DID YOU KNOW...??
Condoms Proven to Protect Against Virus
For the first time, scientists have proof that condoms offer women impressive protection again the virus that causes cervical cancer. A three-year study of female college students - all virgins at the start - found that women whose partners always wore a condom during sex were 70% less likely to become infected with the human papilloma virus, or HPV, than those whose partners used protection less than 5% of the time. Condoms have been shown convincingly to prevent pregnancy and AIDS. But conservatives who want to see abstinence taught in schools have long argued that condoms do not protect well against diseases such as HPV, because men can spread the virus to women from sores on their genitals outside the area covered by a condom. However, the researchers at the University of Washington found that the chances of HPV being spread that way appear to be small. In the HPV study, published in the June 15, 2006, New England Journal of Medicine, none of the women who reported that their partners always used condoms developed lesions during the three-year period.
Study Shows Link Between High Risk Behaviors and Depression
A new study supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) shows that teens who exhibit high levels of risky behaviors, such as experimenting with drugs, have an increased risk of developing symptoms of depression. In girls, there was a risk for depression even with low or moderate levels of risky behaviors. NIDA says healthcare providers may need to consider depression as they screen youth for substance abuse and other behaviors. Among boys, most, but not all risk profiles were associated with a greater likelihood of depressive symptoms, compared to abstainers. Boys who drank alcohol and who were binge drinkers were about two-and-one-half times as likely to experience symptoms of depression, while those who abused intravenous drugs were about six times as likely to have symptoms of depression as boys who abstained completely. For one of the risky behaviors - exchanging sex for money or drugs - girls were seven times more likely than boys to report depressive symptoms. The relationship between mental health and substance abuse is now a new issue. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) estimates that 50-75% of patients in substance abuse treatment have co-occurring mental illness, and 20-50% of those treated in mental health settings have co-occurring substance abuse. The study, which incorporates data from almost 19,000 teens, was published in the May 15, 2006 issue of the Archives of Women's Mental Health.
Study Indicates Multiracial Youth May Have Higher Risk of Substance Use
Multiracial children in the U.S. may be at higher risk of problem behaviors including substance abuse and violence than monoracial youth, and relationships between ethnic identity and racial discrimination may play a significant role in those behaviors, according to a recently published study. The study shows that multiracial youth are significantly more likely than monoracial youth to have ever smoked, drunk alcohol, initiated marijuana uses and to ever have gotten drunk or high on drugs. Read more about this study and the actions that coalitions can take in the June 2006 issue of Research Into Action. Go to
www.coalitioninstitute.org/Coalition_Resources/CoalitionResourcesHome.asp
Study Indicates Multiracial Youth May Have Higher Risk of Substance Use
Multiracial children in the U.S. may be at higher risk of problem behaviors including substance abuse and violence than monoracial youth, and relationships between ethnic identity and racial discrimination may play a significant role in those behaviors, according to a recently published study. The study shows that multiracial youth are significantly more likely than monoracial youth to have ever smoked, drunk alcohol, initiated marijuana uses and to ever have gotten drunk or high on drugs. Read more about this study and the actions that coalitions can take in the June 2006 issue of Research Into Action. Go to
www.coalitioninstitute.org/Coalition_Resources/CoalitionResourcesHome.asp
Study Indicates Multiracial Youth May Have Higher Risk of Substance Use
Multiracial children in the U.S. may be at higher risk of problem behaviors including substance abuse and violence than monoracial youth, and relationships between ethnic identity and racial discrimination may play a significant role in those behaviors, according to a recently published study. The study shows that multiracial youth are significantly more likely than monoracial youth to have ever smoked, drunk alcohol, initiated marijuana uses and to ever have gotten drunk or high on drugs. Read more about this study and the actions that coalitions can take in the June 2006 issue of Research Into Action. Go to
www.coalitioninstitute.org/Coalition_Resources/CoalitionResourcesHome.asp