Is vulnerability associated with substance use? A study among youth in Switzerland.

Adolescence is a period of exploration and experimentation that includes risk behaviors such as substance use. Adolescents living in a situation of vulnerability could be more prone to using substances. In this cross-sectional study, we aimed to evaluate the association between the level of vulnerability and substance use considering explanatory factors. Data were obtained from the first wave of the GenerationFRee project (http://www.generationfree.ch), a longitudinal study based on data collected yearly between 2014 and 2019 on youth aged 15-24 years in high schools and professional schools. The sample included 5179 participants. We designated four risk behaviors: current tobacco smoking, alcohol misuse, cannabis use, and other illegal drug use. We defined vulnerability based on three criteria: the relationship with parents, school performance, and the family socioeconomic status (SES). According to this definition, participants were divided into three groups: no vulnerability, moderate vulnerability, and high vulnerability. Each substance was compared by vulnerability level and controlled with explanatory factors such as age, gender, perceived health, emotional well-being, academic track, nationality, living with parents, residence, family structure, money earned, and perceived personal financial situation. The results show that all substances except alcohol misuse are associated with vulnerability at the bivariate level. All the explanatory factors were also significant with the exception of academic track and amount of money earned per month. In the multinomial regression, for the moderate- and high-vulnerability groups, cannabis use was the only behavior that remained significant. In conclusion, this study shows the association between level of vulnerability and substance use, especially cannabis use. The results also demonstrate the complexity around vulnerability and how the interaction with social aspects influences vulnerability. Youths presenting familial, educational, or financial problems need to be especially screened for substance use by healthcare providers

La sexualité à l’ère numérique : les adolescents et le sexting

Bien que la recherche commence à s’intéresser au sexting par rapport aux taux de prévalence et que des campagnes de prévention aient été créées pour cette problématique, des recherches plus approfondies sont nécessaires afin de comprendre tous les enjeux entourant la pratique chez les jeunes, particulièrement lorsqu’elle entraine des conséquences négatives. Nos questions de recherche sont les suivantes : Quelles sont les différents éléments qui définissent le sexting du point de vue des jeunes, des parents et des enseignants ? Quelle est la définition du sexting ? Quelles sont les raisons qui peuvent motiver une personne à pratiquer le sexting (en termes d’envoi et de réception) mais aussi à transférer le contenu à d’autres personnes ? Quels sont les risques, conséquences et réactions possibles, notamment en termes de jugement ? Est-ce que la prévention relative au sexting est utile ? Que pourrait-on faire pour prévenir

Adolescent behavioural risk screening in primary care: physician's point of view.

Despite regular consultation between adolescents/young adults (AYA) and their physicians, they are not regularly screened for psychosocial risk behaviours. This study examines physicians' self-reported psychosocial risk behaviour screening in AYA. It aims to highlight which elements hinder or improve screening abilities. The design was a cross-sectional quantitative survey. Data were obtained through a self-reported questionnaire sent out to primary care physicians (PCP) in Switzerland in 2018. The target population consisted of 1,824 PCP (29% response rate). Participants were asked whether they screened youths from 3 age groups [10-14 y/o, 15-20 y/o, and 21-25y/o] for the HEEADSSS items during child well visits and routine checkups. Barriers to screening included primary consultation motive prioritization, insufficient time, patient compliance, reimbursement, lack of skills related to adolescent health, lack of referral options. Data were analysed first through a bivariate analysis using Chi-square tests then through a multinomial logistic regression. The majority of physicians partook in preventive screening for 3-5 psychosocial risk elements. They reported the primary consultation motive as well as a lack of available time as having a high impact on their screening habits. Physician's experience and having discussed confidentiality were related to an increase in the number of topics addressed. Confidentiality remained a significant variable throughout all analyses. Barriers such as lack of consultation time and prioritization issues were found by physicians to be critical but did not hinder screening habits. The main element impacting screening habits was assuring confidentiality and the second is self-efficacy

Who Are Those Youths Who Consider Themselves as Unpopular?

Purpose: To examine the characteristics of adolescents and young adults (AYA) who perceive themselves as unpopular with peers from the same-sex, opposite-sex, or both. Methods: We used the baseline wave (2014-15; N¼5179) of the Generation FRee longitudinal study, gathering a cantonal representative sample of in-school 15-24 year-olds. The web-based in school administered questionnaire included the 2 items “Among same-sex/opposite-sex peers, I am very popular” (yes/no). Respondents were divided into 4 groups: Those who perceived themselves as popular with same-sex and opposite-sex peers (POP; N¼3’164, 61.09%); as unpopular with same-sex and opposite-sex peers (UNPOP; N¼1’228, 23.71%); as unpopular with same-sex peers only (UNPOPSame; N¼284, 5.48%), and as unpopular with opposite-sex peers only (UNPOPOther; N¼503, 9.72%). At the bivariate level, groups were compared on sociodemographic data, making same-sex and opposite-sex friends easily, emotional well-being, school performance and track, and substance use (current smoking, past 30-days e-cigarette, cannabis, and alcohol misuse, and other illegal drug use ever). All significant variables (p<.05) were included in a multinomial logistic regression using POP as the reference category. Data are presented as Relative Risk Ratios (RRR) with 95% confidence intervals

Living With a Chronic Condition and Risk Behaviors

Purpose: To assess whether living with a chronic condition (CC) is associated with risk behaviors among youths. Methods: Data were drawn from the baseline wave (2014-15; N¼5179) of the GenerationFRee survey, a longitudinal study among post-mandatory youths aged 15-24 years in Fribourg, Switzerland. Students were divided into three groups depending on whether they reported having a CC or not: healthy controls (no CC: N¼4529; 46.2% females), CC without limitation (CCWL: N¼536; 52.6% females) and CC limiting daily activities (CCLDA: N¼114; 58.9% females). At the bivariate level groups were compared on sociodemographic data and six risk behaviors (current smoking; current (at least once in the past 30 days) alcohol misuse, cannabis use and use of other illegal drugs; violent behavior and antisocial behavior at least once in the past 12 months). In a second step, a multinomial logistic regression was conducted including all variables significant at the .05 level. Results are given as Relative Risk Ratios (RRR) with 95% confidence intervals

On the Lagrangian structure of integrable hierarchies

We develop the concept of pluri-Lagrangian structures for integrable hierarchies. This is a continuous counterpart of the pluri-Lagrangian (or Lagrangian multiform) theory of integrable lattice systems. We derive the multi-time Euler Lagrange equations in their full generality for hierarchies of two-dimensional systems, and construct a pluri-Lagrangian formulation of the potential Korteweg-de Vries hierarchy.Comment: 29 page

Losing your virginity safely? A Swiss national survey.

Good practice and knowledge in terms of contraception at first sexual intercourse may lead adolescents to a safer sexual life. To date, research studies have mostly focused on women when investigating contraception use or on condom use only when addressing both genders. The present study adds to the current knowledge by offering a more in-depth view of contraception use at first intercourse among youths. This is achieved through a large selection of variables, the fact that we address both males and females and that we have considered a wide range of contraceptive means. To determine the rate of contraception use at first intercourse by youth in Switzerland and its association with social and personal characteristics. Data were obtained from a self-administrated national survey on sexual behaviour among young adults (mean age 26 years). Participants (n = 4036) were divided into three groups based on the means of contraception used at first intercourse: condom, with or without contraceptive (86.4%), contraceptive only (8.3%) and non-use (5.3%). Only 5.3% did not use any contraception. Compared with the condom group, individuals in the non-use group were more likely to report a lower family socioeconomic status, to be foreign born, to have foreign-born parents, to have a non-intact family and to live in a Catholic canton. They were also more likely to have had their first intercourse in the context of a casual relationship, to have been intoxicated at the time and more likely to regret it. Participants in the contraceptive group reported a higher family socioeconomic status, had intact families, did not live in Catholic cantons, were older and in a steady relationship at first intercourse. Contraception is generally used at first intercourse in Switzerland. Improvements can still be made concerning contraception use in the most vulnerable social strata such as low income families or foreign status

Factorizations of Rational Matrix Functions with Application to Discrete Isomonodromic Transformations and Difference Painlev\'e Equations

We study factorizations of rational matrix functions with simple poles on the Riemann sphere. For the quadratic case (two poles) we show, using multiplicative representations of such matrix functions, that a good coordinate system on this space is given by a mix of residue eigenvectors of the matrix and its inverse. Our approach is motivated by the theory of discrete isomonodromic transformations and their relationship with difference Painlev\'e equations. In particular, in these coordinates, basic isomonodromic transformations take the form of the discrete Euler-Lagrange equations. Secondly we show that dPV equations, previously obtained in this context by D. Arinkin and A. Borodin, can be understood as simple relationships between the residues of such matrices and their inverses.Comment: 9 pages; minor typos fixed, journal reference adde

Symplectic algorithm for constant-pressure molecular dynamics using a Nose-Poincare thermostat

We present a new algorithm for isothermal-isobaric molecular-dynamics simulation. The method uses an extended Hamiltonian with an Andersen piston combined with the Nos'e-Poincar'e thermostat, recently developed by Bond, Leimkuhler and Laird [J. Comp. Phys., 151, (1999)]. This Nos'e-Poincar'e-Andersen (NPA) formulation has advantages over the Nos'e-Hoover-Andersen approach in that the NPA is Hamiltonian and can take advantage of symplectic integration schemes, which lead to enhanced stability for long-time simulations. The equations of motion are integrated using a Generalized Leapfrog Algorithm and the method is easy to implement, symplectic, explicit and time reversible. To demonstrate the stability of the method we show results for test simulations using a model for aluminum.Comment: 7 page

La prévention et le sexting : un état des lieux

Le développement social et relationnel des adolescent-e-s et des jeunes adultes s’effectue aujourd’hui avec celui d’Internet et des nouvelles technologies. Dans ce contexte, les interactions et la transmission d’informations numériques sont facilitées et peu restreintes, ce qui peut mener à un certain nombre d’enjeux en termes d’usage des technologies et de gestion de l’image numérique. Le sexting fait partie de ces problématiques. Cette pratique pouvant, de manière générale, se définir comme l’échange électronique de matériel personnel à caractère sexuel ou intime, peut parfois mener à des situations dramatiques lorsque, par exemple, le contenu d’un message est transféré sans consentement à d’autres personnes. Après avoir mené une première recherche exploratoire qualitative sur la pratique du sexting chez les jeunes, la thématique de la prévention relative au sexting s’est avérée particulièrement intéressante à approfondir. En effet, très peu de jeunes ont rapporté se rappeler de messages ou campagnes de prévention autour du sexting spécifiquement. Au vu de ces résultats, nous avons considéré qu’il était essentiel d’établir un état des lieux de l’offre préventive sur la thématique du sexting, plus particulièrement dans le canton de Vaud, afin de vérifier les dires de certains jeunes sur le manque d’intervention et de discussion sur le sexting et ses possibles dérives. A travers cet état des lieux et ce rapport, nous proposons donc un catalogue permettant de répertorier et d’offrir une vue d’ensemble des différents acteurs-trices et ressources à disposition dans le cadre de la prévention relative à la pratique du sexting auprès des jeunes