Week of January 13, 2014

The Roundup contains information about all of the latest news, commentary, reports, surveys, issue briefs, charts, and fact sheets related to boys' issues collected by our staff during the preceding week.

News Clips

  • Suicide rate among young male vets spikes: VA
    There has been a sharp increase in the suicide rate among the youngest U.S. male veterans, and a smaller but still significant jump among women who served in the military, the Department of Veterans Affairs said Thursday.
    CBS News
    January 10, 2014

  • Oye! Relationships: Boys Will Be Boys (or However We Make Them)
    Divorce, spousal abuse, child abuse, crime, violence, violence against women, the list goes on and on. Then there is the list of depression, drug abuse, and suicide. What's going on? Bad seeds? The bad apple of the bunch? Or is there a bigger picture problem, a systemic lack of proper guidance in our society? 
    Oye Times
    January 10, 2014

  • Sad Truths about Teen Suicide
    Teen deaths for any reason are tragic losses of life and potential.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one in five teenagers in the U.S. seriously considers suicide annually, and approximately 1,700 die by suicide each year.  Both the CDC and the National Mental Health Association (NMHA) point out that suicide rates for teens have tripled since 1960 -- making it the third leading cause of adolescent death and the second cause among college students.  Yet, according to the American Psychological Association, teen suicide is preventable, and they identify possible warning signs.  They also note that more than 90 percent of suicide deaths are from mental illness and substance-abuse disorders.
    American Thinker
    January 9, 2013

  • Violence in communities: Examine what it means to be a "real" boy or man in society
    If you're concerned about issues of bullying, school shootings, rampage killings, day-to-day gun violence and sexual assault, scholars who study gender, violence and larger cultural patterns urge us to examine these issues through the lens of gender. 
    Michigan State University
    January 9, 2014

  • Kids Believe The World Is More Separated By Gender
    A new study conducted at Michigan State University revealed that kids believe the world is far more segregated by gender than it actually is.
    Counsel & Heal
    January 9, 2014

  • Teenagers who drink have more friends: study
    Middle and high school students who drink alcohol are often the same ones winning the popularity contests, new research suggests. Previous studies have found friend groups can influence choices about alcohol, but haven't looked at the possible social payoffs of drinking.
    Baltimore Sun
    January 8, 2014

  • National Youth Health Fitness Survey:  Only 1 In 4 Tweens Meets U.S. Guidelines
    Only 1 in 4 U.S. kids aged 12 to 15 meet the recommendations � an hour or more of moderate to vigorous activity every day.
    Huffington Post
    January 8, 2014

  • Raising real men: If you want smart boys
    It is much more socially acceptable for a girl to "be smart" than it is for a boy.
    Deseret News
    January 8, 2014

  • Study supports need for more control over prescribed drugs for youths
    Teens who are prescribed pain relievers, such as Vicodin and OxyContin, are at "notable risk" for abusing opioid drugs, says a University of Michigan researcher.
    The Almagest
    January 7, 2014

  • Addressing Comorbid ADHD, Substance Abuse Disorder in Adolescents
    The rate of ADHD is 6 percent to 9 percent in children; and 3 percent to 4 percent in adults. If we look at the clinical samples, over half of the adults with ADHD will have a SUD. If we reverse this and began our study observing people with addiction, we will see that 25 percent of people with a substance addiction will have ADHD.
    Psychiatric News
    January 7, 2014

  • Higher education data on college degrees for the Class of 2012 confirm a huge and persistent gender degree gap
    The Department of Education recently provided an advance release of some of its "2013 Digest of Education Statistics," including data on degrees conferred for the Class of 2012, here's what those data show: 1. For the seventh year in a row starting with the Class of 2006, women in 2012 earned more college degrees than men at every level.  Milestone: For the first time ever, women in 2012 earned more than one million bachelor's degrees (1,025,729). In contrast, men earned only 765,317 bachelor's degrees in 2012
    AEI
    January 6, 2014.

  • Greater Health Spending Helps Men More Than Women, Study Finds
    And in terms of efficiency, U.S. ranks 22 out of 27 countries
    Increased health spending in developed countries tends to benefit men more than women, a new study finds. Researchers analyzed data from 27 developed nations to determine the efficiency of health care spending, and found that men had greater gains in life expectancy than women in nearly every country.
    Medline Plus
    January 3, 2014

International News

AUSTRALIA

  • Steroid use soars among young men
    Steroids have become the drug of choice for people who start injecting illicit substances, eclipsing methamphetamines and heroin in popularity among young men.
    Sydney Morning Herald
    January 10, 2014

CANADA

  • Research sheds light on eating disorders in young men
    Eating disorders are commonly associated with women, but recent research is shedding light on young men's struggles with anorexia, overeating and other disorders.
    Dr. Skevoulla Xinaris, a psychologist with Lakeridge Health's eating disorders program in Oshawa, Ont., told CTV News that she's seeing more young men at the clinic who have severe eating disorders, including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge-eating.
    CTV News
    January 5, 2014

INDIA

  • Adolescent Health Programme Launched
    To address the health needs of the 243 million adolescents, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad on Tuesday launched the Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK). Azad said that the programme will bring in several new healthcare dimensions, which he listed as mental health, nutrition, substance abuse, gender-based violence and non-communicable diseases. He said so far the efforts have been partial, confined to sexual and reproductive health, that too at select government facilities.
    Indian Express
    January 9, 2014

NEW ZEALAND

  • Mostly boys taking up computer-type studies
    Twice as many boys are studying computer-related subjects in Southland schools as girls, with industry professionals placing the blame on schools.
    Southland Times
    January 9, 2014

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