Effects of peer network interactions on adolescent cannabis use

Purpose
This study capitalises on three waves of longitudinal data from a cohort of 4351 secondary school pupils to examine the effects on individuals’ cannabis use uptake of both peer cannabis use and position within a peer network.

Design/methodology/approach
Both cross-sectional and individual fixed effects models are used to estimate the effect on cannabis use of nominated friends’ cannabis use, of reciprocity and transitivity of nominations across the friendship cluster, and of interactions between these nominated friends. Post hoc analyses parsed the behaviour of reciprocating and non-reciprocating friends.

Findings
Cannabis use varied depending on the stability of friendship network and the degree of reciprocity and interconnectedness within the group. Behavioural influence was strong, but interaction effects were observed between the prevalence of cannabis use among friends, the structure of the friendship group and ego’s proximity to group members. These interactions demonstrate that behavioural influence is more salient in more cohesive groups. When reciprocating and non-reciprocating friends’ mean cannabis use were separated, influence from reciprocating friends was estimated at twice the magnitude of other friends.

Originality/value
While preventing any one individual from using cannabis is likely to have a multiplier effect on classmates, the bonds and interactions between classmates will determine which classmates are affected by this multiplier and the salience of that effect.

Exploring the Influence of Reporting Delay on Criminal Justice Outcomes: Comparing Child and Adult Reporters of Childhood Sexual Abuse

Delay between disclosure and reporting child sexual abuse is common and has significant implications for the prosecution of such offenses. While we might expect the relationship to be a linear one with longer delay reducing the likelihood of prosecution, the present study confirms a more complex interaction. Utilizing data from 2,079 police records in Northern Ireland, the study investigated the impact of reporting delay on pretrial criminal justice outcomes for child and adult reporters of child sexual abuse. While teenagers were found to be the group most disadvantaged by reporting delay, increased delay actually appeared advantageous for some groups, notably adult females reporting offenses that occurred when they were 0 to 6 years old. Conversely, adult males reporting child sexual abuse did not appear to benefit from increased delay, suggesting both an adult and gender bias within decision-making processes. The implications for future research are discussed. 

Early childhood neurodevelopment after intrauterine growth restriction: a systematic review

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Children who experienced intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) may be at increased risk for adverse developmental outcomes in early childhood. The objective of this study was to carry out a systematic review of neurodevelopmental outcomes from 6 months to 3 years after IUGR.

METHODS: PubMed, Embase, PsycINFO, Maternity and Infant Care, and CINAHL databases were searched by using the search terms intrauterine, fetal, growth restriction, child development, neurodevelopment, early childhood, cognitive, motor, speech, language. Studies were eligible for inclusion if participants met specified criteria for growth restriction, follow-up was conducted within 6 months to 3 years, methods were adequately described, non-IUGR comparison groups were included, and full English text of the article was available. A specifically designed data extraction form was used. The methodological quality of included studies was assessed using well-documented quality-appraisal guidelines.

RESULTS: Of 731 studies reviewed, 16 were included. Poorer neurodevelopmental outcomes after IUGR were described in 11. Ten found motor, 8 cognitive, and 7 language delays. Other delays included social development, attention, and adaptive behavior. Only 8 included abnormal Doppler parameters in their definitions of IUGR.

CONCLUSIONS: Evidence suggests that children are at risk for poorer neurodevelopmental outcomes following IUGR from 6 months to 3 years of age. The heterogeneity of primary outcomes, assessment measures, adjustment for confounding variables, and definitions of IUGR limits synthesis and interpretation. Sample sizes in most studies were small, and some examined preterm IUGR children without including term IUGR or AGA comparison groups, limiting the value of extant studies.

Awareness of sunburn in childhood, use of sunbeds and change of moles in Denmark, Northern Ireland, Norway and Sweden

Background: Malignant melanoma (MM) is increasing rapidly in Northern Europe. To reduce incidence and mortality through earlier diagnosis, public awareness of MM is important. Thus, we aim to examine awareness of risk factors and a symptom of MM, and how awareness varies by country and socio-demographic factors in Denmark, Northern Ireland (NI), Norway and Sweden.

Methods: Population-based telephone interviews using the ‘Awareness and Beliefs about Cancer’ measure were conducted in 2011 among 8355 adults ≥50 years as part of the International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership Module 2. Prevalence ratios (PRs) with 95% confidence intervals were calculated.

Results: In these four countries, lowest awareness was found for ‘sunburn in childhood’ (63%), whereas awareness was high for ‘use of sunbeds’ (91%) and ‘mole change’ (97%). Lack of awareness of ‘sunburn in childhood’ was more prevalent among respondents from Norway [PR = 1.38 (1.28–1.48)] but less prevalent among respondents from Northern Ireland (NI) [PR = 0.78 (0.72–0.85)] and Sweden [PR = 0.86 (0.79–0.93)] compared with respondents from Denmark. Lack of awareness of ‘use of sunbeds’ was more prevalent among respondents from Norway [PR = 2.99 (2.39–3.74)], Sweden [PR = 1.57 (1.22–2.00)], and NI [PR = 1.65 (1.30–2.10)] compared with respondents form Denmark. Being a man, age ≥70, living alone, and having lower education, were each independently associated with lack of MM-awareness.

Conclusions: The results indicate relatively low awareness of ‘sunburn in childhood’ as a risk factor for MM, and important disparities in MM-awareness across countries and socio-demographic groups. Improved and more directed initiatives to enhance public MM-awareness, particularly about ‘sunburn in childhood’, are needed.

Diabetes in the young - a global view and worldwide estimates of numbers of children with type 1 diabetes

This paper describes the methodology, results and limitations of the 2013 International Diabetes Federation (IDF) Atlas (6th edition) estimates of the worldwide numbers of prevalent cases of type 1 diabetes in children (<15 years). The majority of relevant information in the published literature is in the form of incidence rates derived from registers of newly diagnosed cases. Studies were graded on quality criteria and, if no information was available in the published literature, extrapolation was used to assign a country the rate from an adjacent country with similar characteristics. Prevalence rates were then derived from these incidence rates and applied to United Nations 2012 Revision population estimates for 2013 for each country to obtain estimates of the number of prevalent cases. Data availability was highest for the countries in Europe (76%) and lowest for the countries in sub-Saharan Africa (8%). The prevalence estimates indicate that there are almost 500,000 children aged under 15 years with type 1 diabetes worldwide, the largest numbers being in Europe (129,000) and North America (108,700). Countries with the highest estimated numbers of new cases annually were the United States (13,000), India (10,900) and Brazil (5000). Compared with the prevalence estimates made in previous editions of the IDF Diabetes Atlas, the numbers have increased in most of the IDF Regions, often reflecting the incidence rate increases that have been well-documented in many countries. Monogenic diabetes is increasingly being recognised among those with clinical features of type 1 or type 2 diabetes as genetic studies become available, but population-based data on incidence and prevalence show wide variation due to lack of standardisation in the studies. Similarly, studies on type 2 diabetes in childhood suggest increased incidence and prevalence in many countries, especially in Indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities, but detailed population-based studies remain limited.

Alcohol attention bias in adolescent social drinkers: an eye tracking study

Rationale
Previous research on attention bias in nondependent social drinkers has focused on adult samples with limited focus on the presence of attention bias for alcohol cues in adolescent social drinkers.
Objectives
The aim of this study was to examine the presence of alcohol attention bias in adolescents and the relationship of this cognitive bias to alcohol use and alcohol-related expectancies.
Methods
Attention bias in adolescent social drinkers and abstainers was measured using an eye tracker during exposure to alcohol and neutral cues. Questionnaires measured alcohol use and explicit alcohol expectancies.
Results
Adolescent social drinkers spent significantly more time fixating to alcohol stimuli compared to controls. Total fixation time to alcohol stimuli varied in accordance with level of alcohol consumption and was significantly associated with more positive alcohol expectancies. No evidence for automatic orienting to alcohol stimuli was found in adolescent social drinkers.
Conclusion
Attention bias in adolescent social drinkers appears to be underpinned by controlled attention suggesting that whilst participants in this study displayed alcohol attention bias comparable to that reported in adult studies, the bias has not developed to the point of automaticity. Initial fixations appeared to be driven by alternative attentional processes which are discussed further.

The Sociology of Children, Childhood and Generation

Outlining sociology’s distinctive contribution to childhood studies and our understanding of contemporary children and childhood, The Sociology of Children provides a thought provoking and comprehensive account of the connections between the macro worlds of childhood and the micro worlds of children’s everyday lives.

Examining children’s involvement in areas such as the labour market, family life, education, play and leisure, the book provides an effective balance between understanding childhood as a structural phenomenon, and recognising children as meaning makers actively involved in constructing, co-constructing and reconstructing their everyday lives.

Through the concept of 'generagency' Madeleine Leonard offers a model for examining and illuminating how structure and agency are activated within interdependent relationships influenced by generational positioning. This framework provides a conceptual tool for thinking about the continuities, challenges and changes that impact on how childhood is lived and experienced.

Childhood, Rights and Justice in Northern Ireland

Building on primary research and previous publications (Haydon, 2012; Haydon, 2014; Haydon and Scraton, 2008; McAlister, Scraton and Haydon, 2009; Scraton and Haydon, 2002), this chapter will provide a critical analysis of children’s rights and youth justice in Northern Ireland. More broadly, it will consider recent research concerning the criminalisation of children and young people in the United Kingdom and profound concerns regarding the policing and regulation of children raised in successive concluding observations about the UK Government’s implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, 1995, 2002, 2008). From this generic context, the chapter will map the ‘particular circumstances’ of Northern Ireland - a discrete legal jurisdiction to which powers for justice and policing were devolved only in 2010. Emerging from four decades of conflict and progressing through an uneasy ‘peace’, rights-based institutions and enabling legislation have, in principle, promoted and protected human rights. Yet children and young people living in communities marginalised by poverty and the legacy of conflict continue to experience inconsistent formal regulation by the police and the criminal justice system, while enduring often brutal informal regulation by paramilitaries. The chapter will explore evident tensions between the dynamics of criminalisation and promotion/ protection of children’s rights in a society transitioning from conflict. Further, it will analyse the challenges to securing children’s rights principles and provisions within a hostile political and ideological context, arguing for a critical rights-based agenda that promotes social justice through rights compliance together with policies and practices that address the structural inequalities faced by children and young people.

Vaccinations and childhood type 1 diabetes mellitus: a meta-analysis of observational studies

Aims/hypothesis The aim of this study was to investigate the association between routine vaccinations and the risk of childhood type 1 diabetes mellitus by systematically reviewing the published literature and performing meta-analyses where possible.

Methods A comprehensive literature search was performed of MEDLINE and EMBASE to identify all studies that compared vaccination rates in children who subsequently developed type 1 diabetes mellitus and in control children. ORs and 95% CIs were obtained from published reports or derived from individual patient data and then combined using a random effects meta-analysis.

Results In total, 23 studies investigating 16 vaccinations met the inclusion criteria. Eleven of these contributed to meta-analyses which included data from between 359 and 11,828 childhood diabetes cases. Overall, there was no evidence to suggest an association between any of the childhood vaccinations investigated and type 1 diabetes mellitus. The pooled ORs ranged from 0.58 (95% CI 0.24, 1.40) for the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination in five studies up to 1.04 (95% CI 0.94, 1.14) for the haemophilus influenza B (HiB) vaccination in 11 studies. Significant heterogeneity was present in most of the pooled analyses, but was markedly reduced when analyses were restricted to study reports with high methodology quality scores. Neither this restriction by quality nor the original authors’ adjustments for potential confounding made a substantial difference to the pooled ORs.

Conclusions/interpretation This study provides no evidence of an association between routine vaccinations and childhood type 1 diabetes.