Open Access in JAH
Explaining Physical Health Disparities and Inequalities Over the First Half of the Life Course: An Integrative Review of Add Health Studies
This integrative review of research utilizing the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health draws on previous research detailing pathways linking early socioeconomic adversity in childhood and adolescence (Wave 1 in 1995 and prior) to physical health outcomes in young adulthood (Wave 5 in 2015). Health outcomes considered included specific diseases, disease risk, and morbidity as prospectively measured by parent-reported and self-reported health outcomes as well as clinical biomarkers.Union and Family Formation During Young Adulthood: Insights From the Add Health
Family formation patterns among US young adults are shifting, reflecting an accelerating retreat from marriage coupled with significant increases in cohabitation and nonmarital childbearing. Drawing on a selection of published longitudinal studies, this article reviews key contributions to the literature on these trends in union and family formation that have stemmed from research conducted using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, or Add Health. Add Health is integral to deciphering the adolescent precursors to young adult union formation and childbearing, allowing researchers to gauge the roles of multiple social contexts such as family, schools, peers, and adolescent romance, with attention to variation across racial-ethnic groups and by socioeconomic status.Twenty-Five Years of National-Level Research on Adolescent and Young Adult Mental Health in the United States
The longitudinal, population-level, biosocial data in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) have elucidated the developmental course of mental health across early stages of the life course. This data set also has been invaluable for documenting and unpacking disparities in these developmental patterns by race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, immigration, and sexuality. Reflecting the larger focus of this special supplement on Add Health as a tool for connecting adolescence to adulthood, this article reviews Add Health research since 2000 based on a search of key mental health terms, primarily describing patterns of two key markers of psychopathology (depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation) that were consistently measured across waves.Sexual Behavior and Health From Adolescence to Adulthood: Illustrative Examples of 25 Years of Research From Add Health
Due to its long-term longitudinal design, the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) has provided numerous valuable insights into adolescent and young adult sexual behavior. Framed by a conceptual model of sexual behavior and health, I review research using Add Health data to study sexual behavior and health. In this paper, I review research examining both predictors (e.g., neighborhood, family, genetic, individual) and health outcomes (e.g., sexually transmitted infections, mental health) of sexual behavior in adolescents and young adults.Exposure to Violence and Victimization: Reflections on 25 Years of Research From the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health
Over the past 25 years, across a wide range of academic disciplines, the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health has facilitated a wealth of research on the sources and consequences of victimization and exposure to violence (ETV). In this review, I reflect broadly on the knowledge gleaned from this impressive data source.Implications of Adolescence for Adult Well-Being: 25 Years of Add Health Research
The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) has been a data treasure for understanding the implications of adolescence for adult health and well-being. Add Health is a nationally representative U.S. sample of more than 20,000 adolescents in grades 7–12 in 1994–1995 who have been followed for 25 years to early midlife over five interview waves [1]. Novel features of the Add Health study make it especially rich for understanding the long-term consequences of adolescent contexts and behavior, both risky and resilient, on health and well-being into early midlife.Strengthening the Measurement of Adolescents' Mental Health at the Population Level
We have a notion that adolescence is a healthy time of life. Many parents wonder what is so stressful for young people who do not have the kinds of financial burdens and family worries that adults experience. Consequently, it is not uncommon for adults to dismiss the emotional concerns of their adolescent children. However, adolescence is a time of exceptionally rapid change both physically and neurodevelopmentally. As a time of numerous first experiences and exposures, the world around the adolescents changes in ways that they never experienced in childhood.The Next Phase of the Global Early Adolescent Study: Measuring How Gender Norms and Gender Inequality Intensify and Influence Health
In 2017, this journal published the first supplement of research from the Global Early Adolescent Study (GEAS), which provided a rich examination of how gender is experienced during early adolescence (ages 10–14) in low-income urban areas in 15 different countries across the world [1]. At the time, the theoretical and empirical literature on gender socialization and gender norms in adolescence had been developed primarily in high-income countries in the global North, among relatively affluent young adolescents.Leveraging Technology to Improve Health in Adolescence: A Developmental Science Perspective
As technologies continue to evolve at exponential rates, online platforms are becoming an increasingly salient social context for adolescents. Adolescents are often early adopters, savvy users, and innovators of technology use. This not only creates new vulnerabilities but also presents new opportunities for positive impact—particularly, the use of technology to promote healthy learning and adaptation during developmental windows of opportunity. For example, early adolescence appears to represent a developmental inflection point in health trajectories and in technology use in ways that may be strategically targeted for prevention and intervention.Artificial Intelligence for Personalized Preventive Adolescent Healthcare
Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are creating new opportunities for personalizing technology-based health interventions to adolescents. This article provides a computer science perspective on how emerging AI technologies—intelligent learning environments, interactive narrative generation, user modeling, and adaptive coaching—can be utilized to model adolescent learning and engagement and deliver personalized support in adaptive health technologies. Many of these technologies have emerged from human-centered applications of AI in education, training, and entertainment.Innovative Digital Technologies to Improve Adolescent and Young Adult Health
The lives of adolescents and young adults (AYAs) have become increasingly intertwined with technology. Multidisciplinary perspectives and collaboration are needed to capitalize on the strategic use of technology during key developmental windows. Technology-rich models of behavior change, with opportunities for personalizing health interventions, offer significant transformative potential to improve adolescent and young adult health. There is considerable momentum behind advancing integration of digital health technology to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the clinical encounter, and rapid advances in technology provide mechanisms for enabling AYAs to take agentic roles in promoting health practice and policy.The Integration of Innovative Technologies to Support Improving Adolescent and Young Adult Health
Generation Z are currently around 10–23 years of age and are noteworthy both for having grown up entirely in a digital age and for experiencing a portion of their formative years in the grip of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic [1,2]. The pandemic has forced many countries to rapidly transition work, education, social connection, and health care onto online platforms. Although not intended, it is poignant that this supplement about integrating innovative technologies to support improvements in adolescent and young adult (AYA) health coincides with a time when the benefits of technological reforms in health systems and health care are suddenly being realized for all age groups.New Findings From the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) Survey: Social Media, Social Determinants, and Mental Health
This supplement to the Journal of Adolescent Health highlights research from the latest Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) 2017–2018 survey, which includes data from 45 countries across Europe and North America. The articles in the supplement reflect the interdisciplinary nature of the HBSC, covering the social determinants of health, social media, mental health, and other aspects of adolescent well-being. The HBSC is a school-based survey with data collected through self-completion questionnaires administered in the classroom.Veering From a Narrow Path: The Second Decade of Social Norms Research
Adolescents and young adults, particularly young women in low- and middle-income countries, face numerous and well-documented threats to their sexual and reproductive health, including adolescent pregnancy and childbearing, much of it unintended; complications from unsafe abortions; HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections; and child marriage [1–3]. To address these challenges, governments and nongovernmental organizations have attempted a range of intervention strategies, such as comprehensive sexuality education in schools [4], youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health services [5], and cash transfers [6,7].Smart Management of a Persistently Puzzling Problem—Adolescent Obesity
Adolescent obesity, now a significant part of a worldwide epidemic among all age groups, was one of the first research topics that pioneer founders of Adolescent Medicine studied over 50 years ago [1,2]. Yet, we still lack effective solutions for this important problem.Gender, Embodiment, and Eating Disorders
Duffy et al. [1] have published an important study in the Journal of Adolescent Health about the health of transgender individuals. In a survey of 365,749 college students living in the United States, 678 (.2%) self-identified as transgender. Among those identifying as transgender, Duffy et al. observed a past-year eating disorders prevalence rate of 18% (nearly one in five) compared with rates of 1.8% and .2% for cisgender women and men, respectively. Of those transgender individuals with eating disorders, the authors observed a past-year suicide attempt prevalence rate of 75%—a figure both shocking and compelling.Unpacking the Bulk: The Need to Contextualize Weight Gain Attempts Among Adolescent Boys
As a developmental psychologist who researches gender and sexual orientation health disparities in disordered eating, I am often asked by health providers and researchers about how they should interact with male patients and research participants and what are the best questions and instruments to include. The preponderance of research on health risks associated with body image ideals across the lifespan has focused on thin-ideal internalization among girls and women. However, as evidence grows on gender differences in the phenomenology and risk factors for body image concerns, researchers and clinicians such as Nagata et al.Smartphone Ownership as a Developmental Milestone
Mobile devices and social media present risks and opportunities for adolescent well-being. As media technology has evolved, parental, research, and clinical interest in its uses and effects have grown [1,2]. As such, clinicians are commonly confronted with discussions about device use and the appropriate age at which a child should have their own smartphone. In this issue of the Journal, Moreno et al. [3] describe a qualitative study regarding smartphone ownership and use incorporating the voices of early adolescents themselves.Adolescence, Attention Allocation, and Driving Safety
Motor vehicle crashes are the leading source of morbidity and mortality in adolescents in the United States and the developed world. Inadequate allocation of attention to the driving task and to driving hazards are important sources of adolescent crashes. We review major explanations for these attention failures with particular focus on the roles that brain immaturity and lack of driving experience play in causing attention problems. The review suggests that the potential for overcoming inexperience and immaturity with training to improve attention to both the driving task and hazards is substantial.Young Driver Distraction: State of the Evidence and Directions for Behavior Change Programs
Adolescent drivers are overrepresented in distraction-related motor vehicle crashes. A number of potential reasons for such an elevated risk include driving inexperience, high adoption of communication technology, increased peer involvement, and tendency to take risks, which render young drivers particularly vulnerable. Major legislative efforts in Graduated Licensing Systems that include passenger restrictions have shown positive effects. Restrictions on cell phone use are also being introduced; however, it is challenging to enforce such regulations.Current Knowledge on Adolescent Driver Distraction
Motor vehicle collisions (crashes) are the leading cause of death to adolescents and are a major contributor to nonfatal injuries [1]. There are many contributors to crash-related morbidity and mortality of adolescents, such as inexperience and lack of skills, immaturity, and distraction [2–5]. Driver distraction is an important threat to the public health and safety of adolescent drivers, their passengers, and those with whom they share the public roadways. Currently, there is heightened awareness of driver distraction, motivated strongly by the media's interest in the effects on driving of using cell phones to talk or text; however, hand-held devices are only one source of driver distraction, and many other causes of this perennial threat to motor vehicle safety exist and need to be addressed.The Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program: An Evidence-Based Public Health Program Model
Addressing issues of adolescent health today can strengthen our nation tomorrow and beyond. In particular, preventing teen pregnancy should rank as a major priority, due to the pressing emotional, social, health, and financial consequences for both parents and their children. The stakes are high. Compared with teens who delay childbearing, teen girls who have babies are less likely to finish high school or attend college; more likely to rely on public assistance; and more likely to live in poverty as adults.Safe, Stable, Nurturing Relationships as a Moderator of Intergenerational Continuity of Child Maltreatment: A Meta-Analysis
The present paper summarizes findings of the special issue papers on the intergenerational continuity of child maltreatment and through meta-analysis explores the potential moderating effects of safe, stable, nurturing relationships (SSNRs).Examining the Role of Safe, Stable, and Nurturing Relationships in the Intergenerational Continuity of Child Maltreatment—Introduction to the Special Issue
This special issue is the result of a successful collaboration between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and researchers leading four important longitudinal studies on intergenerational patterns of violence: The Environmental Risk Longitudinal Twin Study (E-Risk) [1]; the Family Transitions Project (FTP) [2]; the Lehigh Longitudinal Study [3]; and the Rochester Youth Development Study [4]. The papers that follow investigate the role of safe, stable, and nurturing relationships and social contexts in the lives of children and their caregivers, provide insight into complex relationship factors that influence the intergenerational continuity of child maltreatment, and point to a number of important avenues to improve the lives of children and families by preventing violence and promoting health and well-being.The Complex Etiology and Lasting Consequences of Child Maltreatment
Child maltreatment is a global public health problem of epidemic proportions [1]. Internationally, the prevalence is striking, with reports suggesting that 25%–50% of children report being physically abused [1]. The annual estimates of child maltreatment in the developed world are highest in the United States: 3.4 million referrals of child abuse involved 6.2 million children in 2011 [2]. It is estimated that 1,570 of these children (or about four children every day) died as a result of child abuse and neglect [2].
