Youth Health Services, Development Programs, and Teenage Birth Rates in 55 California Cities

Many advocacy groups depict sexuality education, abstinence education, health services, and development services to teenagers as pivotal factors in their birth rates. Data from California’s 55 largest cities for 1990-2002 allow regression analyses of the associations between levels of health and development services to youth, socioeconomic factors such as poverty, and environmental factors such adult birth rates on rates of and changes in births to teenage mothers. The analysis found teenage birth rates vary 30-fold from California’s richest to poorest city. Socioeconomic and environmental factors, chiefly adult birth rates and youth poverty rates, are associated with nearly 90% of the variance in teen birth rates. Contrary to assertions by many advocates, lower-income teens have greater access to health, sexuality education, and development services, and the availability of these services is not associated with lower rates of or greater reductions over time in teenage birth rates

Social Smoking by University of California, Santa Cruz Students

While many health interests worry about persistently high rates of cigarette smoking among college students, little research has tracked qualitative changes in student habits such as “social smoking.” A survey of 670 University of California, Santa Cruz, undergraduate students ages 18-43, mean age 20.6, found 57% of the weighted sample smoked cigarettes in the past year, compared to 37% of college undergraduates nationally and 34% of UCSC students’ parents. However, two-thirds of UCSC student smokers smoke socially (less than daily), compared to 60% of student smokers nationally and 16% of parent smokers. Half of UCSC social smokers report smoking less than an entire cigarette per occasion and 70% report smoking less today than in the past; the fraction who smoke heavily tend to have parents who smoke heavily. Students’ reports indicating their social smoking is an equilibrium behavior unlikely to lead to heavier smoking need longitudinal investigation

Should California Reconsider Its Legal Drinking Age?

The recent call by 120 American college presidents for reassessment of the legal drinking age of 21 occurs as earlier studies prove to be increasingly limited and outdated. This study tests drinking age effects during the 1975-2005 period using Incidence Rate Ratio analysis of fatal traffic accident and violent death trends among persons ages 16-17, 18-20, and 21-24, as states with lower drinking ages at the time later raised their age limits to 21. Corresponding trends among ages 25-44 and in states that maintained constant drinking ages of 21 were used as control series. The 10 states that maintained “graduated drinking ages” of 18 for beer and/or wine displayed significantly lower violent death incidences among young people than did states with drinking ages for all alcoholic beverages of 18, 19, 20, or 21. This secondary data analysis suggests that California could reduce violent deaths, especially from homicides and motor vehicles, among 18-20-year-olds by approximately 9%, with similar benefits for 16-17- and 21-24-year-olds, if the legal drinking age for beer and wine was reduced to 18 and a controlled system of low-alcohol bars was initiated

Role of Poverty in California Teenagers’ Fatal Traffic Crash Risk

Teenagers’ high rates of motor vehicle crashes, accounting for 40% of external deaths among 16-19 yearolds, have been ascribed largely to inherent “adolescent risk-taking” and developmental hazards. However, the fact that compared to adults 25 and older, teenagers are twice as likely to live in poverty and low-income areas, risk factors for many types of violent death, has not been assessed. This paper uses Fatality Analysis Reporting System data on 65,173 fatal motor vehicle crashes by drivers in California’s 35 most populous counties for 1994-2007 to analyze fatal crash involvements per 100 million miles driven by driver age, county, poverty status, and 15 other traffic safety-related variables. Fatal crash rates were substantially higher for every driver age group in poorer counties than in richer ones. Multivariate regression found socioeconomic factors, led by the low levels of licensing and high unemployment rates prevalent in low-income areas, were associated with nearly 60% of the variance in motor vehicle crash risks, compared to 3% associated with driver age. The strong association between fatal crash risk and poverty, especially for young drivers who are concentrated in high-poverty brackets and low-income areas, suggests that factors related to poorer environments constitute a major traffic safety risk requiring serious attention

California’s Graduated Driver License Law: Effects on Older Teenagers

Many traffic safety researchers believe Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) laws save lives by imposing restrictions, stronger licensing requirements, and delayed licensure status on drivers under age 18. To determine the effects of California’s GDL law on traffic fatalities among older (age 18-19) and younger (age 16-17) teens by age, sex, accident characteristics, and license status, mortality data from California’s Center for Health Statistics, driver and accident data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System, and population data from the California Department of Finance were analyzed for the 1995-2004 period. Compared to California who began driving before the GDL law took effect and to corresponding trends among Californians ages 20 through 44, 16- and 17-year-olds subject the GDL law experienced net decreases of 13% in motor vehicle fatality rates and 14% in driver involvements in fatal accidents. However, 18- and 19-year-olds subjected to GDL programs experienced net increases of 11% in traffic fatalities and 10% in involvements of drivers in fatal accidents, more than offsetting the declines among younger teenagers. These results support reassessment of the effects of the GDL law, including its specific requirements, on older teenagers

Traffic Crash Victimizations of California Children and Teenagers by Drinking Over-21 Drivers

Underaged drinking‖ by Californians younger than 21 generates perpetual concern, but the toll ―overaged drinkers‖ 21 and older inflict on children and teenagers has not been quantified. This study extracts Fatality Analysis Reporting System crash cases involving California drivers testing positive for alcohol use along with those of the other drivers, passengers, and nonoccupants in the same crashes for 1998-2007 and arranges them in cross tabulations showing the ages of drinking drivers in fatal crashes by ages, injury severity, and types of victims. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates are used to project all alcohol-related traffic victimizations. Californians age 21 and older who drank and drove caused approximately 235,000 crashes from 1998-2007 victimizing persons under age 20, killing more than 400 children under age 16 and 400 teens age 16-19 and injuring nearly 80,000 children and teens. Drinking over-21 drivers caused most alcohol-related victimizations of teenage vehicle passengers and nonoccupants and victimized more sober teenage drivers than drinking teen drivers victimized sober over-21 drivers. If tabulated as a separate mortality cause, ―overaged drinking and driving‖ would be the fifth leading cause of death to California teens age 16-19 and the sixth leading cause for children ages 1- 15. The findings suggest ―overaged drinking‖ represents as severe a hazard to teenagers as ―underaged drinking.

Surrejoinder to Rejoinder by Norman A. Constantine and Carmen R. Nevarez to "Youth Health Services, Development Programs, and Teenage Birth Rates in 55 California Cities"

Objective: A support model consisting of a local health educators’ network, a technical assistance team with academic and practice experts, and an evolving sequence of professional continuing education activities supported health educators transitioning from community or school health education sites to health care sites as part of the Clinic Health Education and Life Style Promotion Project (Clinic HELP) designed to increase health education options for individuals within the Paso del Norte Region of the United States-Mexico Border. Methods: Focus groups, interviews and surveys were used to evaluate intervention activities designed to assist in the transition. Results/Conclusions: Lack of familiarity with health care settings and role delineation were identified as barriers while “expert” sounding boards, professional development activities, and advanced education assisted in the transition. Use of the professional network was less than anticipated. Practice Implications: Based on the Clinic HELP experience, recommendations are provided for professional education and support for health educators within clinical practice settings

California’s Graduated Driver Licensing Ten Years Later: Effects on Motor Vehicle Fatalities and Crashes through Age 25

California’s 1998 Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) law imposed complex restrictions, enhanced supervision, and delayed licensure on new drivers under age 18. While initial researchers credited GDL with reducing fatalities among 16-year-olds, later research found larger fatality increases among the 18- and 19 age group of GDL “graduates.” This study uses Center for Health Statistics and Fatality Analysis Reporting System traffic data from 1996-2008 to conduct time-series analyses of the longer-term effects of California’s GDL law on motor vehicle fatalities and fatal crashes among the 16-25 age group. The control series consisted of Californians in the 27-39 age group during the same time period who reached age 16 before GDL took effect. The analysis found that from 1996-2008, the 16-25 age group subjected to GDL suffered significant net increases of 5% in drivers’ fatal crash involvements and 7% in traffic fatalities compared to the control group not exposed to GDL. Declines in fatalities and fatal crashes among the 16-17 year old age group were more than offset by larger increases in fatalities and fatal crashes among ages 18-25. For the 16-25 age group as a whole, California’s GDL was associated with approximately 60 more fatal crashes and fatalities per year. These results replicate and extend the negative findings regarding GDL. They suggest that lawmakers now should consider repealing or substantially modifying California’s GDL in the direction of a more flexible, professional licensing system

LEECH: A 100 Night Exoplanet Imaging Survey at the LBT

In February 2013, the LEECH (LBTI Exozodi Exoplanet Common Hunt) survey began its 100-night campaign from the Large Binocular Telescope atop Mount Graham in Arizona. LEECH nearly complements other high-contrast planet imaging efforts by observing stars in L' band (3.8 microns) as opposed to the shorter wavelength near-infrared bands (1-2.3 microns). This part of the spectrum offers deeper mass sensitivity for intermediate age (several hundred Myr-old) systems, since their Jovian-mass planets radiate predominantly in the mid-infrared. In this proceedings, we present the science goals for LEECH and a preliminary contrast curve from some early data.Comment: IAUS 299 Proceeding