Social control and strenuous exercise among late adolescent college students: Parents versus peers as influence agents

In the context of a model of health-related social control, we compared the associations among social control strategies, affective and behavioral reactions, and exercise for parental and peer influence agents. Late adolescent college students (n = 227) completed questionnaires that focused on social control from a parent or a peer who attempted to increase their exercising. Results from this cross-sectional study revealed that most relationships in the model were similar for parent and peer influence agents, however, (a) negative social control was a stronger predictor of reactance among parents than peers; (b) positive affect was a stronger predictor of attempts to change among peers than parents; and (c) positive affect predicted frequency of strenuous exercise only among parents. Decreasing parents' use of negative social control strategies and increasing adolescents' positive affective reactions to parental social control agents may be keys to promoting positive lifestyle changes in late adolescence.     

Attention to novelty in behaviorally inhibited adolescents moderates risk for anxiety

Background:  Individual differences in specific components of attention contribute to behavioral reactivity and regulation. Children with the temperament of behavioral inhibition (BI) provide a good context for considering the manner in which certain components of attention shape behavior. Infants and children characterized as behaviorally inhibited manifest signs of heightened orienting to novelty. The current study considers whether this attention profile moderates risk for clinical anxiety disorders among adolescents with a history of BI.
Methods:  Participants were assessed at multiple time points for BI, beginning in early childhood. At adolescence, event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during a three-stimulus auditory novelty oddball task, which employed frequent standard and infrequent deviant tones as well as a set of complex, novel sounds. Clinical diagnosis was carried out using the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children-Present and Lifetime Version (K-SADS-PL). P3 and mismatch negativity (MMN) components were examined at midline frontal, central, and parietal electrode sites.
Results:  Individuals who displayed high levels of BI during childhood and increased P3 amplitude to novelty in adolescence were more likely to have a history of anxiety disorders compared to behaviorally inhibited adolescents with lower P3 amplitudes. Groups did not differ on measures of MMN.
Conclusions:  Increased neural responses to novelty moderate risk for anxiety disorders amongst individuals with a history of BI.     

青春期少女不同月经模式的生殖内分泌代谢调查研究

目的：探讨青春期少女不同月经模式的生殖内分泌代谢状态。方法：100例青春期月经异常的患者，按不同月经模式分为A、B、C3组，即月经稀发者38例（A组），继发闭经者26例（B组），功能性子宫出血者36例（C组）。32例正常月经、年龄相似的少女为对照组。对所有月经异常者E1服达英一35，伴胰岛素抵抗者加二甲双胍治疗。用放射免疫法测定血清促卵泡生成素（FSH）、促黄体生成素（LH）、雌二醇（E2）、睾酮（T）、雄烯二酮（A）、瘦素（1eptin）、空腹血糖（FEG）及空腹胰岛素（FINS）水平。同时测定胰岛素抵抗（IR）指数及体重指数（BMI）。结果：100例青春期月经异常患者性激素水平有不同程度的改变。其中LH/FSH、T、A、leptin水平显著高于对照组（P〈0．01），A、B组与c组A、leptin之间差异有统计学意义（P〈0．05），但T、LH/FSH各组之间差异无统计学意义（P〉0．05）。C组36例中有24例LH／FSH、T水平符合多囊卵巢综合征（PODS），占66．6％。所有月经异常患者中伴肥胖31例，占31％。FINS、leptin水平肥胖与非肥胖之间差异有统计学意义（P〈0．05），T、A水平差异无统计学意义（P〉0．05）；肥胖组IR指数及BMI均高于非肥胖组；IR指数、FINS、BMI比较差异均有统计学意义（P〈0．01）。经治疗后，各组血清T、LH／FSH、A、leptin、FINS水平较用药前显著下降（P〈0．01）。停药后均能自然行经3--8个月，治疗期间月经规则，月经量较治疗前增多，效果较显著。结论：青春期月经异常者性激素代谢改变多数与PCOS的特点相似，纠正高T、FINS及IR是恢复正常月经周期的关键。     

Prevalence and abuse of psychoactive substances in children and adolescents

The present study has been carried out in the slum areas of Gorakhpur city, covering a population of 10,187 in the four colleges of Gorakhpur. Five hundred and eighty children and adolescents in urban slums, and 750 college students between 10–18 years were studied by means of a questionnaire card for detection of prevalence rate and various others co-relates of abuse of psychoactive substances. Overall, prevalence of abuse of psychoactive substances was 25% in slum areas, and 18% in college students. Abuse of tobacco was most frequent (50.3% & 72.5%) followed by that of alcohol (11.7% & 16.2%) in both the groups respectively. Cannabis was also used by some children (0.6%). More abusers were from Hindu families with low educational status and low family income. Surprisingly no one was found to be abusing tablets and street drugs.     

Effects of childhood exposure to familial alcoholism and family violence on adolescent substance use,conduct problems,and self-esteem

Exposure to familial alcoholism has been associated with many behavioral and emotional difficulties among offspring. However, few studies have examined environmental risks that often coexist with familial alcoholism, and which may influence the development of offspring psychosocial problems. This study examined potential additive and interactive effects of childhood exposure to family violence and childhood exposure to familial alcoholism on adolescent functioning. Three domains of adolescent functioning were examined in a high-risk community sample of 109 families: lifetime levels of substance use, conduct disorder behaviors, and self-esteem. Results indicated that both childhood exposure to familial alcoholism and childhood exposure to family violence were associated with psychosocial functioning of offspring during adolescence, although the relations differ according to domain of functioning and gender.     

Body build from birth to adulthood and risk of asthma

BACKGROUND: Few reports aimed at the study of adulthood obesity and asthma have taken into account the effects of size at birth and obesity in adolescence. This paper examines the combined effect of size at birth and obesity in both adolescence and adulthood on the risk of asthma at age 31 years. METHODS: The study was derived from a prospectively population-based Finnish birth cohort born in 1966, for which data were collected in pregnancy and at various ages. Adulthood doctor-diagnosed asthma with current symptoms and results of skin prick tests were obtained in 1997. The analysis was limited to 4719 subjects with complete information on asthma and atopy and anthropometric measures at various ages. RESULTS: Ponderal index at birth had a U-shaped association with adult atopy, OR 1.30 (95% CI: 1.11-1.52) for the lowest tertile and OR 1.33 (95% CI: 1.13-1.55) for the highest tertile, as compared to the middle tertile. The association was independent of obesity later in life. Those obese (BMI > or = 95th percentile) in adolescence (OR 2.09, 95% CI: 1.23-3.57) and in adulthood (OR 1.99, 95% CI: 1.14-3.47) had a higher occurrence of adult asthma than those with BMI < 85th percentile. Both estimates were reduced after mutual adjustment. CONCLUSIONS: Size at birth has a long-lasting effect on atopy in adulthood, which is independent of weight in adolescence and adulthood. Those who were obese in adolescence and adulthood tended to have a higher risk of asthma in adulthood. These findings underline the importance of considering the life course of obesity in the analyses of asthma and atopy.     

Asperger's disorder: a case report of repeated stealing and the collecting behaviours of an adolescent patient

OBJECTIVE: To discuss special behavioural problems shown by a patient with Asperger's disorder from adolescence onward. METHOD: The case and treatment of a 21-year-old male patient is described. RESULTS: A 21-year-old male developed obstinate stealing behaviours when he was 17 years old. He was regarded as a schizophrenic at first, and was suspected of kleptomania later. Asperger's disorder was diagnosed after we reconsidered the relationship between the schizoid psychopathy in childhood and the stealing behaviours which occurred in adolescence. CONCLUSION: A wide variety of bizarre behaviours and so-called borderline behaviours occur in late adolescence and adult life of patients with Asperger's disorder. But classic schizophrenia is very rare. Psychiatrists unacquainted with the clinical diagnosis/context may find it difficult to evaluate 'concrete', 'childish', or 'bizarre' symptoms in patients with Asperger's disorder, and thus are prone to misdiagnose them as having schizophrenia disorders or other similar disorders.