PURPOSE Although disaster exposure has been linked with increased child aggression by previous reports, population-level trends are unknown. Pre- to post-Katrina changes in violence-related behaviors among New Orleans high school youth (ages: 12-18 years) were assessed. METHODS Data from the 2003 (pre-Katrina), 2005 (pre-Katrina), and 2007 (post-Katrina) New Orleans Youth Risk Behavior Survey...

OBJECTIVES To identify interventions effective in preventing youth violent behavior and commonalities of effective and ineffective interventions. METHODS A systematic review of the literature on the effectiveness of youth violence interventions was conducted. Interventions were categorized according to the level of the intervention: primary (implemented universally to prevent the onset of vio...

By using a reason-for-test code, we compared positivity for female chlamydia and gonorrhea. At family planning clinics, there were no statistically significant differences in screening versus diagnostic positivity for either chlamydia or gonorrhea among women. However, at adolescent health clinics, diagnostic positivity was higher than screening positivity for chlamydia and gonorrhea.

This article analyzes the meanings attributed to practices that promote adolescent health by 47 professionals from the Family Health Program in Fortaleza in the State of Ceará. It is a qualitative study in which semi-structured interviews enabled the production of data, subsequently organized according to content analysis, resulting in the following core themes: promoting health associated with...

The teen court concept has gained popularity in recent years as juvenile courts have had to deal with increased numbers of serious, violent, and chronic juvenile offenders. Its acceptance has been fueled, in part, by positive anecdotal reports from those involved with this peer-centered approach. This Bulletin examines several teen court evaluations, but cautions that we lack the empirical data...

This study examined behaviors of African American male adolescents, resulting from father absence. It further examined the extent to which there is a relation between African American boys’ behavior and their status as sons of an absent father. Effects of father absence was approached by researching articles and journals comparing African American males raised in female headed household to Afri...

Professor Hersch argues that most state regulations aimed at fighting teen smoking have had little or no effect. She provides evidence that despite widespread age restrictions on purchasing tobacco, most teens do not consider it difficult for minors to purchase tobacco products within their community. She also presents evidence demonstrating a strong correlation between smoking rates and perc...

A complex process is often a balance between non-stationary and stationary components. We show how the non-extensive Tsallis q-entropy indicator may be interpreted as a measure of non-stationarity in time series. This is done by applying the non-extensive entropy formalism to the Diffusion Entropy Analysis (DEA). We apply the analysis to the study of the teen birth phenomenon. We find that the ...

Mechanisms that account for treatment effects are poorly understood. The current study examined processes that may underlie treatment outcomes of an attachment-based intervention (Connect) for parents of pre-teens and teens with serious behavior problems. Parents (N = 540) in a non-randomized trial reported on their teen's functioning prior to and following treatment. Results confirmed signific...

Results from a qualitative study with parents about underage drinking are presented. Semistructured interviews (n = 44) were conducted with parents of teens to investigate whether and why parents permit underage drinking. Parents had three primary reasons for allowing underage drinking: deliberate, spontaneous, and harm reduction. Deliberate reasons included passing on knowledge about drinking ...