Labels: education, students

A month ago, JP Blanchard, a junior at Gunn, walked in front of a Caltrain. This week, 17-year-old Sonya Raymakers also killed herself by crossing in front of a commuter train. She was due to graduate in two weeks. Her parents are holding a funeral service on Friday.

At 8:30 p.m. [June 4], the third Gunn student, who has not been identified, was caught by his mother attempting to cross the Caltrain tracks. ...

This latest suicide attempt took place even as parents and students attended a meeting at a community center in Palo Alto to discuss suicide and depression.

"It sets up a kind of pattern where somebody has been having thoughts about it might find it easier to do," said Dr. Bruce Bienenstock, a child psychiatrist. "I think it puts us all higher on alert to be sensitive to what's going on with them right now."

Labels: suicide, teenagers

A 2008 study by America's Promise Alliance, a group founded by former Secretary of State Colin Powell, concluded that only 52 percent of students in the nation's 50 largest school systems graduate in four years.

About 57 percent of Hispanic and 53 percent of African-American students graduate with a regular diploma in four years, according to the study, which puts the national graduation rate at 70 percent.

"Finishing high school is absolutely basic to being a success at any place in our society. We can't afford this," Powell said.

"If we lose these youngsters from our educational system, it doesn't mean they're all going to jail," Powell said. "It just means they're not going to have the same earning potential as they would if they finished school. And ultimately that will affect them, and it will affect the nation."

Labels: dropouts, prevention, schools

"We're seeing more and more prescribed drug abuse among young people, and part of it is the accessibility," said Dennis McMaster, police chief at the East Pennsboro Police Department. "They're stealing it from mom and dad, grandma and grandpa." ...

Some teenagers tend to think the drugs are safer than street drugs because they've been prescribed to someone, said [Lt. Gary Seefeldt of the Lower Paxton Police Department]. But experts say they carry just as much risk.

"They sometimes carry the veneer of safety, but when kids are abusing them and using them recreationally, these are highly addicting medications," [Elizabeth Planet, who manages Columbia University's annual teen survey] said. "They're not safe when used not as prescribed."

Labels: parental_involvement, police, prescription_drug_abuse, teenagers

Labels: dating, teen_issues, violence

The Food and Drug Administration is considering whether to approve AstraZeneca's Seroquel, Pfizer's Geodon and Eli Lilly and Co's Zyprexa for children and teens with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. All three are blockbuster medicines already sold for adults.

An FDA panel meets next week to make recommendations on the companies' bids to promote the drugs for children and teens.

Doctors can already prescribe them for children, but FDA approval would allow companies to promote the drugs, with combined sales of over $10 billion a year, more widely.

Labels: antipsychotic, bipolar, children, fda, medications, schizophrenia

Labels: sleep, teens, video_games

“Many experts feel that snooping on your child does more harm than good. Spying can destroy your child’s trust and make it less likely for him to confide in you when he’s in trouble. It’s best to discuss your concerns with him, keep the lines of communication open and let him know he can talk to you about anything.”(Source: MyOptumHealth)

Labels: parental_involvement, privacy, teenagers

• Dr. Qin matched each child with another of the same sex and age who had never attempted suicide.
• Of the first group, 55 percent had changed residences more than three times, compared to 33 percent of the control group.
• Among the suicidal group, 7.4 percent had moved more than 10 times, compared to only 1.9 percent of the controls.
• Teens and pre-teens who moved six to 10 times were three times more likely to complete a suicide.

Labels: teen_suicide

Labels: smoking, teenagers, television

• Dr. Romanowicz found that a history of child abuse is linked to an increase in suicide attempts, depression, earlier onset of mental illnesses, more psychiatric hospitalizations, and higher rates of personality disorders.
• Presenting her findings at the American Psychiatric Association meeting, Dr. Romanowicz said that her study shows a need for "a more aggressive approach" to stopping child abuse.

• Prof. Wise studied records of 35,000 African-American women ages 21 to 69 years old from the Black Women Health Study.
• More than 43 percent of the women Prof. Wise studied had been physically abused, and 18 percent had been sexually abused.
• The women who had been abused as children were 26 percent more likely to menstruate early (before age 12 years old).
• Prof. Wise's study was published in the American Journal of Public Health.

Labels: child_abuse, mental_illness

• The teens and their parents were asked to answer which of seven barriers to treatment were most important.
• Parents tended to answer that none of them were important, but the teens listed "not wanting family members to know about their depression" as significant.
• Other barriers such as cost, time constraints, problems finding a doctor, or just not wanting treatment were less important to teens.

Labels: depression, teens, treatment_programs

And the boys never stopped coming. Since founding the Safe Harbor Boys Home on the St. Johns River in 1984, the Smiths have helped more than 800 boys, ages 12 to 18, get a start in life. A new Hallmark movie, "Safe Harbor," debuted [May 30] at 9 p.m. (Source: The Tampa Tribune)

Labels: boarding schools, troubled_teenagers