Search

Background: Energy drinks (ED) are popular among young people despite evidence of associated health risks. Research into the prevalence and pattern of ED intake among young people is sparse. The present study investigates the prevalence and pattern of ED intake among a large sample of adolescents, including how many consume them, how often, for what reasons and in what contexts. Methods: In 2018, all students in grades 7-12 attending 25 randomly selected Western Australian schools were invited to complete an online self-report survey about EDs. Results: Of the 3688 respondents, 51.2% reported consuming an ED. Of these 'ever consumers', 23.4% drank them monthly, 19.2% weekly and 2% every day. The average age of first intake was 10.7 years. One-fifth (19.7%) of 'ever consumers' reported consuming more than two EDs in 1 day. Reasons for ED use included taste, to boost energy levels, sport performance and studying. Conclusions: The findings add to limited international evidence about adolescent ED use and provide valuable information to help ensure interventions to reduce intake address the underlying reasons and contexts of ED consumption.

Aim Poorer physical and mental health often accompany loss of walking in Duchenne muscular dystrophy. This study assessed the impacts of powered wheelchair standing device (PWSD) use on muscle and joint pain, joint angles when standing and mental health in adolescents with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Methods Fourteen adolescents and parents participated in a stepped wedge design study over 12 months. During a baseline and intervention period, adolescents described pain and mental health, and parents reported their child's mental health. Video data were collected to measure hip, knee and ankle joint angles in the preferred standing position. Results Compared with baseline and adjusting for covariates, standing wheelchair use was associated with no change in muscle or joint pain or videoed joint angles in standing. Child-reported Strengths and Difficulties total scores decreased (coefficient -3.1, 95% confidence interval -4.6, -1.5); and parent-reported Personal Adjustment and Role Skills Scale total scores increased (coefficient 7.9, 95% confidence interval 3.3-12.5). Conclusions PWSD use was associated with maintenance of musculoskeletal status and advantages to mental health. Long-term observations are necessary to improve understanding of how to support wellbeing in adolescents with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Despite the extensive evaluation of school-based interventions for bullying, victimization remains a significant problem in schools. Bullying victimization is significantly predicted by contextual (school-related) factors. As a consequence whole-school programs have been commonly used to prevent and reduce bullying victimization. Evidence also points to individual risk factors (such as emotional distress) in predicting victimization, yet programs to prevent bullying victimization by changing these individual risks are far less developed. Few studies have approximated "real-world" implementation conditions in their trials. The current effectiveness trial evaluated the combination of a whole-school program designed to prevent bullying perpetration and victimization together with a targeted intervention for at-risk students, teaching them individual and dyadic strategies to reduce their anxiety and manage victimization, allowing schools some latitude to implement programs as they typically would. Students from Grades 3 and 4 (N = 8,732) across 135 schools were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: combined intervention; whole-school intervention only; individual intervention only; and care as usual. Victimization decreased significantly and similarly across all four conditions at 12 and 24 months following baseline. Similar reductions and failure to discriminate conditions were found on other key constructs: anxiety; bullying perpetration; and depression. Possible reasons for the failure to demonstrate victimization prevention differences and lessons learned from this large, effectiveness trial are considered.

Background/aim Although previous research has demonstrated the benefits of targeting self-regulation in non-Aboriginal children, it is unclear whether such programs would be effective for Aboriginal children attending school in remote communities. Some of these children have been diagnosed with a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) impairing their ability to self-regulate. The aim of this article is to describe a three phase formative process to develop and pilot a curriculum version of the Alert Program®, a promising intervention for improving self-regulation that could be used in remote community schools. This modified version of the program will be subsequently tested in a cluster randomised controlled trial. Methods A mixed methods approach was used. Results Modifications to the Alert Program®, its delivery and evaluation were made after community and stakeholder consultation facilitated by a senior Aboriginal community researcher. Changes to lesson plans and program resources were made to reflect the remote community context, classroom environment and the challenging behaviours of children. Standardised study outcome measures were modified by removing several questions that had little relevance to the lives of children in remote communities. Program training for school staff was reduced in length to reduce staff burden. Conclusions This study identified aspects of the Alert Program® training, delivery and measures for evaluation that need modification before their use in assessing the efficacy of the Alert Program® in remote Aboriginal community primary schools.

Increasingly, researchers are required to obtain active (explicit) parental consent prior to surveying children and adolescents in schools. This study assessed the potential bias present in a sample of actively consented students, and in the estimates of associations between variables obtained from this sample. Students (n = 3496) from 36 non-government metropolitan schools in Perth, Western Australia completed an online survey in 2010 as part of the Cyber Friendly Schools Project. Students with active (35%) and passive (65%) parental consent were compared on a range of variables including demographic, bullying and social–emotional outcomes. The moderating effects of consent status were also tested. Comparisons of the two consent groups showed that older students and students involved in problem behaviours such as bullying others, with lower pro-social scores, who lived with one parent and reported doing less well academically than their peers, were underrepresented in the sample with active parental consent. Additionally, consent status was a significant moderator of the associations between bullying victimisation and certain social–emotional variables. Active only parental consent leads to biased samples and biased estimates of associations between outcomes of interest, which could lead to miss-targeted behavioural policies and interventions. Strategies to boost response rates to levels sufficient to warrant the conduct of the research are labour-intensive and costly, and the obtained samples are still likely to be biased. For low risk research, such as bullying surveys, rigorous active–passive consent procedures which result in higher participation rates, lower costs and reduced burden on teachers and schools, are recommended.

Background Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a disorder in which the tempo of disease progression is highly variable, and prognostic markers that can be utilized at diagnosis are regarded as clinically important. Currently, there are several prognostic factors, such as immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgV H) mutational status, and ZAP-70 protein expression in neoplastic B-cells, that have demonstrated significant discriminative power in the prognostication of CLL. They are, however, largely unavailable in the routine diagnostic laboratory setting. Methods In this study, we characterized the IgVH status and ZAP-70 expression by molecular techniques in a cohort of 108 patients with CLL, and correlated these results with three different methods of ZAP-70 expression by flow cytometry. We then assessed the results of these methods in terms of prognostic power as characterized by time to first treatment (TTFT). Results By comparing three different flow cytometry methods using receiver-operator curve (ROC) analysis, we identified that by utilizing a corrected mean fluorescence intensity (CorrMFI) algorithm for assessing ZAP-70 expression, there was good correlation with both IgVH mutational status, and ZAP-70 expression as assessed by qPCR. We were also able to show that ZAP-70 expression, as assessed by both qPCR and the CorrMFI method, was prognostic of TTFT. Conclusions While confirmation in a larger patient cohort, with longer follow-up is required, we believe that the CorrMFI represents the most promising method currently available in a routine diagnostic setting for the assessment of ZAP-70 expression in CLL patients. © 2013 International Clinical Cytometry Society

A group randomized controlled trial tested the efficacy of the Friendly Schools program to reduce student bullying behaviour. This socio‐ecological intervention targeted the whole school, classroom, family, and individual students to reduce bullying behaviour. Self‐report data were collected in 29 schools over three years from a cohort of 1968 eight to nine‐year‐olds. Surveys measured frequency of being bullied, bullying others, telling if bullied and observing bullying. Results indicate that intervention students were significantly less likely to observe bullying at 12, 24 and 36 months and be bullied after 12 and 36 months, and significantly more likely to tell if bullied after 12 months than comparison students. No differences were found for self‐reported perpetration of bullying. The findings suggest whole‐of‐school programs that engage students in their different social contexts appear to reduce their experiences of being bullied and increase their likelihood of telling someone if they are bullied.

BACKGROUND: Adolescence is a time of great change. For most young people, this is a healthy and happy experience; however, for some it is characterized by many health, social, and academic challenges. A student's feeling of connectedness to school helps meet these challenges. Little is known, however, about the school characteristics that promote this connection and, more importantly, how this connection occurs. This article reviews the connectedness literature and integrates health promotion, adolescent development, and ecological frameworks to describe how a school context fosters this connection. METHOD: A systematic search and review process was used to retrieve scholarly articles pertaining to the research topic. RESULTS: Each retrieved article was summarized, and a subsequent model was developed to define a school ecology and describe how this ecology influences a student's need to feel connected to school and the positive influence this connection has on adolescent health and well-being. CONCLUSIONS: Integrating developmental, ecological, and health promotion intervention theories and frameworks assists in the identification of interpersonal and organizational aspects of a school environment, which satisfy an individual's needs to feel autonomous, competent, and connected, and to improve health and well-being outcomes for adolescents.

Aims To determine the impact of a school-based harm minimization smoking intervention compared to traditional abstinence-based approaches. Design, setting and participants A school-based cluster randomized trial was conducted in Perth, Western Australia in 30 government high schools from 1999 to 2000. Over 4000 students were recruited to participate and schools were assigned randomly to either the harm minimization intervention or a standard abstinence-based programme. Intervention The harm minimization intervention comprised eight 1-hour lessons over 2 years, quitting support from school nurses and enactment of policies to support programme components. Comparison schools implemented standard abstinence-based programmes and policies. Measures Cigarette smoking was categorized at two levels: regular smoking, defined as smoking on 4 or more days in the previous week; and 30-day smoking as any smoking within the previous month. Findings At immediate post-test (20 months post-baseline), after accounting for baseline differences, school-level clustering effects, socio-economic status, gender and family smoking, intervention students were less likely to smoke regularly [OR = 0.51, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.36, 0.71] or to have smoked within the previous 30 days (OR = 0.69, 95% CI = 0.53, 0.91). Conclusion The school-based adolescent harm minimization intervention appears to have been more effective than the abstinence-based social influences programme at reducing regular smoking.

Researchers examined the relationship between self-esteem and smoking behavior among Japanese elementary and junior high school students. Students (2,090) in fourth to ninth grade from three elementary schools and two junior high schools in the Hyogo and Niigata prefectures completed an anonymous questionnaire. Self-esteem was measured using the Harter Perceived Competence Scale, the Pope Self-Esteem Scale, and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Results indicated that never smokers had higher cognitive, family, and global self-esteem, but lower physical self-esteem than ever smokers. Grade and gender were significantly associated with self-esteem, showing a decrease of self-esteem with increases in grade and a higher level of self-esteem among boys than girls. The results suggest that effective smoking prevention programs for Japanese early adolescents should be integrated into more comprehensive health education or health promotion programs including self-esteem enhancement training.

About the Editors vii About the Contributors ix Preface xii Part I Introduction 1 1 Research Into Cyberbullying: Context 3 Qing Li, Peter K. Smith, and Donna Cross Part II European Studies Within a DAPHNE Project 13 2 Comparative Aspects of Cyberbullying in Italy, England, and Spain: Findings From a DAPHNE Project 15 Maria Luisa Genta, Peter K. Smith, Rosario Ortega, Antonella Brighi, Annalisa Guarini, Fran Thompson, Neil Tippett, Joaquin Mora-Merchan, and Juan Calmaestra 3 Self-Esteem and Loneliness in Relation to Cyberbullying in Three European Countries 32 Antonella Brighi, Giannino Melotti, Annalisa Guarini, Maria Luisa Genta, Rosario Ortega, Joaquin Mora-Merchan, Peter K. Smith, and Fran Thompson 4 Cyberbullying in Finland 57 Christina Salmivalli and Virpi Poyhonen Part III Studies in Commonwealth Countries 73 5 Cyberbullying in Australia: Is School Context Related to Cyberbullying Behavior? 75 Donna Cross, Therese Shaw, Melanie Epstein, Helen Monks, Julian Dooley, and Lydia Hearn 6 Predicting Student Behaviors: Cyberbullies, Cybervictims, and Bystanders 99 Qing Li and Tak Fung Part IV Studies in the USA 115 7 An Examination of the History, Prevalence, Characteristics, and Reporting of Cyberbullying in the United States 117 Brett Holfeld and Mark Grabe 8 Cyberbullying in the United States 143 Sheri Bauman Part V Studies in the Pacific Rim 181 9 Cyberbullying in Japan: Cases, Government Reports, Adolescent Relational Aggression, and Parental Monitoring Roles 183 Ikuko Aoyama, Shoka Utsumi, and Motohiro Hasegawa 10 Cyberbullying in South Korea 202 Neil Tippett and Keumjoo Kwak Part VI The Psychological Context of Cyberbullying 221 11 Virtual but not Less Real: A Study of Cyberbullying and Its Relations to Moral Disengagement and Empathy 223 Ana Almeida, Isabel Correia, Sylvie Marinho, and D Jamila Garcia 12 Cyberbullying and Traditional Bullying: Unique, Additive, and Synergistic Effects on Psychological Health Symptoms 245 Ersilia Menesini, Pamela Calussi, and Annalaura Nocentini 13 Motives for Bullying Others in Cyberspace: A Study on Bullies and Bully-Victims in Austria 263 Petra Gradinger, Dagmar Strohmeier, and Christiane Spiel Part VII Research and Intervention in Cyberbullying 285 14 Understanding and Preventing Cyberbullying: Where Have We Been and Where Should We Be Going? 287 Donna Cross, Qing Li, Peter K. Smith, and Helen Monks Index 306

The past two decades witnessed dramatic growth in support for comprehensive school health promotion. Yet, many questions about its effectiveness and feasibility remain unanswered. This article poses several research and policy questions, the answers to which may help to shape the future of school health programs in this country.