In the next few months, On Point plans to revise this page to make it even easier for you to keep up-to-date with the latest research in teen health!  So keep visiting this page to find the most recent research we have found on a variety of topics related to teen development and asset-building.  We will update as often as possible, to share any statistics or research we find as it becomes available!

Risk Behaviors:

4/29/09, "Teen Drug Education Also Helps Curb Risky Sexual Behavior, Study Finds." A study by the RAND Corporation found that school-based drug education programs for adolescents achieve a long-lasting impact in sexual activity among their students.  Corroborates other research which demonstrates that risk behaviors are linked.  Read the article here.

STDs:

10/15/07, "Male Infertility Alert Over Hidden Bacteria." New research has confirmed that chlamydia can cause male infertility as well as female infertility, by damaging the quality of male sperm in infected men.  The report comes from the UK, where just over 10 per cent of the young adult population (18-25) currently carries this bacteria. 
Article available here.

11/13/07, "STD Surveillance 2006." The CDC published its report on 2006 STD rates for the three primary bacterial STDs: chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis.  Online report.

11/14/07, "Record 1 Million Cases of Chlamydia Reported in the U.S. Last Year." More than one million cases of chlamydia were reported in the U.S. last year; the estimated number of actual new cases nationwide is around 2.8 million.  The article also states that last year saw a rise in gonorrhea rates, with more and more new cases of the "superbug" gonorrhea--a version resistant to current antibiotics.  Syphilis, too, is rising, with an increase in the number of cases of congenital syphilis.  More statistics are provided.

11/28/07, "SA's HIV/AIDS Fight 'Mismanaged.'" Article mentioning that South Africa has the highest Hiv and AIDS rates in the world, with a new report claiming that around 30% of the South African population is infected.  Read here.

1/10/08, "273 New Possible Targets for HIV Drugs." Using new kinds of filters, scientists have discovered 273 proteins involved in HIV replicating itself within the human body, providing many new targets for anti-HIV drugs to inhibit its spread.  Fascinating article with good info here.  (HIV hits these populations especially hard: African-Americans and homosexual males.  Click on each to learn more.)

7/15/08, "Sex Infections in Young Up Again." The BBC article here explains that STD infections in the UK rose from 2006-2007, and are especially rising among young people.  Over half of all new infection were among people aged 16-24 years, though this age range represents only 1/8th of the total population.  There's a good chart at the end of the article breaking the rise down by the most common STDs.

7/17/08, "Malaria Gene Increases HIV Risk." A gene variant which seems to help the body fight malaria also appears to increase the person's vulnerability to HIV infection.  Interestingly, the same gene also appears to allow those with HIV to live longer lives than infected persons without the gene variant.  This gene is most common among people of African origin.  Read the full article here.

8/4/08, "HIV Incidence." New CDC numbers of HIV incidence released: in 2006, there were an estimated 56,300 new infections, higher than the previously estimated 40,000.  The difference is due to better practices and technologies in recording and tracking infections, according to the CDC.  Of these new infections, over 50% were due to male-to-male sexual contact, and 45% occurred among the African-American population.  See the figures here.

2/26/09, "Rapid HIV Evolution Avoids Attack." This article gives some basic and some more technical information about HIV, how it spreads, and how the immune system attempts to forestall or fight HIV.  The article briefly explains why some infected individuals may not progress to AIDS for 20 years, while others may progress within 12 months.  Check it out here.

3/5/09, "Compound May Block HIV Infection." BBC article about glycerol monolaurate (GML), which recent research has suggested may be used vaginally to prevent HIV transmission from an infected partner.  Benefits: may be effective against other diseases as well, and is rather inexpensive.  Article mentions that vaginal transmission is still the primary mode for HIV, and 60% of new HIV cases in sub-Saharan Africa are among women.

11/16/09, "Sexually Spread Diseases Up, Better Tests Cited." This AP article briefly describes the latest statistics on sexually transmitted diseases, as released by the CDC.  They report a new record in the number of chlamydial infection (1.2 million in 2008), as well as increases in syphilis.  The CDC estimates that more than 1/4 of all new chlamydia and gonorrhea infections are among girls age 15-19.  For more, see the article here.  (You can also read the CDC 2008 data, stats, and reports, accessible online here.)

Pregnancy:

7/17/08, "Two in a Million: Twins Born, One Black, One White." Students have inquired before during the teaching of the pregnancy lesson, whether such a situation as this might occur.  It does, very rarely--a mixed-race couple has twins which look to be of different races.  See one example of this occurrence here.

Media:
(soon to come)

Marriage and Divorce:

(soon to come)

Sexual Health:

11/28/07, "Brain Wiring Link to Paedophilia." Yale researchers have studied the brain chemistry of pedophiles and found some differences from the norm: for example, the pedophiliac brain had less white matter than the average brain, white matter being the connective tissue within the brain.  See here.

7/15/08, "Repeat Teen Self-Cutters Likely to Engage in Risky Sex." Research here shows that cutting is often linked to other risky behaviors, such as sexual activity.