4 Troubled Teens Blog

The Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare will receive nearly $500,000 dollars from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Associated Press has reported:

The grant will be used to fund a collaboration with a local treatment facility. The Meta House allows children to enter residential programs with their mothers. That allows the family to remain together while the mother gets substance-abuse treatment.

Officials told the AP that supporting the whole family is important and that, when mothers seek help for addiction, their children are often at risk. The Meta House works to counteract that risk by keeping the family together, they said.

Labels: parental_involvement, mothers, grants, family

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The Maaco repair shop in Clarksville, Tennessee, fills up with teenagers every Saturday morning -- but they're not showing up just to hang out and look at cars. According to an Associated Press article by Tavia Green, the young people are participating in Project 59, an initiative aimed at giving troubled teens a chance to get their lives back on track.

Project 59 is an initiative through Operation Turnaround, a Clarksville Police Department program that gives teens who have been in trouble with the law a chance to get their lives back on track. Through mentorship from officers and volunteers, students learn trades and are better equipped to make good choices.

Maaco owner Mitch Rollins explained: "This is a car that nobody wanted. It was shunned, put away from society, and nobody wants to look at it. That's the way (these children) feel when they are incarcerated. They lose their self-respect and self-esteem. We show them how to rebuild that through the car."

Sgt. John Hunt, a director and mentor with Operation Turnaround, said the project will give the participants training they can use to better their future. Communication skills, a sense of responsibility, commitment, team-building and problem-solving skills, along with discipline, can all be accomplished if the teens take the project seriously, he said.

When the teens have finished restoring the 1959 Pontiac Catalina, the vehicle will be auctioned off to raise funds to help further the program, Green reported. Rollins told the AP that he hopes the car will sell for about $40,000.

Labels: prevention, troubled_teenagers, mentoring

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A study in Massachusetts has found that the cities with the highest school dropout rates are also the cities with the highest teen pregnancy rates. Each year, about 10,000 kids drop out of Massachusetts schools, and 25 percent of them are pregnant or already parents.

"Obviously, preventing kids from getting pregnant in the first place is the best solution here. To that end, kids need better sex ed in schools, access to birth control, and reasons to delay sex and pregnancy," the Boston Globe reported in an article on the research. "And the girls who are already mothers need someone to care for their babies while they go to school."

Unfortunately, school budgets are about to get cut again, and child care funds for teen mothers are also expected to be reduced. Some in Massachusetts are protesting this move, saying it will cost less now to ensure these kids get educated than it will cost to take care of them in the future when theyre unemployable.

Labels: pregnancy, dropouts

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A meeting held Thursday night in Rock Hill, South Carolina, sought ideas for stemming the tide of youth violence. During the sixty-minute gathering, ideas included scholarships for teens who report violent crimes and a community march.

"The meeting came less than a week after a shootout on Catherine Street in Rock Hill that left one teenager dead, another injured and one more charged with murder," South Carolina newspaper The Rock Hill Herald reported. "Days before, another teen was robbed, shot and killed on a Byars Street porch.

The Emmett Scott Centers community room was filled to near-capacity as residents, pastors, parents and police officers came together to search for solutions, the paper noted. Though many good suggestions were generated, meeting organizers say the real measure of success will be implementation of these ideas.

Labels: violence, prevention

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No one is better at texting than a teenager. Now, this ability can not only keep them in touch with friends, it can keep them safe.

A new program from the Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth is taking advantage of the texting craze, according to an Oct. 15 report on CBS Channel 8's Las Vegas Now website:

The National Safe Place Campaign hopes texting will make the program more teen-friendly and make it easier for teens to reach out when they need help.

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. It's available 24-hours a day.

Labels: text_messaging, safety

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Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) in children can predict later anxiety disorders and depression in young adulthood, according to a new study in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry. The study also found that adolescent depression predicts young adult depression.

• Researchers studied data from the Great Smoky Mountains study, a longitudinal study of the development of psychiatric disorders in rural and urban youth.
• Participants were assessed at age 9 to 12 years old, again at ages 13 to 16 years old, and still again at ages 19 to 21 years old.
• Substance use disorders, antisocial personality disorders, and anxiety disorders predicted similar problems in adulthood.

This study was conducted by researchers with Duke University Medical Center and the University of North Carolina.

Labels: depresion, anxiety, oopositional defiant disorder

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A controversial study from Cardiff University in Great Britain found that children who eat sweets and chocolate every day are more likely to become violent adults.

Dr. Simon Moore and his colleagues evaluated data on 17,500 people and found that almost 70 percent of those who had eaten sweets every day as children became violent adults by age 34 years old.

"Not being able to delay gratification may push them towards more impulsive behavior, which is strongly associated with delinquency," said Dr. Moore. "Targeting resources in improving children's diet may improve health and reduce aggression."

Labels: violence, behavioral_issues, diet

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A new study found that European doctors are less likely to diagnose children with bipolar disorder than are their American counterparts. About one-fourth of European children with the disorder have delays in their medical diagnosis of up to three and a half years.

• Professor Immaculada Canales and her colleagues found that part of the problem is the difficulty in analyzing the symptoms of bipolar disorder in children.
• Symptoms can include irritability, behavioral disorders, lack of attention, hyperactivity, and depression.
• These symptoms are similar to other pediatric mental disorders.
• Children with bipolar disorder are less likely to show classic bipolar symptoms like euphoria and expansiveness that adult patients do.

Some studies have shown that 60 percent of adults with bipolar disorder had symptoms of the disorder before age 20.

Labels: bipolar

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Researchers with Temple University have discovered that teenagers develop intellectual maturity before they become emotionally mature.

• Dr. Laurence Steinberg and his colleagues tested 935 people, ages 10 to 30 years old to determine how maturity levels differ and develop as people get older.
  
• Differences in cognitive capacity or intellectual maturity increased from ages 11 to 16 and then showed no improvements after age 16.
  
• However, the results were different when it came to psychosocial maturity.
  
• Compared to teenagers, adults were more likely to demonstrate psychosocial maturity, which enables them to control their emotions, resist peer pressure and appreciate the risk of certain situations.

Dr. Steinberg's research is used to justify the positions of the American Psychological Association about teen pregnancy and teen criminality. In two recent court cases, the APA filed briefs that said teenagers are capable of making informed decisions about whether to end pregnancies but they lack the maturity to be held to adult levels of responsibility if they commit violent crimes.

"It is very difficult for a 16-year-old to resist peer pressure in a heated volatile situation," Dr. Steinberg said. "Most times there is no time to talk to an adult to inject some reason and reality into the situation. Many crimes committed by adolescents are done in groups with other teens that are not premeditated."

When it comes to medical decisions, Dr. Steinberg said, "Adolescents can take the time to understand and weigh options provided by health care practitioners. Rarely are these decisions made in the heat of the moment without consultation with adults. Under such circumstances, adolescents exhibit adult maturity."

The study appeared in the journal American Psychologist.

Labels: emotional_issues, teens, maturity, development

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Teens who suffer from depression are more likely than non-depressed teens to experience depression during adulthood -- which can also put them at risk for a number of other conditions, including obesity.

Adults who have depression or anxiety are one third more likely to become obese, according to a new study in the British Medical Journal.

Researchers studied 4,363 British civil servants ages 35 to 55 years old over a nine-year period. Those who had common mental health disorders were at the greatest risk for weight gain and obesity, even when other factors were excluded.

Labels: depression, obesity

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A study from Emory University in Atlanta, GA, found that teens whose brains mature more quickly than the average are more likely to take risks.

• Dr. Gregory Berns performed a new form of brain scan called diffusion tensor imaging on 91 people ages 12 to 18 years old.
  
• He also asked them about their risk-taking, including whether they drive without a license, practice unprotected sex, or use drugs.
  
• The ones who took the most risks tended to have more mature white matter in their brains.

Adolescents who engage in risky behaviors obtain more experience in a variety of domains," Dr. Berns wrote in his report. "Their more conservative peers, in contrast, do not have as much life experience and therefore might be expected to have more mature brains.

However, this was proven untrue. In other words, having a more mature brain may make some adolescents more likely to seek out new (and potentially dangerous) experiences.

Labels: research, brain_chemistry, risky_behaviors

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A study that was published in the British Journal of Psychiatry has revealed that being depressed as a teenager was a risk factor in developing adult depression and other mental health problems.

Study author Dr. Jeffrey Johnson said he was not sure if adolescent depression was an early phase of adult depressive disorder, or if it contributed to its development.

Dr. Johnson and his colleagues studied the 750 people ages 14 to 16 years old, and retested them as adults. Their risk for adult depression was four times higher if they had experienced minor depression as teenagers.

Labels: depression, mental_health

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An entrepreneur is trying to raise $3 million to set up a wilderness program for troubled teenagers in the Snowy Mountains area of Australia.

In a Sept. 28 article in the Sydney Morning Herald, Rochelle Bennett said she was inspired by her son's experience at an American wilderness camp. Her 16-year-old son was in treatment for drug and alcohol abuse.

They put over 200 kids a year through their program, Bennett told the Herald. The thing that stuck in my mind was when the kids and the staff were out in the wilderness, they came back to a place where everything was totally organized. The infrastructure really stood out.

Bennett plans to call her program"The Hero's Journey for Treatment Wilderness, Australia." It will serve youth (ages 13 to 21) who have emotional and behavioral problems.

Labels: wilderness_therapy

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Serious teen troubles may not be much to laugh at, but according to a Sept. 26 article by Maureen Magee of the Union-Tribune, some troubled teens in the San Diego area are participating in an innovative education effort that is focused on the healing power (and career potential) of laughter:

Drugs, violence, teen pregnancy and incarceration  not exactly the stuff of punch lines and laugh tracks. ...

San Diego County high school students who struggle to cope with these issues are confronting them head-on in an unlikely stand-up-comedy class that also serves as therapy of sorts.

Paid for with $6,500 in federal stimulus money, this new course was designed for students who are interested in the entertainment industry. But it has also helped teenagers face their demons and relate to classmates at the county Office of Education community school in National City. ...

About 20 students enrolled in the course, "Laughter Is the Best Medicine," this year. It's taught by Sandi C. Shore, who hails from a family that's well-versed in comedy.
"These kids have been through a lot. I am blown away at their honesty and their creativity -- they don't hold anything back," said Shore.

Labels: education, laughter

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Because symptoms of mild depression can be subtle, few people recognize them. And those who do rarely seek help, believing that mild depression is something they should be able to handle on their own.

However, as relationship coach Susan Britt wrote in the Sept. 25 edition of the Gloucester (Mass.) Daily Times, depression isn't something that a sufferer can overcome through willpower alone:

More than 14 million Americans suffer some degree of depression. Many do not seek treatment because they don't recognize the symptoms: a loss of self-esteem and interest in life, appetite and sleep changes, difficulty remembering and concentrating, frequent periods of negativity or sadness. You don't need to experience all or even most of these symptoms to be depressed. ...

When considering all the possible contributing factors, it becomes apparent that depression has little or nothing to do with free will. It is also important to understand that because genetics and physiology are not a matter of choice, sufferers cant just "snap out of" depression. No one chooses to be depressed. ...

Depression can be successfully treated. Take the first step toward recovery for yourself or someone you care for by reaching out for help.

Labels: depression, treatment_programs

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Just two weeks into the new school year, a group of troubled teens is facing uncertainty. The alternative school they were attending in the greater London area has closed its doors.

According to the British newspaper The Harrow Observer, the closure was met with harsh criticism:

The decision to close the centre has been condemned by Stonebridge ward Councillor, Colum Maloney, who said, "In my opinion these vulnerable kids have been completely abandoned. Some of them face massive disruption at vital times of their education and no one seems to want to take any responsibility."

The decision to close the school was made by Edutrust Academies Charitable Trust (EACT), which said the center was no longer viable. The Brent Alternative Education Service says it is arranging alternative schooling.

Labels: schools, england

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