Week of August 5, 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

  • Obesity, a Fledgling Disease, Needs Physician Support
    If physicians don't start having serious dialogues with their overweight patients, the American Medical Association's recent classification of obesity as a disease won't mean much at all.
    Health Leaders Media
    August 1, 2012

  • Many teens have permanent ringing in the ears
    One in five high schoolers has permanent ringing in the ears, and few take measures to protect their ears from loud music, according to a new study.
    Medline Plus
    August 1, 2013

  • Bullied Kids More Likely to Commit Crimes As Adults
    In the new research, scientists found that about 14 percent of those who reported suffering repeated bullying through their childhood and teenage years — up to 18 years of age — wound up serving time in prison as adults. In comparison, 6 percent of people who did not experience bullying ended up in prison.
    Live Science
    August 1, 2013

  • One in three US youths report being victims of dating violence
    About one in three American youths age 14-20 say they've been of victims of dating violence and almost one in three acknowledge they've committed violence toward a date, according to new research presented at the American Psychological Association's 121st Annual Convention.
    Medical Express
    July 31, 2013

  • Adolescent boys who are hurt in just two physical fights suffer a loss in intelligence quotient roughly equal to missing an entire year of school
    High school athletes sustain an estimated 140,000 to 300,000 concussions a year, with football players making up about half of the injuries. But two recent studies suggest that while sports may be the leading cause of concussions, they're not the only sources of bumps, blows and jolts to the still-maturing brains of older teens, and they may be more common than has been thought.
    23ABC News
    July 31, 2013

  • Teens help tackle concussions by Testing New Technology
    Mindful Scientific has developed proprietary technology — the Halifax Consciousness Scanner — that helps diagnose concussions and other abnormal consciousness conditions by measuring electrical activity in the brain.
    Chronicle Herald
    July 31, 2013

  • Recent death of 'Glee' star raises addiction awareness issues
    People don’t grow out of a drug abuse problem, cautions Jonathan Phillips, a certified substance abuse counselor with Preferred Family Health Care in St. Joseph. Addiction isn’t a phase. "It’s a progressive illness that only gets worse with time," Mr. Phillips says. "It doesn’t go away without treatment and constant application of support, such as meetings and family support from home."
    St. Louis Today
    July 30, 2013

  • How Many Extra Calories Add Up to Obesity for Kids?
    Study finds overweight children consume more excess calories daily than previously thought
    Overweight kids may be consuming far more calories than their doctors or parents realize, a new study suggests.
    The study, which is published in the July 30 online issue of The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, updates the mathematical model doctors use to calculate the daily calorie needs of children and adolescents.
    Health Day
    July 30, 2013

  • Reflections on the road to Yale and Harvard
    A First-Generation Student Striving to Inspire Black Youth
    "Postsecondary administrators and pundits wonder why smart students from low-income families are not applying to top institutions. For one, said students may not know what is required to apply to an Ivy League school. Had I not done my own research, I would not have known I had to take SAT subject tests. Also, it was important that the schools let me know I had a chance of getting in."
    New York Times
    July 30, 2013

  • We want to empower & raise up our girls, but what about our boys?
    "As much as I work to teach my daughter to be strong, empowered, and confident, I teach my son that it's important to be himself — and he just so happens to be kind, compassionate, and empathetic. Gender stereotypes are very real for girls and boys. There are a lot of big reasons we shouldn't expect our kids to conform, and instead we should expect them to just be themselves."
    Upworthy
    July 29, 2013

  • Obese Kids' Intake Much Higher Than Thought, Model Shows
    A new mathematical model calculates, with unprecedented accuracy, the caloric excess that produces childhood obesity and the changes in energy balance necessary to achieve a healthier weight.
    Medscape
    July 29, 2013

  • College Football Players May Be At Risk of High Blood Pressure
    College football players, particularly burly linemen, may develop high blood pressure in just one season of play, new research suggests.The study of 113 freshmen on Harvard's football team found that while none had high blood pressure at season's start, 14 percent did by season's end. All of the affected players were linemen.
    Medline Plus
    July 29, 2013

  • Boys' Video Game 'Addiction' More Likely With Autism, ADHD
    Boys with autism or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder are more at risk of addictive video game use than typically developing boys, according to new research.
    Everyday Health
    July 29, 2013

  • Congress Urged to Expand Opportunities for African-American Boys
    Martin, with three other experts and advocates, testified yesterday at a hearing by the Congressional Caucus on Black Men and Boys, on the status of America's black youth and men, and the efforts needed from politicians and community members to help provide more opportunities for black youth and men and improve their outcomes in society.
    Education Week
    July 25, 2013

  • Feds: Transgender teen may use boys' locker room
    The U.S. Justice and Education departments said Wednesday that a transgender California student who is anatomically female but lives life as a male must be able to use school bathrooms, locker rooms and other facilities designed for boys.
    Politico
    July 24, 2013

  • Kids 'hearing voices' may be at high suicide risk
    Among teens in a new study from Ireland, those who reported hearing voices were at greatly elevated risk of attempting suicide within the year compared to their peers with or without mental disorders who did not experience voices. Considered a symptom of psychosis, hearing voices was linked to a nearly 70-fold higher likelihood of a suicide attempt over the course of a year in the study of 13-to-16 year olds. That could make the symptom a valuable early-warning sign for parents to act on, according to the study's authors.
    Medline Plus
    July 23, 2013

  • Racial Tensions in Higher Ed
    The study, released today and published in Communication Education, a journal of the National Communication Association, sought to examine the experiences of a small sample of African-American students on campuses that had experienced open racial tensions between black and white students.
    Inside Higher Education
    July 18, 2013

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The Boys Initiative is a groundbreaking national nonprofit campaign to shed light on documented trends in recent years pertaining to boys' underachievement and young men's failure to launch. For more information about The Boys Initiative, visit www.theboysinitiative.org.