The risk of dying changes over the course of a lifetime. Very high at birth, it falls and then gradually rises again… except for a peak after adolescence. Why such a statistical anomaly?
The number of youth mental health centres known as headspace has rapidly expanded in the last decade. But we have yet to see evaluation of whether the services improve young people’s mental health.
According to a study of Vermont doctors, best practice guidelines for prescribing antipsychotic medication to children are followed only half the time.
Stories of teens taking and sending a naked picture of themselves with their phones have been all over the news media in recent years. The outcome? Shocking, according to reports which have suggested that…
The stereotype that popular kids don’t get bullied has been busted by a new study that found becoming more popular at school can actually increase a student’s risk of being bullied. The study, published…
It’s a well-worn political trick that you caricature and call your opponents names when you don’t want to engage with the substance of their claims. In debates about porn, pornography advocates often seek…
Porn. Just utter the word aloud and hearts pound, pulses quicken, and minds start racing. Depending on the context, these effects may be the result of concern for young people’s well-being rather than…
Fiona Mensah, Murdoch Children's Research Institute and George Patton, Murdoch Children's Research Institute
Puberty has long been recognised as a transition point in which many emotional and behavioural problems emerge. These include depression and anxiety, substance use and abuse, self-harm and eating disorders…
MATTERS OF THE MIND – a series which examines the clinician’s bible for diagnosing mental disorders, the DSM, and the controversy surrounding the forthcoming fifth edition. As a child and adolescent psychiatrist…
The film adaptation of the first of Suzanne Collins’ trilogy, The Hunger Games, will premiere nationally tomorrow. The books and film are set in a post-apocalyptic America, where teenagers are forced to…