Teens who think they’ll die young more likely to engage in risky behaviour

August 4th, 2009 SYDNEY - Researchers have unravelled the mysteries of why and how the queen bee controls the behaviour of her workers. University of Otago zoologists two years ago discovered that queen bees manipulate their offspring's behaviour by releasing a pheromone that blocks aversive learning in young bees.

July 22nd, 2009 SYDNEY - Risky driving habits are more likely to injure or kill youths in car crashes than older drivers, said a study based on a survey of 20,000 young drivers. Researchers at The George Institute investigated the relationship between risky driving behaviour, risk perception and the risk of crash.

July 1st, 2009 WASHINGTON - Men under stress are more likely to take risks, correlating to such real-life behaviour as gambling, smoking, unsafe sex and illegal drug use, according to a new research. On the other hand, stressed women moderate their behaviour and are less likely to make risky choices, the study found.

June 29th, 2009 WASHINGTON - One in seven adolescents believe think they're going to die young, leading many to drug use, suicide attempts and other unsafe behaviour, a new research has suggested. University of Minnesota Medical School researcher Iris Borowsky, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues analyzed data collected by the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a nationally representative sample of more than 20,000 youth in grades 7 through 12 during three separate study years.

June 27th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Always wondered how people who are most looked up to and respected end up doing the most heinous of acts? Well, now a new Northwestern University study offers provocative insights in to how saints turn into sinners. The study has indicated that people with ample moral self-worth in one aspect of their lives can slip into immorality or opposite behaviour in other areas-their abundant self-esteem somehow pushes them to balance out all that goodness.

June 25th, 2009 WASHINGTON - An Internet survey has shown that teens may be a bit more safety conscious than previously thought. The survey, released by Cox Communications, and carried out by Harris Interactive, asked 655 13- to 18-year-olds about their online and cell phone behaviour, specifically addressing issues of cyberbullying and sexting.

June 17th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Same-sex behaviour can be found in almost all species in the animal kingdom - from worms to birds - making the practice nearly universal among animals, according to a new review of existing research. "It's clear that same-sex sexual behaviour extends far beyond the well-known examples that dominate both the scientific and popular literature: for example, bonobos, dolphins, penguins and fruit flies," said Nathan Bailey, the first author of the review paper and a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Biology at UC Riverside.

May 15th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Fathers tend to tighten clamps on adolescents when they engage in risky sexual behaviour, according to a new study. Researchers at Boston College, Universities of Pittsburgh and Harvard who conducted the study, followed more than 3,200 teenagers aged 13 to 18 over a period of four years.

May 7th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol, an 18-year-old unwed mother, says that abstinence is a 'realistic' option for teenagers. Bristol, who is a Teen Ambassador to The Candie's Foundation, did a turnabout on May 6 with her views on teen sex, and told ABC's "Good Morning America" that she wished she had waited to have sex.

April 30th, 2009 WASHINGTON - School-based drug education programmes for teens also help curb risky sex, according to a new study. Young adults exposed to a popular drug abuse prevention programme as adolescents were less likely to engage in risky sexual practices five to seven years later, according to researchers.

April 23rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Delinquent teens marry earlier than their peers while substance-abusing teens, especially girls who abuse marijuana, marry later than their peers, if at all, according to a broad-based study. Delinquency was defined as anti-social behaviour, including frequency of running away, arrests, physical fights and behavioural problems in school.

April 23rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Delinquent teens marry earlier than their peers, while substance-abusing teens, particularly the ones who smoke marijuana, marry (if, at all) later than peers, a new study has found. Titled 'The Influence of Risk-Taking Behaviors on the Transition into Marriage: An Examination of the Long-Term Consequences of Adolescent Behaviour', the study was conducted on the data collected over 12 years.

April 14th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A teenager may have a very close knit friends circle, but when he or she is under depression or has attempted suicide, then it's the family support, and not peer support, that provides protection in reducing future suicidal behaviour. According to a study, high school depression and a previous suicide attempt were significant predictors of thinking about suicide one or two years later.

April 9th, 2009 WASHINGTON - School children as young as 12 are engaging in risky sex, a new study has found. Christine Markham, assistant professor of behavioral science at the University of Texas (UT) School of Public Health, and colleagues examined risky sexual behaviour among middle school students.

February 6th, 2009 WASHINGTON - US teenagers are perceived as selfish, amoral and in denial mode, compared to their peers from other cultures, but a new study suggests otherwise. The study by the universities of Rochester, Missouri-Columbia and Illinois-Chicago examined how teens and their parents feel about young people's obligations to help each other when requests for help clash with personal desires.