In previous studies, researchers have reported that youth with a lifetime history of prescription opioid misuse (POM) are at an increased risk for suicidal ideation, planning, and attempts. In this ...study, we investigate whether the association between youth POM and suicide outcomes differs by recency of POM (ie, none, past, or current misuse).
In this report, we use data from the 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey to examine associations between recency of POM (current POM, past POM, and no POM) and suicide risk behaviors among US high school students.
After controlling for demographics, alcohol, and other drug use, both current POM and past POM were significantly associated with all suicide risk behaviors compared with no POM. Students who reported current POM had the highest adjusted prevalence ratios (aPRs) for suicidal ideation (aPR: 2.30; 95% confidence interval CI 1.97-2.69), planning (aPR: 2.33; 95% CI 1.99-2.79), attempts (aPR: 3.21; 95% CI 2.56-4.02), and feeling sad or hopeless (aPR: 1.59; 95% CI 1.37-1.84). Students who reported current POM also were significantly more likely than youth who reported past POM to report that they had seriously considered attempting suicide, made a suicide plan, and attempted suicide.
Although POM, particularly current POM, is associated with increases in the risk for suicide-related behaviors and experiences of youth, comprehensive prevention approaches that address the intersections between suicide and POM provide a promising path forward for addressing these public health challenges among youth.
Background: School efforts to promote health among students are more successful when families and community members are involved. Methods: We conducted a scoping review to summarize and categorize ...family and community engagement strategies used in US school and out-of-school time (OST) interventions to address physical activity (PA) and nutrition in kindergarten through 12th grade students. Results: The National Network of Partnership Schools' Six Keys to Success framework was useful in organizing the types of family and community engagement strategies used in included interventions. Many interventions used multiple family and community engagement strategies, with the most common being communicating with families and community members; providing support or education to families; and collaborations among school/OST program and community to support students and their families. Conclusions: This review identified six common family and community engagement strategies used in school and OST interventions for PA and nutrition. Including family and community engagement strategies in school and OST interventions could play an important role in maximizing support, resources, and expertise to promote healthy behaviors among all students.
To examine trends and racial and ethnic disparities in early adolescent suicidal thoughts and behaviors in the years immediately prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This study used pooled data from ...Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's middle school Youth Risk Behavior Survey (n = 127,912) between 2015 and 2019. Three dichotomized measures of suicide-related behaviors were assessed: suicidal thoughts, planning, and attempts. Weighted prevalence estimates with 95% confidence intervals were calculated for each survey year. Linear trends examined disparities in the prevalence of suicidal thoughts and behaviors, overall and by student demographic characteristics. Main effects odds ratios compared estimates among racial and ethnic minority adolescents with non-Hispanic White students, controlling for sex and grade.
Significant linear increases were observed for the percentage of middle school students who reported seriously thinking about suicide (18.2%–22.3%), ever making a suicide plan (11.8%–14.7%), and ever attempting suicide (6.9%–9.3%). Racial and ethnic minority students, other than non-Hispanic Asian, showed higher odds of suicidal thoughts and behaviors compared with non-Hispanic White students.
Findings indicate a need for comprehensive suicide prevention to address health equity and disparities in suicide-related behaviors among middle school-aged adolescents.
This paper reports on a new methodology to objectively study the world in which children live. The primary research study (Kids'Cam Food Marketing) illustrates the method; numerous ancillary studies ...include exploration of children's exposure to alcohol, smoking, "blue" space and gambling, and their use of "green" space, transport, and sun protection. One hundred sixty-eight randomly selected children (aged 11-13 years) recruited from 16 randomly selected schools in Wellington, New Zealand used wearable cameras and GPS units for 4 days, recording imagery every 7 seconds and longitude/latitude locations every 5 seconds. Data were collected from July 2014 to June 2015. Analysis commenced in 2015 and is ongoing. Bespoke software was used to manually code images for variables of interest including setting, marketing media, and product category to produce variables for statistical analysis. GPS data were extracted and cleaned in ArcGIS, version 10.3 for exposure spatial analysis. Approximately 1.4 million images and 2.2 million GPS coordinates were generated (most were usable) from many settings including the difficult to measure aspects of exposures in the home, at school, and during leisure time. The method is ethical, legal, and acceptable to children and the wider community. This methodology enabled objective analysis of the world in which children live. The main arm examined the frequency and nature of children's exposure to food and beverage marketing and provided data on difficult to measure settings. The methodology will likely generate robust evidence facilitating more effective policymaking to address numerous public health concerns
Adolescents’ health behaviors and experiences contribute to many outcomes, including risks for HIV, other sexually transmitted diseases, and unintended pregnancy. Public health interventions and ...approaches addressing risk behaviors or experiences in adolescence have the potential for wide-reaching impacts on sexual health and other related outcomes across the lifespan, and schools are a critical venue for such interventions. This paper describes a school-based program model developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Adolescent and School Health for preventing HIV/sexually transmitted diseases, unintended pregnancy, and related health risk behaviors and experiences among middle and high school students. This includes a summary of the theoretical and evidence base that inform the model, and a description of the model’s activities, organized into three key strategies (sexual health education, sexual health services, and safe and supportive environments) and across three cross-cutting domains (strengthening staff capacity, increasing student access to programs and services, and engaging parent and community partners). The paper also outlines implications for adolescent health professionals and organizations working across schools, clinics, and communities, to address and promote adolescent sexual health and well-being.
Sexual minority youth are disproportionately exposed to school violence compared with their heterosexual peers. It is unknown whether the associations between school absence and exposure to school ...violence vary by sexual identity.
In 2021, data were combined from the 2015, 2017, and 2019 national Youth Risk Behavior Surveys to produce nationally representative samples of U.S. high-school students who identified as gay/lesbian (n=1,061), identified as bisexual (n=3,210), were not sure of their sexual identity (n=1,696), or identified as heterosexual (n=35,819). Associations were examined between 3 school violence exposures (being threatened/injured with a weapon at school, being bullied at school, and being in a physical fight at school) and school absence due to safety concerns. In each sample, multivariable logistic regression models were used to calculate adjusted prevalence ratios adjusted for sex, race/ethnicity, grade, current substance use, being offered/sold drugs at school, feeling sad/hopeless, and suicidal thoughts. Adjusted prevalence ratios were considered statistically significant if 95% CIs did not include 1.0.
Exposure to school violence and school absence due to safety concerns were more prevalent among sexual minority students than among heterosexual students. Associations between exposure to school violence and school absence due to safety concerns were similar across sexual identity groups. For example, school absence was associated with being threatened/injured with a weapon at school among gay/lesbian (adjusted prevalence ratio=3.00), bisexual (adjusted prevalence ratio=3.66), those not sure (adjusted prevalence ratio=4.56), and heterosexual (adjusted prevalence ratio=3.75) students.
Associations between school absenteeism and school violence exist in each sexual identity group. Therefore, programs providing safe and supportive school environments may result in reduced absenteeism among all students.
BACKGROUND
When children and youth feel connected to their school, family, and others in their community, they are less likely to engage in risky behaviors and experience negative health. Disruptions ...to school operations during the COVID‐19 pandemic have led many teachers and school administrators to prioritize finding ways to strengthen and re‐establish a sense of connectedness among students and between students and adults in school.
METHODS
We conducted a systematic search of peer‐reviewed literature that reported on US‐based research and were published in English from January 2010 through December 2019 to identify classroom management approaches that have been empirically tied to school connectedness‐related outcomes in K‐12 school settings.
FINDINGS
Six categories of classroom management approaches were associated with improved school connectedness among students: (1) teacher caring and support, (2) peer connection and support, (3) student autonomy and empowerment, (4) management of classroom social dynamics, (5) teacher expectations, and (6) behavior management.
IMPLICATIONS FOR SCHOOL HEALTH POLICY, PRACTICE, AND EQUITY
Prioritizing classroom management approaches that emphasize positive reinforcement of behavior, restorative discipline and communication, development of strong, trusting relationships, and explicitly emphasize fairness has potential to promote equitable disciplinary practices in schools.
CONCLUSIONS
Classroom management approaches most linked to school connectedness are those that foster student autonomy and empowerment, mitigate social hierarchies and power differentials among students, prioritize positive reinforcement of behavior and restorative disciplinary practices, and emphasize equity and fairness.
The contemporary public health model for injury and violence prevention is a four‐step process, which has been difficult to fully actualize in real‐world contexts. This difficulty results from ...challenges in bridging science to practice and developing and applying population‐level approaches. Prevention programmes and policies are embedded within and impacted by a range of system‐level factors, which must be considered and actively managed when addressing complex public health challenges involving multiple sectors and stakeholders. To address these concerns, a systemic approach to population‐level injury and violence prevention is being developed and explored by the Division of Analysis, Research, and Practice Integration in the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This article makes the case for and provides a high‐level overview of this systemic approach, its various components, and how it is being applied in one governmental unit.
The contributions of filial responsibility to psychological functioning were examined longitudinally among Latino young adolescents from immigrant families. Participants included 199 7th and 8th ...Grade Latino boys and girls (
M
age = 13.8) who were either immigrants (79%) or children of immigrants (21%). The term,
filial responsibility
, refers to children's family caregiving efforts (e.g., household chores, caring for siblings).
Perceived fairness
, which refers to perceptions of equity, reciprocity, and acknowledgment, was examined as an important corollary describing the familial context in which youths' responsibilities are enacted. Over the course of this 1-year longitudinal study, a significant decline was observed in mean levels of caregiving, whereas a significant increase was observed in perceived fairness. Consistent with a conceptualization of filial responsibility as contributing to psychological development in positive and, in some contexts, negative ways, caregiving activities predicted increases in cooperative behavior and interpersonal self-efficacy, whereas perceived fairness predicted declines in psychological distress. Implications for practitioners and policymakers working with this population are discussed.
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