state rates for the Gardasil vaccine that targets the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus. The report was released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Source: Google/Associated Press
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h8a2vVHss0DykeXTH77z4Yh5aq7AD9AP5R9G1