Boarding Schools for Girls

Once seen as a problem that was limited to bodybuilders and elite athletes, steroid abuse has invaded America's high schools and middle schools - and muscle-bound football players aren't the only ones who are at risk.

According to an article by Boston Globe staff writer Stan Grossfeld, teenage girls are also turning to steroids in misguided attempts to improve their appearance:

A recent report by the Oregon Health and Science University using data from the Centers for Disease Control said 5.3 percent of teenage girls admitted to using anabolic steroids, mostly for body-enhancing reasons or self-protection, not athletics.

According to 2003 CDC data, seventh-grade girls were the fastest-growing group of steroid users, with more than 7 percent using them, the controversial report stated.

Steroids can cause liver tumors, increase blood pressure, stunt growth and, in girls, deepen their voices. Nevertheless, one recent study found that 57 percent of high school steroid users said they would risk shortening their life for increased performance.

"They're young and they think they are invincible," says the study's author, Jay Hoffman, chairman of health and science at the College of New Jersey.

Dionne Roberts, who told Grossfeld that she tried steroids to help her get "six-pack abs" shortly after graduating high school in 2003, said that the drugs drove her to the brink of despair. "I just became so totally depressed," she said in the article. "I was definitely suicidal. I just was so upset the smallest thing would set me off."

Synthetic substances that are similar to the hormone testosterone, steroids can inflict a variety of undesirable effects on the bodies of teen girls, including irregular menstruation, excess facial and body hair, and severe acne.

Labels: athletes, steriods, drug

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Migraine headaches don't usually rank very high on the list of health concerns that most parents of teens and tweens are on the lookout for in their children. But according to an article by GateHouse News Service reporter Jessica Young, the problem of migraine headaches among children and teens may be much more prevalent than most people realize:

Dr. Merle Diamond, co-director of the world-renowned Diamond Headache Clinic inpatient unit at St. Joseph Hospital in Chicago, said moms and dads frequently write off symptoms as minor sinus pressure because migraines don't seem plausible for the juvenile set.

But according to the clinic, 5 percent of children and adolescents (as opposed to 12 percent of adults) battle chronic headaches and migraines — an incidence rate confirmed by other migraine experts.

"We've seen 2- to 4-year-olds come through with migraines, so it's definitely impacting the young demographic. And it's tough because kids aren't able to articulate what's hurting," said Diamond. ..."It's such a miserable and oftentimes disabling condition to live with."

Dr. David Sperry, a pediatric neurologist and migraine specialist, told Young that as many as one in four of his patients have exhibited symptoms that are consistent with migraines.

"For a long time, those in the medical field and society at large didn't believe kids could possibly be wrestling with migraine headaches," Sperry told Young. "It was kind of 'Oh, please!' with them giving a pat on the head and handing over a Tylenol. And this response prolonged the child's agony."

Treatment options for young migraine sufferers include stress-relief and trigger-identification techniques, preventative medications, and biofeedback, Young wrote, while some extreme cases may mandate hospitalization.

Labels: health, headaches

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In the 30-plus years since Title IX opened up a world of opportunities for female athletes in the United States, girls have made significant strides in all fields of competition.

But one area in which women are outpacing their male counterparts is nothing to celebrate: According to a CNN report, girls are up to eight times more likely than boys to suffer serious injuries to their anterior cruciate ligaments, or ACLs.

"I reconstructed ACLs for just four male high school soccer players [in 2006], compared to 25 girls," orthopedic surgeon John Xerogeanes told CNN reporter Judy Fortin.

One of the knee's four major ligaments, the ACL helps stabilize the knee and minimize the amount of stress that is placed on the joint. Because of the strain that many sports place on the knee, ACL injuries are relatively common among athletes.

According to the Sports Injury Clinic website, the following symptoms may indicate that an athlete has torn her ACL:

• An audible pop or crack when the injury takes place
• Extreme pain, followed immediately by a feeling of instability in the knee
• Extensive swelling soon after the injury occurs
• Restricted ability to move the knee or straighten the leg
• Tenderness alongside the knee joint

Though specialists have documented the disproportionate risk faced by female athletes, they have not determined exactly why girls are more prone to ACL tears.

"We know that there is a huge increase in ACL injuries when you compare female athletes to male athletes," Xerogeanes said during the CNN interview. "We've looked at a million different things in terms of size of the pelvis, angulation of the knees, hormones and the way girls fire their muscles when they land. We're not exactly sure why this happens."

Labels: athletes, injuries

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A research team at the University of Alabama has concluded that early puberty and poor parenting skills can result in increased levels of aggression among adolescent girls.

The UA study, which was published in the journal Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, involved interviews with 330 fifth-grade girls and their parents.

About 80 of the girls who were surveyed were discovered to have matured early, which the researchers defined as beginning to menstruate one year earlier than the average age for their racial and ethnic group. These early maturers were more likely to engage in delinquent behaviors than were the other girls, but they were not more aggressive - unless they also had parents who showed little interest in them.
"Early maturation only predicted physical aggression when combined with low maternal nurturance," wrote the authors of the study, which was led by Dr. Sylvie Mrug.

According to a press release that accompanied the study's publication, the researchers theorize that reduced parental involvement may contribute to increased aggression by forcing the young girls to find other (often less-than-ideal) mentors outside the family.

Early-maturing girls may be at higher risk of aggression or delinquency because they are more likely to be accepted by and form relationships with older boys, who are more likely than younger children to engage in undesirable behaviors, the authors note.

"Parental nurturance may decrease girls' susceptibility to negative peer influence," they write. "Also, parental nurturance may help girls cope with challenges associated with early puberty. By listening to their daughters' difficulties and providing support and encouragement, nurturing parents can help them develop better coping skills and diffuse negative emotions that might otherwise manifest as aggression."

As a result of their findings, the researchers recommend that health care professionals who treat early-maturing girls help ensure that the patients' parents understand the importance of adequate levels of guidance and nurturing.

Labels: parenting, aggression, puberty

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