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PubMed2002

Adolescents' attitudes and experiences regarding levonorgestrel 100 mcg/ethinyl estradiol 20 mcg.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: Oral contraceptive pills (OCs) are a commonly prescribed method of birth control for sexually experienced adolescents. The purpose of the current study was to describe anticipated parental involvement and adolescent compliance with pill taking, and to describe experiences with a 20-mcg OC regarding satisfaction and side effects after six cycles. DESIGN: Anticipated parental involvement and anticipated compliance, and experiences with an OC, were assessed at baseline, and after the first and sixth cycles during a clinical trial of oral contraceptives, which required parental consent. SETTING: Three adolescent medicine clinics in New York, NY; Cincinnati, OH; and San Juan, Puerto Rico. PARTICIPANTS: The sample consisted of 43 female adolescents with a mean age of 17 years. RESULTS: The majority of adolescents living with a parent anticipated parental involvement, and few adolescents anticipated difficulties with consistent pill taking. For two side effects (weight and mood changes), more than 30% of the adolescents anticipated the occurrence or worsening of side effects. However, few adolescents actually experienced increases in any of the nine side effects assessed. Ninety-seven percent of adolescents in this trial reported being satisfied with a 20-mcg OC. CONCLUSIONS: Health care providers can assess adolescents' anticipated difficulties with compliance with daily pill taking, and desire for help from their parents. This information can be incorporated into counseling to promote consistent and correct use.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2026

Adolescent health across Asia Pacific, 2000-23: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023.

BACKGROUND: The Asia Pacific region is home to more than half of the world's 1·93 billion adolescents (aged 10-24 years). Addressing adolescent health in this region is of global importance, but to date a systematic analysis of key contributors to disease in adolescents has not been done, which is a barrier to responsive action. This systematic analysis of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2023 aims to provide a comprehensive assessment of adolescent health across the Asia Pacific region, at both the subregional and national levels, encompassing burden of disease, mortality, and prevalence of adolescent risk factors. METHODS: As part of GBD 2023, we obtained estimates for cause-specific mortality, disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), and risk factor prevalence by sex for adolescents aged 10-24 years and 5-year age groups (10-14 years, 15-19 years, and 20-24 years) across 44 countries and territories (hereafter referred to collectively as Asia Pacific), grouped by seven UN subregions, from 2000 to 2023. We extracted GBD 2023 population counts and estimates of number and rate (per 100 000 population) for mortality and disease burden (DALYs). Risk prevalence estimates were obtained directly from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, and binge drinking estimates were sourced from WHO. Estimates are reported with 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs) where possible. UIs were estimated by running 250 draws of the posterior distribution, ordering the draws, and selecting the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles for each metric. FINDINGS: In 2023, in adolescents across Asia Pacific, there were 637 496 deaths and a total disease burden of 115·8 million DALYs, representing 34·1% of global adolescent deaths and 40·6% of the global adolescent burden of disease. Non-communicable diseases (NCDs; particularly mental disorders) were the leading causes of disease burden and mortality (64·8% of DALYs and 43·9% of deaths). Unintentional and transport injuries were also leading causes of death (14·7% of deaths due to transport injury and 13·3% of deaths due to unintentional injury) and leading causes of disease burden particularly among males in south-eastern Asia. In Melanesia, Micronesia, and some parts of south-eastern Asia (Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, the Philippines, and Timor-Leste), respiratory infections and tuberculosis remained important contributors. Southern Asia had the largest reduction (1·5% per year) in all-cause DALYs over the study period, and Australia and New Zealand (0·2% per year) had the smallest, with females in Australia and New Zealand showing a slight increase contrary to regional trends. Eastern Asia had the largest reduction (2·8% per year) in all-cause mortality rate and Melanesia (0·8% per year) the smallest. Risk factors generally had between-subregion and within-subregion variation; however, some regional trends stood out, with overweight and obesity increasing in all countries across the region, and binge drinking increasing in more countries than not. In 2023, prevalence of smoking in males exceeded that in females in every country, from 40% difference in Timor-Leste to less than 1% difference in Australia. Anaemia prevalence is decreasing in all countries, but female prevalence was higher and reducing at a slower rate than in males. Bullying prevalence was slightly higher in Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia combined, Australia and New Zealand, and eastern Asia compared with southern and south-eastern Asian subregions. INTERPRETATION: Several patterns were consistent across the region: the dominance of mental disorders and NCDs, the universal rise in overweight and obesity (particularly high in Oceanic countries but increasing rapidly in south and south-eastern Asia), and persistent sex-specific challenges across subregions: unintentional injuries and smoking in males, and anaemia in females. Actions to tackle shared risk factors (while accounting for context-specific local health profiles, workforce deficits, cultural factors, and health system capacity) should not be forgone due to local variation. Future research could focus on subnational variation, intersecting inequalities, and multi-sectoral interventions targeting shared risk factors. Priority actions should include regional investment in adolescent mental health services and obesity prevention, targeted injury reduction strategies for high-risk populations, and sex-specific approaches to smoking cessation and anaemia reduction, delivered through local health systems with the capacity and cultural responsiveness to meet local needs. FUNDING: Gates Foundation and Australian Government.

Humans↗
PubMed2002

Clinical adolescent psychology: what it is, and what it needs to be.

This commentary on the special section on clinical adolescent psychology (G. Holmbeck & P. Kendall. 2002) reviews and critiques the conceptual and empirical articles that this compilation comprises. As articulated in the conceptual contributions to this collection, two fundamental principles should guide research on the etiology, prevention, and treatment of psychological disorder and dysfunction during adolescence: First, drawing on the fiel of developmental psychopathology, the study of clinical adolescent psychology should focus on the trajectories of disorder that precede, characterize, and follow adolescence. Second, drawing on the literature on normative adolescent development, the study of clinical adolescent psychology must proceed with an explicit recognition of the unique biological, cognitive, psychosocial, and contextual features that define adolescence as a developmental period. The empirical contributions to this compilation are evaluated with respect to the extent to which they reflect these tenets. Although the study of clinical adolescent psychology, as evidenced by this collection of articles, is appropriately grounded in the broader enterprise of developmental psychopathology, less progress has been made with respect to the integration of the study of clinical phenomena in adolescence with the study of normative adolescent development.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Data collection with adolescents.

Adolescence spans a wide time period during which development and its context influence behaviour and the strategies used for data collection. This article addresses problems that can be anticipated in data collection with adolescents. Problems are presented that are associated with adolescent developmental capacities, adolescent developmental change and stability, gender and ethnicity. Some problems are specific to certain settings or to certain data collection methods. The application of theoretical and empirical knowledge about adolescent development can strengthen data collection instruments and procedures. Strategies to enhance data collection include carefully defining adolescence and tailoring procedures and protocols based on a theoretical understanding of the biological, cognitive and emotional development of adolescents in conjunction with an understanding of the characteristics of the research setting. Adolescent research settings can pose challenges. Investigators must understand clinic routines in evaluating the feasibility of implementing protocols and collecting data where there are distractions and time constraints. In education settings, strategies must be used to collect data in a group context where peer pressure can affect responses. In home settings, ingrained response patterns and family norms can also impede obtaining valid perspectives from adolescents. Ethnicity as well may play an important role that must be addressed when designing and implementing data collection with adolescents. Procedures and instruments selected to collect data need to address variations in ethnicity.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Support as a crucial predictor of good compliance of adolescents with a chronic disease.

The purpose of this study was to describe the factors that predict compliance among adolescents with a chronic illness. The data were collected by questionnaires from adolescents with asthma, epilepsy, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) and insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). Groups of 300 adolescents with these illnesses were selected from the Finnish Social Insurance Institution's register, giving a total study series of 1200 individuals. The final response percentage was 88% (n = 1061). The data were analysed with the SPSS software. Logistic regression was used to indicate the predictors of good compliance. The compliance of adolescents with a chronic disease was predicted on the basis of support from parents, nurses, physicians and friends, as well as motivation, energy and willpower. The most powerful predictor was support from nurses. The likelihood of adolescents supported by nurses complying with health regimens was 7.28-fold compared to the adolescents who did not receive support from nurses. The next powerful predictor was energy and willpower. Adolescents who had the energy and willpower to take care of themselves complied with health regimens with a 6.69-fold likelihood compared to the adolescents who did not have energy and willpower. Adolescents who had good motivation were 5.28 times more likely to comply than the adolescents who did not have motivation. Support from parents, physicians and friends similarly predicted good compliance with health regimens.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Adolescents with developmental psychopathology in adulthood.

We conducted a comparative study of the outcomes at 7 years and at 17 years after initial diagnosis of 77 cases of adolescent developmental psychopathology. The results suggest that the prognosis of adolescent developmental psychopathology could be derived at 5-6 years after commencement of medical treatment. The parent-child relationships during infancy to adolescence, considered to affect the long-term prognosis of adolescent developmental psychopathology, was studied. It is believed that the emotional bond between parents and children in early to middle childhood are vital which seems to affect their relationships during pre-adolescence to early adolescence and to the development of adolescent turmoil. It can be considered vital that the development of the infantile provocative state during preadolescence to early adolescence should progress to a more mature ability to negotiate and which forms the core of adolescent turmoil. The function of the latter will bring better results to adolescent developmental psychopathologies.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Child and adolescent psychiatry workforce: a critical shortage and national challenge.

Despite the decades-long projection of an increasing utilization of child and adolescent psychiatry services and an undersupply of child and adolescent psychiatrists, the actual growth and supply of child and adolescent psychiatrists have been very slow. Inadequate support in academic institutions, decreasing graduate medical education (GME) funding, decreasing clinical revenues in the managed care environment, and a devalued image of the profession have made academic child and adolescent psychiatry programs struggle for recruitment of both residents and faculty, although child and adolescent psychiatry has made impressive progress in its scientific knowledge base through research, especially in neuroscience and developmental science. While millions of young people suffer from severe mental illnesses, there are only about 6,300 child and adolescent psychiatrists practicing in the United States. There is also a severe maldistribution of child and adolescent psychiatrists, especially in rural and poor, urban areas where access is significantly reduced. By any method of workforce analysis, it is evident that there will continue to be a shortage of child and adolescent psychiatrists well into the future. Medical/psychiatric educators have a mission to encourage medical students and general psychiatry residents to enter child and adolescent psychiatry and provide crucial mental health care and health care advocacy for our country's youngest and most vulnerable citizens. This article stems from the work of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Task Force on Work Force Needs, which led to its 10-year recruitment initiative.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

Development of the Adolescent Health Concerns Inventory.

Health concerns of adolescents are important factors to consider when developing and implementing school health education programs. In addition, an understanding of adolescent concerns compared to their teachers' and parents' beliefs about adolescents' concerns may enhance communication between adolescents and adults. Despite the need to identify the health concerns of adolescents and beliefs about them among parents and teachers, few instruments exist. The inventory described in this article is one approach to assessing adolescent health concerns. Three forms of the Adolescent Health Concerns Inventory (AHCI) were developed to assess: (1) the health concerns of adolescents, (2) teachers' beliefs about adolescent health concerns, and (3) parents' beliefs about adolescent health concerns. The final version of the instrument contained 150 health-related items grouped into 12 topical subscales. Reliability estimates for the 12 subscales as measured by Cronbach's alpha ranged from .76 to .92. A panel of experts was used to assess content validity. Construct validity was assessed using principal components factor analysis. All items were positively loaded on factor 1. Readability was estimated at the eighth grade as measured by the SMOG readability formula. Psychometric characteristics of the instrument and recommendations for the use of the ACHI are presented.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Sources of social support: adolescents with cancer.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES: To evaluate how a cancer diagnosis affects adolescents' perceived sources of social support, amount of support needed, and level of satisfaction with support compared to an age-matched, healthy, adolescent group. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, comparative, nonrandom survey. SETTING: Summer camp for adolescents with cancer and a rural high school in the southeastern United States. SAMPLE: Adolescents with a diagnosis of cancer (n = 64) and age-matched, healthy adolescents (n = 115). METHODS: Subjects completed the Social Support Questionnaire, Perceived Social Support From Family Scale, Perceived Social Support From Friends Scale, and demographic information forms. MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES: Sources of social support, amount of support perceived, and level of satisfaction with support. FINDINGS: Adolescents with cancer perceived social support coming from both friends and family and reported high levels of support satisfaction from each source. Compared to healthy adolescents, those with cancer reported similar support sources and satisfaction levels; however, adolescents with cancer perceived parental relationships as more supportive. CONCLUSIONS: Similarities between healthy adolescents and those with cancer regarding social support were more prevalent than differences. The social benefits of camp settings for chronically ill children should be explored further. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING: Nurses and other healthcare professionals should allow adolescents in the healthcare setting every opportunity to maintain their social networks of friends and family by encouraging visitation, providing social opportunities in the hospital, and emphasizing the importance of attending school when medically able.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1997

Adolescents' access to reproductive health and family planning services in Dakar (Senegal).

This paper analyses the issue of adolescents' access to family planning services and information on reproductive health. The data used in this paper are a part of a broader study conducted in 1995 in Dakar (Senegal) by the Committee for Studies on Women, Family and Environment in Africa (COSWFEVA/CEFFEVA) and Family Health International. The findings present information on adolescents' perceptions of premarital sexual activity and contraceptive use and the different types of barriers to access to family planning, using data obtained primarily from focus group discussions with adolescents 16 to 20 years old and a mystery client study. In this approach, 12 of the adolescents participating in the focus group discussions visited clinics as clients and requested contraceptive methods or information. The results indicate that adolescents did not approve of premarital sexual relations, were less likely to approve of contraceptive use by adolescents than by married men and women, and felt embarrassed to go to the services. They were also disappointed by the providers' reception and response to their needs. The content of the counselling offered by the providers was moralistic, encouraging girls to abstain from having sexual intercourse until marriage. The discussions of the findings related adolescents' and providers' attitudes to the socio-cultural context in which adolescent sexuality takes place. In this context, sexuality is closely linked to marriage and childbearing, which affects the impact of classical programs on adolescent health. Alternative solutions such as the life skills development approach could be promoted in order to reach both in-school and out-of-school adolescents.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

[Sexual initiation and use of condoms and other methods of contraception among 15-year-old adolescents in Poland and other countries].

OBJECTIVE PRESENTATION: (1) Frequency of sexual initiation and use of condoms and other methods of contraception among 15-year old adolescents in Poland and other countries in 2001/2002; (2) Trends of change in these sexual behaviours in Poland between 1990-2002. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Representative samples of adolescents in Poland (mean age 15.7 years) in 1990 (N=1548), 1994 (N=1540), 1998 (N=1638) and 2002 (N=2152) and in other 28 countries (mean age 15.2 - 16.1 years) in 2001/2002, were used. The surveys were carried out in the frame of Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children; a WHO Collaborative Cross-National Study (HBSC), according to an international research protocol. An international standard questionnaire (anonymous) was chosen as an instrument for data collection. It contained four questions concerning sexual behaviour. RESULTS: In Poland, 2002, 20.9% of boys and 9.2% of girls reported sexual intercourse with mean ages respectively 14.1 and 14.7 years. The frequency of sexual initiation was higher (in boys) and the mean age was lower among adolescents living in towns by comparison to those living in cities. More matured adolescents had earlier sexual initiations. 27% of sexually active adolescents reported that either they or their partners had used any methods of contraception during their last sexual encounter. This risk sexual behaviour was more frequent in than cities (respectively: in boys 30.2% and 23.9%; in girls 42.9% and 19.7%). The most common method used was a condom. Between 1990-1998, the percentage of adolescents having sex and using some methods of contraception during their encounter last sexual were observed. Between 1998-2002, frequency of sexual initiation decreased, whereas percentage of non-users increased. In comparison to other countries increased Poland's percentage of adolescents with early sexual initiation in 2001/2002 was low, but the percentage of non-users of contraceptives was the highest. CONCLUSIONS: At risk sexual behaviours are relatively common among 15-year-old adolescents, and more frequent among adolescents living in cities. In comparison to other countries, Polish adolescents the risk of unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases is higher. Future monitoring of sexual behaviours is necessary for prevention (including school sexual education) of at risk behaviours.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1982

Social and psychological problems of adolescence and their relevance to dental care.

Troublesome behaviours of adolescent patients are explained using the cognitive-developmental framework of Elkind (1978). Self-contradictory and seemingly irrational behaviours reflect the limited experience of adolescents with newly acquired thinking and reasoning processes. The most important task of adolescence is establishing the adult identity. Just as physiological factors are producing a new adult body, cognitive processes are producing a new adult mind with new behaviour patterns. The erratic behaviours of adolescents are 'symptoms' of the cognitive-developmental process. Four such symptoms are described. 'Pseudostupidity' is the adolescent's tendency to overlook the obvious and inability to make appropriate choices. It results from the lack of experience with newly attained abilities to perceive many possibilities simultaneously. The 'imaginary audience' is the adolescent's self-conscious belief that everyone is watching and evaluating him or her. It reflects the new ability to think about the thoughts of others and the inability to distinguish them from personal thoughts. The 'personal fable' refers to a strong feeling of invulnerability and uniqueness, which reflects an incomplete understanding of the self. 'Apparent hypocrisy' comes from the new ability to conceive ideals and the inability to relate ideals to behaviours. These constructs are applied to situations in the dental setting that reflect difficulties in communication between dentists and adolescent patients and the aesthetic concerns of adolescents. Dentists are advised to remember that adolescent behaviour patterns are not fixed. Of primary importance is the willingness of dentists to listen to young patients and to work towards trusting relationships with them. By serving as a stable adult role model the dentist can facilitate the adolescent's personal growth, as well as positively influencing dental health.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Perseverance pays off: health care providers' impact on HIV testing decisions by adolescent females.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Although HIV counseling and testing of adolescents has increased rapidly in recent years due to increasing HIV seroprevalence rates, little is known about adolescents' use of HIV testing services. The aims of this study were to determine what proportion of high risk adolescent girls would use confidential HIV testing services linked to primary care and to explore the characteristics, beliefs, and experiences that distinguish those teenage girls who obtain HIV testing in this setting from those who do not. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING: General pediatrics clinic with adolescent-specific appointments at a large urban HMO. PARTICIPANTS: Convenience sample of 124 adolescent girls engaging in risky behaviors identified by chart review before regularly scheduled clinic appointments. INTERVENTION: Subjects completed a self-report questionnaire assessing HIV-related knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors before the medical visit. During their provider visit, teens were counseled about their risk behaviors and the availability of HIV testing services at the clinic. Subjects were also given the opportunity to view an educational video about HIV testing designed for adolescents. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Use of HIV counseling and testing services at the clinic and HIV test results. RESULTS: Forty-one percent of these adolescent girls obtained HIV testing at the clinic on the day of their scheduled appointment. Univariate analysis revealed that adolescents who obtained testing had initiated sexual intercourse at a younger age (mean age 13.8 vs 14.4 years, P = .02) and were more likely to have had a prior discussion about HIV testing with a health care provider [RR = 2.02, 95% CIs (1.22, 3.36)]. Those who did not view the video were less likely to test [RR = 0.20, 95% CIs (0.07, 0.58)]. Multiple logistic regression modeling revealed that a prior discussion with a health care provider was the only independent predictor of obtaining an HIV test [OR = 3.47 95% CIs (1.26, 9.52)]. CONCLUSIONS: A significant proportion of adolescent girls engaging in risky behaviors will use confidential HIV counseling and testing services that are linked to primary care. Health care providers play an important role in helping teens address their risk for and concerns about HIV infection by engaging adolescents in repeated discussions about HIV testing.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Adolescent unwed prospective fathers: readiness for fatherhood and behaviors toward the mother and the expected infant.

Despite the increased emphasis on assessing and meeting the needs of unmarried pregnant adolescents, less than adequate attention has been directed toward understanding unwed adolescent prospective fathers who frequently are the mates of pregnant teenagers. As part of a prenatal education intervention study, 28 unmarried adolescent fathers responded to a questionnaire containing items about their readiness for fatherhood, antepartal behavioral interactions, and projected postpartal behaviors with their pregnant adolescent partners, as well as their projected behaviors with their infants. The adolescent males reported that initially they either were definitely unready for paternity (75%) or were undecided about readiness for fatherhood (21%). However, as pregnancy advanced beyond the second trimester, only 57% of the respondents did not want to become fathers. To a significant extent, those who did not were least likely to engage in behaviors supportive of their mate's health antepartally, or to indicate a desire to care for and interact with their expected infant. In addition, they tended to project lower levels of postnatal involvement with the adolescent mothers of their children as compared to those males who were more accepting of their pending fatherhood. Moreover, males who had maintained long prepregnancy relationships with their mates tended to be more supportive of them prenatally, and to perceive themselves as maintaining close relationships with both the mothers and infants after delivery. Finally, 86% of the adolescent fathers planned to work to contribute to the support of their infants. The data demonstrate that unreadiness for fatherhood may be associated with responsible as well as irresponsible behaviors. Accordingly, these data are interpreted as having implications for the establishment of programs and policies which focus on the adolescent male population in order to interdict the high rate of unwed adolescent pregnancy.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2006

Adolescent reward system perseveration due to nicotine: studies with methylphenidate.

Previous data suggests adolescent nicotine exposure permanently disrupts reward systems. Behavioral pharmacological methods were used to assess the effects of adolescent nicotine exposure on methylphenidate (MPD) sensitivity and reward from adolescence to adulthood. For experiment one, testing was performed on adult mice exposed to nicotine (0.3 and 3.0 mg/kg, SC, M-F, b.i.d.) or saline during adolescence (PND 25-57). After a 28-day drug-free, time-off period, the locomotor effects (30 min, 30 cm traveled) of MPD (5, 10, 20, and 40 mg/kg, IP) were measured. Thereafter, mice underwent condition-place-preference testing (CPP). MPD (20 mg/kg) was paired with the subject's non-preferred side and saline with the preferred side. Conditioning sessions were conducted for 8 days with a drug-free post-test on the day following the final conditioning session. A second experiment was conducted to determine if adolescent mice respond differently to MPD compared to adult mice. The study compared adolescent mice (PND 25-46) to adult mice (PND 77-98) using identical MPD testing procedures as in experiment one. Adult subjects exposed to nicotine during adolescence behaved remarkably similar to adolescent subjects receiving only MPD. Both nicotine exposed subjects and naïve adolescents exhibited increased response to MPD's motor activating effects and a decreased response to MPD's rewarding effects. Taken together it appears that adolescent nicotine exposure retards the development of reward systems, thus, maintaining an adolescent state indefinitely, which could result in increased vulnerability to substance abuse problems throughout adulthood.

Age Factors↗
PubMed2001

Adult vs. adolescent rats differ in biobehavioral responses to chronic nicotine administration.

More than 90% of smokers begin smoking during adolescence, suggesting that nicotine's actions may differ in adults vs. adolescents in ways that render adolescents vulnerable to smoking initiation. This experiment tested the hypothesis that nicotine's biobehavioral actions differ in adult and adolescent rats. Forty-two male (21 adolescents, 21 adults) and 41 female (21 adolescents, 20 adults) Sprague-Dawley rats were administered saline or 12 mg/kg/day nicotine via osmotic minipump for 21 days. Body weight, feeding, and locomotion (horizontal activity, vertical activity, center time) were measured before, during, and after saline or nicotine administration. Nicotine's effects depended on age and sex. Nicotine reduced body weight and feeding of adult males and females, and of adolescent males, but not of adolescent females. In addition, adolescent males were more sensitive than adults or adolescent females to nicotine's activity-enhancing effects. In cessation, nicotine-exposed adolescent males continued to exhibit greater activity than saline-exposed animals. Results indicate that nicotine's biobehavioral actions differ depending on age and sex.

Aging↗
PubMed2004

Acute ethanol withdrawal (hangover) and social behavior in adolescent and adult male and female Sprague-Dawley rats.

BACKGROUND: The extensive use of alcohol during adolescence may be facilitated by an age-specific attenuation in sensitivity to adverse effects of ethanol. Adolescent rats are less sensitive than adults to some delayed effects of acute ethanol, including hangover-related anxiety on an elevated plus maze. The purpose of this study was to determine whether adolescent rats are also less sensitive than adults to hangover-related anxiogenesis when indexed in terms of social inhibition. METHODS: Anxiety during ethanol hangover was indexed in adolescent and adult Sprague-Dawley rats of both genders by assessing the suppression in social behavior during a social interaction test. Animals were tested 18 hr after intraperitoneal administration of 0 g/kg (saline) or 4 g/kg ethanol (experiment 1) or at test intervals chosen on the basis of assessments of ethanol clearance time (experiment 2) to equate clearance-to-test intervals across age and gender (experiments 3-5). RESULTS: Adults showed more hangover-related social suppression and slower postclearance recovery than adolescents. Sex differences were more pronounced in adults than adolescents, with males being more affected than females. Ethanol clearance time was considerably longer in adult males than in adolescent animals and adult females. In contrast to the modest decreases in social activity observed in adolescent animals shortly after ethanol clearance, adolescents showed a surprising increase in play fighting later in the recovery period- a hangover-related social facilitation that was not evident in adults. CONCLUSIONS: The attenuated anxiety and increase in social interactions seen in adolescents during hangover are less likely to serve as deterrents for further drinking than the aversive increase in anxiety seen in adults. A facilitation of social interactions not only during a drinking episode, but also during the postalcohol recovery period, could help to establish a persisting cycle of drinking in at-risk adolescents, leading to dependency and a lifelong history of alcohol-related problems.

Aging↗
PubMed2005

Enhanced prepulse inhibition following adolescent ethanol exposure in Sprague-Dawley rats.

OBJECTIVES: Recent studies have demonstrated that ethanol exposure differentially affects adolescents and adults. The current studies were designed to compare the effects of 2-week exposure to ethanol during adolescence or adulthood on the acoustic startle response (ASR) and prepulse inhibition (PPI) METHODS: Male Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to ethanol vapor 12 hr/d (on from 6 pm to 6 am) for 14 days during adolescence or adulthood. Six days after the cessation of ethanol vapor exposure, the ASR and PPI were assessed. RESULTS: During ethanol treatment, overall blood alcohol levels averaged 230 to 250 mg/dl in the adolescent and adult treatment groups. Assessment of the ASR revealed that latency to startle was more rapid in adolescents than in adults, but ASR latency was not altered by ethanol exposure. In addition, ASR magnitude was lower in adolescents and was decreased in ethanol-exposed rats on startle trials. Ethanol exposure significantly enhanced PPI, but only after adolescent exposure CONCLUSIONS: These data further demonstrate a differential sensitivity of adolescents and adults to the effects of ethanol exposure. Specifically, a 2-week period of ethanol exposure during adolescence selectively enhanced PPI, a neurobehavioral index of sensorimotor gating. However, ASR magnitude was decreased by ethanol exposure regardless of age. On the basis of previous studies, the effects of ethanol exposure on PPI data could indicate that adolescent rats exposed to ethanol are more likely to exhibit behavioral inflexibility and that ethanol exposure acts as a more potent physical stressor in adolescent rats.

Acoustic Stimulation↗