'Sexting' Associated with Risky Sexual Behavior in Girls. Three of every four U.S. teenagers carry a cell phone, typically to keep in touch with friends and family and emergencies that may arise.[1] In addition, teens use their phones to transmit text messages (texts). In fact, one study estimates that the average teen receives 3000 texts per month.[2] And now that the technology has matured to allow the sending of video along with text, ‘sexting’ (‘sex’ plus ‘texting’)—the sending of graphic sexual images or messages electronically—has become more prevalent among teenagers.

Texting, Not Smoking. A new effort to help teens quit smoking makes use of one of teens’ most constant companions—the mobile phone. According to the program’s developers, 75% of youth between the ages of 12 and 17 own a cell phone, so “there is immense potential for mobile technologies to affect health awareness and behavior change among teens.”

Routine Vaccination Against HPV Recommended for 11- and 12-Year-Old Boys. Members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) have voted to recommend boys ages 11 and 12 years should routinely receive three doses of the quadrivalent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. In a second vote, the committee voted to extend routine HPV vaccinations to boys and men through age 21. In a third vote, the panel voted 13-0-1 to recommend the vaccine for men between the ages of 22 and 26 if they have sex with men or a weakened immune system.

When Young Athletes Push too Hard. More than 30 million children in the United States between the ages of 6 and 18 years participate in organized and recreational sports, which helps keep those children fit and feeling good about themselves. But according to Thomas M. DeBerardino, MD, Associate Professor of Orthopaedics at the University of Connecticut Health Center, adolescent sport-related injuries are on the rise so much that they have become a “silent epidemic.”

Making the Transition From Pediatric to Primary Care. Changing doctors is never easy. For teenagers new to advocating for their own healthcare, or those who have a chronic illness like diabetes or cystic fibrosis, the transition can be even more challenging.

Promoting the Health of Children and Adolescents Exposed to Trauma and Violence. Children and adolescents exposed to trauma and violence may exhibit moderate to severe psycho-social-emotional health problems. Similarly, children and adolescents exposed to trauma and violence may be at high-risk for exposure to sexually transmitted infections or sexually transmitted diseases including human immunodeficiency viruses/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and other adverse situations, conditions or environments.

Teenagers Who Cut: Adolescent Self-Injury. The increasing number of stories in the mainstream press and the growing number of anecdotal reports by clinicians, therapists, and school counselors suggests that self-injury may be the “next teen disorder.” Self-injury is defined as deliberate, repetitive, impulsive, and harmful behavior without suicidal intent.

Kids Corner—Psychological Factors in Childhood Headaches. Recurrent headaches that alter the behavior of a child are usually migraine. These headaches result from the combination of a genetic predisposition to migraine and disruptions to the child’s environment that then trigger migraine attacks. There are certain characteristics of a child predisposed to migraine that can influence the frequency and severity of attacks.

Kids Corner—Family Issues in Divorce. Divorce is much like a dance. There is the setting, the discordant music, the tense rhythm that leads up to one person asking the other to dance divorce. And children are an integral part. They take on different parts of the dance.

Kids' Corner - Treatment Questions to Explain School Absences. Tina is a 17-year-old white female who has been home-schooled the last 2 years of high school due to debilitating headaches. Her mother brought her to a Midwest headache clinic because Tina wants to become well enough to attend college in the fall.