Columnist Tells Teens: Don't Grow Up Too Quickly

Columnist Ouisa Davis has met a lot of teenage parents. Few of them expected or planned to take on that responsibility so early in life. And they struggle to adjust.

"They struggle with parenting as young adults. There are few ties to the other parent; they are anxious to move on with their lives but are stuck with the reality that their resources will not allow them to raise their children, attend school and pursue economically viable careers."[Source: El Paso (TX) Times]

Our sons and daughters need to be reminded that sexually transmitted diseases aren’t the only risks of early sexual activity.

Parents Ask Schools to Help Stop Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying has become so common that parents are approaching principals to do something about it, even if it happens outside school, according to a long report in the New York Times. The problem is that no one knows which authority is best to resolve these situations: schools, parents, or police.

Cyberbullying can take a variety of forms.

• Sometimes students will transmit nude or semi-nude pictures of a peer without that person's permission.
  
• Sometimes it can take the form of sending thousands of text messages to a person's cell phone, often making the victim pay hundreds of dollars in fees.
  
• Harassment can be ongoing in the form of streams of hurtful emails or instant messages.
  
• Some students have gone through the trouble of setting up websites aimed at just one student they choose as their victim of bullying.
  

Cyberbullying has been identified as a very real risk for all student (girls as well as boys).

British Researchers Identify Possible Cause of Early Puberty

A study of 3,000 girls in Great Britain found that those who ate more meat and protein at ages three and seven years old were more likely to menstruate by 12.5 years old.

This study, from the University of Brighton, found that half the girls who ate more than 12 portions of meat a week at age seven were menstruating by age 12, whereas only 35 percent of those who ate meat less than four times a week had achieved that milestone.

Dr. Imogen Rogers, who led this study, believes that this does not mean girls should adopt a vegetarian diet, because meat contains many important nutrients, such as zinc and iron.

"However, the results add to the evidence that is healthiest to avoid diets containing very high amounts of meat," Dr. Rogers said, in a report published in the journal Public Health Nutrition.

Previous research has indicated that childhood obesity may be a cause of early puberty.

Thin Girls Who Think They're Fat at Increased Risk of Eating Disorders

Some teenage girls are normal weight or underweight, but yet they think they are overweight. This is the group that should be screened for unsafe weight-loss behaviors, according to new research from the University of Illinois.

• Dr. Janet Liechty looked at the relationship between having a false body image and dieting behaviors, by going through medical records of more than 5,000 girls in the United States of normal or below average weights.
• Overestimating how much they weighed and how fat they were became predictors of extreme weight loss measures.
• Dr. Liechty's research also indicated that girls with false body images were three to 11 times likely to continue extreme dieting measures for one or more years.

"It doesn't just fade away or stop all of a sudden," she said. "That is why early detection of risk factors such as body image distortion, and prevention of unnecessary dieting and unsafe weight-loss methods, is the key to preempting unhealthy behaviors. We need to educate girls and their parents that fad diets, quick-fix promises, and extreme weight loss methods are a hoax. They do not work over the long-term, and they might do harm."

Dr. Liechty noted that teenage girls tend to be "all or nothing" in their approach to weight loss, and need parental support to find a sustainable, sensible long-term plan of healthy eating and exercise.

This study appeared in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

Media Portrayals of 'Bad Kids' not Consistent with Reality

The media attention most often given to teenagers is negative. Stories about substance abuse and teen bullying appear nearly every day. But these stories don’t accurately depict the average teenager.

The Barna Group recently took a survey of over five hundred random teenagers aged 13-17 to see what’s most important to them… The most common goal of teens today is to be an educated professional. Obtaining a college degree is the highest priority on their list. [Source: CBN]

Nearly 75 percent of the teenagers surveyed also said that a personal relationship with God was a priority.

Despite the near-constant media attention given to teenagers who use drugs, and exhibit violent behavior, they are a very small minority. Most of today’s teenagers are ambitious, goal-oriented and positive about their futures.

Source: CBN

Another Warning Against Teen Use of Tanning Salons

Indoor tanning beds are unsafe for teenagers, because they increase their risk of skin cancer by 4.4 times, according to a study from Siteman Cancer Center.

• Dr. Lynn Cornelius and her colleagues found that the risk of melanoma increases the longer people use tanning beds.
• The risk is greater among teenagers, most likely because they spent more time tanning or because they are biologically more vulnerable to UV rays.
  
• Dr. Cornelius recommends that tanning centers have warning labels, similar to the ones on packages of cigarettes.

This study appeared in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention.

Remind Your Children Again & Again: Online Postings Never Private

Cindy Goodman recently discovered her 12-year-old son’s Facebook page. She was shocked by the sexually provocative topics of some the groups he'd joined. She faces the same challenge as parents across the United States: how to keep kids safe online without invading their privacy.

Allyson Tomchin, a South Florida licensed psychologist and family mediator, recognizes the daunting task of monitoring social media and urges parents to open a dialogue with their kids about online habits.

She advocates teaching them to pause before texting, posting a video, or updating their status. "Tell them once you press send, it is no longer private." [Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

Rather than trying to do it all themselves, some parents go the "it takes a village" route and ask friends and family to step if they notice anything inappropriate or potentially harmful.

Overweight, Obese Girls More Likely to Engage in Risky Sex

Overweight girls are more likely to have sex at earlier ages and to engage in risky sexual behavior, according to a new study from Medical University of South Carolina.

• Dr. Margaret Villers and her colleagues analyzed data that had been collected from more than 21,000 teenage girls involved in the Youth Risk Behavior Survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
  
• Among obese girls, 15 percent had sex before age 13
• Among overweight girls, 11 percent had sex before age 13
• Among girls of normal weight 6 percent had sex before age 13

Obese and overweight girls were also less likely to use birth control or condoms, and more likely to have three or more partners before age 18 years old.

"We did not realize what a strong predictor body weight would be," said Dr. Villers. "Overweight girls develop sooner. They look like women sooner. That may be why they are more likely to be pressured by their boyfriends to have sex at younger ages."

Another possible explanation is that overweight and obese girls tend to have lower self-esteem than girls of average weight.

"It is harder to say no if you feel badly about yourself and if someone is validating you, saying 'you're attractive and I want to have sex with you,'" Dr. Villers explained.

Teen Girls Abuse Medications More Than Boys

Though adult men typically abuse medications more often than adult women do, in the world of teenagers, medication abusers are more likely to be girls.

"The medications abused include pain medications such as Vicodin or OxyContin, as well as stimulant medications used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. [Dr. Nora] Volkow says adolescent girls have almost a 60 percent to 70 percent higher rate of abuse of these substances than adolescent boys." [Source: iWireNews]

Those who abuse prescription medications often do so because they think these drugs are safer. However, the misuse of any substance (legal or illicit) can have dangerous and even deadly consequences.

Early Puberty Raises Risk of Depression, Substance Abuse

Much research has shown that girls who enter puberty early are more likely to be depressed, to engage in risky behaviors such as sex and teen substance abuse, and to have problems with legal authorities. Now a new study from Duke University found some of these outcomes do not persist into young adulthood.

• Professor William Copeland and his colleagues followed 630 girls from ages 9 to 21 years old.
• About 20 percent of the girls in the study matured early.
• By age 21 years, those who matured early were three times more likely to be depressed than were girls who matured at average ages.
• However, by age 21 years, the problems with risky behaviors had evened out.
• In other words, the early-maturing girls reduced their risky behaviors, while the girls who matured at average ages increased theirs.

Dr. Copeland said the study offered "good news all around." Although early maturers had a higher rate depression, he said, "most of these girls are doing just fine."

The study appeared in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Helping Your Teen Through a Jobless Summer

Adults aren't the only ones feeling the crunch of our economies downturn. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployment among teenagers is now at 25.4 percent. Teens are competing against older workers for the same jobs, and could be left jobless this summer.

What can parents do to support their teens through what may be a summer of
unemployment? ... "Parents can look at this situation with an eye to short- and
long-term goals and stay close to their priorities," Malcolm Gauld, president of
Hyde Schools said. …

Short term, it's only one summer. But long term, it's about
an attitude toward life and its challenges. [Source: San Marcos Daily
Record]

Parents can help their sons and daughters navigate a jobless summer by finding them mentors – people who can help them continue to learn and grow. The teens can also volunteer their time at a local human society, church or community center. Though they won’t be getting paid, they will get a sense of purpose.