Teen Boys and Healthcare

Men, particularly young adult men, access health care less often than females. A recent study about adolescent males and health care published in Pediatrics looked at different things that predict adolescent male health care. Data from the National Survey of Adolescent Males conducted between 1988 and 1991 was used to conclude that efforts to increase male adolescent's health care access should increase the number of teens with health insurance, modify masculine stereotypes, improve parental communication about health, and target teens at risk for health problems.

The study reported that more than half of the 15-19 year-old males were sexually active, and 20% of them had two or more risk behaviors, such as drinking, smoking, using cocaine, having been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection, or forcing someone else to have sex. Unfortunately, the teens with these risk factors were no more likely than teens without that risk to have had a physical exam within the last year.

I found it interesting that adolescent males who participated in this project and held traditional beliefs about what it means to "be a man," found it unmanly to see a doctor. The author' s suggestion that we work to modify masculine stereotypes is a good one, but I wonder if those stereotypes are as rigid today as they were when the data was collected.

The group of males who were the most likely to have had an examination were those who discussed sexual issues with their parents, and who had health insurance. We know that mothers communicate more about sex, and in this study communication with both parents was associated with more health care, but in males with traditional gender beliefs, talking to their fathers about reproductive health was particularly important.

Developing a pattern of regular preventive health care should be one of the habits learned by teens, and parents scan support that process by talking with teens, encouraging them to learn how to make appointments, and encouraging a relationship with their primary care provider that is positive and friendly.

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Labels: Boys, Health Care

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Grand Rounds 3.36: Thank You

I want to thank Colin Son at Medskool for hosting Grand Rounds 3.36 this week and including my post about why people have unprotected sex. This week really included a wide variety of information!

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Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Research

According to the NIMH Fact Sheet about PTSD, it is an anxiety disorder that some people develop after living through a traumatic event. Symptoms include:

• flashbacks or bad dreams;
• emotional numbness;
• intense guilt or worry;
• angry outbursts;
• feeling "on edge;" and
• avoiding thoughts or situations that remind them of the event.

These symptoms last more than one month and are treated with psychotherapy (talking to a therapist), medications, or a combination of the two.

If your teen has experienced a traumatic event and you think s/he may be experiencing PTSD, call your doctor and seek out counseling without delay.

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Labels: Mental Health

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Body Image, Self-Esteem, Gender and Race

Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have published a study suggesting that race and gender affect whether self-esteem in linked to body weight. Research has shown that teens who believe their body and their self are the same have lower self-esteem. Being able to separate body from self would enable medical professionals, parents, and educators to help teens feel good about themselves in spite of not having the culturally accepted "perfect" body.

The research was done with more than 1,000 7th and 8th graders who answered questions about their perceived attractiveness, self-esteem, depression, media use, physical health, ethnic identification, and sexuality. The authors found that most teens who reported high body satisfaction also reported high self-esteem, and white females were the most likely to have high self-esteem if they liked their bodies. This pattern held for other teens, although the link was not as strong, all except for black males, who did not seem to have to like their bodies to have high self-esteem. These young men still did not like it if they were overweight, but could have high self-esteem, separate from being overweight.

I would like to hypothesize that this is strongly associated to the images of black males seen by these youths. There may be more black male celebrities and musicians who are overweight than there are overweight female celebrities of any ethnic group. Bottom line - what our teens see in the media matters!

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Labels: Body Image

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LGBTQ harassment in Middle Schools

Wow! You know the world has changed when there are more than 500 gay-straight alliances existing in middle schools to protect teens against homophobia and bullying. Tolerance.org has an article by Carrie Kilman that was really interesting. Her article references the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) that collects data about the treatment of LGBTQ students in schools every two years.

The results from the 2005 survey suggest that 64% of middle school students report anti-gay bullying and name calling as major problems in their schools. Gay-straiaght alliances directly address this problem by creating safe spaces for LGBTQ youth and organizing campus wide events to increase tolerance for all marginalized groups and reduce anti-gay bullying. Two common vents are No Name Calling Week and the National Day of Silence.

Middle school has got to be the hardest time, socially, for most kids, and LGBTQ kids are always targets for bullies, so gay-straight alliances make perfect sense, but the fact that teens in 6th-8th grade are "out," is new, and suggests that our society, at least in some places, is becoming more tolerant, and that our teens at least are more comfortable talking about sexual orientation.

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Labels: Bullying, GLBT

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TV May Hurt Attention and Learning Skills

There is more research supporting my position that TV is rotting the brains of America's youth. Two recent studies suggest that time spent watching TV, which is not intellectually challenging, would be better spent interacting with others, reading, doing homework, engaged in a hobby, sport, or music practice. The health issues (e.g., obesity) associated with the inactivity of watching TV were not even addressed.

The first study, by Zimmerman, Christakis, & Meltzoff published in the May issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine reported that by 3 months of age about 40% of children regularly watch TV, DVDs, or videos, and by 24 months this proportion rose to 90%, with an average of about 1.5 hours a day watched. That viewing was associated with smaller vocabularies and was the most harmful before 30 months of age. When asked why their children were viewing TV, more than half of the parents reported they thought it was educational (29%) or entertaining (23%) for their children and 21% said they used it as a babysitter, to be able to get things done around the house.

A second study in the same journal, by Johnson, Cohen, Kasen, & Brook concluded that, in a longitudinal study, frequent television viewing during adolescence may have been associated with development of attention problems, learning difficulties, and negative long-term educational outcomes. Their article reported that frequent television viewing during adolescence was associated with elevated risk for subsequent attention and learning difficulties even after family characteristics and cognitive characteristics were taken into account.

Youths who watched three or more hours of television per day were the most likely to experience poor homework completion, negative attitudes toward school, poor grades, and long-term academic failure. In addition, youths who watched three or more hours of television per day were the least likely to receive any college education.

I know I have said it before, but I think early parenting classes and the educational community really need to educate people about the damaging effects of TV - our children deserve the best chance we can give them!

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Labels: TV

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Reasons for Unprotected Sexual Intercourse

The May issue of the journal Contraception includes an article about the reasons teens are participating in unprotected intercourse, which in the United States leads to the highest rates of sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancies of all industrialized nations.

Data collected from more than 7,800 women who reported unintended pregnancies between 2000 and 2002 were used to identify reasons given by young women for having had unprotected intercourse. The results suggest that we are not doing a very good job educating young people about reproduction and their health! Of these young women, the most common reason for having had unprotected intercourse was that they had not thought about protection before the intercourse, and were therefore not prepared to protect themselves. In addition, 33% thought they could not get pregnant at the time of the intercourse, and 10% thought their partner was sterile.

I think the scariest thing was that although all of these young women were not planning on getting pregnant, 30% of them said that at the time, it would have been OK, and they would not have minded, if they were to get pregnant. This "whatever," devil-may-care attitude suggests that these young women had no goals, plans, or motivation to do something with their lives! I think it was Marian Wright Edelman who said "The best contraception is a future," and these young women seem to exemplify that reality.

These results suggest that for many young women, avoiding sexually transmitted infections, including HIV and unintended pregnancy is not even on their priority list. I suggests that parents, teachers and medical professionals need to be doing something else to help these young women set conscious goals for their futures.

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Labels: Pregnancy

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Cyber Chores

A national study about family online behavior from Stars for Kidz recently reported that since parents are busy and use computers more at home, but lack the expertise their kids have, a new chore for children may be helping parents with online activities. The 8-14 year-olds report spending about three hours a day online, but half say their parents decide how much time is acceptable.

The report is called "Surfin' on Mom's Turf: Cyber Chillin' with 8-14 Year-Olds," and surveyed over 6,000 kids about chores and Internet use. nearly half of the 8-to-14 year-olds reported that their parents needed their skills on the Internet and 29% reported helping online because mom just did not have enough time. Some of the tasks kids are helping with included comparison shopping, online banking, tax preparation, and travel planning. The reported cyber chores for 8-14 year-olds included sharing pictures and emails with relatives (38%); checking movie listings (38%); party planning (36%); vacation & travel planning (36%); driving directions (35%), and tax preparation (14%).

This kind of report gives a whole new wrinkle to chores and family responsibility. It was a nice thought for me that families are working together on many of these activities, with kids having skills and responsibilities that are valued and important to the family. If families are sharing this Internet time, it is also likely that computers are in public areas and parents are talking with the youth about Internet safety.

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Labels: Parenting

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Link Between Oral Cancer and HPV

An article in the New England of Medicine reported last week that having had 26 or more lifetime sexual partners, or six or more oral sex partners was significantly associated with oropharyngeal cancer, which is significantly associated with being infected with oral HPV type 16 (HPV-16). In addition, infrequent use of condoms and early age of first intercourse were also associated with HPV-16-positive oropharyngeal cancer.

The study was conducted at Johns Hopkins between 2000 and 2005 and included biological specimens as well as an audio, computer-assisted self-administered interview from 200 patients. The results suggest that oral sex without a condom may put teens at risk for sexually transmitted HPV-16, as well as HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.


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Labels: HPV, Research

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Could 1 in 4 Women be Infected with HPV?

In case you are still struggling with the question of whether or not to have your teen daughters vaccinated against HPV, there was another report that may encourage you to make the first (of three) appointments. A February article in USA Today reported that one in four U.S. women ages 14 to 59 is infected with HPV, the sexually transmitted virus associated with cervical cancer. The highest prevalence is in women ages 20 to 24, which includes the age range that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends should receive the new HPV vaccine, Gardasil.

The study they cite was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) which was conducted in 2003-2004 with 1,921 women. The results suggest that the highest risk group for HPV is young, sexually active women.

Previous related posts: New Hampshire & HPV; New HPV Vaccine
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Labels: HPV

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Teens and Mothers

To celebrate Mother's Day I thought it would be a great idea to involve my teens and asked them to help me create a post that would celebrate teens and moms!

The 15-year old produced the following poem she wrote for the post:



Mother
By Madison Brown-Moffitt

A gentle hand
A warm caress
A warm embrace
You feel safe when
Her arms around
You wrap and with
A kiss you fall
Asleep within
That warmth of love.

One day you leave
That same embrace
And leave those arms,
Never forget
She who has loved
You through and through,
Unwavering,
Your mother dear.

The 12-year old said, "no way - Mother's Day only happens because moms want to be worshipped an extra day each year," which stopped my warm, fuzzy, sentimental thoughts completely. And then I found some poems I had written for the girls when they were young, that I thought I would share with all of you - to remind us that we loved our teens more than life itself - at least when they were little - and every day we need to thank them for the experiences we've shared! They will all come around! Happy Mother's Day Everyone!

For Madison when she was five months old
9-4-92

We’ve kissed your eyes that they
Might twinkle forever.
We’ve whistled on your fingertips
That they may be musical.

We’ve massaged you gently
That you may walk
Softly on the earth,
We’ve sang you lullabies that you
Will dream peacefully.

What is left is to give you
The power in yourself –
The knowledge that you
Can, and will, be who
You choose to be.
I love you.

9-4-92

I opened an oyster one day and a small, beautiful fairy with nappy purple hair jumped out onto the beach I sat on and said, “Gee thanks,- I thought that dang oyster was gonna try and make me a pearl. To give up my nappy purple hair and look like every other pearl wouldn’t be no fun.” “You are welcome,” I said, and went about my business - the fairy did likewise.

1998 – for my darling daughters

We spend our days in so many happy little ways
Kisses and hugs, sleep from your eyes, everyone up to
Wash, if you please.
Momma, breakfast is done, we are ready for fun.
Can we be butterflies?

Butterfly wings and pixie dust, fly, fly, fly,
If you must.
Momma, Momma, do come quick, we found
Berries, ready to pick.
Rice, broccoli and maybe some peas
We’ll save the berries until later for tea.
Snuggle up and rest now, a book to read
Imagination is all we’ll need.
Dragons, castles, royalty, witches & wizards march
Through our dreams.

Snacks to be prepared,
A walk in the forest, a splash in the creek,
A quick little game of hide-and-don’t seek.
Mommies home – big hugs and a squeeze.
Oh mommy, we saw bugs, bees and peas, and big
Yellow flowers that made the baby sneeze.

Good night children. I love you both,
In so many happy little ways.

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Labels: Holidays

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Supreme Court Restricts Women's Reproductive Freedom

I cannot believe that our nation's highest court has permitted itself to be a tool of the anti-choice movement instead of preserving a woman's constitutionally protected right to make childbearing choices in consultation with medical care providers.

On April 18 in a 5-4 decision the Supreme Court upheld a federal abortion ban enacted by Congress and signed by President GW Bush in 2003. The law, titled the "Partial Birth Abortion Act," criminalizes abortions in the second trimester of pregnancy, even if the abortion would be safe and protect a woman's health.

The decision reverses every federal court that has reviewed the law up to date, all of which had struck down the law because of its failure to protect the woman's health. The decision April 18, 2007 represents a serious erosion of the precedent supporting a woman's right to bodily autonomy and choice articulated by the court in 1973 in Woe v. Wade. The Justices in the majority opinion were Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia, and both new Bush conservative appointees, Samuel Alito and John Roberts.

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Labels: Abortion

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Grand Rounds 3.33: Thank You

I want to thank TBTAM at The Blog that Ate Manhattan for hosting Grand Rounds 3.33 this week and including my post about Cybersex. This week was really interesting!

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Emergency Contraception Survey

Want to participate in an online survey about emergency contraception? Heather Munro Prescott, PhD at Central Connecticut State University would like to hear about your experiences with emergency contraception. If you participate, any and all personal information obtained from you will be confidential. You can also agree to participate in an additional interview if you are over 18 years old.

Previous Posts: Plan B Available to Teens One Way or the Other, Plan B for Teens

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Embracing Healthy Skin

For the last 25 years we have known that ultraviolet irradiation can lead to skin cancer not to mention wrinkles, but tanned skin still remains a beauty image promoted by fashion magazines, advertisements and celebrities. Having a tan is still associated with not just beauty, but leisure and upper-class privilege - beaches, tennis, yachts and spa time.

But the chic method of getting a tan seems to have changed. With laying in the sun and tanning beds deemed risky, the fashion and beauty industries are now promoting the idea of a "sunless" tan to be had using chemicals and products that give a person a beautiful glow without the risks. Self-tanners, bronzers, and "glow" lotions are now all the rage.

Without the skin cancer risk associated with the sun, maybe, but how safe can these self-tanning products that trigger a chemical reaction, causing a brownish stain to form on the outer layer of skin, actually be? Why is it that we cannot just embrace healthy skin as beautiful? As long as tanned skin is still seen as the gold-standard of beauty, teens will continue to strive for it, whether it is chemical, or irradiated, and I would bet that teens using these products are also still using tanning booths and sun bathing in search of the perfect tan.

I wish more celebrities would embrace pale, healthy skin so we could change the social norm about skin to embrace "healthy" not tan.

Previous posts: Skin Cancer: A fair trade for beautiful skin?
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Labels: Tanning

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GLBT Movies to Share With Your Teens

The social construction of sexuality in our country has mostly ignored the reality of gay and lesbian adolescents. Until into the 70’s the psychiatric profession regarded homosexuality as an illness, and well into the 80’s, gay youth were treated as if they were a distinct category from “normal” and almost a separate species.

In the 80’s and 90’s gay adolescents were characterized with a “suffering suicidal” script and the social expectation was that they could expect injustice and discrimination.

The early 2000’s have opened up the possibility that gay adolescents might include resilient, proud and adaptive individuals. In the future, I am hoping that “gay” adolescence will not exist and that same-sex-attracted individuals will be found to be quite ordinary, neither better or worse off than other adolescents.

Talking about GLBT issues can be hard for parents, but it is an important conversation to have, so your teens know they can talk with you about anything they ar thinking about. Below are movies with GLBT themes that you may want to watch with your teens - as a way to open up conversation about GLBT issues in your home. Have fun!

• In & Out (1997)
• But I’m a Cheerleader (1999)
• Hedwig & the Angry Inch (2001)
• Better than Chocolate (2002)
• Treading Water (2002)
• My Life on Ice (2002)
• Saved! (2003)
• The Trip (2003)
• Inescapable (2004)
• Mysterious Skin (2004)
• Saving Face (2004)
• Brokeback Mountain (2005)
• Transamerica (2005)
• Breakfast on Pluto (2005)
• Kinky Boots (2006)

Links to previous posts: Gay Teens, Gay Teen Suicide Risk
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Labels: GLBT, Sexuality

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Cybering - Scary or Safe?

Cybersex, computer sex, or Internet sex describes a shared sexual experience between two people (or more) connected via the Internet. I guess this is the next generation of phone sex. This experience, sort of like a fantasy, can be verbal, visual, or written, and include pictures, webcams, the use of avatars, or actual masturbation while participating. These experiences could be within intimate relationships, like lovers separated geographically, or with strangers within chat rooms or via instant messaging.

The safer part is there is no sharing of body fluids, and no disease or pregnancy risk. I suppose we should actually consider this is as alternative to early sexual participation given the only risk is getting attached emotionally to a stranger, but I have trouble imagining that I could encourage emotionally detached sexual expression for teens.

The scary part is that the participants are sharing very sexually explicit words, images, and in some cases vivid fantasies and role-playing situations that may be "beyond their years." The use of web cams also may give a sexual predator clues about identity.

Another great reason to keep computers in public spaces!

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Labels: Media, Sexuality

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Grand Rounds 3.32: Thank You

I want to thank My Three Shrinks at Shrink Rap for hosting Grand Rounds 3.32 this week and including my post about how to help teens deal with the tragedy at Virginia Tech. This week was really creative!

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Labels: Grand Rounds

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