http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. It's a common lament among parents: Kids are growing up too fast these days. Parents worry about their kids getting involved in all kinds of risky behavior, but they worry especially about their kids' forays into sexual relationships. And research suggests that there may be cause for concern, as timing of sexual development can have significant immediate consequences for adolescents' physical and mental health. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-true-age-sexual-romantic-outcomes.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 17 Oct 2012 13:07:56 EST news269697766 (Medical Xpress)—A new study by Yale School of Medicine researchers and their colleagues finds that adolescents commonly take more risks than younger children and adults because they are more willing to accept risks when consequences are unknown, rather than because they are attracted to danger, as often assumed. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-teens-dont-danger-consequences.html Psychology & Psychiatry Fri, 12 Oct 2012 08:35:40 EST news269249728 Testosterone is considered the male hormone, standing for aggression and posturing. Researchers around Prof. Dr. Armin Falk, an economist from the University of Bonn, have now been able to demonstrate that this sex hormone surprisingly also fosters social behavior. In play situations, subjects who had received testosterone clearly lied less frequently than individuals who had only received a placebo. The results have just been published in the Public Library of Science's journal PLoS ONE. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-testosterone-honesty-biological-background-lying.html Medical research Wed, 10 Oct 2012 17:00:27 EST news269106354 A new study led by researchers from the UCLA School of Nursing has found that nursing intervention can significantly decrease substance abuse among homeless youth. Published in the current issue of the American Journal on Addictions, the research also revealed that "art messaging" can have a positive effect on drug and alcohol abuse and other risky behaviors among this population. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-nurse-led-intervention-deters-substance-abuse.html Addiction Wed, 03 Oct 2012 13:20:03 EST news268489152 It is widely believed that adolescents engage in risky behaviors because of an innate tolerance for risks, but a study by researchers at New York University, Yale's School of Medicine, and Fordham University has found this is not the case. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-tolerance-ambiguity-adolescents-penchant-risky.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 01 Oct 2012 15:00:33 EST news268308714 (HealthDay)—Teens who "sext" sexually explicit texts or images are probably taking other sexual risks as well, with new research indicating these adolescents are seven times more likely to be sexually active and significantly more apt to be having unprotected sex. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-sexting-hand-in-hand-unprotected-sex-teens.html Pediatrics Mon, 17 Sep 2012 10:16:24 EST news267095757 Los Angeles, CA (September 4, 2012) While the effects of sexualized media on young women has long been debated, a new study finds that women who read sex-related magazine articles from popular women's magazines like Cosmopolitan are less likely to view premarital sex as a risky behavior. Additionally, the women who are exposed to these articles are more supportive of sexual behavior that both empowers women and prioritizes their own sexual pleasure. This study was published in a recent article from Psychology of Women Quarterly (published by SAGE). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-magazine-articles-jeopardize-empower-young.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 04 Sep 2012 11:32:13 EST news265977125 The content of alcohol ads placed in magazines is more likely to be in violation of industry guidelines if the ad appears in a magazine with sizable youth readership, according to a new study from the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, the study is the first to measure the relationship of problematic content to youth exposure, and the first to examine risky behaviors depicted in alcohol advertising in the past decade. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-alcohol-advertising-standards-violations-common.html Health Wed, 08 Aug 2012 12:49:48 EST news263648978 (Medical Xpress) -- For young adults today who were weaned on iPods and the Internet, the practice of "sexting," or sending sexually explicit photos or messages through phones, may be just another normal, healthy component of modern dating. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-sexting-dating-internet.html Health Tue, 24 Jul 2012 16:40:01 EST news262365878 Nearly a quarter of college women try smoking tobacco with a hookah, or water pipe, for the first time during their freshman year, according to new research from The Miriam Hospital's Center for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-hookah-increasingly-common-first-year-college.html Addiction Wed, 18 Jul 2012 12:16:32 EST news261832586 Intuitively it simply makes sense: exposure to sexual content in movies at an early age probably influences adolescents' sexual behavior. And yet, even though a great deal of research has shown that adolescents who watch more risky behaviors in popular movies, like drinking or smoking, are more likely to drink and smoke themselves, surprisingly little research has examined whether movies influence adolescents' sexual behaviors. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-exposure-sexual-content-popular-movies.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 17 Jul 2012 15:59:26 EST news261759559 A Rhode Island Hospital researcher has found that emergency department patients prefer technology-based interventions for high-risk behaviors such as alcohol use, unsafe sex and violence. ER patients said they would choose technology (ie text messaging, email, or Internet) over traditional intervention methods such as in-person or brochure-based behavioral interventions. The paper by Megan L. Ranney, M.D., is available now online in advance of print in the Annals of Emergency Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-emergency-patients-technology-based-interventions-behavioral.html Health Mon, 16 Jul 2012 13:07:12 EST news261662821 Today, nearly 4,000 adolescents in the United States will smoke their first cigarette, and about a fourth of those youth will become daily smokers, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports. A recent study by a University of Missouri researcher found that African-American youths who live in public housing communities are 2.3 times more likely to use tobacco than other African-American youths. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-tobacco-prevalent-african-american-adolescents-housing.html Addiction Tue, 10 Jul 2012 12:35:08 EST news261142501 Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have demonstrated in experimental models that blocking the Sigma-1 receptor, a cellular protein, reduced binge eating and caused binge eaters to eat more slowly. The research, which is published online in Neuropsychopharmacology, was led by Pietro Cottone, PhD, and Valentina Sabino, PhD, both assistant professors in the pharmacology and psychiatry departments at BUSM. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-role-cellular-protein-binge.html Neuroscience Wed, 20 Jun 2012 15:36:47 EST news259425400 (HealthDay) -- Young people who use tanning beds rationalize the risky behavior with statements like "everything causes cancer these days," a new study finds. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-indoor-tanners-rationalize-risky-behavior.html Health Wed, 20 Jun 2012 10:10:02 EST news259405390 While marijuana use by teens has been increasing since 2005, an analysis of data from 1993 through 2009 by economists at three universities has found no evidence to link the legalization of medical marijuana to increased use of the drug among high school students. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-evidence-medical-marijuana-teen-drug.html Addiction Mon, 18 Jun 2012 10:09:54 EST news259232968 People who survive cancer when they are teenagers or young adults are more likely than their peers who never had cancer to engage in risky behaviors like smoking later on, a US study said Monday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-health-woes-persist-young-cancer.html Cancer Mon, 11 Jun 2012 04:30:46 EST news258607558 Many young adults explore and define their sexual identity in college, but that process can be stressful and lead to risky behaviors. In a new study, students whose sexual self-definition didn't fall into exclusively heterosexual or homosexual categories tended to misuse alcohol more frequently than people who had a firmly defined sexual orientation for a particular gender, according to University of Missouri researchers. These findings could be used to improve support programs for sexual minorities. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-sexual-fluctuation-alcohol-misuse.html Addiction Wed, 06 Jun 2012 13:51:39 EST news258209493 The public health community has long struggled with how best to reduce HIV infection rates among black Americans, which is seven times that of whites. In a new paper in the journal PLoS ONE, a team of physicians and public health researchers report that African-American clergy say they are ready to join the fight against the disease by focusing on HIV testing, treatment, and social justice, a strategy that is compatible with religious teaching. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-clergy-hiv-faith-friendly-terms.html HIV & AIDS Wed, 16 May 2012 17:00:17 EST news256405835 Tattoos and body piercings have become so popular in western societies that many consider them fashion trends. While people acquire tattoos and piercings for different reasons, prior research has shown that individuals who do so are also more likely to engage in risky behaviors that include substance and alcohol use. This study was the first in France to find more alcohol per liter of exhaled breath in association with tattooing and body piercing. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-tattoos-piercings-linked.html Addiction Mon, 16 Apr 2012 16:00:01 EST news253810450 (HealthDay) -- In a new study, about 6 percent of eighth graders admitted they had participated in the "choking game," in which blood and oxygen to the brain are cut off with a rope or belt to produce a euphoric "high." http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-young-risk-takers-drawn-dangerous-game.html Health Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:26:08 EST news253790668 Police officers are always trying to control the misconduct of those who are on parole in order to control crime in the community, but what types of behaviors land them back in jail and what can law enforcement officials do about it? A recent article in the Journal of Correctional Health Care (JCHC), published by SAGE, discusses how to target the most common risky behaviors among specific groups of parolees in order to lower crime in the community. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-explores-decrease-risky-behavior-parolees.html Health Thu, 12 Apr 2012 12:04:42 EST news253451072 Anxiety, depression, stress and social support can predict early alcohol and illicit drug use in youth, according to a study from Carolyn McCarty, PhD, of Seattle Children's Research Institute, and researchers from the University of Washington and Seattle University. Middle school students from the sixth to the eighth grade who felt more emotional support from teachers reported a delay in alcohol and other illicit substance initiation. Those who reported higher levels of separation anxiety from their parents were also at decreased risk for early alcohol use. The study, "Emotional Health Predictors of Substance Use Initiation During Middle School," was published in advance online in Psychology of Addictive Behaviors. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-middle-school-teacher-lowers-early.html Addiction Wed, 21 Mar 2012 16:02:31 EST news251564539 Children in the U.S. whose activity choices, interests, and pretend play before age 11 fall outside those typically expressed by their biological sex face increased risk of being physically, psychologically, and sexually abused, and of suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by early adulthood, according to a new study led by researchers at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). It is the first study to use a population-based sample to look at gender nonconformity as a risk factor for abuse. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-children-elevated-abuse-future-ptsd.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 20 Feb 2012 04:50:01 EST news248934745 High-risk sexual behaviors and drug habits that can increase a person's likelihood of getting HIV/AIDS are on the decline in the United States, according to a government survey released Thursday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-risky-sex-drug-decline-survey.html Health Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:40:01 EST news246201340 Despite some assumptions to the contrary, young women who receive recommended vaccinations to prevent human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and associated cancers do not engage in more sexually risky behavior. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-hpv-vaccine-risky-sexual-behavior.html Health Tue, 13 Dec 2011 10:00:02 EST news242990086 (Medical Xpress) -- A new study has found that providing preventive services to adolescents in a primary care setting can lessen certain kinds of risky behavior. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-aims-adolescent-risky-behavior.html Health Thu, 08 Dec 2011 08:00:02 EST news242551648 College students talk about hooking up -- a lot. In fact, they talk about it much more than it actually happens, and they believe other students are having the encounters more often than they actually are, as a new study shows. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-college-hookups.html Health Wed, 14 Sep 2011 13:36:08 EST news235225792 Rwandan children who lived through the horrors of the 1994 genocide may suffer from psychological trauma that makes them more vulnerable to health problems, such as HIV infection. But a medical school study shows that with mental health support, these youth can reduce symptoms of trauma, avoid risky behaviors and lead healthier lives. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-health-orphans-rwandan-genocide.html HIV & AIDS Mon, 08 Aug 2011 10:18:29 EST news232015016 When faced with threat, people who grew up poor are more likely to make risky financial choices in search of a quick windfall, according to new research from the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-socioeconomic-status-child-dictates-response.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 06 Jul 2011 13:04:34 EST news229176246