Delinquent girls more likely than boys, to die violently as adults
Posted by on June 24, 2014 - 12:31pm

Delinquency in youth predicts a significantly higher rate of violent death in adulthood -- especially from firearms -- and females are among the most vulnerable, reports a new Northwestern Medicine® study.

Delinquent females died violently at nearly five times the rate of those in the general population, according to the study, while delinquent males died at three times general population rates.

Death rates in Hispanic males and females were five and nine times more than the general population rates, respectively.

This is the first large-scale study to look at death rates in delinquent females and adds new data on Hispanics, now the largest minority group in the U.S. The paper will be published June 16 in the journal Pediatrics.

In addition, violent death up to age 34 was predicted by three risk factors in adolescence: alcohol use disorder, selling drugs and gang involvement, according to the study.

"Our findings are shocking," said lead author Linda Teplin, the Owen L. Coon Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "Death rates in our sample of delinquent youth, ages 15 to 19, are nearly twice those of troops in combat in wartime Iraq and Afghanistan."

Source:  Northwestern, Science Daily 6/16/2014.

 

Mental Health Access for Mothers
Posted by on December 28, 2012 - 11:01am

I ran across this very powerful article written by Liza Long for Gawker. Liza is a mother. A mother dealing with a child's mental health issues, like many women in this country.

Although I have avoided most coverage of the tragedy in Connecticut, I have spent a great amount of time thinking about the present state of mental health care and access in the United States. This piece addresses both the importance of having access to health care needs, but also the numerous and painful difficulties of a mother dealing with a violent child.

I highly recommend reading not only the article, but some of the 900+ comments. The commentary speaks volumes about the issues mothers deal with and the impact mental health care (and lack thereof) can have on families.