Basic auditory processing skills and phonological awareness in low-IQ readers and typically developing controls

We explore the relationships between basic auditory processing, phonological awareness, vocabulary, and word reading in a sample of 95 children, 55 typically developing children, and 40 children with low IQ. All children received nonspeech auditory processing tasks, phonological processing and literacy measures, and a receptive vocabulary task. Compared to age-matched controls, the children with low IQ and low reading skills were significantly impaired in auditory and phonological processing, whereas the children with low IQ and preserved reading skills were not. There were also significant predictive relations between auditory processing and single word reading. Poor auditory processing was not dependent on low IQ, as auditory processing was age appropriate in the low-IQ children who were good readers.

Adolescent men's attitudes and decision-making in relation to an unplanned pregnancy. Responses to an interactive video drama

This study confronts a gender bias in research on adolescent pregnancy by exploring adolescent men’s decisions relating to a hypothetical unplanned pregnancy. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with adolescent men (N = 360) aged between 14 and 18 years attending schools in the Republic of Ireland. The study, the first of its kind in Europe, extends the small body of evidence on adolescent men and pregnancy decision-making by developing and examining reactions to an interactive video drama used in a comparable study in Australia. In addition, we tested a more comprehensive range of sociological and psychological determinants of adolescent men’s decisions regarding an unplanned pregnancy. Results showed that adolescent men were more likely to choose to keep the baby in preference to abortion or adoption. Adolescent men’s choice to continue the pregnancy (keep or adopt) in preference to abortion was significantly associated with anticipated feelings of regret in relation to abortion, perceived positive attitudes of own mother to keeping the baby and a feeling that a part of them might want a baby. Religiosity was also shown to underlie adolescent men’s views on the perceived consequences of an abortion in their lives.

The causal attributions of nursing students towards adolescent survivors of brain injury

Background: The hidden nature of brain injury means that it is often difficult for people to understand the sometimes challenging behaviors that individuals exhibit. The misattribution of these behaviors may lead to a lack of consideration and public censure if the individual is seen as simply misbehaving.

Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the impact of visual cues indicating the presence or absence of brain injury on prejudice, desire for social interaction, and causal attributions of nursing and computing science students.

Method: An independent-groups design was employed in this research, which recruited 190 first-year nursing students and 194 first-year computing science students from a major university in Belfast, UK. A short passage describing an adolescent’s behavior after a brain injury, together with one of three images portraying a young adolescent with a scar, a head dressing, or neither of these, was given to participants. They were then asked to answer questions relating to prejudice, social interaction, locus of control, and causal attributions. The attributional statements suggested that the character’s behavior could be the result of brain injury or adolescence.

Results: Analysis of variance demonstrated a statistically significant difference between the student groups, where nursing students (M = 45.17, SD = 4.69) desired more social interaction with the fictional adolescent than their computer science peers (M = 38.64, SD = 7.69). Further, analysis of variance showed a main effect of image on the attributional statement that described adolescence as a suitable explanation for the character’s lack of self-confidence.

Discussion: Attributions of brain injury were influenced by the presence of a visible but potentially specious indicator of injury. This suggests that survivors of brain injury who do not display any outward indicator may receive less care and face expectations to behave in a manner consistent with the norms of society. If their injury does not allow them to meet with these expectations, they may face public censure and discrimination.

Epidemiology of Adolescent Rugby Injuries: A Systematic Review

OBJECTIVE: Despite recent increases in the volume of research in professional rugby union, there is little consensus on the epidemiology of injury in adolescent players. We undertook a systematic review to determine the incidence, severity, and nature of injury in adolescent rugby union players.

DATA SOURCES: In April 2009, we performed a computerized literature search on PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Controlled Trials Register (via Ovid). Population-specific and patient-specific search terms were combined in the form of MEDLINE subject headings and key words (wound$ and injur$, rugby, adolescent$). These were supplemented with related-citation searches on PubMed and bibliographic tracking of primary and review articles.

STUDY SELECTION: Prospective epidemiologic studies in adolescent rugby union players.

DATA SYNTHESIS: A total of 15 studies were included, and the data were analyzed descriptively. Two independent reviewers extracted key study characteristics regarding the incidence, severity, and nature of injuries and the methodologic design.

CONCLUSIONS: Wide variations existed in the injury definitions and data collection procedures. The incidence of injury necessitating medical attention varied with the definition, from 27.5 to 129.8 injuries per 1000 match hours. The incidence of time-loss injury (>7 days) ranged from 0.96 to 1.6 per 1000 playing hours and from 11.4/1000 match hours (>1 day) to 12-22/1000 match hours (missed games). The highest incidence of concussion was 3.3/1000 playing hours. No catastrophic injuries were reported. The head and neck, upper limb, and lower limb were all common sites of injury, and trends were noted toward greater time loss due to upper limb fractures or dislocations and knee ligament injuries. Increasing age, the early part of the playing season, and the tackle situation were most closely associated with injury. Future injury-surveillance studies in rugby union must follow consensus guidelines to facilitate interstudy comparisons and provide further clarification as to where injury-prevention strategies should be focused.

Alcohol and the affluence paradox: A secondary analysis exploring the health disparities surrounding adolescent alcohol use and alcohol related harm in adulthood

Several studies have shown social differences in alcohol consumption, and social inequalities of harm related to alcohol use and abuse. However, relationships between the position in the socio-economic spectrum, alcohol use, and alcohol-related health problems are not clear cut. While there is some evidence of social gradients or associations between indicators of deprivation and some adolescence outcomes (e.g. externalising behaviour), the evidence regarding associations between socio-economic status and alcohol-related problems in adolescence is more conflicting. A major problem in studying socio-economic inequalities in adolescent health is related to the paucity of measures of socio-economic status in adolescence that are both conceptually and methodologically sound.
The aims of this study were to investigate socio-economic differences in pathways from onset to establishment of drinking patterns in adolescence, assess the consequences of these pathways in terms of alcohol related harm, and to consider the causal mechanisms that may contribute to socio-economic differences in drinking pathways and outcomes

Adolescent part-time work and heavy drinking in Finland

Aims To examine the relationship between part-time work and heavy drinking among Finnish adolescents.