Week of September 2, 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

  • Recess can reduce bullying and prepare kids to learn, research says
    When D.C. students discovered last week that recess had been cut to a minimum of 15 minutes per day, many parents launched an immediate protest. Others merely shrugged.  “Teachers should be teaching. Students should be learning,” wrote Steve Sweeney, a parent at Tyler Elementary on Captiol Hill, whose three daughters told him that recess was no more than a chunk of unstructured social time in the middle of the day.  But research released this spring showed that recess — when it’s well-organized — can make a real difference in schools, resulting in students who feel safer, bully less and are more ready to learn.
    Washington Post
    September 3, 2013

  • HPV Vaccination Rates Among Teens Still Lagging: CDC
    Doctors need to suggest it when recommending other vaccines for teens, researchers say
    Not enough teens are getting the vaccine that protects against the human papillomavirus (HPV), and doctors' reluctance to recommend it may be part of the reason why, U.S. health officials reported Thursday.
    WebMD
    August 29, 2013

  • REPORT: 20% of Boys Getting First Dose of HPV Vaccine
    Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
    September 3, 2012

  • Boys Have Higher Death Rates From Many Causes, Study Shows
    Males may be the more vulnerable sex when it comes dying young -- not just from accidents, but from a range of causes, a new study finds.
    HealthFinder.gov
    September 2, 2013

  • Facebook peer groups may be useful for HIV education among men who have sex with men
    Groups on the popular networking site Facebook may help educate men about HIV prevention and testing, a new study suggests. Researchers found that specially-created Facebook social media groups helped encourage men who have sex with men to reach out for information about testing themselves at home for HIV.
    Medline Plus
    September 2, 2013

  • Vt. report: Boys start psych problems before girls
    A new report out from the Vermont Department of Mental Health shows that emotional and behavioral problems often surface in boys at a younger age than in girls.
    Associated Press
    September 1, 2013

  • Alcohol Dominates in Pop Music Lyrics: Study
    Hit songs celebrate 'getting wasted,' with none of the downside, researchers say.
    Today's popular music often celebrates excessive drinking as a fun, beneficial pastime, even highlighting select booze brands in many lyrics, a new study finds
    HealthFinder.gov
    August 30, 2013

  • Caring for Adolescent Males: Mission Impossible?
    As part of a series titled "Transitions to Adult Care", the journal Pediatrics recently published an article on the topic of adolescent and young adult male health.[1]Recognizing that this population receives an insufficient amount of attention from the healthcare community, the objective of this comprehensive literature review was to examine key areas of young male health and well-being and provide a summary of best practices in young men's health. Medscape spoke with David L. Bell, MD, MPH, an adolescent medicine physician and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Population and Family Health at Columbia University, Medical Director of the Young Men's Clinic at Columbia, and lead author of the review, about the key findings in the article and the implications for clinicians.
    Medscape
    August 29, 2013

  • Daily Substance Use in US Teens Common
    new report released by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) shows on an average day almost 1 million of US teenagers aged 12 to 17 smoke cigarettes, about 650,000 smoke marijuana, and just under 500,000 consume alcohol.
    Medscape
    August 29, 2013

  • Healthy Kids: Recognizing mood disorders in children and adolescents
    The National Institute of Mental Health reports that approximately 20.9 million American adults, or 9.5 percent of the U.S. population age 18 and older, have a mood disorder.  Recently, what had been considered an “adult only” concern has become more common in the pediatric population.
    St Louis Post-Dispatch
    August 29, 2013

  • Study Slams Industry Self-Regulation and Kids' Marketing
    Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Charges Fast Feeders Ignored Their Pledges
    A new study funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation charges that fast-food companies have not adhered to the food industry's self-regulation guidelines when it comes to marketing to kids.
    Advertising Age
    August 28, 2013

  • Pa. court tackles issue of boys on girls' teams
    A state judge has declined to intervene in the growing issue of boys playing sports traditionally reserved for girls, saying a previous court ruling does not necessarily prohibit the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association from banning the practice.Co mmonwealth Court Judge Kevin Brobson on Tuesday turned down a request by the PIAA to modify a landmark 1975 state court ruling that required schools to let girls play on boys' teams.
    YDR.Com
    August 28, 2013

  • Half a Century Later: What Are the Economic Prospects for Young Black Men?
    On this 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom we pause and reflect on the significance of that moment, the courage of leadership, the resolve of the marchers - from all races and walks of life -- and the fervor in the collective call for promoting economic justice and ending poverty through unimpeded access to full employment and decent wages for all Americans.  
    CLASP
    August 28, 2013

  • Marijuana not harmless to adolescents
    The nature of the teenage brain makes the use of cannabis among this population particularly risky for developing addictive behaviours, according to researchers.
    Health 24
    August 27, 2013

  • U.S. Schools Show Progress in Healthy Behaviors, CDC Says
    Report highlights good news: better nutrition, more physical activity and tobacco bans
    Health Day
    August 26, 2013

International News

INDIA

  • Broken homes, poverty push juveniles to crime
    Broken homes, lack of parental affection and security, lack of family ties, besides divorce and separation of parents are contributory factors to delinquency of juveniles, reveals a sample study carried out by the Empowerment of Children and Human Rights Organisation (ECHO), a Centre for Juvenile Justice, Bangalore.
    The Hindu
    August 24, 2013

UK

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