Jim Liebelt's Youth Culture Watch

Depression in Teen Girls Linked to Absent Fathers in Early Childhood

New research out of the UK's University of Bristol indicates that girls whose fathers were absent during their early childhood are more likely to become depressed in their teen years.

The study, published in Psychological Medicine, found that girls whose fathers left when they were between the ages of 0 and 5 were more likely to develop depressive symptoms in adolescence than those whose fathers left when they were between the ages of 5-10 and boys in both age groups (0-5 and 5-10).

The findings are part of the larger "Children of the 90s" longitudinal study, a long-term research project that follows the children of 14,000 mothers who enrolled during their pregnancies in 1991 and 1992. This depression study in particular looked at 5,631 children.

"These findings indicate a need to include fathers in research related to child and adolescent mental health issues," Iryna Culpin, the paper’s lead author, said in a press release.

Source: Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/15/teen-depression-in-girls-_n_3281871.html

Chronic Fatigue in Teens May Be Sign of Depression

Teens falling asleep in class are a staple of stereotypical movie scenes about high school. But a teen who repeatedly falls asleep and experiences fatigue is no laughing matter.

A recent study found that about 3 percent of teens experienced severe, long-lasting fatigue. About half these teens also had depression or anxiety, which is linked to poorer overall health.

It's possible that teens with symptoms of prolonged fatigue may have undiagnosed anxiety or depression, the study's authors suggested.

The study, led by Femke Lamers, PhD, of the National Institute of Mental Health, looked at how common fatigue was among American teens.

The researchers used data from the National Comorbidity Survey Adolescent Supplement, which included responses from 10,123 adolescents, aged 13 to 18.

Overall, 3 percent of the teens reported having prolonged fatigue, about half of whom (1.4 percent) experienced fatigue alone. The other half (1.6 percent) with chronic fatigue also reported having depression or an anxiety disorder.

Nearly half of those with chronic fatigue (46.5 percent) had had a major depressive episode, and about a third (34 percent) had a specific phobia about an object or situation.

The authors concluded that having severe, long-lasting fatigue may actually indicate an anxiety or depression disorder in many teens who are not getting the care they need.

Source: DailyRx
http://www.dailyrx.com/long-lasting-fatigue-teens-may-indicate-depression-or-anxiety-disorders

MDs Warn Teens - Don't Take the Cinnamon Challenge

Published online in the journal Pediatrics, doctors advise teens not to take the "cinnamon challenge," a dangerous prank depicted in popular YouTube videos, but which has led to hospitalizations and a surge in calls to the U.S. poison centers.

The fad involves daring someone to swallow a spoonful of ground cinnamon in 60 seconds without water. But the spice is caustic, and trying to gulp it down can cause choking, throat irritation, breathing trouble and even collapsed lungs, the report said.

The number of poison control center calls about teens doing the prank "has increased dramatically," from 51 in 2011 to 222 last year, according to the American Association of Poison Control Centers, and at least 30 teens nationwide needed medical attention after taking the challenge last year.

"People with asthma or other respiratory conditions are at greater risk of having this result in shortness of breath and trouble breathing," according to an alert posted on the association's website.

Cinnamon is made from tree bark and contains cellulose fibers that don't easily break down. Animal research suggests that when cinnamon gets into the lungs, it can cause scarring, according to report co-author Dr. Steven E. Lipshultz, a pediatrics professor at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

Source: Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/04/22/3357734/mds-warn-teens-dont-take-the-cinnamon.html

Study: More Sleep Could Reduce Adolescent Obesity

Increasing the number of hours of sleep adolescents get each night may reduce the prevalence of adolescent obesity, according to a new study by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Results of the study show that fewer hours of sleep is associated with greater increases in adolescent body mass index (BMI) for participants between 14 and 18-years-old.

The findings suggest that increasing sleep duration to 10 hours per day, especially for those in the upper half of the BMI distribution, could help to reduce the prevalence of adolescent obesity.

Previous studies have shown that a correlation exists between short sleep and obesity, but until now few have been able to rule out other variables such as time spent watching television and being physically active.

The study's lead author, Jonathan A. Mitchell, PhD, postdoctoral fellow in the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Penn Medicine said, "What we found in following these [study participants] adolescents is that each additional hour of sleep was associated with a reduced BMI for all participants, but the reduction was greater for those with higher BMIs. The study is further evidence to support that getting more sleep each night has substantial health benefits during this crucial developmental period."

The results were published in the latest issue of the journal Pediatrics.

Source: ScienceCodex
http://www.sciencecodex.com/penn_study_finds_increased_sleep_could_reduce_rate_of_adolescent_obesity-109932

Teens Eating Their Way to Heart Disease

According to a new study from the American Heart Association (AHA), a whopping 80 percent of American teenagers are eating foods that will make them prime candidates for heart disease.

The study’s researchers found teens in the U.S. are eating too much fat, salt and sugar and not eating enough fruits and vegetables.

Only one percent of the teenage participants in the study consumed what the AHA considers a perfectly healthy diet. And to make matters worse, they don’t exercise enough, said study leader Christina Shay from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.

Physicians and the AHA are concerned because teenagers tend to get away with eating the wrong foods, especially since their young bodies are still growing. Indeed, many parents look the other way when it comes to their teenager’s poor eating habits, making excuses that they’re just teenagers who are going through a growth spurt.

The problem, however, is that growth spurt may turn into the growth of something unwanted – like a growing girth that leads to the accumulation of fatty deposits inside their arteries. And that, in turn, can lead to obesity – one of the major contributors to heart disease and other health problems.

“Autopsy findings reported more than a century ago identified fatty streaks in the large arteries of children as young as 6 years of age,” Shay’s team wrote in their report, published in the journal Circulation. Indeed, more recent studies have found actual evidence of early heart disease in children.

Source: EmaxHealth
http://www.emaxhealth.com/11400/teens-eating-way-heart-disease-prevent-these-3-tips

CDC: 110+ Million Venereal Infections in U.S.

According to new data released by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were 19.7 million new venereal infections in the United States in 2008, bringing the total number of existing sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the U.S. at that time to 110,197,000.

The STI study referenced by the CDC estimated that 50 percent of the new infections in 2008 occurred among people in the 15-to-24 age bracket. In fact, of the 19,738,800 total new STIs in the United States in 2008, 9,782,650 were among Americans in the 15-to-24 age bracket.

“CDC’s new estimates show that there are about 20 million new infections in the United States each year, costing the American healthcare system nearly $16 billion in direct medical costs alone,” said a CDC fact sheet.

The most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States in 2008 was human papillomavirus (HPV), which caused 14,100,000 estimated infections that year.

Source: CNSNews.com
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/cdc-110197000-venereal-infections-us-nation-creating-new-stis-faster-new-jobs-or

Synthetic Marijuana Linked to Kidney Damage

A new report links the use of synthetic cannabinoids, which are sold under the names of "synthetic marijuana," "Spice" and "K2," with kidney damage.

Sixteen cases of acute kidney injury were reported in 2012 in six states after people smoked the synthetic marijuana, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report out today. The patients became sick within days and sometimes even hours after smoking. Their symptoms included nausea and vomiting as well as abdominal and flank pain. They were found to be in various stages of kidney failure. The cases were reported in Kansas, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island and Wyoming.

Synthetic cannabinoids are designer drugs dissolved in a solvent, applied to plant material and then smoked. They can mimic the effects of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. Even though the products are often sold as incense and labeled "Not for consumption," some people still smoke them as an alternative to marijuana.

Michael Schwartz, a co-author of the report, says, "Synthetic cannabinoids are not safe alternatives to marijuana. There are unexpected and unpredictable health problems that can occur."

Source: USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/02/14/synthetic-marijuana-kidney-damage/1919319/

Sharing Secrets Improves Teen Well-Being

Teens who share their secrets in confidence with parents and friends have fewer headaches and depressed moods and are more confident in social situations than others who keep secrets to themselves, according to a new study published in the Journal of Adolescence.

Researchers worked with nearly 800 boys and girls, ages 14 to 19, from five schools in the Netherlands. Most came from two-parent families. The teens reported on questionnaires if they had a private secret that they never talked about, how long they had kept the secret, if the information was known to others and how difficult it was to keep or reveal the secret.

The students also answered questions about secrets they had shared. Separate tests assessed the frequency of headaches, depressed moods and feelings of loneliness. Relationships and social skills were self-rated.

About 79% of the participants said they had at least one shared or private secret. Secrecy was more prevalent in girls than boys: 82% of girls shared secrets compared with 54% of boys, while 38% of girls and 29% of boys had private secrets. About two-thirds of shared secrets were told to best friends. Other confidants included mothers, fathers, teachers, neighbors and parents of friends.

Compared with those who shared secrets, students who kept private secrets tended to have more rule-breaking behaviors, physical complaints, low moods and poor-quality relationships. Researchers said the findings suggest that sharing secrets is an important skill in creating and maintaining close personal relationships. Because they have more shared secrets, girls may reap the benefits of sharing more than boys, researchers said.

Source: Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323926104578277831872813890.html

Study: Teens and Energy Drinks Are a Bad Combo

A study published in the journal Pediatrics in Review says that the $5 billion energy drink industry markets directly to adolescents and that high caffeine consumption is associated with a variety of teen health issues — like insomnia, anxiety, elevated blood pressure, and digestive problems.

Researchers also found that high school and college students who mix their alcohol with energy drinks fail to appreciate the strength of the caffeinated combo and underestimate how drunk they really are.

According to the study's authors, consuming a can of a caffeinated alcoholic beverage may be equivalent to drinking a bottle of wine and a few cups of coffee. So while young adults may feel less impaired, the alcohol-energy drink mixture can lead to potentially dangerous consequences behind the wheel or on college campuses, where students may engage in riskier sexual behavior under the dual influence.  The study instructs physicians to discuss energy drink use with their patients and to offer appropriate caffeine counseling where necessary.

Dr. Ebo Kwabena Blankson, a Virginia pediatrician who specializes in teen medicine, a Major in the United States Air Force and the study’s primary author says he routinely sees teens come into his clinic with signs of over-caffeination and energy-drink withdrawal — part of what inspired him to conduct this study.

“These teenagers are having classic anxiety symptoms,” Dr. Blankson explains. “Their hearts are racing, or they’re jittery, or they’re complaining of headaches, or that they can’t sleep.” And when he takes their histories, the culprit is clear: too much caffeine. And he points out that unlike other substances we talk to our teens about, energy drinks are right on the shelves, with no ID required. A teen can buy five Red Bulls and cruise right out the door — to school, a party, or home to cram for a history test. But energy drinks and chronic caffeine consumption, he says, can really disrupt a child’s home and school life.

“These products aren’t regulated,” says Dr. Blankson. “And we also just don’t know the long terms effects of all these other additives that are in energy drinks either.”

Source: Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacobaurist/2013/02/01/new-study-says-teens-and-energy-drinks-are-a-bad-combo/

Mouse Study Links Teen Stress to Adult Mental Illness

New laboratory research on rodents suggests an elevated stress hormone in adolescence may be linked to severe mental illness in adulthood.

Johns Hopkins researchers noted that adolescence is a critical time for brain development. During this stage, a hormone abundance could potentially cause genetic changes which could result in severe mental illness among individuals.

The findings, reported in the journal Science, could have wide-reaching implications in both the prevention and treatment of schizophrenia, severe depression and other mental illnesses.

“We have discovered a mechanism for how environmental factors, such as stress hormones, can affect the brain’s physiology and bring about mental illness,” said study leader Akira Sawa, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

“We’ve shown in mice that stress in adolescence can affect the expression of a gene that codes for a key neurotransmitter related to mental function and psychiatric illness. While many genes are believed to be involved in the development of mental illness, my gut feeling is environmental factors are critically important to the process.”

“Genetic risk factors in these experiments were necessary, but not sufficient, to cause behaviors associated with mental illness in mice,” Sawa said. “Only the addition of the external stressor — in this case, excess cortisol related to social isolation — was enough to bring about dramatic behavior changes.”

The investigators not only found that the “mentally ill” mice had elevated levels of cortisol, known as the stress hormone because it is secreted at higher levels during the body’s fight-or-flight response, but that these mice had significantly lower levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine in a specific region of the brain involved in higher brain function, such as emotional control and cognition. Changes in dopamine in the brains of patients with schizophrenia, depression and mood disorders have been suggested in clinical studies, but the mechanism for the clinical impact remains elusive.

Source: PsychCentral
http://psychcentral.com/news/2013/01/18/mouse-study-links-teen-stress-to-adult-mental-illness/50505.html