Of course, many young people search for it. In an Australian study of 200 young people, 38 per cent of 16- and 17-year-old boys and 2 per cent of girls said they  searched for pornography . Another Australian study  reported  93 per cent of boys and 61 per cent of girls aged 13-16 years old had seen pornography. Another  study  reported 44 per cent had seen online pornography. For both of these studies we don't know if this was by accident or on purpose. We know children who watch pornography are more likely to be either physically or verbally sexually aggressive, especially if the pornography is violent. Behaviours range from verbal sexual harassment and unwanted kissing to sexual assault. We also know that popular porn is becoming more violent. But has there been a corresponding increase in young people watching violent pornography to match the rise in sexual offending?

We don't know.

ABC net, November 14,, 2016

Some Depressing News about Adolescent Depression That Requires Our Time and Attention

10.1542/peds.2016-1878) provide us with some troubling data using trend information gleaned from the National Surveys on Drug Use and Health from 2005-2014 involving more than 172,000 teens ages 12-17 and more than 178,000 young adults ages 18-25.  The authors show an increase in major depressive episodes increasing from 2005 to 2014 in teens from 8.7% to 11.3%, and a smaller yet significant increase as well in young adults.  Even after adjusting for substance use disorders and controlling for socioeconomic confounders, the trends persist. 

AAP Gateway November 14, 2016

Very stressful events affect the brains of girls and boys in different ways, a Stanford University study suggests.  A part of the brain linked to emotions and empathy, called the insula, was found to be particularly small in girls who had suffered trauma. But in traumatised boys, the insula was larger than usual. This could explain why girls are more likely than boys to develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the researchers said. Lead study author Dr Megan Klabunde said it was important to consider the different physical and emotional reactions to stressful events. "It is important that people who work with traumatised youth consider the sex differences. "Our findings suggest it is possible that boys and girls could exhibit different trauma symptoms and that they might benefit from different approaches to treatment." And she added: "There are some studies suggesting that high levels of stress could contribute to early puberty in girls." Dr Klabunde said they would now look at other regions of the brain connected to the insula to see if they could detect similar changes.

School Vaccine Requirements Raise HPV Shot Rates

There may be a 'spillover' effect when kids get other mandated immunizations, study finds

Schools that require routine  vaccines  as a condition of attendance have higher rates of vaccination, including higher rates of immunization for the human papillomavirus ( HPV ), a new study finds.

WebMD, November 8, 2016

The Weekly News Roundup is produced by The Partnership for Male Youth and is released every Monday. 

For more information contact Dennis J. Barbour, JD. News Roundup editor and President/CEO of the Partnership, at dbarbour@partnershipformaleyouth.org.