Preventing risky drinking by college students the focus of new Penn State study
Dec 7, 2020
Is there a simple way for parents to reduce the chance of their college-age children having problems resulting from drinking alcohol? Professor of Biobehavioral Health Robert Turrisi was recently awarded a 5-year, $3.6 million grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism to…News Topics: Substance AbuseTeens
Parental warmth on high-conflict days helps teens to feel loved
Aug 7, 2020
While parent-teen conflict is inevitable, parents expressing warmth and support on high-conflict days can bolster how much their teen feels loved, according to a study conducted by Gregory Fosco, Penn State associate professor of human development and family studies and associate director of the…
Turrisi advises parents in a new video series about teen alcohol use
May 21, 2020
Parents with questions about how to protect their teens from the dangers of alcohol and other drugs can now receive research-based advice from videos featuring Robert Turrisi, a Penn State professor of biobehavioral health with more than 35 years of experience in researching underage drinking.…
Research suggests adults, not just teens, like electronic cigarette flavors
Feb 27, 2020
On Feb. 6, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began to enforce a previously issued policy on unauthorized, flavored, cartridge-based e-cigarette products with the goal of addressing the current epidemic of youth use of e-cigarettes. A new study by researchers at Penn State finds that…
Parents and communities can help prevent teen vaping, experts say
Feb 20, 2020
As vaping becomes more prevalent in high schools and middle schools, parents and communities can take steps to help prevent teens from vaping or engaging in other risky behaviors, according to experts at Penn State. Melissa Tomascik, prevention coordinator for the PROSPER (PROmoting School-…
Preventing Teen Substance Abuse
Apr 9, 2019
While legislators and researchers work together to develop treatment options and solutions for the nationwide opioid crisis, community members, schools and caregivers have turned their focus to developing ways to protect future generations from substance abuse. To help build resilient families in…
Opioid addiction treatment in teens focus of new project
Apr 4, 2019
Substance use disorders continue to rise at alarming rates among adolescents, with opioid abuse contributing to this significant public health problem. A Penn State researcher and his team will receive over $1.8 million over three years from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to investigate how…
Families and schools may play key roles in promoting adolescent self-confidence
Mar 14, 2019
Self-confidence is critical for teens as they prepare for the challenges of adulthood, and both families and schools may together play a vital role in boosting adolescents’ confidence even in the face of difficulties with family, according to researchers. The researchers examined how a variety of…
Penn State researchers contribute to special section on puberty research
Mar 14, 2019
Puberty is a distinct developmental period with unique research opportunities, according to a group of current and former Penn State researchers who collaborated on several papers that comprise a special section on puberty in the current Journal of Research on Adolescence (JRA). “With fewer papers…
Depression screening rates remain low among adolescents
Feb 27, 2019
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is increasing among U.S. adolescents, while screening rates for depression remain low and insufficient in addressing the rising mental health crisis, according to data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. A research team lead by Deepa Sekhar, associate…
How teens deal with stress may affect their blood pressure, immune system
Dec 18, 2018
Most teens get stressed out by their families from time to time, but whether they bottle those emotions up or put a positive spin on things may affect certain processes in the body, including blood pressure and how immune cells respond to bacterial invaders, according to Penn State researchers. The…
Regular bedtimes and sufficient sleep for children may lead to healthier teens
Dec 6, 2018
Having a regular, age-appropriate bedtime and getting sufficient sleep from early childhood may be important for healthy body weight in adolescence, according to researchers at Penn State. The researchers identified groups of children by bedtime and sleep routines and tested longitudinal…
Depression screening project benefits from Community Engagement Studios
Nov 29, 2018
Penn State College of Medicine’s Dr. Deepa Sekhar will partner with six urban Pennsylvania public high schools and involve more than 9,000 students in research to address the rise of depression and suicide in children. Sekhar’s team is studying use of a school-based screening for clinical…
How winning friends may influence adolescent behaviors
Sep 20, 2018
Adolescents may get by with a little help from their friends, but, according to Penn State researchers, friend selection and friend influence, as well as gender, may all play a role in establishing friendships that can help, or possibly hurt, them. In a study of adolescent friendship networks, the…
New research shows sexual abuse unique risk factor for teenage pregnancy
Sep 12, 2018
Children who suffer childhood sexual abuse early are more likely to engage in risky sexual behaviors, adolescent pregnancy, and teenage motherhood, according to new Penn State research. The findings are important, because becoming a mother during adolescence can have consequences for not only the…
Sekhar begins Community-Engaged Research Core Faculty Fellowship
Sep 11, 2018
There’s a difference between simply including in a research study the people a scientist wants to help and partnering with those people in the research process. That’s a lesson Dr. Deepa Sekhar learned while studying ways to better detect high-frequency noise-induced hearing loss in teenagers. She…
Self-control develops gradually in adolescent brain
Aug 15, 2018
Different parts of the brain mature at different times, which may help to explain impulsive behaviors in adolescence, suggest researchers from Penn State and the University of Pittsburgh. The team discovered that the brain’s salience network, a group of regions that work together to help people…
Eating iron-fortified grain improves students’ attention, memory
Jul 18, 2018
Adolescent students in a rural school in India who consumed an iron-biofortified version of the grain pearl millet exhibited improved attention and memory compared to those who consumed conventional pearl millet, according to Penn State researchers. The results were published July 17 in the…
Students who think their parents approve of drinking may drink more
Mar 19, 2018
Teens may act like they’re not listening, but students who think their parents are more accepting of drinking tend to drink more in college, according to researchers. The researchers asked students about their drinking habits and how much they believed their parents were accepting of them drinking…
Spicing it up: High school students may prefer seasoned veggies over plain
Mar 6, 2018
High school students prefer vegetables seasoned with herbs and spices, rather than plain veggies, according to Penn State researchers, who add this may lead to students liking and eating more vegetables, and result in less food waste in schools. The researchers asked high school students to rate…