Citizens in the Present Maria de los Angeles Torres, Irene Rizzini, Norma Del Rio
05/2013
eBook
Although media coverage often portrays young people in urban areas as politically apathetic or disruptive, this book provides an antidote to such views through narratives of dedicated youth civic ...engagement and leadership in Chicago, Mexico City, and Rio de Janeiro. This innovative comparative study provides nuanced accounts of the personal experiences of young people who care deeply about their communities and are actively engaged in a variety of public issues. Drawing from extensive interviews and personal narratives from the young activists themselves, Citizens in the Present presents a vibrant portrait of a new, politically involved generation.
There has been little research examining whether e-cigarette use increases the risk of cigarette initiation among adolescents in the transition to adulthood when the sale of cigarettes becomes legal.
...The Children's Health Study is a prospectively followed cohort in Southern California. Data on e-cigarette use were collected in 11th and 12th grade (mean age = 17.4); follow-up data on tobacco product use were collected an average of 16 months later from never-smoking e-cigarette users at initial evaluation (n = 146) and from a sample of never-smoking, never e-cigarette users (n = 152) frequency matched to e-cigarette users on gender, ethnicity, and grade.
Cigarette initiation during follow-up was reported by 40.4% of e-cigarette users (n = 59) and 10.5% of never users (n = 16). E-cigarette users had 6.17 times (95% confidence interval: 3.30-11.6) the odds of initiating cigarettes as never e-cigarette users. Results were robust to adjustment for potential confounders and in analyses restricted to never users of any combustible tobacco product. Associations were stronger in adolescents with no intention of smoking at initial evaluation. E-cigarette users were also more likely to initiate use of any combustible product (odds ratio = 4.98; 95% confidence interval: 2.37-10.4), including hookah, cigars, or pipes.
E-cigarette use in never-smoking youth may increase risk of subsequent initiation of cigarettes and other combustible products during the transition to adulthood when the purchase of tobacco products becomes legal. Stronger associations in participants with no intention of smoking suggests that e-cigarette use was not simply a marker for individuals who would have gone on to smoke regardless of e-cigarette use.
Although research suggests neighborhood‐level factors influence youth well‐being, few studies include youth when creating interventions to address these factors. We describe our three‐step process of ...collaborating with youth in low‐income communities to develop an intervention focused on civic engagement as a means to address neighborhood‐level problems impacting their well‐being. In the first step, we analyzed qualitative interviews from a project in which youth shared perceptions about their neighborhoods (e.g., interpersonal relations with neighbors and institutions). Three major themes were identified: pride in youth’s communities, desire for change, and perceptions of power and responsibility. Based on these themes, we completed the second step: developing a civic engagement and leadership program, called LEAP, aimed at helping youth take an active role in addressing neighborhood problems. In the third step, we collaborated with youth who completed a pilot version of the civic program and provided feedback to finalize it for large‐scale testing. While discussing our process, we highlight the importance of including youth voices when developing programs that affect them. Furthermore, we note the need for more research exploring whether civic engagement serves as a mechanism for encouraging youth involvement in addressing neighborhood‐level health disparities and identifying potential psychological costs of such involvement.
Highlights
Youth should have a voice in the creation and implementation of programs intended for them.
Neighborhoods may impact youth wellbeing through resource availability and a negative social mirror.
Developing programs through academic‐youth partnerships can facilitate aligning with youth’s goals.
Youth can identify and problem‐solve their neighborhood challenges as civic leaders.
We aimed to examine transgender youths' interest in receiving gender-affirming care via telemedicine or through primary care with telehealth support.
We surveyed 12- to 26-year-old transgender youth ...receiving care in a multidisciplinary gender clinic. Descriptive statistics and bivariate analyses were used to assess relationships between demographic and gender-related characteristics and interest in receiving care via telemedicine.
Almost half (47%) of the 204 youth surveyed expressed interest in receiving gender care via telemedicine. Additionally, youth with lower levels of perceived parental support were more likely to express an interest in utilizing telemedicine (p = .001). Approximately half (45%) of youth were interested in receiving gender care in the primary care setting, with a majority expressing willingness to do so if their primary care provider had telehealth support.
Many transgender youth expressed interest in receiving gender care via telehealth, particularly for ongoing care and monitoring. Increased interest in telemedicine was seen among youth with lower perceived parental support.
In the past twenty years, the countries that used to make up the former Soviet Union have seen plenty of change. There have been revolutions, youth-led protest movements, and other forms of ...incredible political upheaval. At the center of all of this were young leaders fighting to be heard and clamoring for change. In Nadia Diuk's meticulously researched and insightful book. The Next Generation in Russia, Ukraine, and Azerbaijan, she shows how those young leaders have risen up and become a part of the new political system. Using unique public opinion polling data and personal interviews, she explores how the new generation of leaders is shaping the political system and how the young people of today continue to exhort pressure for reform. This book is important to anyone interested in Eastern European studies, political transitions, protest movements, or youth and politics.
This study examined the process of establishing post homeless lives among 51 recently homeless youth in two major urban centers in Canada. A mixed methods strategy was employed to characterize this ...process. Quantitatively, a range of mental health, community integration, and quality of life measures were employed four times over the course of 1 year to describe how these indicators of wellbeing shifted in this period. It was found that over the course of 1 year gains were not made in community integration, quality of life and mental health were highly variable, and hope declined significantly. Further, it was found that youth in supported housing arrangements experienced better mental health and community integration. Qualitatively, we identified three major stages in the process of exiting homelessness. These stages included a period of substantial fluctuation and instability, a period of gaining a basic level of stability but being demoralized due to difficulties making progress with life goals, and a period of making some gains with life goals which cultivated a sense of hope. Progress across these stages, which took place in a timeframe considerably longer than 1 year, was characterized by a range of setbacks, individual and systemic challenges, and trauma which were addressed through a persistent effort facilitated by youth resilience and key supports.
Research has shown that sports participation is positively related to youth developmental outcomes, but it is still unknown if sports participation relates to these outcomes among socially vulnerable ...youth. Hence, this research aimed to examine the relationship between sports participation and youth developmental outcomes (i.e., problem behaviour, pro-social behaviour, school performance, subjective health, well-being, self-regulation skills, and sense of coherence) for socially vulnerable youth. In addition, the stability of the relationship between sports participation and the youth developmental outcomes were investigated with a six-month interval.
Two identical questionnaires were administered with a six-month interval by youth professionals from four youth organisations, measuring the youth developmental outcomes and sports participation rates of socially vulnerable youth. In total, 283 socially vulnerable youths (average 14.68 years old) participated at baseline and 187 youths after six months.
The results showed that sports participation was positively related to pro-social behaviour, subjective health, well-being, and sense of coherence at both measurements. We found no evidence for the relationship between sports participation and problem behaviour and the self-regulatory skills. In addition, sports participation was only positively related to school performance at the first, but not at the second, measurement.
The results of this study show that there are positive relationships between sports participation and several youth developmental outcomes. Based on the current data no conclusions can be drawn about the causal relationship between sports participation and youth developmental outcomes. Given the focus of policymakers and health professionals on sport as a means to achieve wider social and educational outcomes for young people, including in the Netherlands, further research is needed to shed light on the relationship between sports participation and youth developmental outcomes for socially vulnerable youth, with a special focus on this group's heterogeneity.
Trialregister.nl NTR4621 Date of Registration: 2 June 2014 (retrospectively registered).
Diagnoses of type 1 and type 2 diabetes in youths present a substantial clinical and public health burden. The prevalence of these diseases increased in the 2001-2009 period, but data on recent ...incidence trends are lacking.
We ascertained cases of type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus at five study centers in the United States. Denominators (4.9 million youths annually) were obtained from the U.S. Census or health-plan member counts. After the calculation of annual incidence rates for the 2002-2012 period, we analyzed trends using generalized autoregressive moving-average models with 2-year moving averages.
A total of 11,245 youths with type 1 diabetes (0 to 19 years of age) and 2846 with type 2 diabetes (10 to 19 years of age) were identified. Overall unadjusted estimated incidence rates of type 1 diabetes increased by 1.4% annually (from 19.5 cases per 100,000 youths per year in 2002-2003 to 21.7 cases per 100,000 youths per year in 2011-2012, P=0.03). In adjusted pairwise comparisons, the annual rate of increase was greater among Hispanics than among non-Hispanic whites (4.2% vs. 1.2%, P<0.001). Overall unadjusted incidence rates of type 2 diabetes increased by 7.1% annually (from 9.0 cases per 100,000 youths per year in 2002-2003 to 12.5 cases per 100,000 youths per year in 2011-2012, P<0.001 for trend across race or ethnic group, sex, and age subgroups). Adjusted pairwise comparisons showed that the relative annual increase in the incidence of type 2 diabetes among non-Hispanic whites (0.6%) was lower than that among non-Hispanic blacks, Asians or Pacific Islanders, and Native Americans (P<0.05 for all comparisons) and that the annual rate of increase among Hispanics differed significantly from that among Native Americans (3.1% vs. 8.9%, P=0.01). After adjustment for age, sex, and race or ethnic group, the relative annual increase in the incidence of type 1 diabetes was 1.8% (P<0.001) and that of type 2 diabetes was 4.8% (P<0.001).
The incidences of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes among youths increased significantly in the 2002-2012 period, particularly among youths of minority racial and ethnic groups. (Funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.).
To estimate the association between same-sex marriage legalization and deaths by suicide among youth.
The study used country-level suicide data sourced from the Global Burden of Disease Study for all ...36 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries for the period 1991–2017. We analyzed the suicide rates of all youth, male youth, and female youth aged 10–24 years using multiple policy-evaluation methods—difference-in-differences, matrix completion, and generalized synthetic control via expectation-maximization—to estimate the impact of same-sex marriage legalization at the country level. Secondary analysis considered several covariate specifications, evaluated the immediacy and persistence of the estimated associations, and assessed whether any observed association was limited to early adopters of same-sex marriage.
The state-of-the-art matrix completion analysis indicated that same-sex marriage legalization was associated with a decline in the youth suicide rate of 1.191 deaths per 100,000 individuals (95% CI = −1.66, −.64; p < .001), corresponding to a reduction of 17.90% compared to the youth suicide rate at the time of legalization. This decline was most pronounced in males for whom the suicide rate fell by 1.993 (CI = −2.76, −1.12; p < .001) compared to a decrease of .348 for female youth (CI = −.60, −.06; p = .02), corresponding to decreases of 19.98% and 10.90%, respectively. These associations persisted after legalization, but to differing degrees depending on model specification.
Developed countries that are yet to legalize same-sex marriage have an opportunity to put downward pressure on youth suicide.
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