Jim Liebelt's Youth Culture Watch

What's Hot? 6/28/13

Trending Today on Twitter - 6/28/13
     1. #WhiteHouseDown
     2. #hiphop
     3. #TurnUp
     4. #Chicago
     5. #Blackhawks
     6. Earth
     7. Paul Pierce
     8. #immigration
     9. Brooklyn
    10. Texas
Source: Twitter

Popular Today on Bing - 6/28/13
    1. Nelson Mandela
    2. Woods' New Girl
    3. Tomb Discovered
    4. Lovato Opens Up
    5. Richest Country Star
    6. Wright Bros. Ignored
    7. CA Shark Attack
    8. Paltrow's New Movie
Source: Bing

iTunes Top 10 Singles - 6/28/13
     1. Blurred Lines (feat. T.J. & Pharrell) - Robin Thicke
     2. We Can't Stop - Miley Cyrus
     3. Get Lucky (Radio Edit) - (feat. Pharrell Williams) - Daft Punk
     4. Radioactive - Imagine Dragons
     5. Can't Hold Us - (feat. Ray Dalton) - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
     6. Cruise (Remix) (feat. Nelly) - Florida Georgia Line
     7. Same Love (feat. Mary Lambert) - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
     8. Treasure - Bruno Mars
     9. Come & Get It - Selena Gomez
    10. My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark - Fall Out Boy
Source: Apple iTunes

Top 10 TV Shows in Prime Time - Week Ending 6/23/13
     1. NBA Finals on ABC - Gm 7
     2. NBA Finals on ABC - Gm 6
     3. NBA Finals on ABC - Gm 3
     4. Voice - Tues.
     5. Voice - Mon.
     6. America's Got Talent
     7. NCIS
     8. The Big Bang Theory
     9. Winner Is
    10. Kia NBA Countdown Game 7
 Source: Nielsen Co

Top YouTube Videos - 13-17-Year-Olds - Today - 6/28/13
    1. One to Many - JAY Z + Samsung
    2. Can Music Get You High? Trailer
    3. 10 New Bets That You Will Always Win
    4. Pepsi Max & Dynamo Present "Bus Levitation"
    5. The Secret State - Fight or Flight
Source: YouTube

Top 5 Movies - Last Weekend
    1. Monsters University
    2. World War Z
    3. Man of Steel
    4. This Is the End
    5. Now You See Me
Source: Rotten Tomatoes

Teen Drinkers, Pot Smokers at Raised Risk of Concussion

Concussions appear to be a common injury for teenagers, with the risk higher not only for athletes but also for kids who drink or smoke marijuana, new research indicates.

Canadian researchers found that of nearly 9,000 Ontario adolescents, 20 percent said they'd previously had a concussion, and almost 6 percent had suffered at least one in the past year.

Sports accounted for more than half of those recent concussions, according to findings reported in the June 26 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

And teens who drank alcohol or smoked pot at least occasionally had three to five times the concussion risk of their peers who were drug- and alcohol-free.

It's not clear why kids who drank or smoke pot showed a greater concussion risk, said lead researcher Gabriela Ilie, of the injury prevention research office at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto. "All we know is, there was an association," she noted.

Source: U.S. News & World Report
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2013/06/25/teen-drinkers-pot-smokers-at-raised-risk-of-concussion-study-says

Parents Should Focus on Health, Not Fat, in Food Talks with Kids

There's a right way and a wrong way to persuade your adolescent to eat healthy and help avoid obesity, a new study suggests.

Pointedly connecting food with fatness or talking about needed weight loss is the wrong way and could even encourage unhealthy eating habits, researchers report.

Instead, discussions that focus on simply eating healthfully are less likely to send kids down this road, the new study showed.

"A lot of parents are aware of the obesity problem in the U.S -- it's everywhere you turn -- but they wonder how to talk about it with their children," said study lead author Dr. Jerica Berge of the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis.

She advises that parents "tell kids to eat more fruits and vegetables because eating them will make them healthy and strong. Don't connect these conversations to weight and size."

Overall, the research showed, conversations about eating that focused on a child's supposed need to lose excess weight were linked to a higher risk of problem dieting and other unhealthy eating behaviors among adolescents.

On the other hand, parents who talked about healthy eating and living but did not focus on weight and size were less likely to have children who dieted or engaged in other unhealthy eating behaviors such as anorexia, binge eating or bulimia.

The study was published online in JAMA Pediatrics.

Source: U.S. News & World Report
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2013/06/24/focus-on-health-not-fat-in-food-talks-with-kids

Instagram Surges, Closes Gap on Vine

Instagram has vaulted up the App Store ranking of free iPhone apps since launching a video-recording feature last Thursday, jumping from No. 22 to No. 8 as of Monday morning. At the same time, Twitter’s Vine has slipped from No. 3 to No. 7 among free apps, leaving the rival apps nearly neck and neck in the race for downloads.

Sunday was the first day since March 27 that Vine didn’t appear in the top 5 list of U.S. iPhone apps, according to tech blog BGR. Instagram said on Friday that 5 million videos were uploaded in the first 24 hours after release of its updated app allowing users to create and share 15-second videos. A year’s worth of video was uploaded in just the first eight hours.

Reaction to Video on Instagram has been all over the place, judging by comments posted to the App Store. Some users have complained about problems loading video and other glitches, while others have decried Instagram becoming a Vine wannabe and sacrificing its photo-only purity.

Source: Mobile Marketing Daily
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/203222/instagram-surges-as-vine-falls-back.html

Alcohol Consumption in the U.S. Starts as Early as Second Grade

By second grade your child is likely to be delving into more complex concepts of science and math and broadening their knowledge of the world, child development experts say. And according to a new study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, they're also liable to be taking their first sips of alcohol.

Based on data collected from 452 children in one Pennsylvania county each year from ages 8-and-a-half through 18, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh discovered that by age 8, 37 percent had sipped alcohol. That number jumped to 66 percent by age 12. And by the time the group hit 18.5 years old, nearly all (96 percent) had sipped or tasted alcohol, a habit associated with behaviors such as binge drinking, marijuana use, delinquency, precocious sexual behavior, drinking and driving in adolescence, and substance use disorder later, previous studies have shown.

Source: Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/19/alcohol-consumption-starts-second-grade-varies-by-race-study_n_3467577.html

Speeding: A Deadly Issue for Teen Drivers

We forgot about speed.

To make roadways safer for teens, the nation has focused much attention on such critical issues as distracted driving and driving under the influence.

But speeding — which is arguably even more critical — has largely escaped such notice. Meanwhile, speeding as a factor in fatal teen crashes is ticking up, from 30% in 2000 to 33% in 2011, according to a new report from the Governors Highway Safety Association.

If the USA is to continue making progress in teen driving safety, it must address speeding, says Susan Ferguson, an established highway safety consultant who authored the report.

"Speeding is something people aren't particularly concerned about," Ferguson says. "Speed limits have been going up across the country since they repealed the (national) 55 mph speed limit in 1995.

"This is the first time, really, that we've focused on this issue exclusively. We've known for a while that speeding is an issue for young drivers, especially for young males," she says.

Half of all fatal crashes involving 16-year-old drivers with three or more passengers are speeding-related, according to the report. "Unless speeding is recognized as a dangerous behavior, much the same as alcohol-impaired driving, it will continue to be difficult to address as a society," the report says. "More attention must be paid to this issue at the federal, state and local levels, and within the private sector. As well, parents should be taking the lead to do more to address speeding behavior among their teen drivers."

Among the most common speeding scenarios for teen drivers: young males driving at night with other teen passengers.

The report comes just as the deadliest season for young drivers gets underway: Eight of the 10 deadliest days of the year for teens on the roads occur during June, July and August, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Source: USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/06/25/teen-drivers-speeding/2443459/

Sleep Deprived Teens Make Poor Dietary Choices

Well-rested teenagers tend to make more healthful food choices than their sleep-deprived peers, according to a study led by Lauren Hale, PhD, Associate Professor of Preventive Medicine at Stony Brook University School of Medicine. The finding, presented at SLEEP 2013, the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, may be key to understanding the link between sleep and obesity.

“Not only do sleepy teens on average eat more food that’s bad for them, they also eat less food that is good for them,” said Dr. Hale, speaking about the study results. “While we already know that sleep duration is associated with a range of health consequences, this study speaks to some of the mechanisms, i.e., nutrition and decision making, through which health outcomes are affected.”

The study, which was supported by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, examined the association between sleep duration and food choices in a national representative sample of 13,284 teenagers in the second wave of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.

The authors found that those teens who reported sleeping fewer than seven hours per night — 18 percent of respondents — were more likely to consume fast food two or more times per week and less likely to eat healthful food such as fruits and vegetables. The results took into account factors such as age, gender, race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status, physical activity and family structure, and found that short sleep duration had an independent effect on both healthy and unhealthy food choices.

Source: Health Canal
http://www.healthcanal.com/life-style-fitness/40030-study-reveals-link-between-sleep-deprivation-in-teens-and-poor-dietary-choices.html

What's Hot? 6/21/13

Trending Today on Twitter - 6/21/13
     1. #WorldWarZ
     2. #TalibanHitSongs
     3. #thankyouonedirectionfor
     4. Happy First Day of Summer
     5. North West
     6. #TGIF
     7. #HappyFriday
     8. Kim and Kanye
     9. First Take
    10. #Brazil
Source: Twitter

Popular Today on Bing - 6/21/13
    1. Joe Torre Daughter
    2. George Zimmer
    3. James Gandolfini Death
    4. Nick Stahl Hospitalized
    5. Maria Menounos
    6. Mariah Carey Monokini
    7. Josh Duggar
    8. World War Z
Source: Bing

iTunes Top 10 Singles - 6/21/13
     1. Blurred Lines (feat. T.J. & Pharrell) - Robin Thicke
     2. Radioactive - Imagine Dragons
     3. Get Lucky (Radio Edit) - (feat. Pharrell Williams) - Daft Punk
     4. We Can't Stop - Miley Cyrus
     5. Cruise (Remix) (feat. Nelly) - Florida Georgia Line
     6. Treasure - Bruno Mars
     7. Can't Hold Us (feat. Ray Dalton) - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
     8. I Want Crazy - Hunter Hayes
     9. Counting Stars - OneRepublic
    10. My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark - Fall Out Boy
Source: Apple iTunes

Top 10 TV Shows in Prime Time - Week Ending 6/16/13
     1. NBA Finals on ABC - Gm 5
     2. NBA Finals on ABC - Gm 4
     3. NBA Finals on ABC - Gm 3
     4. Voice - Mon.
     5. America's Got Talent
     6. Voice - Tues
     7. NCIS
     8. The Big Bang Theory
     9. NCIS: Los Angeles
    10. CSI
 Source: Nielsen Co

Top YouTube Videos - 13-17-Year-Olds - Today - 6/21/13
    1. Miley Cyrus - We Can't Stop
    2. JM - Hey Molly
    3. Inside "Magna Carta Holy Grail" with JAY-Z + Samsung
    4. The Secret State - Fight or Flight
    5. Fifth Harmony - Miss Movin' On
Source: YouTube

Top 5 Movies - Last Weekend
    1. Man of Steel
    2. This Is the End
    3. Now You See Me
    4. Fast & Furious 6
    5. The Purge
Source: Rotten Tomatoes

HPV Infections in Teen Girls Down by 56% Since 2006

According to a new study conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases, HPV (human papillomavirus) infections in female teenagers (ages 14-19) have decreased by 56% since 2006 - the year HPV vaccine began to be administered.

HPV is the most common sexually-transmitted diseas in the U.S., and is blamed for causing cancer (primarily cervical cancer) in 27,000 Americans each year.

The CDC study compared infection rates in girls ages 14 to 19 before and after the vaccine became available. The proportion infected with the targeted HPV strains dropped 56 percent, from about 12 percent before the vaccine was sold to 5 percent. That result was for all teens after it was on the market, whether or not they were vaccinated (italics added for emphasis.)

According to the CDC, two-thirds of girls, ages 13 through 17, in the U.S. have not been fully vaccinated against HPV. Only about half of teen girls have received at least one does of the vaccine. Among girls who had gotten the vaccine, the drop in HPV infections was higher — 88 percent.

The drop in HPV infection rates in teen girls is welcome news, and there is little doubt that the vaccine has had a significant effect in the reduction. But, given that only a third of young females have received the full vaccination protocol, it would seem that the vaccine is not solely responsible for the falling rate of HPV infections. Still, media outlets may be creating their own narrative, as the Washington Post article implies:

"A vaccine against a cervical cancer virus cut infections in teen girls by half in the first study to measure the shot’s impact since it came on the market."

And so we are led to believe it's all due to the vaccine, despite two-thirds of girls having not been fully vaccinated.

The Washington Post article goes on to posit that although only a third of girls studied had received the vaccine, the significance of the reduction "could be due to “herd immunity” — when a population is protected from an infection because a large or important smaller group is immune," and "that a higher percentage of vaccinated teens said they’d had three or more sex partners...," "which could have driven down infection rates if the teens who got vaccinated were the ones at highest risk of getting an infection and spreading it."

The argument seems plausible, but it seems to be a jump to reach the conclusion the vaccine is solely responsible. What we know (and can be encouraged by) is that HPV infections are down 56%.

The CDC recommends routine HPV vaccination for both boys and girls ages 11 and 12, as well as for older teens and young adults who have not previously received the vaccine (up to age 21 for males and 26 for females).

Sources:

Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/study-vaccine-against-sexually-transmitted-hpv-cut-infections-in-teen-girls-by-half/2013/06/19/7380ad4a-d906-11e2-b418-9dfa095e125d_story.html

Fox News

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/19/hpv-vaccine-reducing-infection-rates-in-teen-girls-study-shows/

Marriage Rate Dives to New Lows, More Weddings Predicted

The marriage rate is at its lowest point in more than a century, and the number of marriages across the USA fell more than 5% during the recession. But a new analysis projects that pent-up demand and the large population of marriage-eligible Millennials, ages 18-34, means more will be headed to the altar over the next two years.

Cultural changes about whether and when to marry, the fact that two-thirds of first marriages are preceded by cohabitation and the recession's financial fallout — including unemployment and underemployment — fueled the wedding decline. Projections from the private company Demographic Intelligence of Charlottesville, Va., says the signs are right for a temporary boost in weddings.

The company projects a 4% increase in the number of weddings since 2009, reaching 2.168 million this year; 2.189 million in 2014. Depending on the economic recovery, the report projects a continuing increase to 2.208 million in 2015.

The research found marriage numbers are stagnant or declining among those with a high school education or less, younger Americans, and the less affluent, numbers are rising among women ages 25-34, the college-educated and the affluent, which is where "short-term increases in weddings will be concentrated."

Source: USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/06/17/marriage-trends-demographics/2424641/