Week of April 8, 2013

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

  • Women and men perform the same in math
    Girls and boys earn similar grades in math and science, but Asian-American students of both genders outperform all others, U.S. researchers say.
    UPI.com
    April 7, 2013

  • Meriden program teaches life lessons to teen boys
    Since September, a handful of young boys willingly woke up every Saturday morning for life lessons and education. They were given breakfast as well as social and fitness time. It was on these Saturday mornings the young boys matured. They learned to value education and their community, and developed a positive self image.
    Boston.com
    April 6, 2013

  • Mental Health Care Lacking for Kids, Advocates Say
    Many American adults who work and volunteer with young people believe that children and teens have limited or no access to mental health care, a new survey finds.
    Healthfinder.gov
    April 5, 2013

  • The Horrible Youth Labor Market
    Looking past the plight of young Americans with college degrees in this economy, the picture is much worse. 
    American Prospect
    April 5, 2013

  • College Sports Could Raise Players' Risk for Depression, Study Finds
    Current college athletes are twice as likely to be depressed as former athletes, researchers have found.The findings suggest the need for further research to learn more about depression among college athletes, the Georgetown University investigators said.
    Healthfinder.gov
    April 5, 2013

  • Fewer U.S. Teens Dying in Teen-Driver Crashes
    The number of teen driver-related fatalities has dropped by almost half in the last six years, and the number of teen passengers killed in crashes involving teen drivers fell 30 percent in the United States from 2008 to 2011, a new national safety study reported Thursday.
    Medline Plus
    April 4, 2013

  • Asian-American Male Students Outpace Other Groups in Math and Science
    Asian-American students outperform other racial or ethnic groups in math and science courses, according to a new study of 367 10th grade students in the Philadelphia area.
    Voice of America
    April 4, 2013

  • Gaza girls and boys must study apart
    Starting with the new school year in September, Gaza boys and girls in middle and high school will be breaking the law if they study side by side. Gaza's Islamic militant Hamas rulers argue that new legislation, mandating gender separation in schools from age 9, enshrines common practice.
    Philly.com
    April 3, 2013

  • Rutgers Scandal: Calm Down, Coaches
    But the same study found that: “Male high school athletes in particular report higher levels of alcohol consumption, drunk driving, sexist and homophobic social attitudes, gender related violent activity, and same sex violence (fighting).”
    New York Times
    April 3, 2013

  • SNL's April 6 Take on the Rutgers Controversy (VIDEO)
    Huffington Post
    April 7, 2013

  • Gynecomastia affects mental, emotional health in adolescent males, study finds
    Persistent breast enlargement (gynecomastia) negatively affects self-esteem and other areas of mental and emotional health in adolescent males, reports the April issue ofPlastic and Reconstructive Surgery�, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).
    Medical Net
    April 3, 2013

  • Preschoolers with early onset puberty suffer, research shows
    CHILDREN with early onset puberty start suffering emotional and social issues from preschool age, several years before the first physical indications are visible, a major Australian research project shows.
    The study, which followed almost 3500 children from the age of four through to 11, found boys with an onset of puberty by eight to nine years had greater behavioural difficulties and poorer emotional and social adjustment from four to five years of age.
    news.com.au
    April 3, 2013

  • Diagnosis: Human
    In another age, David might have been called “rambunctious.” His battery was a little too large for his body. And so he would leap over the couch, spring to reach the ceiling and show an exuberance for life that came in brilliant microbursts. As a 21-year-old college senior, he was found on the floor of his room, dead from a fatal mix of alcohol and drugs. The date was Oct. 18, 2011.
    New York Times
    April 2, 2013
    When teen dating turns dangerous

  • The scars from abusive teen dating relationships can last into adulthood
    It may be the last thing that parents talk to their children about, though it might be one of the most important: A teenager’s romantic relationship.
    Boston Globe
    April 1, 2013

  • Consensual Sex Typically Doesn't Begin Before Teen Years, Study Finds
    It's rare for children in the United States aged 10 to 12 to be sexually active, especially on a voluntary basis, a new study finds. However, almost one in five teens has had sex before age 15, and 16,000 girls under 15 get pregnant each year.
    Medline Plus
    April 1, 2013

  • Boys and Body Image: Four Affirming Messages From Parents
    Teenage boys, like teenage girls, worry about their appearance. Unfortunately, businesses with products to sell have become aware of this over the last several decades, providing a whole new set of insecurities, fears and desires that can be targeted by marketers. So, now parents face the same need to help their sons develop a healthy body image that parents of daughters have been struggling with for decades (or is that centuries). 
    Huffington Post
    April 1, 2013

  • Head in the game: Changing concussion culture in minor hockey
    “We’ve made great progress, and we have to keep pushing along that route,” he says. “But we’re working to change behaviours in parents who send their kids back too soon, or coaches struggling to identify when kids are actually hurt. There’s a lot of education we have to keep imparting.”
    Dalhouse University News
    April 1, 2013

  • AHA: Fewer than 1% of U.S. youth has ideal diet score
    A snapshot of cardiovascular health in today’s youth bears no good news for their adult years or the future of the country’s public health, unless there are immediate and sweeping social and cultural changes, according to the American Heart Association.
    Family Practice News
    April 1, 2013

  • Parent-Focused Classes May Help Tots at Risk for ADHD
    Parent behavior training is an effective and well-studied intervention for preschoolers at risk of developing attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a new review shows.
    Healthfinder.gov
    April 1, 2013

  • A.D.H.D. Seen in 11% of U.S. Children as Diagnoses Rise
    Nearly one in five high school age boys in the United States and 11 percent of school-age children over all have received a medical diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, according to new data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
    New York Times
    March 31, 2013

  • The Child, the Tablet and the Developing Mind
    A report published last week by the Millennium Cohort Study, a long-term study group in Britain that has been following 19,000 children born in 2000 and 2001, found that those who watched more than three hours of television, videos or DVDs a day had a higher chance of conduct problems, emotional symptoms and relationship problems by the time they were 7 than children who did not. 
    New York Times
    March 31, 2013

  • Crisis Hotlines Turning To Text To Reach Teens
    DoSomething.org, an organization that encourages activism among young adults, gets plenty of text messages asking for help, but it isn't a hotline. So the nonprofit's CEO, Nancy Lublin, is leading an effort to establish an around-the-clock text number across trigger issues for teens in the hope that it will become their emergency line, perhaps reaching those who wouldn't otherwise seek help using more established methods of telephone talking or computer-based chat.
    NPR, March 29, 2013

  • New Web Site Strengthens Black Male Achievement Field
    Foundation Center and Open Society Foundations Launch BMAfunders.org
    The Foundation Center and the Open Society Foundations have launched the web portal BMAfunders.org to facilitate engagement, collaboration, and strategic decision making among funders, nonprofits, and policymakers working to promote positive outcomes for black men and boys in America. The site is supported by the Campaign for Black Male Achievement, in which the Open Society Foundations has invested $50 million over the past five years.
    Foundation Center, March 28, 2013

  • Regular Family Meals Improve Teenage Mental Health
    Regular family meals can greatly improve mental health among teenagers, regardless of whether they feel comfortable talking to their parents, according to new research published in the Journal of Adolescent Health
    Medical News Today
    March 25, 2013

  • E-Games Boost Physical Activity in Children; Might Be A Weapon in the Battle Against Obesity
    Video games have been blamed for contributing to the epidemic of childhood obesity in the United States. But a new study by researchers at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services (SPHHS) suggests that certain blood-pumping video games can actually boost energy expenditures among inner city children, a group that is at high risk for unhealthy weight gain.
    The George Washington University
    January 2013

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