Sports Participation and Juvenile Delinquency: A Meta-Analytic Review

Participation in sports activities is very popular among adolescents, and is frequently encouraged among youth. Many psychosocial health benefits in youth are attributed to sports participation, but to what extent this positive influence holds for juvenile delinquency is still not clear on both the theoretical and empirical level. There is much controversy on whether sports participation should be perceived as a protective or a risk factor for the development of juvenile delinquency. A multilevel meta-analysis of 51 published and unpublished studies, with 48 independent samples containing 431 effect sizes and N = 132,366 adolescents, was conducted to examine the relationship between sports participation and juvenile delinquency and possible moderating factors of this association. The results showed that there is no overall significant association between sports participation and juvenile delinquency, indicating that adolescent athletes are neither more nor less delinquent than non-athletes. Some study, sample and sports characteristics significantly moderated the relationship between sports participation and juvenile delinquency. However, this moderating influence was modest. Implications for theory and practice concerning the use of sports to prevent juvenile delinquency are discussed. Keywords Sports participation Juvenile delinquency Multilevel meta-analysis Revie

Gendered trends in early and very early sex and condom use in 20 European countries from 2002 to 2010

Background: Sexual activity is often initiated during the adolescent period, and previous research suggests that the age of first sexual intercourse and condom use are crucial determinants of later sexual health. This study examined trends in adolescent sexual behaviours from 2002 to 2010 in 20 countries across four geographical regions of Europe. Methods: Data were collected by self-report questionnaires from 15-year-olds in classrooms during 2002, 2006 and 2010. Linear time trends were determined through logistic regression models, stratified for gender. Results: No linear trend over time was documented for most countries for sexual intercourse at the age of 13 or younger. Increased initiation among girls in Eastern Europe and decreased very early initiation among girls in Northern Europe emerged, along with a general increase in condom use in boys and most notably in girls. Conclusion: Overall prevalence of early and very early sexual intercourse initiation was quite stable in Europe between 2002 and 2010, while condom use increased. More detailed research and policy attention to the antecedents of non-condom use among young people is warranted; and further study of the relationships between age of sexual initiation and condom or pill use would be particularly valuable

Interprofessional Climate Change Curriculum in Health Professional Programs: A Scoping Review

Background: We conducted this scoping review to (1) comprehensively compile the published literature on interprofessional education focused on climate change and health, (2) assess the quality and outcomes of the existing curriculum interventions, and (3) highlight potential areas for further growth. By evaluating published curricular interventions, our goal was to highlight effective and validated developments that could be utilized by health professional educators seeking to include topics on climate change in the curriculum. Methods: We searched Ovid MEDLINE databases (MEDLINE, In-Process, In-Data-Review and Other Non-Indexed Citations, and Epub Ahead of Print), Embase, Clarivate Web of Science, and EBSCOhost Education Abstracts from inception through March 2023. Resulting articles were screened for relevance, and data were extracted from the included studies. The Medical Education Research Study Quality Instrument (MERSQI) was used to assess the quality of each included study. Findings: We screened 688 unique articles, and 6 met inclusion criteria. Publications dated from 2013 to 2023. Three studies included students or healthcare professionals from at least three health profession education programs. The mean MERSQI score was 8·17 (SD = 1·34; range 6–10). Curricular interventions varied by study, and topics included effects of climate change on human health, effect of climate change on extreme weather events and infectious disease exposures, and role of health professionals in climate change communication. Studies did not utilize a two-group comparison design. Most studies used an assessment tool with content validity evidence, but no study provided evidence of validity for internal structure or relationships to other variables. Studies reported that curricular interventions improved outcomes related to both climate change and interprofessional education. Interpretation: Despite the growing call for health professional education focused on climate change and health, there remains a gap in the interprofessional curricular interventions that have been assessed