BACKGROUND Female distance runners are predisposed to thinness for performance reasons and at greater risk for health-related consequences than the general population. OBJECTIVES The aim of the study was to evaluate the secular trends in thinness among competitive distance runners in Japanese high schools with sex-specific comparison. METHODS Body mass index (BMI) were analysed in 9,881 fem...

In many low-income countries, girls marry early and have children very soon after marriage. Although conveying infant and young child nutrition (IYCN) knowledge to adolescent girls in time is important to ensure the well-being of their children, little is known about the best ways to convey these messages. This study examines the extent of, and sources from which adolescent girls derive IYCN kn...

Adolescent boys must cope with physical changes that hamper their ability to form a positive body image. Sociocultural messages influence the concepts of body image, personal appearance, and weight, encouraging men to develop lean and muscular bodies. The current study examined adolescent boys' body image and its relationship to their subjective well-being (SWB) and the effect of the parent-ado...

BACKGROUND Menarche is a milestone for adolescent girls. The timing of menarche is influenced by genetics, social status and nutritional status (e.g., height, weight and body mass index [BMI]) and impacts future health (e.g., obesity and breast cancer). There have been many studies on trends in age at menarche among adolescent girls in China, but few have investigated associations between growt...

Menarche is an important milestone in the development of female adolescents. The study assessed the age at menarche using recall, its seasonality, and association with marital and nutritional status (using mid-upper arm circumference [MUAC]) among 3,923 female adolescents aged 12-19 years in a rural area of Bangladesh. At the time of assessment, most (88%) adolescents had attained menarche at t...

Clinical diagnoses of emotional problems and depression are serious global health care issues among children and adolescents in today’s society. Global estimates of the prevalence of childhood and adolescent emotional problems and depression have been found to be growing worldwide. Anxiety and mood disorders are very common emotional problems or disorders identified among this population. Simil...

OBJECTIVE Motivational interviewing to reduce alcohol and marijuana use among incarcerated adolescents was evaluated. METHOD Adolescents (N = 162, 84% male; M = 17.10 years old) were randomly assigned to receive motivational interviewing or relaxation training, with follow-up assessment 3 months after release. RESULTS Compared with those who received relaxation training, adolescents who rec...

BACKGROUND Alcohol represents a major public health challenge in South Africa, however little is known about the correlates of alcohol use among rural adolescents. This article examines community influences on adolescents' use of home-brewed alcohol in a rural region of South Africa. METHOD A total of 1600 high school adolescents between 11 and 16 years of age participated in this study. Seve...

This study examined the relative influence of three parenting behaviors (support, behavioral control, and psychological control) and deviant peers on trajectories of externalizing and internalizing problems in early adolescence. A white, working-to-middle-class sample of adolescents and their mothers and fathers in two-earner families participated in a 32-year longitudinal study (N = 109 famili...