4 Troubled Teens Blog

Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, depression and other pediatric mental health issues are more likely to drop out of school, according to a new study from Australia.

Study author Steven Lehrer, a professor at Queens University, believes that since poor mental health has an impact on how long children and teenagers stay in school, policymakers should consider how to identify such issues in early childhood and develop interventions.

This study, published in the Forum for Health Economics and Policy, won the RAND Corporations Fuchs Research Award.

Lack of sleep may cause depression in teenagers, according to Dr. Allison Harvey, a psychologist at the University of California. Previously, most experts believed that depression caused lack of sleep.

• Dr. Harvey noted that one in five teenagers experiences depression -- and of that group, one in three will not respond to treatment.
• She and her colleagues are studying 60 middle and high school students at the UC Sleep and Psychological Disorders Laboratory.
• If their theories are correct, sleep could become a treatment option for depressed teenagers.

Studies show that very few teenagers get the recommended nine hours of sleep per night; in fact, the average is seven hours of nightly shuteye.

About 19 million new cases of sexually transmitted infections occur every year, with half of them among young people ages 15 to 19 years old, according to new estimates from the Centers for Disease Control.

• There were 1.2 million new cases of Chlamydia and about 337,000 cases of gonorrhea in 2008, the year of the latest report.
• Young women ages 15 to 19 years old had the most new cases of any other age group.
• Girls are at higher risk, because these diseases, if left untreated, can cause infertility, pregnancy problems, and infections in newborns.

Dr. John Douglas, director of the division of sexually transmitted diseases in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that better sex education could help.

"We are not honestly and openly dealing with this issue and of the larger issue of sexual health," Dr. Douglas said.

The Toledo Botanical Garden has developed an outreach program aimed at helping troubled teenagers. The program, Toledo Grows, helps teenagers develop good work habits and other skills that can benefit them their entire lives.

Toledo Blade food editor Kathie Smith reported on the program in a Nov. 15 article:

The chickens were raised for eight to 10 weeks by Toledo Grows, which employs about 100 youth in partnership with the Community Integration & Training for Employment (CITE) job-training program of the Lucas County Juvenile Justice Division. Toledo Grows is an outreach effort of Toledo Botanical Garden.

"The program helps teenagers form work habits and transferable skills that will benefit them throughout their whole lives," said Michael Szuberla, Toledo Grows manager. "Some of the things are punctuality, reliability, attention to detail, team work, pattern recognition, and delayed gratification. The teens are at risk for poverty, pregnancy, drug addiction, and delinquency.

"This program is an oasis for them. It's like going to the farm in the country. They are safe. It's a relaxing place to be. It allows them to think about who they want to become and to formulate career goals and formulate a plan to achieve them."

In the past six months, four students in Kaukauna (Wisconsin) High School committed suicide. In response to this ongoing tragedy, parents and community leaders are calling for heightened awareness of suicides warning signs.

In the Nov. 11 edition of the Post-Crescent newspaper, J.E. Espino reported on the schools efforts to raise awareness about teen suicide:

Because of the domino effect one suicide can have in a community, a growing chorus is calling for heightened awareness. Local suicide prevention advocates are forming coalitions. There is chatter at high schools, colleges and churches.

With suicide the third-leading cause of death among young people 15 to 19, the aim is to pierce the cloak of secrecy and stigma that surrounds it. &

We want to have it in the forefront so people are talking about it, said Mary Sullivan, a liaison for Community for Hope of the Fox Cities, a spin-off of the group in Oshkosh with the same name. The Fox Cities group is looking for volunteers and financial support to set up shop.

The Alberta Teachers Association (ATA) has partnered with the Canadian Mental Heath Associations (CMHA) Alberta division to raise awareness about mental health issues among school-aged children, and raise money to support CMHAs programs.

An Aug. 14 release on the ATA website provides the following details about the effort:

"Mental illness, even in moderate cases, can affect a child's relationships with family and friends, their physical health and their school performance," says Jonathan Teghtmeyer, an executive staff officer with the ATA.

Teachers see many students suffering from stress, depression, eating disorders, self-abuse, and even thoughts of suicide, Teghtmeyer says. "While such problems are family and health issues, they're also educational concerns because they affect a child's ability to learn. Teachers play an important role because they'll often notice a student's mental health situation before the child's parents or medical practitioners."

The objective of the ATA campaign is to increase awareness of mental health concerns and to raise funds to support the work of the CMHA.

It's also hoped that the project will help teachers recognize the symptoms of mental illness in their students and learn how best to handle situations that arise in the classroom due to mental illness. Several ATA locals are already involved in activities to support the work of the CMHA.

Ron Huberman, the chief executive officer of Chicagos violence-plagued public school system is working to improve the lives of students who are at greatest risk. A Nov. 4 editorial in the New York Times lauded the Hubermans efforts:

The ambitious plan will offer mentoring, counseling and jobs to high-risk students. To determine who they are, Mr. Huberman analyzed the cases of more than 500 young people who were killed or wounded in gun violence over the last two years. The analysis suggests that nearly 10,000 of the citys 113,000 high school students are at risk of becoming victims of gun violence and need help.

Their lives follow a clear pattern. They are absent from school more than 40 percent of the time, on average. They have fallen behind and are more likely to be enrolled in special education. And they generally attend 38 of the citys nearly 140 public high schools. &

The plan & deserves full and enthusiastic support from the city, community groups and from the business community, which could play an essential role by providing the young participants with jobs.

According to a Oct. 15 article on the LasVegasNow website, homeless teens in Nevadas Clark County can get help from the Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth (NPHY) by sending a text message to a special number:

By texting the word "Safe" and an address, teens can get a text message back with the nearest Safe Place location and a toll free number for immediate help.

Whether they are being abused or just need someone to talk to, organizers hope teens will text for help. "If we get to them before their 18th birthday, if we get to them while they're still in school and working towards goals, then we can help them pursue those goals and become protective members of society," said [said NPHY's Tim Mullin].

Teens have to text the word Safe and their address to 69866. they'll get a text message right back with the nearest Safe Place location.

A British study found that people who eat junk food are more likely to be depressed. Though the study focused on adults, the results could bode ill for young people who are developing poor eating habits.

• Dr. Archana Singh-Manoux and her colleagues studied more than 3,500 middle-aged people, dividing them into two groups.
• The first group ate a diet of wholesome foods, such as fruits, vegetables and fish.
• The second group ate a diet of mainly processed foods, such as fried foods, processed meats and desserts.
• People in the second group had a 58 percent higher risk for depression.

Dr. Singh-Manoux reported being unsure if this finding could be explained by some other lifestyle factors not considered in the study, which appears in the British Journal of Psychiatry.

Any parent whose teenager has been involved with unhealthy or otherwise destructive behaviors knows how hard it can be, and may have even been tempted to give up. But in an article on the website of California's KFAX radio, Mark Gregston of Heartfelt Ministries urged parents to hang in there -- and appreciate small victories:

It's easy to be so overwhelmed by problems with your teen's behavior that you fail to recognize any progress. Progress is not "problem solved." Progress means steady improvement.

So, if your child is screaming at you every day, and then only yells at you once every other day - then that's progress! Finishing some of his homework, when he previously did no homework, is progress.

Effective parenting requires that you look at the big picture while focusing on just a few problems at a time; then applauding any progress, no matter how small.

Refuse to make your teen's lack of a complete turnaround to be your constant disappointment. Turnarounds rarely happen overnight. Instead, applaud every step in the right direction, even if it is a small one.