Extracts from the "Other" Journals relating to Children, Youth and
Families
in the fields of health, substance abuse, education, psychology, science
...
July 2008
UK
We need to set high aspirations for children in care, and help them achieve their goals in life
Achievements against the odds
Sir Simon Milton, the London mayor's adviser on local government, recently made a speech calling for the banning of jargon in our town halls. This might be sensible, but one of those words that is no longer welcome is "outcomes". He's right, this is jargon, but as a children's charity, we are entirely focused on the outcomes for children in care.
It's easy to talk about outcomes as if they are abstract, a tool for managers to monitor performance. But outcomes are really achievements, and for good achievements we must set high aspirations for children who have had, through no fault of their own, a bad start in life. It is about having those high aspirations as a marker and then working out what needs to happen to get there. And we're convinced that the best people to tell us what works are the children and young people in care and their carers.
Our aspirations for these vulnerable young people led us to commission Professor Bob Broad of South Bank University to undertake a longitudinal research study into the views and experiences of foster carers and their children and we are publishing the results of the first stage of this work this week.
In the last 10 years, from the Every Child Matters green paper to the children and young persons bill currently in parliament, everyone has been talking about improving outcomes for children in care. Not only how to improve the appalling outcomes for this most disadvantaged group but also how we best measure these outcomes.
To achieve these global outcomes, we must focus on each individual's needs and help them to achieve their dreams. We know that children that are in care have some of the poorest outcomes exacerbating the early difficulties that they have experienced – that have resulted in them being in care in the first place. Our report looks to provide evidence to inform practice to make immediate and long-term improvements to the lives of these children, so that they can have a better adulthood.
What saddens me is the lack of aspiration felt by some children about their educational attainment levels. I am clear that as a corporate parent I have the same high aspirations as I do for my own children. I am consistently impressed by the achievements of the young people in our care – achievements in circumstances that most of us would find difficult – achievements against the odds.
Maintaining high aspirations isn't just about achievement in education, though it is fundamentally important. These are aspirations for a lifetime's achievements. It's about having dreams and hopes about life and the self-belief that they can be achieved. Our job is to help them achieve those dreams and hopes. And that's why we're focused on outcomes.
Kevin Williams
26 July 2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jul/26/children.socialcare
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Bullies face even more health risks than victims
Both bullies and their victims are at risk for problems that threaten their health, safety and education -- but the bullies themselves may be more affected, a new study suggests. Based on a survey of nearly 9,600 U.S. students in grades 6 through 10, researchers found that 39 percent had been a victim or perpetrator of bullying -- or in some cases, both.
Compared with their peers, all of these students had a higher risk of physical injuries -- whether accidental, inflicted by other people or self-inflicted, the researchers report in the International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health. They were also more likely to abuse over-the-counter medications, harm animals or other people, use weapons or be frequently absent from school.
But while both victims and bullies were more likely to have such problems, it was bullies -- including those who were sometimes injured themselves -- who had the greatest risk. "We see that the (obvious) victims are not the only victims. The bullies are also victims of their own emotional problems," lead researcher Dr. Jorge Srabstein, of the Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., said in a written statement.
Srabstein and his colleague Dr. Thomas Piazza found that students who bullied also showed some risk behavior not seen among their victims. For example, they were more likely than their peers to drink or use any type of drug, set fires, get poor grades and skip classes. The findings, the researchers write, "should urgently alert pediatric practitioners and educators to the need for joining efforts in the prevention of this very serious public health issue."
Both the perpetrators and the victims of bullying, Srabstein said, should be referred for professional help if they show problems such as those reported in this study.
SOURCE: International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health, July 2008.
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FLORIDA
Foster transplant case sparks DCF policy revamp
He had an aunt who raised him from infancy whom he calls Mom. He had caseworkers and doctors and a high-ranking administrator from Florida's child welfare agency all working on his behalf. What he didn't have: a ``champion.''
Days after Jackson Memorial Hospital stepped in to provide a lifesaving liver to a disabled foster child who had been removed from a Central Florida hospital's organ waiting list, Department of Children & Families administrators are developing a new policy for providing needed care to foster kids in medical crisis. The cornerstone of the protocols is the designation of high-level department advocates, or ''champions'' -- hard-charging closers who can overcome obstacles and ensure children in state custody get the same kind of attention and care as kids who still live with their parents.
''People have to take ownership,'' DCF Assistant Secretary George Sheldon said last week at a meeting of the state Task Force on Child Protection. In the case of the 15-year-old Tampa Bay youth, ``We had success because a couple of people took ownership and made it happen.'' It almost didn't.
The teen, who is not being identified by The Miami Herald to protect his privacy, was diagnosed with mental retardation and has suffered from liver disease since infancy. For much of his life, said his aunt, April Nixon, the boy's liver disease was successfully treated with medication. Within the last year, however, the boy entered an advanced stage of the illness after his body no longer responded well to the medication, Nixon said.
He was placed on a waiting list for a liver transplant at Shands Hospital in Gainesville, but then removed after doctors and administrators decided he was a poor candidate for a transplant because DCF could not guarantee he would remain in a permanent home during a two-year recovery from the surgery. The Miami Herald detailed the boy's plight July 8. A few days later the boy was given a new liver at Jackson after the organ unexpectedly became available, Nixon and DCF administrators said.
''The champion needs to be given the authority to bypass any level of authority and go directly at least to an assistant secretary,'' Sheldon said. ''Sometimes it takes a special case for us to come together and bring the necessary resources to bear,'' he added.
The boy already has been moved from Jackson into a medical foster facility in Miami where he is recovering with 24-hour nursing care. ''I talked with him last night and yesterday,'' Nixon said. ''He said he's feeling fine and doing well.'' Nixon said Jackson nurses told her the boy had not experienced any complications and had not run any fever. Nick Cox, DCF's top Tampa Bay administrator, said he also is being briefed regularly on the boy's progress, and ``from everything I am hearing, he is doing very well.''
Cox, who helped spearhead the department's efforts to care for the teen, said Sheldon and DCF Secretary Bob Butterworth had made it clear that their first priority is the health and safety of vulnerable children, and gave him tremendous leeway to advocate for the boy. ''You have to look at these cases as though this is your own kid -- and what would you do if this were your kid?'' Cox said. ``In cases such as this, given the circumstances these kids find themselves in, you have to try to step in and try to champion the cause.''
Carol Mabin Miller
24 July 2008
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/story/615840.html
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US
Study finds teens are better off than their parents were
Most parents hope their children will be better off than they were, and many children think they are smarter than their parents. But who is really better off? Teenagers today are doing better than their parents were in the mid-1970s, according to a report issued Tuesday by the Foundation for Child Development.
The report, the 2008 Child and Youth Well-Being Index Project, based at Duke University, found that children had a 2 percent increase in well-being from 1975 to 2005 and a 0.88 percent increase from 2004 to 2005. The project compiles data about seven factors for American children from birth to age 18 and calculates overall well-being relative to statistics from the base year, 1975.
"The goal is to provide us with a big, comprehensive picture of how American children are doing over time," said Ruby Takanishi, the foundation's president. "The picture is decidedly mixed, with some progress but not enough." The project looks at family economic well-being, health, safety and behavior, education, community connectedness, social relationships and emotional and spiritual well-being. Statistics are taken from places such as the U.S. Bureau of the Census, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Education.
In 2005, which is the most recent data available, five of the seven categories improved slightly, while the categories of community connectedness and social relationships declined. For the report, researchers compared an average of scores from 1975 to 1977 to an average of scores from 2003 to 2005.
The study found that teenagers are now slightly more likely to live in families below the poverty line and they are three times more likely to be overweight. But it also found that teenagers now score slightly higher on reading and math tests; they are at a much lower risk of death from accidents, violence or disease; they are less likely to participate in risky behaviors such as violent crimes, smoking, drinking or pregnancy, and they are more likely to be in school than their parents were. From 1975 to 1980, well-being was relatively stable. There was a sharp decline from 1980 to 1985 and again in the mid-1990s. In the late 1990s, well-being improved again to levels at or above those in 1975. Well-being has stayed about the same since 2000 at levels slightly above those in 1975.
Experts on a panel who discussed the report agreed that, while many things are getting better, there are still some problems and need for improvement. Obesity and mental health are of particular concern, said Dr. Anisha Abraham, chief of adolescent medicine at Georgetown University Hospital. She said that many barriers are keeping children from getting healthy food and physical activity as well as care for mental illnesses. "Our work is not over," Abraham said. "There is so much we have to do to make sure their generation is a healthier one."
Teenage pregnancies are also a concern, said Kelleen Kaye, director of research for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. Although the numbers have been declining, they are still large, she said. "Teenage pregnancy is linked to a number of difficult outcomes for the teenager and the child," Kaye said. Studies show a small increase in teen pregnancies in the last year, she said.
Anita Berger, principal of Benjamin Banneker Academic High School, a public school in Washington that focuses on getting students into college, spoke about how the school is an example of a program that helps students succeed. She said most of her students come from a poor background and many are first-generation college students. The school has a 100 percent graduation and college acceptance rate. She said a sense of community and committed, motivated teachers are the best way to help students.
23 July 2008
http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/29497/
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Child welfare forty years out of date
It has been almost forty years since the last White House Conference on Children and Youth was held in 1970, according to the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA). A panel was held to discuss the re-establishment of this in 2010 and the experiences of former foster care youth.
Christine James-Brown, president and chief executive officer of CWLA, said that if the upcoming conference was as successful as ones before, as many as 1000 local gatherings of people throughout the U.S. would take place to identify problems and solutions for children who have been abused and neglected. James-Brown emphasized that the critical component of child welfare is community involvement.
Bob Blancato, president of Matz, Blancato and Associates Inc. and executive director of the 1995 White House Conference on Aging, agreed with James-Brown and said it was very important to involve grassroots organizations from the very beginning. In addition, Blancato stressed incorporating the local media to shed light on the child welfare situation. Reverend Kenneth Fellenbaum, chief executive officer of the Boys and Girls Village Inc., pointed out that over the past 20 years foster children are more mentally fragile due to the extent of abuse. Fellenbaum said these children need clinical services and not just social services.
Mikelle Wortman and Asia Moore, both former foster care youth, shared the struggles they faced after they aged out of the foster system. Wortman said that free post secondary education and medical insurance was crucial for foster youth. She described her bouts of pneumonia and shingles which almost forced her to drop out of school while she was also working full time. Moore, one of the founders of Youth In Progress (YIP), highlighted the fact that around 50 percent of the homeless in the state of New York were from foster care. Moore said it was very important that foster agencies took steps to ensure foster youth have a strong support system once they aged out of the system.
Talk Radio News Service
21 July 2008
http://talkradionews.com/2008/07/child-welfare-forty-years-out-of-date/
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NEW ZEALAND
Cannabis 'industry' cost to mental health
The availability of cannabis in Tairawhiti seriously undermines mental health here, a new report on the state of the region's mental health has found. Easy access and addiction to marijuana has increased the number of people accessing mental health and addiction services, says the Adult Mental Health Review.
Now out for public consultation, the review was presented to the Tairawhiti District Health Hospital Advisory Committee this week . The report says cannabis induces and exacerbates mental illnesses in the region and has been identified as "pervasive industry" with a "significant risk".
All agencies interviewed for the report agreed that the "significant cannabis industry in Tairawhiti" increased the "level of admissions for cannabis-induced or cannabis- exacerbated mental illness". The report made 61 recommendations that will come at a high cost to Tairawhiti District Health. Finding the funding to implement some of the recommendations would be difficult, said TDH's chief executive Jim Green. "Funding is always behind the capacity and need to implement the recommendations."
Now that the first recommendations for Child and Youth Mental Health Services had been completed, money could be invested into the recommendations from the review, he said. When they did the CAMS review, the things TDH had just finished were the most important things to do. The next things they should do would be when they had time and more funding, said Mr Green. "Some things are most important, and they get done, but now we have some really important recommendations from the adult mental health review that need to be done."
The review suggested significant change that would come at a significant cost to the district health board, he said.
Other significant risks to the region's mental health included high levels of deprivation, which had an established link to poor mental health. Stakeholders interviewed in the report identified that sexual abuse was also a contributing factor to poor mental health in the region.
Jessica Wauchop
22 July 2008
http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/Default.aspx?s=3&s1=2&id=3988
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Teens seek 'emancipation'
The 16-year-old girl in a court emancipation case had lived in six different foster homes in the 19 months before she decided she wanted out of the system. The girl, and others like her in Maine, wants to be free of her parents, free of state supervision.
In a word -- emancipated. The process also is referred to as divorcing one's parents.
Court papers first were filed on behalf of the Skowhegan girl in January of this year. The legal notices on the petition for emancipation began appearing in the Morning Sentinel in May. Under state law, a child can petition the court to free herself from her parents or from state guardianship once she turns 16, can prove that she is sufficiently mature to assume responsibility for her own care and that it is in her best interest to do so. Her lawyers, which were appointed by the court and named in court documents, have declined to comment on the case.
Dawn DiBlasi, a Waterville lawyer who has worked on child-emancipation cases, says children who petition to free themselves from guardianship often have good reasons to go it on their own. "I think there's more and more children doing it," DiBlasi said of the emancipation process. "I think there's more and more children either being failed by their parents or being brought up by their grandparents. There's a whole generation out there of parents who are struggling with their children, struggling to discipline their children with today's rules."
She said access to computers and multi-media outlets offer children "freedoms" not experienced in previous generations. Children are growing up more quickly, DiBlasi added, by-passing a part of their youth and heading straight into adulthood. Suddenly at age 16 and already running much of their own lives, they are ready to be adults and go it alone, she said.
Former Maine Attorney General Andrew Ketterer of Norridgewock, now in private law practice, agreed, saying children, especially girls, are growing up fast and want to be able to live on their own. Ketterer said he estimates that 75 percent of the emancipation cases in Maine involve female children. "I think scientifically it's been pretty well proven that young women -- 14, 15, 16, 17 -- are far ahead in terms of emotional maturity than young men are," Ketterer said. "So if you're comparing a 16-year-old female with a 16-year-old male, he wants to know when ESPN is going to be on, she is probably dating someone much older than she is. It's emotional maturity issues. Young women, generally in this day and age, are growing up fast and are more likely to look at adult issues. I don't think it rings in that way with young men."
Reasons for a child filing for his or her freedom can be a home life that has become intolerable or, as in the case of the girl is the Skowhegan court, being moved from foster home to foster home with no sturdy life foundation. In some cases, parents do not want the child living with them anymore and the child is left with few options. "I have a case where the daughter filed for emancipation because she just could not live within her mother's rules," DiBlasi said. "She'd come from a broken home and she filed for emancipation because she wanted to be able to get a job and live on her own. She did get emancipated. Mom did not fight it because she felt her child was able to care for herself."
A summary of Maine's emancipation law states that a child must be 16 or older and living apart from his or her parents or guardians in order to file a petition for emancipation. The child must go to District Court in the division in which the parent lives and request to be represented in an emancipation case. A formal petition is then filed and can be followed by a process of mediation, in which both parents and child can sit down and discuss the case. Next, a hearing is set, with the parents or guardians being notified of the date and time. The child must then convince the judge that he or she has established a place to live and has the ability to access health care and to support herself while continuing her education. State Department of Health and Human Services officials also can be contacted for continued support of a youth for public assistance or food stamps, even after emancipation.
Often, an assistant attorney general is called in to look at the case as an overseer of the Department of Human Services, Ketterer said. The judge also can deny the emancipation petition if the criteria for self-support is not met. That denial can be appealed. Ketterer said denial of a petition can be made when the minor child has not done his or her homework on the legal consequences of an order of emancipation.
"Frequently it's not well thought out by the minor, where they might not be aware as a 15- or 16-year-old of what they are giving up," he said. "If a youngster comes to see me I generally ask him to think it through because sometimes they're upset emotionally about one bad decision a parent made."
Doug Harlow
20 July 2008
http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/news/local/5181397.html
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NYC chain restaurants posting calories on menus
A new rule requiring New York chain restaurants to post calorie information on their menus took effect on Friday, marking a first for a U.S. city. Starting on Saturday, health inspectors can slap fines of up to $2,000 on fast-food and casual-dining chains if calorie counts are not displayed on their menus in the same font and format as the name or price of food items.
The move follows the city's 2003 ban on public smoking and a ban on artery-clogging trans fats that began on July 1.
New Yorkers appeared unfazed by the rule, and some said they would not be dissuaded from ordering a 540-calorie Big Mac at McDonald's or a 440-calorie Iced lemon Loaf at Starbucks. "I'm going to eat whatever I'm going to eat," said Erika Roberson, 19, leaving an Applebee's restaurant in Brooklyn.
The rule affects such restaurants as McDonald's; Burger King; Applebee's, operated by DineEquity Inc; Dunkin Donuts; Starbucks and Subway.
"I'm for it. I don't think the average person has any idea what they're eating," said Amanda Goodwin, 33, a school administrator.
Analysts said they did not expect the rule to have much impact on consumer habits. "I'd be shocked if consumers weren't already aware that when they're eating in a fast-food restaurant, the cheeseburgers and fries and fountain drinks, are not healthy," said Morningstar analyst John Owens. "People don't go to McDonald's for a healthy lunch. They go for a fast-food burger and fries," he said. A city study last year found 30 percent of New Yorkers were consuming more than 1,000 calories at lunchtime.
Officials say the rule could prevent at least 150,000 New Yorkers from becoming obese and prevent at least 30,000 from developing diabetes over the next five years.
The health code provision, which affects
businesses with at least 15 establishments nationwide, was delayed when
the New York State Restaurant Association fought back in court. In April
a federal judge upheld the rule and the restaurant association appealed,
but a higher court refused to delay the regulation further.
Edith Honan
20 July 2008
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Youth crime must be treated as a disease
It is to be hoped that politicians and society take note of the important letters from John McEwan and Ian Saint-Yves (July 15) about the problems we are facing with some of today's children. As a children's doctor, I have maintained that children must have love and leadership (care, education, training, loving discipline, good play) to grow up happy and successful.
Unfortunately, owing to poverty, bad parent habits and poor management, coupled with some unwise politically correct ideas, this is not happening for today's troubled infants. Mr McEwan is correct in saying that experienced teachers can predict troubled, potentially criminal children in primary one. This confirms that more effective attitudes of leadership by parents, health visitors, nurseries and schools are now required to care for today's young children who are tomorrow's teenagers.
For the present problem, there are now a minority of young persons lacking a caring start to their lives who are now a danger on our streets. Care needs to be given to them before they get life imprisonment for callously stabbing or beating strangers to death for no apparent reason. Instead of letting these disturbed young people with numerous convictions roam our streets, we need to be protected by noting the pattern of their early offences and isolating them from us as if they were a dangerous contagious disease and needed curing. There will need to be a new programme of funding suitable care and detention for them in purpose-built facilities in order for them to be rehabilitated and made fit to come back and live among us. There will be some who disagree and complain about staffing and the cost but the alternative, of criminal mayhem, is unacceptable.
Those who, despite serious effort, cannot be made safe must be isolated until they are too old to be a danger.
Donald J C Cameron, Fochabers
16 July 2008
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UK
Link between deprivation and violence 'putting pressure on health services'
Children from the poorest areas are five times more likely to suffer a violent assault needing an emergency hospital admission than those from the richest areas, a report revealed today. The strong link between deprivation and violence is adding to pressure on health services, the report's authors said.
The Centre for Public Health in Liverpool and the North West Public Health Observatory looked at emergency hospital admissions in England between April 1 2002 and March 31 2006. The report, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, found violence is far more likely to affect young males living in deprived areas.
Senior author Professor Mark Bellis said those under the age of 15 were already victims of their environment. He called for early intervention measures to prevent abusive children turning into violent adults and said health services could play a key role in the prevention of future offending. Prof Bellis said: "The first thing to note is that the link between deprivation and violence is established so early on. We know violence works in cycles. People who are exposed to violence in youth are much more likely to be perpetrators of violence and victims of violence later on in life."
Across all age groups, those from deprived areas were at even more of a disadvantage to their privileged peers, with six times as many emergency hospital admissions amongst the poorest groups compared to the richest. And emergency hospital admissions are also rising. The researchers found that between 2002 and 2006 the number of children who were taken to hospital after an assault rose by a fifth, or a quarter in the most deprived areas. And in the 15 to 44 age group emergency hospital admissions after assaults were up 30%.
Prof Bellis said early interventions were needed to break the cycle of violence, targeting factors such as environment, poor parenting and negative peer pressure. "We need to help people understand that there are ways of out of a situation other than violence," he said. "We need to stop those sorts of individuals developing in the first place." Prof Bellis said public health services could use "relatively unexploited opportunities" to help identify and target those communities most in need of help.
Data from health services not only incorporates younger victims of violent crime, it also takes into account violence not reported to police. And the information on assaults is available at a very local level. Risk communities could be targeted using local health services which are already in place.
"Service can and should provide an early immunisation against the development of violent behaviour, just as we seek to protect against childhood diseases," the report said. Prof Bellis said violence must be recognised as a "public health issue", not just a judicial issue, and the two agencies should work together in the gathering of data and development of strategies to combat violence.
About 30,000 people are admitted to hospitals in England as an emergency because of violence every year. The researchers found admissions were much more likely on a Saturday or Sunday, which they put down to the use of alcohol and nightlife. Rates of emergency admissions varied from region to region, with the North West almost three times higher than the East. In 2005/06, 19.047 youngsters aged 14 and under per 100,000 population were taken to hospital after an assault - up from 15.657 in 2002/03. In the most deprived areas it rose from 29.196 children per 100,000 population to 36.202, compared to a rise from 5.329 to 6.374 in the most affluent areas. For the 15-44 age group, the figure of 101.363 per 100,000 population in 2002/03 rose to 130.856 in 2005/06.
In response to the report a Home Office spokesman said: "We have already pledged that by 2011, we will have further reduced serious violent crime, including gun and gang-related violence, knife crime, sexual and domestic violence and improved the criminal justice response to these offences."
Shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve countered: "This is yet further damning evidence of our broken society under Labour, as the Government fails to address both crime and the causes of crime."
Report
15 July 2008
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Study shows physical activity declines dramatically in teenagers
It may be a tough task to ask kids to slow down their physical activity in pre-teen years but a new study show childhood activity declines dramatically in teenage years.
Researchers from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, La Jolla, tracked children beginning at age 9 and then again at ages 11, 12, and 15. They found that children get sluggish by age 15, with their physical activity dipping well below the recommended 60 minutes a day for good health.
However, at age 9 the kids spent an average of three hours a day of moderate to vigorous physical activity, well above the 60-minute minimum suggested by most experts.
When children hit age 15, the study found their physical activity fell to only 49 minutes on average on weekdays, far below the recommendation. Only 31 percent met the recommended level of 60 minutes on weekdays and only 17 percent on weekends. According to WebMD news, girls fell below the recommended 60 minutes per day by about age 13.1 for weekday activity and boys, at age 14.7.
The research was part of the continuing Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, a look at the health of American children that was begun in 1991 and is financed by the National Institutes of Health. The study is published in The Journal of the American Medical Association.
Nidhi Sharma
15 July 2008
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7011620202
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School rebuked for ibuprofen strip search
An Arizona school violated the constitutional rights of a 13-year-old student by conducting a strip search for ibuprofen, a divided U.S. appeals court ruled on Friday. Suspecting that a student had violated a policy against prescription or over-the-counter drugs without permission, public school officials in Safford, Arizona, ordered a search of Savana Redding. A school nurse had her remove her clothes, including her bra, and shake her underwear to see if Redding was hiding anything.
The 2003 search, prompted by a tip from another girl, did not find ibuprofen, which is found in common medications like Advil and Motrin to treat pain like cramps and headaches. Higher doses require a prescription.
Previous court decisions ruled the school did not violate the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures because officials have a legitimate interest in protecting students from prescription drugs. The 6-5 ruling by a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday overturned an earlier decision, setting out its reasoning in an extensive 75-page ruling with many details on the complications of eighth grade life.
"Directing a 13-year-old girl to remove her clothes, partially revealing her breasts and pelvic area, for allegedly possessing ibuprofen, an infraction that poses an imminent danger to no one, and which could be handled by keeping her in the principal's office until a parent arrived or simply sending her home, was excessively intrusive," Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw wrote for the majority. The majority found flaws in the school's logic that a tip from another student justified the action. "The self-serving statement of a cornered teenager facing significant punishment does not meet the heavy burden necessary to justify a search accurately described by the 7th Circuit as 'demeaning, dehumanizing, undignified, humiliating, terrifying, unpleasant embarrassing.'"
"And all this to find prescription-strength ibuprofen pills," Wardlaw continued later. "No legal decision cited to us, or that we could find, permitted a strip search to discover substances regularly available over the counter at any convenience store throughout the United States."
In a dissenting opinion, Judge Michael Daly Hawkins wrote, "We should resist using our independent judgment to determine what infractions are so harmful as to justify significantly intrusive searches. Seemingly innocuous items can, in the hands of creative adolescents, present serious threats," he wrote. "Admittedly, ibuprofen is one of the mildest drugs children could choose to abuse. But that does not mean it is never harmful."
Adam Tanner
11 July 2008
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Turn off TV during meals or kids may get fat-study
Everyone knows what too much television can do to the mind and what too little exercise can do to the body, but a Canadian study has now shown that the boob tube can also lead to an increase in how much we eat.
Studying childhood obesity, University of Toronto nutritionist Harvey Anderson found that kids who watched TV while eating lunch took in 228 extra calories than those who ate without the television on. "One of Anderson's conclusions is that eating while watching television overrides our ability to know when to stop eating," the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, which funded the study, said on Tuesday.
"In effect, mindless television watching produces mindless eating.... Anderson has some immediate advice for parents -- turn the television off during mealtime."
9 July 2008
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Parenting style reflected in how children are fed
Parents' general approach to raising their children is often apparent in how they manage their kids' diets -- suggesting that efforts to control childhood obesity need to consider family dynamics, according to researchers.
In a study of 239 parents of first-grade children, researchers found that parents who were strict in general also tended to have an "authoritarian" approach to their children's eating -- banning certain foods, for instance, or using pressure to get them to eat fruits and vegetables. Similarly, parents who were generally "permissive" in what they let their children eat tended to have similar parenting styles. In between these two groups, the researchers found, were "authoritative" parents. These parents set limits on their children's diets, but often used more positive approaches -- like following a healthy diet themselves -- to get their kids to eat well.
The findings show that parents' general styles are important in their children's diets, according to Dr. Laura Hubbs-Tait and colleagues at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. They also suggest that efforts to help obese children lose weight are "not likely to be successful" unless the underlying family dynamics are addressed, the researchers report in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
In general, experts recommend that parents use positive approaches to get their children to eat right -- by setting a good example with their own diets, for example. But in this study, both the strict and permissive parents typically failed to serve as good dietary role models for their children. "Due to the infrequency of healthy eating modeled by both permissive and authoritarian parents," the researchers write, "food and nutrition professionals might encourage both to begin more healthy eating -- for the sake of their own health and that of their children."
A lack of attention to family dynamics may help explain why child obesity treatment is often less than successful, according to Hubbs-Tait and her colleagues. "Food and nutrition professionals who are implementing dietary change or obesity treatment programs need to include more complex approaches to behavioral change that include parenting styles and family dynamics," they conclude.
SOURCE: Journal of the American Dietetic Association
July 2008.
9 July 2008
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TV violence a threat to public health
Watching violence on TV and in other forms of audiovisual media is strongly correlated with aggression and therefore poses a serious public health threat, according to a new meta-analysis conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan and published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
Researchers L. Rowell Huesmann and Brad Bushman reviewed more than 50 years of studies on media violence and aggression. They found that the connection between the two was stronger than any other public health correlation except the one between smoking and lung cancer. "Exposure to violent electronic media has a larger effect than all but one other well-known threat to public health," Huesmann said. "The only effect slightly larger than the effect of media violence on aggression is that of cigarette smoking on lung cancer."
The correlation between violent TV, films and video games and aggression was stronger than the correlation between condom use and HIV prevention, or the correlation between calcium intake and bone density. According to Huesmann, male and female children who watch violent TV programs and identify with the characters have a higher average aggression level as adults than children who do not.
Children now spend approximately three hours per day watching TV, with 60 percent of all TV programming containing violence. Forty percent of TV shows portray violence that is considered "extreme." In one of the studies reviewed, researchers found that boys who watched more violent television were more likely as adults to push, grab or shove their spouses; to respond violently to insults; to commit moving traffic violations; or to be convicted of crimes.
Violent video games are also strongly
correlated with aggression, the researchers found. Approximately 83
percent of children in the United States live in homes with video game
units. "The research clearly shows that exposure to virtual violence
increases the risk that both children and adults will behave
aggressively," Huesmann said.
Source: Journal of Adolescent Health
David Gutierrez
2 July 2008
http://www.naturalnews.com/023550.html
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Anxiety, shyness may be long-lasting traits
The brains of people who suffer from anxiety and severe shyness may respond more strongly to stress and show signs of being anxious even in situations considered safe by others, say researchers at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
They studied brain activity, anxious behavior and stress hormones in adolescent rhesus monkeys. Those with the most anxious temperaments showed higher activity in a part of the brain called the amygdala, which regulates emotion and triggers reactions to anxiety. The anxious monkeys had more activity in the amygdala in both secure and threatening situations, the study found. When the monkeys were tested again 18 months later, the results were the same.
"The brain machinery underlying the stress response seems to be always on in these individuals, even in situations that others perceive as safe and secure," Dr. Ned Kalin, chairman of the department of psychiatry and HealthEmotions Research Institute, said in a prepared statement.
It has long been known that children with an anxious temperament are at increased risk for developing anxiety disorders, depression and substance abuse. The findings indicate a brain mechanism that's present early in life predisposes people to anxious temperament, and that it's difficult for someone with this temperament to be calm because their brain is wired in a way that keeps them tense and anxious.
HealthDay News
4 July 2008
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/04/AR2008070401870.html
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Harsh school atmosphere may foster student smoking
Students at high schools that value caring and inclusiveness are significantly less likely to be smokers than their peers at schools placing a heavier emphasis on academics, Scottish researchers report.
Students' attitudes toward a school and the quality of student-teacher relationships also appeared to play a role in whether or not students chose to smoke cigarettes, especially for boys. "Schools can make a difference," Dr. Marion Henderson of the Medical Research Council Social and Public Health Sciences in Glasgow, who led the study, told Reuters Health. "It's worth schools trying to think about the social environments they're creating."
Current anti-smoking efforts at schools, which usually focus on individuals rather than the school environment, have done little to discourage smoking among teens, Henderson and her colleagues note in the journal BMC Public Health. They sought to investigate whether the quality of the school environment itself might be related to students' likelihood of picking up the habit by looking at 5,092 students at 24 high schools in Scotland.
Overall, 25 percent of males and 39 percent of females smoked. But smoking rates varied sharply from school to school, from a low of 8 percent to a high of 33 percent for male students. For girls, the percentage of smokers ranged from 28 percent to 49 percent. Even after the researchers accounted for factors associated with smoking such as a student's socioeconomic status, the amount of spending money he or she had, or whether a student lived with both parents, school-to-school differences in smoking rates remained.
Kids attending schools with worse student-teacher relationships as rated by students, teachers and the researchers themselves were more likely to be smokers. And when more students said they didn't like their school, the percentage of smokers in the student body also was higher. Both factors had a particularly strong influence on whether or not boys smoked. The researchers also found male students at affluent schools were more likely to be smokers if student-teacher relationships at the school were poor. "The affluent schools, particularly those with poor relationships, may be more likely than deprived schools to have an academic focus, perhaps at the cost of the social climate or health-related goals," the researchers suggest.
The findings in this study make it clear that it's not only individual factors such as deprivation that influence the likelihood a student will smoke. "Once you've leveled the playing field for these things, schools can make a difference (in) smoking just by being nicer social environments to be in," Henderson said in an interview.
Schools could build more positive environments by finding ways to make all students feel valued, even if they are not top academic achievers, the researcher said. This might include offering apprenticeships and practical training to those who aren't necessarily "university material," Henderson suggested. And making sure that teachers are people that the students respect and like could ensure that any health-related messages they offer won't be dismissed, she added.
SOURCE: BMC Public Health 2008.
Anne Harding
4 July 2008
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Study uncovers how Ritalin works in the brain
Stimulant drugs like Ritalin work by "fine-tuning" neuron activity in the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for filtering out distractions and helping people to focus on tasks, new research in rats suggests.
Little is known about how Ritalin and related drugs actually work, researchers point out in the journal Biological Psychiatry. To investigate, Dr. Craig Berridge of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his colleague David Devilbiss attached tiny electrodes to individual neurons in the brains of normal rats and watched how different doses of the drug affected neuron activity.
Small doses that, in previous experiments, were shown to enhance cognitive function, increased the responsiveness of individual neurons within the prefrontal cortex to signals coming from the hippocampus, a part of the brain that regulates memory and emotion. And when groups of neurons in the prefrontal cortex were working in well-organized networks, the small doses of Ritalin enhanced this activity, but suppressed the activity of less organized networks.
People without attention problems are increasingly using Ritalin to boost their cognitive function, Berridge noted, and his findings show why the drug is useful for this purpose, as well as effective in treating most children with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). "We drink coffee for the same reasons," he said. "Most of the world takes coffee to help stay focused on target, and these drugs are highly effective at that. If they were completely risk-free you would probably see a broader use."
However, Berridge noted, the drug does carry a risk of addiction. Understanding how it works could help in the development of less risky drugs for treating attention problems, he added.
SOURCE: Biological Psychiatry 2008.
Anne Harding
3 July 2008
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Minimum drinking age of 21 cuts road deaths
The number of U.S. teenagers involved in fatal drunk-driving accidents has declined because of laws that raised the legal drinking age to 21, according to a new study. Researchers found that two "core" drinking-age laws passed in all U.S. states in the 1980s were responsible for an 11 percent decrease in the number of drunk teenage drivers involved in fatal crashes. The two laws made it illegal for anyone younger than 21 to buy or possess alcohol.
The findings, the researchers say, suggest that calls for once again lowering the minimum drinking age in some states could end up reversing those gains.
In 1984, the U.S. passed a federal law that spurred all states to raise their minimum drinking age to 21. Studies since then have suggested that the move was having an effect on traffic deaths, but it was hard to disentangle the impact of the law from other factors -- like safer cars and tougher laws against drunk driving in general.
For the new study, researchers at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation in Calverton, Maryland, used federal data on state drinking laws, as well as information from a national surveillance system of fatal traffic accidents to help account for these other factors. This is the first time that a study has been able to tease out the effects of drinking-age laws from those of other important variables, according to study leader James C. Fell. "We believe that we controlled for just about everything you can control for that there was data on," Fell told Reuters Health.
He noted that there is a movement in some states to lower the minimum drinking age. According to the anti-drunk-driving organization MADD, eight states have introduced legislation on the matter this year. "Based not only on this research, but on past research as well ... I don't think that's a good idea," Fell said. He and his colleagues report their research in the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention.
Along with drinking-age laws, Fell's team found, state laws that leveled tougher punishment on teenagers with fake IDs also had an impact on teen drunk-driving deaths. Compared with states with the weakest fake-ID laws, those with the toughest -- an immediate suspension of a teenager's driving license -- had a 14 percent lower rate of fatal accidents involving drunk underage drivers. Such sanctions "send a message" to teenage drivers, Fell said. "Kids do not want to lose their license." According to Fell, states that simply confiscate fake IDs may be "passing up a significant opportunity to save lives."
SOURCE: Accident Analysis and Prevention, July 2008.
Amy Norton
1 July 2008
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