Open Access in JAH
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.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.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.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].Advances in Understanding Intergenerational Transmission of Parenting Practices and the Role of Safe, Stable, and Nurturing Relationships: Comments on a Promising Approach, Practical Application, and Some Cautions
It was almost 30 years ago that I first began focusing my research efforts on understanding the antecedents and consequences of child abuse and neglect. Those of us interested in providing an empirical foundation for preventive and ameliorative interventions were met with statements from federal funding agencies as well as scholars [1], challenging us to update the research base in this relatively new interdisciplinary field because the empirical work was considered to be severely limited, owing in large part to the reliance on cross-sectional designs involving poorly defined constructs of the major variables of interest (i.e., maltreatment).Bullying and Suicide: A Public Health Approach
Several recent studies have found an association between bullying and depression [1] or bullying and suicide-related behaviors [2], and one study found evidence consistent with a causal link, at least for girls [3,4]. These studies, in conjunction with extensive media coverage of the deaths by suicide of several young people who were victims of bullying, led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to convene an expert panel focusing on the relationship between bullying involvement and suicide-related behaviors.Strengthening Global Programs and Policies for Youth Based on the Emerging Science
The focus of the Wingspread consultation was to explore the implications of recent research in the fields of epigenetics, adolescent neurodevelopment, and neurobiology on adolescent health. Specifically, its goal was to explore policies, programs, and future research directed to critical health concerns affecting youth that have implications for a range of noncommunicable conditions with lifelong consequences. The focus was on low- and middle-income countries.Prospective Findings From the 1993 Pelotas (Brazil) Birth Cohort Study
This supplement to the Journal of Adolescent Health is devoted to understanding the health and well-being of adolescents by taking the long view of this period of the life cycle. The articles herein analyze data collected from conception through age 15 from 4,500 individuals born in the city of Pelotas, Brazil, in 1993. The analyses provide us with not just a snapshot of adolescents' current health status, but rather an entire movie depicting the life-course trajectories and the emergence of health outcomes of this population during adolescence.Cohorts in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: From Still Photographs to Full-Length Movies
In recent years, the amount of information available on the health status of children and—to a lesser extent—adolescents living in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) has been massively expanded. Population-based surveys, repeated every 5 years or so, are now available for >100 LMICs, providing information on nutritional status, health-related behaviors, morbidity, and mortality [1]. These include Demographic and Health Surveys ( http://www.measuredhs.com/aboutsurveys/dhs/start.cfm ) and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys ( http://www.childinfo.org/ ).The New Imperative: Reducing Adolescent-Related Violence by Building Resilient Adolescents
Involvement in violence is affected by a variety of risk factors and timing, duration, number of risks, and intensity of risk factors. The earlier the exposure to risk starts, the longer the exposure continues, the number of risks one is exposed to, and intensity of the risk factors experienced are all important. A child who is severely beaten, sexually abused, or both; one who grows up witnessing intimate partner or family violence; one who attends a failing school or is not involved in structured after-school activities; or one who lives in a violent neighborhood is at increased risk of becoming involved in violent behavior.
