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This study describes the prevalence of suicide ideation in 109 Global School-based Health Surveys (GSHS) conducted from 2003-2010 representing 49 different countries and 266,694 school-attending students aged 13-15 years primarily living in developing areas of the World. Prevalence of suicide ideation varied widely among and between countries, regions, and by gender, with an overall mean prevalence of suicide ideation of 15.3%. When grouped by region, Africa had the highest percentage of participants reporting suicide ideation (19.8%). The wide variability in the prevalence of suicide ideation found in this study confirms that school psychologists and counselors must be prepared to deal with the unique needs and characteristics of the specific populations of youth they serve, as the needs are likely to vary substantially from locality to locality, and country to country.

The purpose of this study was to determine cigarette brand preference trends and differences in Marlboro smokers in smoking-related attitudes and behaviors from smokers of other brands. This study analyzed data from 25,027 adolescents represented in the 2000, 2003, and 2007 Philippine Global Youth Tobacco Surveys. Results indicated that from 2000 to 2007 Marlboro clearly became the most preferred brand in both boys and girls. Further, Marlboro smokers were found to exhibit a stronger commitment to smoking, to smoke more frequently, and to hold more positive images of smoking compared to other brand smokers. Tobacco control efforts in the Philippines may benefit from educational and policy initiatives that lead to aggressive counter marketing efforts to address the industry's efforts to portray positive images of smoking. (Contains 4 tables.)

This study analyzed data from 118,743 adolescents completing 30 different Global Youth Tobacco Surveys conducted in 15 different Middle Eastern countries between 1999 and 2007 to determine the proportion of young smokers who usually smoked Marlboro, other cigarette brands, or no usual brand smoked in these countries. Marlboro was the most prevalent brand smoked in 7 of the 15 Middle Eastern countries examined, the second most common brand smoked in four Middle Eastern countries, and the third most common in eight of the countries. Marlboro smokers were found to exhibit stronger commitment to smoking, to smoke more frequently, to have more close friends who smoke, to score higher on beliefs that smoking is attractive, and to score lower on the belief that smoking is harmful in comparison to other brand smokers. Understanding youth smokers' brand preferences and choices is advantageous because it provides insight into what influences young people to start and continue to smoke, and subsequently may inform smoking prevention and control strategy development. This information can be incorporated into targeted mass media campaigns and other interventions to counter advertising and marketing messages. (Contains 5 tables.)

The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between adolescent substance use and psychosocial distress indicators among 30,851 adolescents aged 11 to 16 in four countries (Philippines, China, Chile, and Namibia). Global School-Based Student Health Survey data from these countries provided information about frequency and lifetime use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs as well as items about early adolescents' feelings of loneliness, worry, hopelessness, suicide, and number of close friends. Overall, there were significant relationships between adolescent substance-use behaviors and a measure of "global" psychosocial distress for both boys and girls in all four countries and for four of the five items of psychosocial distress (often lonely, often worry, sad/hopeless, and having a suicide plan). The association between substance use and psychosocial distress was also consistent in both genders and across the four countries. These results have important implications for professionals who work with adolescent populations. (Contains 7 tables.)

Background: Smoking media literacy (SML) has been found to be independently associated with reduced current smoking and reduced susceptibility to future smoking in a sample of American adolescents, but not in other populations of adolescents. Thus, the purpose of this study was to assess SML in Vietnamese adolescents and to determine the association with smoking behavior and susceptibility to future smoking. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 2000 high school students completed the SML scale, which is based on an integrated theoretical framework of media literacy, and items assessing cigarette use. Ordinal logistic regression was used to determine the association of SML with smoking and susceptibility to future smoking. Ordinal logistic regression was also to determine whether smoking in the past 30 days was associated with the 8 domains/core concepts of media literacy which comprise the SML. Results: Smoking media literacy was lower among the Vietnamese adolescents than what has been previously reported in American adolescents. Ordinal logistic regression analysis results showed that in the total sample SML was associated with reduced smoking, but there was no association with susceptibility to future smoking. Further analysis showed that results differed according to school and grade level. There did not appear to be association of smoking with the specific domains/concepts that comprise the SML. Conclusions: The association of SML with reduced smoking suggests the need for further research involving SML, including the testing of media literacy training interventions, in Vietnamese adolescents and also other populations of adolescents. (Contains 5 tables.)

Assesses adolescents' estimations of the prevalence of alcohol and other drug use and examines the consistency between these estimations and reported use. Results reveal that students grossly overestimated the prevalence of substance use when compared to self-reports of use. Results imply the need for school personnel to provide students with accurate information regarding the actual prevalence of substance abuse. (GCP)

This study investigated the relationship between high school size and selected health characteristics among a sample of 882 college students attending the University of Idaho. Male students from smaller schools exercised less frequently, had higher body mass, considered themselves more unattractive, were more shy, and reported viewing television more frequently than males from larger high schools. Females who attended smaller high schools had higher body mass, were less satisfied with their weight, had a greater tendency toward eating disorders, and perceived themselves as less attractive and fatter than female college students from larger schools., We conducted a study of health-related characteristics of 882 college students at the University of Idaho. This group of students completed a written questionnaire that assessed: exercise frequency; body mass [...]