Sleepiness Raises Risk of Teen Car Accidents

Another report on teens and driving indicates that parents are right to worry when their children are behind the wheel.

In the middle of February, a report by the insurance company Allstate noted a rise in risky driving practices by female teen drivers, parents of young drivers.

Now, a study of Italian high school students found that they were twice as likely to have an automobile crash when they were sleepy or sleep deprived.

• Researchers at the University of Bologna studied 339 students and found that most of them slept about seven hours a night instead of the recommended nine.
  
• 64 percent said they were often sleepy during the day, and 19 percent reported sleep problems.
  
• Eighty of the students had been in at least one automobile crash.
  
• Dr. Fabio Cirignotta, lead author of the study, said that commonly used measures such as opening the car window, listening to the radio, or drinking coffee are useless, and the only safe thing for a drowsy driver to do is to pull over and nap for 10 to 15 minutes.

"Poor sleep quality , together with sleepiness at the wheel, significantly increases the risk of car crashes in the population," the authors wrote in a report published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.

First Lady Joins Fight Against Childhood Obesity

First Lady Michelle Obama has taken up the challenge of childhood obesity, telling the press, "It won't be easy and it won't be quick. But make no mistake, this problem can be solved."

About one in three American children is either overweight or obese. Obese girls are at increased risk for a number of conditions and problems, including asthma, type 2 diabetes, early onset puberty, and sleep apnea.

• The First Lady plans to promote healthier foods in school lunch cafeterias and vending machines, and increase the hours children spend in physical activity during recess and physical education classes.
  
• She and others will try to improve food labeling and ask restaurants to post calorie counts and other nutritional information on their menus.
  
• Other initiatives include more medical screening and counseling for obese children.
  
• She will be promoting farmer's markets and setting up a website with tips for parents.

"That's the legacy I want," Mrs. Obama said. "I want to leave behind something that we can say, because of this time that this person spent here --this thing has changed."

Girls Gaining on Boys in Risky Driving Practices

From athletic competitions to male-dominated academic areas such as science and engineering, recent decades have seen girls and young women make significant inroads into areas that were once thought to be "males only."

But when it comes to catching up to the boys, the news isn’t all good.

According to a Feb. 17 article by Julie Wernau of Tribune Newspapers, evidence indicates that female teens are gaining on their male counterparts in at least one worrisome category: unsafe driving practices:

The Allstate Foundation, part of insurance giant Allstate Corp., says in a newly released "State of Teen Driving Report" that teenage girls admit to speeding, texting and acting aggressively behind the wheel more often than their male counterparts.

The trend hasn't translated into females becoming as big a risk behind the wheel as males, according to insurers. But if the trend continues, that could result in higher insurance rates down the road. ...

The overall risk factor for girls is rising as evidenced by insurance rates. Twenty years ago, it cost twice as much to insure a male teen driver as a female, said Thomas DeFalco, an actuary at the New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance Co. Today, young men pay between 20 percent and 30 percent more than young women.

"We've seen the difference between young men and young women getting smaller," DeFalco said. "There is still a gap, but it's getting smaller all the time."

Insufficient Morning light Can Ruin Teenagers' Sleep Patterns

The average teenager gets less than nine hours of sleep a night, and lack of sleep has been linked to a range of problems, including automobile crashes, poor academic performance, and adolescent depression.

According to a small but significant study from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, teenagers need short wavelength light in order to set their biological clocks for proper sleep.

• Dr. Mariana Figueiro and her colleagues had 11 eighth graders wear orange goggles that block short wavelength light but not other wavelengths necessary to see.
  
• Students who wore the goggles, experienced up to a half-hour delay in a surge of a hormone called melatonin that induces sleep.

The study's results indicate that if a teen leaves for school when it's dark, spends most of the day in a room without windows, and comes home after sunset, she may have trouble getting to sleep because she is not exposed to enough sunlight.

"There is a biologically based shift in the natural sleep onset and wake-up time," said Dr. Judith Owens, a professor of pediatrics at Brown University. "This study shows you can impact that shift with light manipulation. The major take-home message is to get natural light exposure early in the day."

The study appears in the journal Neuroendocrinology Letters.

Study Says School Sports Offer Education, Employment Benefits to Girls

A new study indicates that girls who play sports in high school and college may be more likely than non-athletes to do better in school and on the job.

Dr. Betsy Stevenson and her colleagues from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania wanted to determine effect of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 that required schools and colleges receiving federal money to provide the same opportunities in sports for girls as they did for boys.

• In the first six years after the law was passed, the percentage of girls participating in team sports went from 4 to 25 percent.
  
• Today, about 33 percent of high school girls play sports, compared to 50 percent of boys.
• Dr. Stevenson's research indicates that effect of the Title IX legislation could explain about 20 percent of the increase in women's education and 40 percent of the rise in employment for women ages 25 to 34 years old.
  

"It's not just that the people who are going to do well in life play sports, but that sports help people do better in life," she said.

Oral Cancers Increasing Among Teens, Young Adults

Dentists and dental hygienist are seeing more cases of oral cancer and cancers of the neck and throat among young people.

The cause of these cancers is human papillomavirus (HPV), which is transmitted by oral sex.

• About 35,400 people are diagnosed every year with oral cancer, according to an article in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
  
• The rate for people under 40 doubled between the years 1973 to 2004, and 39 percent of those cases were related to the HPV virus.
  
• Some of the treatments for mouth, throat, and neck cancers can be painful, disfiguring, and can adversely affect the sense of taste.
  
• One problem is that the majority of people are diagnosed late, so the survival rate is only 59 percent. Throat cancer can feel like a simple but long-lasting sore throat.

The number one risk factor for oral cancer is having a high number of sexual partners. One study from Johns Hopkins University found that people who had five or more partners had an 250 percent increased risk for throat cancer.

Dentists can screen patients for oral cancer, but very small lesions can be missed by the naked eye, and require special techniques to be detected.

Fewer Teens Getting Drivers' Licenses

More U.S. teenagers are waiting to get their driver's licenses, according to new federal data. Only 31 percent of eligible 16-year-olds in 2008 became drivers, compared to 45 percent in 1988.

Experts theorize that there are several reasons for the decline:

• Teenagers are connected to one another online and by cell phones and have less need to drive to their friends' houses to meet.
• New laws are restricting teenagers' nighttime driving and the number of passengers they can have a car, as well as requiring parents to spend time teaching them.
• Some of these laws require as many as 60 hours of behind-the-wheel practice, and many teens do not have time for that.
• Automobile insurance rates for teenagers keep rising.

Some experts believe that parents should nevertheless encourage their 16-year-olds to drive.

"Learning to drive is a fundamental part of adolescence," said psychologist Joseph Allen of the University of Virginia. "It gives teens a major responsibility they have to handle, and it also gives them the chance to move about on their own, and to function independently of their families. ... Parents are scared to death about their teens driving, but they won't grow up if we just lock them in a room to keep them safe."

Study Cites Benefits of Encouraging Abstinence

A new study indicates that abstinence classes may be an effective way of encouraging young boys and girls to delay sex.

• Researchers studied 662 African-American students in the sixth and seventh grades in Philadelphia, dividing them into five groups.
  
• One group participated in an eight-hour program that encouraged them to "wait until they were ready."
• The second group got an eight-hour lesson on safe sex.
• The the third and fourth groups underwent either an eight-hour or twelve-hour program that incorporated both ideas
• The fifth group got an eight-hour lesson on healthy lifestyles.
• The average age of participants at the start of the study was 12.2 years, and 53 percent were girls.

Two years later, the researchers discovered that 33.5 percent of the members of the "abstinence" group had lost their virginity, compared to over 40 percent in the fourth and fifth groups, 47 percent in the health education only group, and 52 percent in the safe sex group

This study appeared in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.

Physical Harassment, Cyberbullying Linked to Teen Girl's Suicide

A 15-year-old high school freshman in a Massachusetts high school killed herself after allegedly being bullied repeatedly in person and online.

A Jan. 24 article by Kevin Cullen, a columnist with the Boston Globe, provided the following information about the death of Phoebe Prince:

Kids can be mean, but the Mean Girls took it to another level, according to students and parents. They followed Phoebe around, calling her a slut. When they wanted to be more specific, they called her an Irish slut.

The name-calling, the stalking, the intimidation was relentless.

Ten days ago, Phoebe was walking home from school when one of the Mean Girls drove by in a car. An insult and an energy drink can came flying out the car window in Phoebe’s direction.

Phoebe kept walking, past the abuse, past the can, past the white picket fence, into her house. Then she walked into a closet and hanged herself. Her 12-year-old sister found her.

You would think this would give the bullies who hounded Phoebe some pause. Instead, they went on Facebook and mocked her in death.

Parents at South Hadley High School are now organizing efforts to address cyberbullying and other forms of harassment among students.

What to Do if You Suspect Your Daughter of Using Drugs

Maybe you've found empty pill bottles, seen suspicious residue on a spoon, or noticed an unusual odor in the hallway. Whatever the reason, you suspect your daughter might be experimenting with drugs.

What do you do now?

In a Feb. 6 article by Frank Schultz of gazettextra.com, Carrie Kulinski, the coordinator of drug programs for the Janesville (Wisc.) School District, offered the following four-step plan for addressing the issue:

• Step 1: Get educated
• Step 2: Talk to your kids.
• Step 3: Set clear rules.
• Step 4: If you have uncovered a drug or drinking problem, contact a school counselor or drug-counseling professional.

"The most important thing is for you to take action," Kulinski told Schultz. "Look for community resources such as a counseling agency that can conduct an adolescent alcohol and drug assessment."

Daughters of Obese Moms at Increased Risk for Weight Problems

A study from Great Britain found that daughters of obese mothers are ten times more likely to be overweight than are daughters of normal weight mothers. The research team from Plymouth University blamed "overfeeding" and "under-exercising," and not genetics, as factors that cause overweight in children.

"A picture is emerging from this study to suggest that weight gain trajectories are set early in life perhaps very early, by some behavioral sympathy between obese parents and their same-sex offspring," according to Professor Terry Wilkin, a co-author of the study.

"Physical inactivity does not lead to obesity," according to the research team, "but obesity leads to inactivity, suggesting that the primary cause of childhood obesity is over nutrition."

The British government has spent more than $3.2 billion trying to stop childhood obesity by encouraging sports, better food in schools, and playground equipment. The new study concluded that these interventions will have little impact on childhood obesity.

Have You Talked to Your Daughter about the Dangers of Sexting?

An estimated 30 percent of 14- to 24-year-olds have participated in sexting – the sending or receiving of sexually explicit text messages. Talking to your kids about the risks involved in sexting is important, but awkward.

In an article that was distributed by the Saint Louis Medical Center, pediatrician Dr. Marilyn Maxwell offered the following five tips to parents who are concerned that their teens may become involved in sexting:

1. Educate yourself about the technology available to your child.
2. Before giving your children a cellular phone or access to the Internet, talk to them about appropriate use, what messages are OK and what to do if they receive inappropriate messages.
3. Talk to your children about bullying.
4. Keep the conversation going.
5. Get to know your children’s friends and their parents.

Experts Debate Sex Ed Options in Wake of Rising Teen Pregnancy Rates

New statistics showing a rise in the teen pregnancy and abortion rates have created a controversy about how best to teach children and teenagers about sex.

Teen birth rates and pregnancy rates have dropped 30 to 35 percent since the early 1990s. However, during the most recent year that statistics are available, the rates showed a slight increase.

Representatives from the Guttmacher Institute, which presented the new statistics, and Planned Parenthood claim that abstinence-only teaching programs are to blame for the increased rates. These experts argue that teen pregnancy rates were declining until the early 2000s, when sex education classes began promoting abstinence instead of teaching contraception.

"After more than a decade of progress, the reversal is deeply troubling," said Heather Boonstra, senior policy associate from Guttmacher. "It coincides with an increase in rigid abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, which received funding boosts under the Bush administration."

Valerie Huber, director of the National Abstinence Education Association, said the problem was more complex than that.

"Using their logic," she said, "75 percent of the problems should be because of failed contraceptive sex education. Abstinence education has about 25 percent of the nation's students receiving that approach."