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

• Is your child a budding psychopath? Now there's a way to find out
  BRAIN scans can be used to identify children who may grow up to be psychopaths, scientists have discovered.
  A study compared 37 boys with serious conduct problems, including causing harm to others, dishonesty, general aggression and other antisocial traits, with a control group of 18 boys who had no such behavioural issues. 
  The Australian
  May 3, 2013

• Should children have best friends?
  A head teacher of a leading primary school has said young children should not have best friends because it could leave others feeling ostracised and hurt. But are people programmed to have best friends?
  BBC
  May 3, 2013

• The Confidence Responses
  Many men wrote to say that the real crisis these days is male underconfidence. Here’s a law student from Chicago: “I firmly believe one of the unintended consequences of the feminist revolution has been that men in my generation are raised without a strong self-identity, and, in essence, grow up to be little more than boys looking for mothers.”
  New York Times
  May 2, 2013

• Brain Differences Seen in Kids With Conduct Problems
  Specifically, they reacted less to images of people in pain during study
  The brains of children with conduct problems don't react in a normal way when they see images of other people in pain, a new study finds. Conduct problems include antisocial behaviors such as cruelty to others, physical aggression and a lack of empathy (callousness).
  Medline Plus
  May 2, 2013

• Younger Men Biggest Consumers of Added Sugars: CDC
  Released Wednesday, data from the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that from 2005 to 2010, older adults with higher incomes tended to consume less added sugar -- defined as sweeteners added to processed and prepared foods -- than younger people.
  Medline Plus
  May 1, 2013

• Many U.S. Teens Struggle With Extreme Fatigue: Survey
  Extreme fatigue is common in U.S. teens and often goes untreated, a new study finds. Researchers surveyed more than 10,000 teens, aged 13 to 18, and found that 3 percent reported having extreme fatigue that had lasted at least three months and was not relieved by rest. Half of the teens with extreme fatigue also had depression or an anxiety disorder.
  Healthfinder.gov
  May 1, 2013

• School Programs Do Keep Some Kids From Smoking
  Smoking prevention programs in schools do work, reducing the number of children and teens who later become smokers, a large new review found. Investigators analyzed data from 134 studies that included a total of more than 428,000 participants, aged 5 to 18, in 25 countries.
  Healthfinder.gov
  April 30, 2013

Opinion

• Basketball’s Gay Paragon
  That’s the integrated way that things should be, the unremarkable way a person’s sexual orientation ought to be lived and perceived. And that’s precisely what Collins and his fellow trailblazers are trying to move us toward: not a constant discussion of the rightful place and treatment of L.G.B.T. people in America, but an America in which the discussion is no longer necessary. 
  New York Times
  April 30, 2013

• Dear Mr. President, Our Nation’s Boys Need Your Attention
  Mark Sherman, a big fan of President Obama, asks him to call the nation’s attention to the problems facing boys and young men.
  The Good Men Project
  April 29, 2013

• Jason Collins, By Declaring He's Gay, Has Given Boys A New Male Sports Image
  We don’t know that a high school, college or pro athlete is going to feel more comfortable now in coming out, and will cite Collins for paving the way. I suspect, though, in 20 years, when hopefully it’s not a big deal to watch a gay third baseman or a gay quarterback, we’ll look back on Collins’ announcement as when things really changed.
  Forbes.com
  April 29, 2013

• For boys only
  Scouts cling to a discredited past
  The Boy Scouts of America’s new proposal to allow gay boys to join up and take a seat around the campfire would have been full cause for celebration if the organization had also extended a welcoming hand to openly gay adult leaders. 
  Salt Lake Tribune
  April 28, 2013

International News

NEW ZEALAND

• Hamas teaches boys to fire guns
  Palestinian schoolboys are learning how to fire Kalashnikovs, throw grenades and plant improvised explosive devices as part of a programme run by Hamas' Education Ministry.
  New Zealand Herald
  April 30, 2013

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