Addiction to drugs, alcohol and tobacco are the most common mental health problems in teenagers, a new government report concludes. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most commonly diagnosed problem overall in youth ages 3 to 17, NBC News reports.
The findings, from a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), found almost 7 percent of children under 18 are diagnosed with ADHD, while 3.5 percent have behavioral problems and 1.1 percent have autism.
An estimated one million teenagers abuse drugs or alcohol, and more than 695,000 are addicted to tobacco, the CDC found. The agency found during 2010-2011, a total of 4.2 percent of teens were dependent on or abused alcohol in the past year. An estimated 4.7 percent of teens had an illicit drug use disorder in the past year.
Full story of teen addictions at DrugFree.org
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Beedie Savage – President of Quantum Units Education
High school students who acknowledge texting while driving are more likely to engage in other risky behaviors, such as riding with a driver who has been drinking alcohol; not wearing a seat belt; or drinking and driving themselves, according to a new study.
“This suggests there is a subgroup of students who may place themselves, their passengers and others on the road at elevated risk for a crash-related injury or fatality by engaging in multiple risky MV (motor vehicle) behaviors,” wrote the authors of the study, published Monday in the journal Pediatrics.
The study
Researchers analyzed data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2011 national Youth Risk Behavior Survey, which asked high school students whether they had texted while driving in the 30 days previous. Nearly half of the 8,505 students aged 16 or older who answered that question reported doing so. The survey also queried participants on behaviors such as wearing a seat belt or riding in a car with a driver who had been drinking.
Full story of teens taking risks at CNN Health
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Beedie Savage – President of Quantum Units Education
The company you keep in junior high school may have more influence on your smoking behavior than your high school friends, according to newly published research from the University of Southern California (USC).
The study, which appears in the April 12 issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health, identifies how friends’ and parental influence on cigarette smoking changes from junior high to high school.
The research indicates that intervention targets to counteract friends’ influence may have more of an effect in junior high than in high school, and that parents remain influential on smoking behavior through high school, indicating another possible intervention target, the researchers said.
“Based on social developmental model research, we thought friends would have more influence on cigarette use during high school than junior high school,” said first author Yue Liao, M.P.H., Ph.D., a student in the department of preventive medicine’s Institute for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research (IPR) at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. “But what we found was friends have greater influence during junior high school than high school. We think the reason may be that friends’ cigarette use behavior may have a stronger influence on youth who start smoking at a younger age. During high school, cigarette use might represent the maintenance of behavior rather than a result of peer influence.”
Full story of smoking influences at Science Daily
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Beedie Savage – President of Quantum Units Education
That cigarette may be doing more damage than meets the eye. If you’ve been smoking for an extended period of time, you’re likely familiar with at least some – if not all – of the bodily symptoms associated with smoking, including but certainly not limited to: Cravings, coughing, shortness of breath and changes to teeth, hair and skin. Coronary heart disease and/or lung cancer might not be far behind.
But a new study published in the journal Age & Ageing concludes that smoking can damage your mind, too. A consistent association was observed between smoking and lower cognitive functioning, including memory.
The bottom line: Smoking and long-term high blood pressure appear to increase the risk of cognitive decline.
How researchers did it
Researchers at Kings College London set out to explore the association between cardiovascular and stroke risk and cognitive decline in adults over the age of 50. Working with a nationally representative sample of nearly 9,000 participants, the study’s authors analyzed data on smoking, blood pressure, cholesterol levels and body mass index (BMI).
Full story of smoking health at CNN Health
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Beedie Savage – President of Quantum Units Education
A federal judge has ordered tobacco companies to pay for corrective statements that disclose the dangers of smoking, the Associated Press reports. Judge Gladys Kessler, of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, said the corrective ads must state that a federal court has concluded the companies “deliberately deceived the American public about the health effects of smoking.” The ads must also state that smoking causes the death on average of 1,200 people a day.
In 2006, Judge Kessler ruled that Big Tobacco firms engaged in racketeering, and were likely to do so again in the future. She ordered tobacco companies to stop using terms like “light” and “low tar” to market cigarettes. She said she wanted the tobacco industry to pay for print and broadcast ads, but did not say what corrective statements must be included in them.
Tuesday’s ruling is the first time she stated what the ads will say, the article notes.
In July, a federal appeals court upheld Judge Kessler’s order that requires tobacco manufacturers to run the corrective ads. The manufacturers hoped the court would overturn her order on the grounds it had been superseded by the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which gave the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate the content, marketing and sale of tobacco products.
Full story of orders on the tobacco companies at DrugFree.org
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Beedie Savage – President of Quantum Units Education
Addiction to drugs, alcohol and tobacco are the most common mental health problems in teenagers, a new government report concludes. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most commonly diagnosed problem overall in youth ages 3 to 17, NBC News reports.
