Youth in the News
Volume 2, Number 18, November 16-30, 2007
Contents
State Watch
Research
Government
STATE WATCH
- In Arizona, a community organization helps students set up gay-straight organizations at their schools.
- Wyoming's Youth Risk Behavior Survey shows that students overall are engaging in positive behaviors but a large percentage of Hispanic and Latino students are engaging in risky behaviors.
- Boston launches a pilot project that allows police officers to search homes for guns in a young people's possession without a search warrant.
- Organizations in Santa Barbara provide services to homeless youth.
- A community organization speaks to students in Virginia about suicide and how they can help.
RESEARCH
- A study finds that immigrant youth in North Carolina are at higher risk of teen pregnancies, gang affiliation, and dropping out of school.
- A study suggests that violent video games teach youth to be aggressive.
- New research shows an increase in eating disorders among teen boys.
- Researchers are studying the disproportionate number of STDs among Native Americans and Alaska Natives.
- American teens engage in sexual activities at higher rates than European youth.
- SAMSHA reports that youth who have recently dealt with depression are at higher risk of initiating smoking, alcohol or drug use.
GOVERNMENT
- New York Assemblyman Daniel O'Donnell was honored for sponsoring anti-bullying legislation that would protect GLBT youth.
- Texas' Youth Commission grapples with policies on pepper spray use in youth detention facilities.
- Ohio legislator Representative John White introduces two pieces of legislation that focuses on juvenile reentry from the correctional system.
- In California, two groups are suing over a new law that protects LGBT youth from harassment in schools.
- Congress is considering several options to address the rise of college tuition.
ARTICLES
ARIZONA
Project targets anti-gay violence and homophobia
November 22, 2007
By Levi J. Long, azstarnet.com
David Leimsieder is driven by the knowledge that somewhere in Tucson, a gay, lesbian or transgender teen feels unsafe because of who he or she is.
"I know there are students out there who are worried about being hazed or beaten at school," said Leimsieder, 21, a 2005 graduate of Catalina High Magnet School who relates to that wrenching feeling.
To counter that knots-in-your-stomach feeling and to give more students a better sense of community, Leimsieder started the Imagine Project during his senior year. Formerly called the Association of Allied Gay-Straight Alliances, it helps students around the state set up gay-straight organizations at their schools.
Its goals are to fight homophobia and anti-gay violence while empowering students to continue in school.
"We wanted to create a base for students to create their own support system," said Leimsieder, the nonprofit's volunteer director. "It was important for them to know they don't have to be alone."
In 2002, there were about 15 gay-straight alliance clubs at Tucson-area schools. Today there are 30, according to Leimsieder.
Clubs that offer support to gay students are vital, said Courtney Jones, the coordinator for Wingspan's Eon Youth Lounge, a Downtown community center for gay youths ages 13 to 23.
"Anytime a young person feels connected with a community of peers, they'll have a better environment to learn and grow in," she said.
To set a better tone in schools, Leimsieder and Imagine Project volunteers wrote a 30-page resource guide for gay-straight alliances at middle and high schools.
It includes a guide to activism and information about student rights, advocacy groups and youth services. There's also a section on how to use state tax credits to fund GSA groups at local schools.
The second edition of the guide will be released Jan. 1, and plans are in the works to release a similar guide for schools in Maricopa County and a state-wide edition in 2009.
When the Imagine Project got started, there weren't a lot of places for students to get information, said Leimsieder.
"We want to get them through high school and get them empowered and get them to where they want to go to succeed," he said.
Leimsieder, who came out to his parents when he was 15, said the gay-straight alliance group at Catalina helped him feel stronger and more confident.
"David has grown into a leader through different programs and through his advocacy for LGBT youth in Tucson," said Jones, who has known Leimsieder for several years. "He's becoming a sustainable adult and that's very impressive. I'm excited to see where he's going."
Leimsieder, who lives on the East Side and often hits the trails for hiking or bike riding, is a student at Pima Community College who also teaches part time and serves on numerous school and community committees.
He plans to earn a degree in education and also has an eye on politics.
"I can't be that person who simply sits by and watches," he said.
WYOMING
Survey: More activity, less smoking in youth
By Jasa Santos, jacksonholestartrib.com
Wyoming students are increasingly engaging in positive behaviors, according to a state survey released Tuesday.
The Wyoming Department of Education's 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Survey showed that an overwhelming number of high school students chose to drive sober and that a majority of middle school students were actively participating on one or more sports teams.
Students in sixth through 12th grade voluntarily took the survey during the last spring semester.
More than 2,200 high school students and 2,800 middle school students took part in last year's survey, which was conducted at more than 45 Wyoming public middle and high schools.
The survey provides data in six categories contributing to unintentional injury and violence, tobacco use, alcohol and other drug use, teen pregnancy, unhealthy dietary behaviors and physical inactivity.
"It's a huge, complex effort," said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jim McBride.
Highlights included a continuing decrease in the number of students who smoke, and that more than 60 percent of middle schoolers are active for at least 60 minutes on five of seven days.
Nearly 77 percent of middle-school students said they had never had a serious thought about killing themselves. In 2003, the state Department of Health reported that Wyoming had the second-highest rate of suicide for youth aged 10-19.
But the survey also revealed that Hispanic and Latino students are engaging in risky behaviors in greater numbers than Caucasian students. This was the first year the survey included a breakout for Hispanic and Latino students.
Almost 18 percent of Hispanic and Latino high school students surveyed said they had carried some sort of weapon, such as a gun, knife or club, on school grounds. Around 10 percent of Caucasian students had done so.
More than 40 percent of Hispanic high-schoolers fought one or more times in a 12-month span, compared to almost 27 percent of Caucasian students.
And 36 percent of Hispanic students said they had felt so sad and hopeless that they'd stopped doing usual actives, while almost a quarter said they'd made a plan for suicide.
Conversely, 76.8 percent of middle schoolers as a whole said they had never had a serious thought about killing themselves.
In middle schools, 33 percent of Hispanic students said they'd smoked a whole cigarette before they were 13, compared to almost 17 percent of Caucasian students. Almost 50 percent of Hispanic students had drunk alcohol, while around 17 percent of Caucasian students had.
"We have been shocked at some of the results," said project analyst Nathaniel Castellanos.
Castellanos added that the percentages reported by Hispanic students often mirror data collected on American Indian students.
McBride noted that the Department of Education is continually looking for ways to improve, and that high-achieving school districts are often the ones with students who aren't engaging in unhealthy behavior.
The statewide Safe and Drug Free School Program doles out $1.3 million each year to help school districts teach their students healthy and positive behaviors, said state health and safety unit director Gerry Maass.
"That is the primary prevention tool in Wyoming," Maass said.
Maass said the education department has a number of partnerships with other organizations to help keep students safe and healthy. From programs geared toward at-risk students, to a toll-free number students or parents can call with concerns, students can look almost anywhere to get help.
"There's quite a few efforts," Maass said.
Complete results from the state's 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Survey are available on the Department of Education's Web site. Log on to www.k12.wy.us and look under the heading 'New Information' to find the survey.
BOSTON
A Welcome Mat for Gun Searches
November 26, 2007
By Steven Gray, time.com
In the coming weeks, Boston police will begin asking parents in several impoverished, high-crime neighborhoods to allow searches of their homes — without the need for warrants. The surprising reaction: many parents and community leaders are all for it. And that is making for an intriguing civil liberties debate.
Under the experimental program, dubbed "Safe Homes," teams of police officers assigned to Boston's public schools will hunt for leads on youths believed to have guns. Tips might come from neighbors, or even parents or guardians, who are often fearful of their own children. Three plainclothes officers and a clergyperson or community activist will show up at the youth's home. The officers will ask parents to sign a form allowing the search of the home, including the child's room. Weapons found in the child's possession will be seized, and no charges will be filed unless the weapon is linked to a violent crime. "This is an interaction between human beings, where common sense will prevail," Edward Davis, Boston's police commissioner, told TIME.
It is a risky endeavor for Davis. He was tapped to lead Boston's 2,200-officer force in October 2006 after having spent a dozen years as police superintendent in Lowell, Mass., a city with roughly one-sixth Boston's population. Davis arrived in Boston as the number of homicides and shootings were falling. However, a string of high-profile youth shootings gripped the city. The tipping point for Davis was last summer's fatal shooting of Liquarry Jefferson, just eight years old, by a seven-year-old cousin. "Every time I go to the scene of a crime and see a young kid who's been shot, it causes you to reflect on what you're doing, and search for best practices to test," Davis says.
In recent weeks, Davis rallied support for the program among several community leaders. Some of Davis' staunchest supporters have been black leaders, particularly ministers, who are desperate for anything that will quell youth violence. "There's a cry from the parents and neighborhoods to do whatever it takes to reduce this gun violence," says Emmett Folgert, executive director of the Boston Youth Collaborative, in the city's Dorchester neighborhood. Folgert says he supports the experiment with mixed feelings. Much of its success, he says, "relies on the integrity of individual police officers and their leaders, and so far, they've proven themselves to be trustworthy in the eyes of the community."
The American Civil Liberties Union swiftly assailed the program and announced plans to issue leaflets in several neighborhoods to inform residents about the potential ramifications of allowing police officers to search their homes. Jorge Martinez, executive director of Project Right Inc., a social service organization in the Dorchester neighborhood, asked the police department to require a defense attorney to be present at all searches and tell residents that such searches are voluntary. "Many of these folks are from third world countries, where anyone in uniform symbolizes oppression," says Martinez, referring to the Grove Hall neighborhood, home to a mix of African-Americans, Haitians, Dominicans and Cape Verdeans.
The ACLU's opposition, however, has failed to move many community residents in neighborhoods directly impacted. "I understand political correctness and the potential civil liberties risks. But until you have bullets flying over your head, I suggest you take your leaflets and keep them in the suburbs," says the Rev. Jeffrey Brown, interim executive director of Boston TenPoint Coalition, a group heavily involved in reducing gang violence, particularly among the city's black and Latino youth. Brown says he plans to walk with police officers during searches.
Some critics warn, however, that the "Safe Homes" experiment could potentially incite allegations of racial profiling. And there's concern that parents and children who refuse searches will face retaliation or unfair scrutiny from law enforcement and school officials. The program's track record, moreover, is not encouraging. "Safe Homes" is modeled on a program started in St. Louis in the mid-1990s. Early on, about 98% of St. Louis residents approached by police officers consented to searches of their homes, according to a 2004 U.S. Justice Department report. Guns were found in about half the homes searched, and an average of three guns were seized per household. But by decade's end, the program had failed, partly because of poor support from residents of high-crime neighborhoods, and the inconsistent way the program was administered by the police department.
If the St. Louis effort is a guide, there's little reason to believe the Boston program will significantly reduce the number of guns in high-crime areas, particularly where so-called "neighborhood guns" are routinely passed between friends and relatives. Boston police say they don't have an estimate of how many guns are in the hands of youth, although the department seizes about 700 guns a year. Davis says he hasn't set formal benchmarks to measure success. "But if I can get my hands on a dozen guns, I'll be very happy," he says, adding, "It'll be successful."
SANTA BARBARA
Helping Santa Barbara’s Homeless Youth
November Is National Homeless Youth Awareness Month
November 25, 2007
By Ben Preston, independent.com
We see them all around town — at De la Guerra Plaza, the harbor, even in some of those old vans parked on the side of the road. With tired, grubby faces, they stand apart from their legitimately housed peers. They are homeless youth — not the grizzled veterans of the streets we see on interstate off ramps, but people who are, were recently, or should still be in high school.
Trouble with the police is not uncommon.
In July of this year, Congressman Jim McDermott (D-Washington) pushed forward legislation to make November National Homeless Youth Awareness Month. Begun by a public relations campaign by Virgin Mobile — including testimony before the House Ways and Means Subcommittee by singer/songwriter Jewel, who spent a year living in a van — the law aims to bring the needs of the increasing number of homeless youths, which is now some 1.25 million, to the forefront of American dialogue.
Whether they know it or not, the homeless youth of Santa Barbara have different organizations they can seek out for support. The list includes programs offered by the city's Community Development and Human Services Committee, the Community Kitchen of Santa Barbara, Direct Relief International, Noah's Anchorage, and Transition House. All of them offer services ranging from meals to personal care product distribution to housing. The most well-known adult shelters in town are Casa Esperanza, the Rescue Mission, and the Salvation Army, but programs like Noah's Anchorage and Transition House focus more on homeless young people and their families.
"In Santa Barbara, the idea of homeless youth is often overlooked because it's not that obvious," said Jackie Grant, an outreach coordinator for Noah's Anchorage. "People have seen homeless adults, but youth who experience homelessness aren't necessarily sitting out on State Street in the public eye, but they need access to resources as well."
Noah's Anchorage, an affiliate of the Channel Islands YMCA, offers a few different programs specifically targeted at youth. One is a shelter program that houses up to eight youth at a time. They also have a street outreach program to let the youths know what resources are available to them, and a transitional program that helps kids who are transitioning out of the foster care system. However, Grant said that even if they run out of room, they work to find young people the lodging and support they need to stay safe.
Last year, Grant worked with more than 400 youth in Santa Barbara. She said that each case is unique, but that many youths experience homelessness with their families while others are runaways. The variety of circumstances that cause a young person to run away are varied, but can include abuse and emotional problems, among other things. She said that the staff at Noah's Anchorage puts a lot of effort into finding out the factors that caused them to run away from home, but that their number one priority is to put them in a safe living situation.
"Youth who are homeless are more vulnerable to a lot of things," she said. "Drugs, sex abuse, and being taken advantage of are all risks." A 2002 report released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported an estimated 40,000 runaways who were at risk of sexual endangerment or exploitation in just one year. Furthermore there are problems gaining access to healthcare.
“This is the first time this issue is being raised nationally,” Grant said, “so we’re starting to say that this isn’t okay and that we need to examine getting youths the services they need.” She pointed out that for those of us who have the advantage of a predictable place to go every evening, recognizing the fact that having no stable place to call home is a difficult way to stay on top of other goals people have, such as school or work.
Said Grant, “One of the great things about Santa Barbara is that there is a lot of cooperation between non-profits and social service organizations to make sure that youths, families, and individuals are getting the best and most appropriate services for their needs.”
VIRGINIA
Talking about suicide can save youth
November 28, 2007
By Alice Felts, timescommunity.com
Around this time of year, one can read an abundance of articles perpetuating a long-held myth - the holidays are the most likely time for people to commit suicide.
It just isn't true.
Research has shown that spring is actually the peak time of year for such deaths. However, it also means that risk factors should be considered regardless of the time of year.
For instance, "I wish I were dead" is not a statement to be taken lightly, according to Alan Rasmussen, prevention specialist for the Rappahannock-Rapidan Community Services Board.
Such a statement is a direct verbal clue that someone is actually contemplating suicide.
And the frightening statistic is that person is most likely to be a young girl from the ages of 10 to 14.
Suicide is the third-leading cause of death for 10 to 24 year olds in the nation - and in Virginia. One young person dies from suicide every two hours and seven minutes, according to the national average; in Virginia, one teenager a week commits suicide.
Untreated depression is the leading reason for suicidal behavior. The Virginia Department of Health reports that depression is the leading cause of hospitalization of 10 to 14 year olds, and 70 to 80 percent of depressed teens do not receive treatment.
Three million youth are at risk nationwide, but only 36 percent of them get help.
In acknowledgment of such alarming facts, Rasmussen chooses to speak to middle schoolers, an audience he suggests is the right age to get involved in suicide prevention.
"We are trying to get into the schools and make a difference and save a life," he said. "It works. There's hope."
"I'm excited. I am here because I need your help. You have the potential to save a life," he told sixth graders at Taylor Middle School recently.
During his "Helping Friends" program, Rasmussen relates a story to the group about the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.
There have been 1,300 documented suicides by jumping off the bridge. The impact of the 240-foot drop is what actually kills people.
Sixteen people have actually survived the jump. When questioned, they said that their first thought was "I want to live. I wish I hadn't done this."
A study of 515 people saved by intervention revealed that, after five years, 490 of those people did not resort to suicide.
Rasmussen stressed that because someone got involved, intervention worked. "Almost any positive action may save a life," he said.
If people get the help they need, Rasmussen stressed, "they will probably never be suicidal again."
Rasmussen broke the myth that those contemplating suicide keep their plans to themselves.
"Most suicidal people communicate their intent sometime during the week preceding their attempt," he said. He added that the act of a peer "asking someone directly about their suicide intent lowers anxiety, opens up communication and lowers the risk."
He asked the students to "watch over other people...for other kids who are in distress and let them know you care."
Although most young people do not tell an adult about their friend's thoughts of suicide, he told the sixth graders not to keep the secret; tell a trusted adult.
In the school setting, teachers, counselors, coaches, staff and classmates all have the potential to intervene. "Caring builds communities and saves lives," he said.
"Youth don't want to die," he noted; "they just don't know how to live."
For those who need assistance, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline toll-free, (800) 273-8255, seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Calls may be transferred to a local crisis center.
Suicide Myths
- Those who talk about suicide don't do it.
- Suicidal people keep their plans to themselves.
- Once a person decides to complete suicide, there is nothing anyone can to do stop him or her.
- Only experts can prevent suicide.
Suicide risk factors
- Previous suicide attempt.
- Current talk of suicide/making a plan.
- Preoccupied with death and dying through thoughts, music, reading and writing.
- Depression.
- Increased in substance use.
- Recent attempt by friend or family member.
- Victim of physical or sexual abuse.
- Victim of assault or bullying
NORTH CAROLINA
Groups Reach Out to Help Younger Students
Hispanics students seen sliding
N.C. schools see trouble with dropout and pregnancy rates
November 27, 2007
By Kristin Collins, charlotte.com
The debate over immigration often dwells on keeping illegal immigrants from slipping into the country. But when it comes to Hispanic youths who are already here, an opposite concern arises -- too many are slipping away.
Hispanic youths -- some born here, some who entered the country illegally but are growing up here -- are at increasing risk of drifting into self-destructive and criminal behavior as they try to find their place in U.S. culture, according to those who have studied trends among Hispanic immigrants.
In North Carolina, a host of indicators show that many immigrant teens are not succeeding:
- Dropout rates for Hispanic students are higher than for any other group in the state. In the 2005-06 school year, nearly 9 percent of Hispanic high school students dropped out, compared with less than 4.5 percent of white students.
- More than half of North Carolina's Hispanic girls are expected to be pregnant before their 20th birthdays.
- A recent study of nearly 300 Hispanic immigrant teens in North Carolina, done by the UNC Chapel Hill School of Social Work, sketched a picture of a population with emotional scars, uneducated parents and the pervasive feeling that they are not accepted by Americans.
More than 40 percent said they had faced ethnic discrimination, most frequently by their classmates.
Sixty-five percent of the teens agreed that "Americans generally feel superior to foreigners." Only 5 percent said they received any counseling.
A national survey by New York University professor Marcelo Suárez-Orozco, tracked immigrant teens for five years. At the end, half were doing worse in school than when the study began.
Gang-prevention efforts
Juana Martinez, 17, a senior at Wake Forest-Rolesville High School, is president of the club Latinos Constructing a Better Future, formed as part of a gang- prevention effort. At a recent meeting, she said, several boys talked about taunts from classmates.
"They said that some people have told them, `Hey, go back to Mexico,' " Martinez said. "And some of them aren't even from Mexico. They were born here."
Martinez said she has watched many of her Hispanic classmates drift into trouble: girls getting pregnant, boys wearing gang colors and forming segregated groups, others dropping out to take low-wage jobs.
Some Hispanic boys at her school, she said, feel that a grade point average higher than 2.5 is "too smart."
For many Hispanic students, problems stem from family circumstances. Their parents are often desperately poor and uneducated, and they come to the United States ill-equipped to deal with the pressure their children will face. Many work long hours and understand little of what goes on inside their children's schools.
Martinez, who moved to North Carolina from Mexico when she was 9, says her mother doesn't speak English. Her mother was never able to help with homework and felt uncomfortable visiting her schools.
Now Martinez spends two afternoons a week working with Hispanic students at Wake Forest Elementary School, hoping to give them the support she never had. For one boy who didn't know his letters, she wrote out their sounds in Spanish, hoping his mother would work with him.
"He came back and said his mom told him she's sorry, but she didn't have time because she had to work," Martinez said.
Gangs growing fast
The price of ignoring the problems of immigrant Hispanic youth is that some become a problem for society at large.
A 2005 study showed that Hispanic gangs were the fastest-growing segment of North Carolina's mounting gang problem, accounting for a quarter of the state's nearly 400 gangs. Many carry the names of notorious groups such as the Latin Kings or MS-13 that originated in California, Mexico and elsewhere.
Many of North Carolina's gang members are homegrown -- youths who felt isolated by language barriers or poverty, who were bullied and scorned by classmates, and who looked to a gang for acceptance.
Much of North Carolina's gang activity can be traced to children and teens running in disorganized packs and claiming false ties to notorious international gangs, gang experts say.
A big myth about gangs "is that they are migrating across the country," said Buddy Howell of the National Youth Gang Center, a U.S. Justice Department program. "Whenever you study an area with a gang problem, you find that most all of the gang members grew up there."
Like the waves of immigrants before them -- Eastern Europeans, Italians, Irish -- Hispanic youths are banding together in the face of a foreign environment, according to researchers, educators and social workers. As anger rises over a wave of Hispanic immigration, some say they fear that more Hispanic children will become alienated and turn to gangs.
Robbery arrest
In the Triangle, the recent arrest of Nelson Rafael Hernandez put a face on the Hispanic gang problem. Hernandez, the oldest of four teens, accused of robbing a Raleigh man and trying to rob a Durham woman, sneered and flashed gang signals as he stood in a Durham courtroom earlier this month.
One of the teens police said was with Hernandez, a 16-year-old, was killed when, police said, he waved a gun at an officer outside a public library.
The mother of one suspect, another 16-year-old who lives in Durham, said that he had been expelled from school and that she was unable to stop him from running with the wrong crowd.
She didn't know whether he had any true ties to the Latin Kings, the Chicago-based Hispanic gang that investigators say the teens were involved in.
Mike Figueras, who runs a gang prevention program for El Pueblo, a statewide Hispanic advocacy group, said children whose needs aren't met at home or at school are prime candidates for joining gangs.
They submit to beatings from fellow gang members, a common initiation ritual, and allow gang leaders to dictate their lives. He said most do it not for money, but for a feeling of belonging.
"It's so important to the kids that they're willing to do anything," he said. "We're looking at 11-year-olds joining gangs."
Reaching out to help
Schools and advocates have started programs to help immigrant children. Schools around the state offer English as a Second Language programs, and they employ Spanish-speaking outreach workers.
El Pueblo has started Hispanic clubs and leads anti-gang classes at schools across Wake County.
But William Lassiter, manager of the state's Center for the Prevention of School Violence, said that it's often difficult for educators to overcome all the obstacles facing Hispanic students. Some are four or five years behind and illiterate in their native language. Often, parents offer no information to help teachers, he said.
And if they join gangs, he said, educators often write them off.
"The big misconception is that these kids are not savable, that once they're in, they're in for life. That's just not true. We need to ask ourselves: How do we serve these kids better?"
VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES
Youth Study: Violent Video Games “Teach Aggression”
November 20, 2007
Realtruth.org
A six-month study released by Iowa State University found that video game violence influences players to be more aggressive with proven teaching techniques.
The study, in which nearly 2,500 youth were interviewed, revealed that elementary students whose three favorite video games contained violence were 73% more likely to be highly aggressive than those whose favorites were both violent and nonviolent—and 263% more likely to exhibit hostile behavior than those who only played nonviolent video games.
Douglas Gentile and his father J. Ronald Gentile, a leading researcher on effective teaching and a psychology professor at The State University of New York at Buffalo, realized that violent video games used many of the same teaching methods of great teachers.
“Video games use many of these techniques and are highly effective teachers. So we shouldn’t be surprised that violent video games can teach aggression,” said Douglas Gentile, who is an assistant professor at Iowa State University and a top researcher on the effects of media on children.
The teaching methods used include adapting to the learning pace of the player, presenting a list of objectives and skills and immediately putting those skills into practice. Through repetition and rewards, the skills are soon mastered until they are ingrained and become automatic. The skills are continually honed throughout the progressively more difficult game.
Learning to be more hostile happens in tandem with achieving the game’s objectives, often subconsciously. The study found that the aggressive thoughts and behaviors soon transition into real life.
The findings prompted researchers to mention that these findings “should make us more thoughtful about designing games and choosing games for children and adolescents to play.”
Instead of condemning video games, researchers felt that because the smarter elements of video game technology proved to be such excellent teachers, these should be put to educational use. They concluded that by using technology that “thinks” along with the students, adapting instruction to each player’s current skills, strategies or mistakes, a more effective education can be achieved.
EATING DISORDERS
Teen Boys at Growing Risk for Eating Disorders
November 23, 2007
Forbes.com
Eating disorders rose significantly among American boys between 1995 and 2005, according to a study that examined weight control behaviors among high school students.
The study, based on an analysis of national data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, identified a large increase in all forms of weight control behaviors among males, including dieting, diet product use, purging, exercise and vigorous exercise.
Hispanic males were most likely to practice weight control, while white males were least likely, said the study authors, led by Y. May Chao of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn.
They also found a significant overall increase in dieting and diet product use among female adolescents. White females were most likely practice weight control while black females were least likely, the researchers said.
The increased weight control behavior noted in males suggests growing social pressure for males to achieve unrealistic body expectations, thus increasing the risk of body dissatisfaction and eating disorders, the study authors said.
"Considering that males have negative attitudes toward treatment-seeking and are less likely than females to seek treatment, efforts should be made to increase awareness of eating disorder symptomatology in male adolescents, and future prevention efforts should target male as well as female adolescents," the researchers wrote.
NATIVE AMERICANS
CSU Researchers study sexual health risk messages among Native Americans, Alaska Natives
November 20, 2007
Newsinfo.coloradostate.edu
Colorado State University researchers are studying the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases, or STDs, among Native American and Alaska Native youth in the United States by investigating sexual behaviors of this group and the information they access to learn about those diseases.
A comprehensive understanding of how Native youth are using existing STD messages will be valuable in the creation of culturally relevant media campaigns to address this public health problem among Native groups. Exploring the relationship between messages about STDs and attitudes and behaviors of Native youth is an area of health research that is largely unexplored.
Roe Bubar, researcher in the university's Center for Applied Studies in American Ethnicity and the School of Social Work; Marilee Long and Donna Rouner, researchers in the Journalism and Technical Communication department, will study the sexual health behaviors of Native American youth in the Plains and Southwest regions of the country through in-depth interviews, focus groups, and analysis of media messages within their communities.
STDs affect every population, but minority groups in the United States suffer disproportionately. In South Dakota, Native Americans represent 6.7 percent of the population but represent 40.2 percent of the state's gonorrhea cases.
Native American youth ages 15-19 contract STDs at rates higher than other adolescent populations. Native American youth rates for gonorrhea - 309 per 100,000 - is nearly triple that for all other youth at 119 per 100,000. The same pattern holds true for cases of Chlamydia. The Native American youth rate for Chlamydia is 2,485 per 100,000 versus 748 per 100,000 for all other youth.
Native Americans and Alaska Natives in particular suffer disproportionately from STDs among minority groups. A 2005 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded that Native Americans and Alaska Natives had the second highest rates of gonorrhea and Chlamydia among minority groups.
Garnering an understanding of the sexual health needs, concerns and interests of Native American youth is key for future interventions and outreach efforts aimed at curbing the high rate of STDs.
STDs can have varied consequences including poor maternal health, ectopic pregnancy, chronic illness, premature death, cervical cancer, infertility and increased susceptibility to HIV.
AMERICAN TEENS
The Failure of Abstinence-Only Sex Education
November 21, 2007
By Nick Gier, newwest.net
With some American churches now hosting the Horrors of Hell rather than Halloween, one would assume that American teenagers would have more respect for sin and fewer instances of sexually transmitted diseases. But just as with President Bush's tactics in the War on Terror, fear alone is not doing the job.
Using figures from 1995-2000, Advocates for Youth (http://www.advocatesforyouth.org) reports that the HIV rate for Americans 15-24 is five times that of German youth of the age. The U.S. teen syphilis rate is six times higher than the Dutch; the chlamydia rate is 20 times that of French teens; and our teen gonorrhea rate is a whopping 74 times higher than the Dutch.
European programs that provide uncensored sex education and promote condom use are the reasons for this success. Contrary to what one might expect, European youth have fewer sex partners than Americans do and begin sex slightly later than Americans. What is alarming, however, is that America has the largest percentage of girls who have sex by age 15.
Coming from the Land of Amour and Brigitte Bardot, the following French statistics are indeed a surprise. Nearly 49 percent of American women 18-19 said that they had two or more sexual partners in the past year, whereas only 13 percent of French women the same age did.
The U.S. also has the highest teen birth rate among 28 developed countries. According to a UNICEF study, less than 10 per 100,000 teenage girls in Korea, Japan, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Sweden gave birth in 2001, whereas 52 American teens per 100,000 did.
Although the U.S. rate dropped to 42 by 2002, teen births in America's Bible belt remained high: 65 in Mississippi; 64 in Texas; 60 in Arkansas; and 58 per 100,000 in Georgia and Louisiana.
One could say that these figures are biased because other countries must have higher abortion rates than the U.S. does. But this not true. In 2003 there were 21 abortions per 1,000 women in the U.S., while the Western European average was 12 per 1,000.
Other countries achieve these good results without any national abstinence programs. Not surprisingly, recent studies have shown that abstinence-only programs have not worked. In a 2004 study of 12,000 teens who had taken an abstinence pledge, an astounding 88 percent said that they had nevertheless gone on to have sexual intercourse before marriage.
A University of Oxford study by Kristen Underhill of 16,000 young Americans found no difference in the number of pregnancies, STDs, and sexual partners in those who pledged chastity and those who didn't.
Underhill's follow-up study of "abstinence-plus" programs demonstrated many positive gains, particularly fewer pregnancies and more knowledge about AIDS. Significantly, this group had fewer instances of anal sex, which of course is, without a condom, the easiest means to transmit the HIV virus. Presumably, abstinence-only teachers thought it unseemly to mention this.
Evidently, many American teens have fudged on their vows of celibacy by using the Bill Clinton defense. A report released by the National Center for Health Statistics shows that over half of Americans 15-19 have engaged in oral sex. When virgin teens were asked this question, one in four answered in the affirmative.
Claire Brindis, a professor of pediatrics, suggests that today America's youth view oral sex as "far less intimate than intercourse. It's a different kind of relationship"(Washington Post 9-16-05).
Every year Congressional Democrats want to add more funds to Title X, the federal program for family planning. The specific legislation is entitled the Prevention First Act, and before 2006 the bill could not get out of committee. Perhaps that will change now, especially with the new studies demonstrating the failure of abstinence-only programs.
Fact-based, comprehensive sex education not only makes good socio-psychological sense, but it could also save money. Advocates for Youth has calculated that if American pregnancy, birth, and abortion rates were brought down to European levels, the U. S. would save at least $1 billion annually that would otherwise go to extra health costs and economic loss due to neglecting and misinforming America's youth.
SAMHSA
Depressed Youth More Likely to Smoke, Drink, Use Illicit Drugs, SAMHSA Reports
November 16, 2007
Research Summary, jointogether.org
Young adults who have recently battled depression are at increased risk of starting to smoke cigarettes or initiating alcohol and other drug use, according to a report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
SAMHSA, drawing on data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, said that youths ages 18 to 25 who reported a major depressive episode in the past year were 60 percent more likely than their peers to have started smoking, 35 percent more likely to have started drinking, twice as likely to have begun misusing prescription pain medication, and twice as likely to have started using illicit drugs.
"This study clearly reveals that too often people turn to cigarettes or other substances to try to deal with depression, creating a double jeopardy for their health and well-being," said SAMHSA Administrator Terry Cline, Ph.D.
NEW YORK
Anit-violence project honors courage
November 29,2007
By Paul Schindler, gaycitynews.com
The New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project (AVP) held its 11th annual Courage Awards on the evening of November 19 at the venerable Gotham Hall on Broadway near Herald Square.
Hundreds gathered for an event that honored New York State Assemblyman Daniel O'Donnell (pictured), an Upper West Side out gay Democrat, who is a prime sponsor of the Dignity for All Students Act, an anti-bullying measure that would protect gay, lesbian, and transgendered youth, among a number of other student communities; the Bloomberg Family Foundation's Verna Eggleston (pictured), the former commissioner of the New York City Human Resources Administration and, prior to that, the executive director of the Hetrick-Martin Institute, home of the Harvey Milk School; and the Sundance Channel, represented at the dinner by Laura Michalchyshyn.
During his remarks, O'Donnell discussed the hectic six-week steeple chase he oversaw to move Governor Eliot Spitzer's gay marriage equality bill from introduction to passage during the Assembly's waning days in late June.
"Standing up as a 46-year-old gay attorney and saying take it or leave it requires no courage," O'Donnell said by way of indicating humility at being honored by AVP. He went on to note, however, that "nothing happens in the Assembly in six weeks."
The dinner marked the final bow for executive director Clarence Patton, who is leaving the agency early next year, after 11 years with AVP. Patton was joined at the dinner by two former executive directors, Richard Haymes, who preceded him in the post, and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who helmed the group for several years prior to her 1999 election to the Council.
In her remarks, Quinn paid tribute to AVP as an agency through which "people transform themselves from victims into survivors." She said that leading the group was the "hardest job I ever had or will have."
Time will tell on that bet.
Hosting the evening, as he has done numerous times in the past, was TV ("Law and Order: SVU) and Tony-winning Broadway star ("M. Butterfly") B.D. Wong (pictured, left, with Patton and Quinn). Riffing on what he said was the inevitable, unavoidable topic for a gay dinner this season, Wong noted that the Larry Craig episode probably brought home to the lesbians in the crowd something otherwise foreign to their existences - the reality of tearoom sex in America.
TEXAS
State, youth advocates reach deal to limit pepper spray
But proposed new policy could turn back gains, advocates warn.
November 30, 2007
By Mike Ward, statesman.com
After months of blistering criticism and litigation, Texas Youth Commission officials have agreed to restrict the use of pepper spray on unruly youths.
But the fix could be short-lived because the agency is proposing a new policy that juvenile justice experts said Thursday would again liberalize the use of pepper spray.
Among the problems with the proposed rule, they say: It drops wording that specifically prohibits the use of pepper spray for "convenience" of staff in controlling unruly youths and approves the use of crowd-sized canisters of pepper spray, instead of the much smaller ones mainly used in the past.
"It will take us back to square one on this issue," said Deborah Fowler, legal director for Texas Appleseed, which sued the Youth Commission over an August policy change that allowed wider use of pepper spray in the state's youth lockups. "We've been trying to encourage them to pull down the proposed rule. ... That has not happened."
The agency has scheduled a public hearing Monday on proposed changes to its use of force policy. Under the changes, incarcerated youths could be pepper-sprayed only in cases of imminent danger or harm and "only to the extent necessary to gain compliance and/or to prevent harm."
Under the just-negotiated deal, pepper spray can be used only after Youth Commission guards and staff determine that imminent harm exists and that manual restraints are not a practicable method of defusing an altercation or unruly situation. In addition, it prohibits spraying youths who have respiratory ailments or mental impairments that could be aggravated by pepper spray and those who are not posing an imminent threat.
The proposed policy mandates a chain of circumstances that must occur before pepper spray can be used: verbal de-escalation or mechanical restraint such as handcuffs.
But the fact that it could be used before physical restraint is what has juvenile justice advocates continuing to sound an alarm.
Youth Commission officials say the proposed policy would ensure fewer injuries. They said Thursday that they have no plans to withdraw the proposed policy or to stick with the consensus wording hammered out in court-ordered negotiations.
"There are folks who just don't want us to use pepper spray at all. That's what's really going on here," agency spokesman Jim Hurley said. "We think there is an appropriate use for pepper spray. ... The new policy just says it can be used if the situation justifies it."
Noting that the consensus covers only the old policy, Hurley said that the agency looks forward "to obtaining public comment at the hearing on Monday regarding the new use of force policy that we are proposing."
Indications Thursday were that they could get an earful.
"This is train wreck waiting to happen if they proceed with adopting the new rule," said Richard Lavallo, lead attorney for Advocacy Inc. "They're using violence and intimidation to control youth ... and they don't have to do that."
A report released Thursday by the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, another advocacy group, argued against the new policy, as well. Among its findings, the report argued that pepper spray "has been found to increase youth's violent behavior toward others, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicidal behavior."
And, the report concluded, national research suggests that the application of deterrent sanctions such as pepper spray "may actually result in a counterproductive 'deteriorating cycle of defiance.' "
Improved rehabilitation and treatment programs hold greater promise for reducing recidivism and violence, the report says.
Since Youth Commission officials liberalized the use of pepper spray last summer, its use has skyrocketed. More than 1,200 uses of pepper spray in Youth Commission lockups were reported through October, compared with fewer than 200 in all of 2006.
Steve Martin, an Austin-based corrections consultant with more than two decades of experience, said pepper spray "is not the most effective way to deal with these situations they are facing. ... It just becomes the most convenient method, and that's not good."
While Texas has increased its use of pepper spray in juvenile lockups, other states are doing the opposite, Martin and others say.
Like others, Martin said he thinks the proposed policy, by potentially allowing more youths to be sprayed, "raises a real constitutional issue. The way they have worded it is like waving a big red flag in front of a bull, saying, 'Come on, sue me.' "
"I'm sure people will," he said.
OHIO
Troubled youths need your help to fill in missing gaps
November 27, 2007
By Benjamin Duer, cantonrep.com
A report by the Correctional Faith-Based Initiatives Task Force led to the legislation. No specific religious message can be endorsed.
In HB 130, re-entry issues outside the confines of prison walls are addressed.
Among the proposed solutions are:
- Creating re-entry courts, which would oversee post-prison supervision. Stark County runs a pilot program for pre-entry purposes.
- Allowing an inmate identification card to serve as a primary or secondary form of identification to get a state ID card.
- Removing restrictions on licensing boards where there is no relationship between past criminal history and job opportunities.
White said there are 430 jobs currently off-limits to convicted felons, so “these folks can’t find jobs.” He said HB 130 would open up more jobs.
Giving Them Love
DYS officials said few job opportunities, no mentors and substance abuse can often lead youth offenders back to a life of crime. Mentorship helps.
“We need you badly,” White told volunteers.
Joyce Salapack, chief probation officer for Stark County Family Court, said this movement for more volunteerism will be positive on youths.
“When these families are in crisis, the first person they call isn’t their parole or probation officer. It’s a neighbor, a friend or a pastor,” she said.
Randazzo added: “The biggest thing that these boys are missing that makes them different from us is we were loved; they weren’t.”
CALIFORNIA
Conservative Groups Sue California Over LGBT Schools Law
November 28, 2007
By 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Two conservative Christian groups have asked a federal judge to overturn a California law prohibiting discrimination against gays and transgendered students.
The Student Civil Rights Act would protect students from harassment and bullying in public schools by making sure teachers and school administrators fully understand their responsibilities to protect youth.
In a lawsuit filed in San Diego, Advocates for Faith and Freedom and the Alliance Defense Fund claim portions of the legislation - particularly those covering "gender identity" - are unconstitutionally vague and violate student privacy.
The suit was filed on behalf of several teachers and one student.
It claims that teachers and school administrators would be forced to determine whether a student perceives him or herself to be male or female and could lead to problems in school washrooms and gym changing rooms.
The author of the legislation, state Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) calls the lawsuit frivolous. Kuehl said the bill did not change existing California law, only made it clearer so that school districts would have less trouble adhering to it.
A law banning LGBT discrimination in schools has been on the books in California since 1999, said Kuehl, who is one of several gay members of the California legislature.
"There's no change in the law; it was always the same. All of these truly silly claims that they make about what could happen could have been happening over the last eight years and never did," Kuehl told the Associated Press.
"I think they know they don't have a case. I think it's purely a fundraising mechanism for them.".
The legislation was signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in October and is slated to take effect in January.
But that could be delayed by another move by opponents of the bill who have begun a drive to force the issue onto the ballot in 2008. If they collect enough signatures to qualify the measure would be held back until after the November election.
"It is ironic that organizations that claim to support families are working to overturn a law that will protect students and help keep them in school," said Equality California Executive Director Geoff Kors.
CONGRESS
Lawmakers Take Aim at College Costs
By Sandra Block, usatoday.com
Larry Gazdick of Ashburn, Va., doesn't consider himself wealthy. But four years ago, when his stepson, Bryan Ingraham, applied for financial aid for college, he qualified for nothing but federal student loans. Gazdick had been saddled with debt after college, and he didn't want Bryan to endure the same fate. So Gazdick paid the full cost of Bryan's education — about $90,000, or $2,500 a month. To do so, Gazdick worked seven days a week for more than four years.
Bryan graduated this year from West Virginia University with a degree in business and economics. His parents are relieved that he'll start his life debt-free. But Gazdick is still stunned by how much Bryan's college degree cost.
"It was ridiculously expensive," he says.
Critics have complained for years about the galloping cost of college. But now, Democrats and Republicans are pushing measures that would go further than ever before to control college costs. Some proposals would reward schools that control their costs and cast an unflattering spotlight on those that don't. Others would require schools with multibillion endowments to use more of that money to lower tuition.
Behind the push is frustration with the relentless surge in costs. The average in-state tuition and fees at a four-year public university rose 6.6% to $6,185 this academic year, according to the College Board. Average total costs, which include room and board, rose 5.9% to $13,589. In the past five years, the average total cost of attending an in-state public school is up 22%, even after taking inflation into account.
The cost of attending an out-of-state or private school has also soared. Anne and Frank Barretta of Bergen County, N.J., are spending about $27,000 a year to send their daughter, Nicole, to the University of South Carolina. While that's hardly a bargain, Anne says, "It's considerably less than what some other parents might be paying for private schools."
Anne teaches at a local college; Frank is an executive for an Internet procurement company. The Barrettas didn't qualify for any financial aid, other than federal student loans, which they decided against. They've been saving for years, which helps.
Still, "It's a large payment, and it's always on our minds," Anne says. "We're trying to do the best we can."
College Board officials say that most families don't pay the published tuition rates, because most students receive financial aid. But increasingly, that aid is coming in the form of federal loans that must be repaid, with interest. And the average net price — the average cost of tuition, after grants and tax benefits — has been rising faster than inflation and family incomes. Even when you include financial aid, about 40% of American families would have to spend at least a quarter of their income to pay for a traditional college education, according to the Education Department.
'We're losing ground'
The USA spends more on higher education, as a percentage of gross domestic product, than any other industrialized country, according to the Education Department. But its graduation rate for college students, based on the proportion of students who obtain their undergraduate degree in five years or less, has dropped from 12th in 2005 to 16th in 2007.
"We have the highest percentage of students receiving some sort of public subsidy, and we're losing ground," says Sara Martinez Tucker, undersecretary for Education.
Congress' ability to curb college costs is limited. Under the current system, the federal government provides financial aid to eligible students. The students, in turn, use that money to attend the school of their choice. Cutting off financial aid to schools that raise tuition beyond a certain level would limit students' choices, contends Terry Hartle, vice president for the American Council on Education. And many lawmakers in both parties are leery of any proposal that would impose price controls on college tuition.
Instead, Congress is considering incremental steps, including these:
Accountability.
The House Education and Labor Committee approved legislation last week that would place schools that jack up tuition much more than their peers on a "Higher Education Price Increase Watch List." Schools on this list, which would be disclosed on an Education Department website, would have to set up a task force to analyze their operations. The results of the task force's analysis would be available to the public.
The bill would also reward colleges that control costs by increasing the amount of Pell grant aid they receive. Pell grants are the largest source of direct federal aid for low-income college students.
Those provisions were included in legislation to reauthorize the Higher Education Act, which governs most federal student aid programs.
Information on actual costs.
The House and Senate reauthorization bills both aim to help families better understand how much college really costs, after financial aid is awarded. The House bill would require schools to publish the percentage of students who receive state, federal or institutional financial aid. The schools would also have to disclose the average net price per student.
Many parents say the financial aid process is a frustrating mystery. When Said Lounis' son, Sebastian, was accepted at Stanford four years ago, Lounis was confident the family would receive financial aid. Sebastian was an outstanding student in high school. And Lounis, who owns a business that provides lift systems for theaters and other venues, didn't think he earned enough to afford Stanford's sticker price, which exceeded $40,000 a year. But when he called Stanford's financial aid office, he was told his son was ineligible for aid.
Sebastian ended up attending the University of Michigan and graduated this year with a dual degree in physics and philosophy. Lounis, of Sterling Heights, Mich., says he believes his son received an excellent education at Michigan, at a much lower cost. But he's still baffled by Stanford's refusal to provide any financial aid.
"I felt that my income at the time was nowhere near what it should be to afford paying $40,000 a year for my son to go to college," Lounis says. "But I was flatly turned down."
Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon of California, the ranking Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee, says, in a sense, paying for college is akin to buying an airline ticket: "You might be paying $2,000; the person across the aisle may be paying $250. You never know."
College officials say such disparities reflect their efforts to direct aid to the neediest students. But the confusion about who qualifies for financial aid has left some parents skeptical about the process, says Robert Shireman, director of the Project on Student Debt.
Paying for college "is like buying a used car," he says. "You worry and wonder if you're the one being tricked."
Mandatory payouts from endowments.
The nation's most selective universities are awash in endowments, prompting some lawmakers and policy experts to question why they don't use more of that money to lower tuition. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, has proposed requiring colleges and universities with endowments that exceed $500 million to pay out at least 5% of their endowments each year. Private foundations must meet that standard to maintain their tax-favored status.
But the rule doesn't cover colleges. Last year, colleges with endowments of $1 billion or more spent an average of 4.6% of that money, according to the National Association of College and University Business Officers.
No one has yet introduced legislation to extend the 5% requirement to colleges. But the huge size of some elite schools' endowments has made them inviting targets. Harvard has nearly $35 billion in its endowment fund and earned an eye-popping 23% on its investments last year, vs. 13.6% for the Standard & Poor's 500 index. Yale has $22.5 billion and earned 28% on its investments for the fiscal year that ended June 30.
Harvard, Yale and other elite schools can get away with jacking up tuition every year because of ferocious demand for their limited slots, says James Boyle, president of College Parents of America. If those schools used some of their endowment money to freeze tuition, Boyle argues, it would encourage other schools to follow suit.
But forcing universities to use endowment money to lower tuition would prevent them from targeting students who need the most help, says Kevin Casey, director of federal relations for Harvard University. Now, any student who is admitted to Harvard and has a family income of $60,000 or less goes to school for free, Casey notes.
College officials say the proposals also overlook the nature of endowments. Many donors impose restrictions on how their gifts are used, which prevents schools from using much of the money to lower tuition, Hartle notes.
Princeton University is battling a lawsuit filed by the heirs of two donors who gave the university $35 million more than 40 years ago. The lawsuit, which has cost Princeton millions in legal fees, alleges that the university hasn't scrupulously followed the terms of the gift.
College endowments have also caught the attention of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton. In an education policy proposal, Clinton challenges the top schools to use a greater percentage of their endowments to recruit low-income and minority students. Her plan, though, stops short of requiring schools to pay out a specific percentage of their endowments.
Clinton's proposal would also require colleges to set multiyear tuition rates, which she says would make it easier for families to figure out how much college will cost over several years.
More scrutiny coming
Meanwhile, Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, warns that lawmakers will continue to scrutinize college costs and consider tougher measures if the situation doesn't improve.
"I think this is an issue that's burning across the entire Congress," Miller says. "This issue is not going away when this (Higher Education Act reauthorization) bill is signed into law. This is only the beginning."
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