Objective-To examine the relationship between psychiatric disorders and sexual behaviors among adolescents receiving mental health treatment. Adolescents in mental health treatment have been found to have higher rates of HIV risk behavior than their peers, but data concerning the relationship between psychopathology and risk are inconsistent and limited.

Reliability and validity of the YLOT was found with 204 3rd-6th graders. Optimism also predicted fewer child-reported depressive symptoms and parent-reported behavior problems assessed three months later. Pessimism predicted more child-reported anxiety symptoms and parent-reported social and academic deficits.

Hundreds of thousands of children have had at least 1 parent deploy as part of military operations in Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom; OIF; Operation New Dawn; OND) and Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom; OEF). However, there is little knowledge of the impact of deployment on the relationship of parents and their children. This systematic review examines findings from 3 areas of relevant research: the impact of deployment separation on parenting, and children's emotional, behavioral, and health outcomes; the impact of parental mental health symptoms during and after reintegration; and current treatment approaches in veteran and military families. Several trends emerged. First, across all age groups, deployment of a parent may be related to increased emotional and behavioral difficulties for children, including higher rates of health-care visits for psychological problems during deployment. Second, symptoms of PTSD and depression may be related to increased symptomatology in children and problems with parenting during and well after reintegration. Third, although several treatments have been developed to address the needs of military families, most are untested or in the early stages of implementation and evaluation. This body of research suggests several promising avenues for future research.

This RCT found that the HIV prevention interventions reduced sexual risk behavior over three months in a large, diverse sample of youths in mental health treatment and that the family-based intervention improved parental monitoring and communication with teens about sex. These interventions show promise.

Sociodemographic factors should be kept in mind when designing interventions to promote continuing good health for young cancer survivors. Also to be included is the assessment of specific health risks secondary to the cancer therapies given. Risk counseling that recognizes and builds on these variables will be most effective in helping this patient population observe sound health habits.

This study investigated the relationship between parent-teen sexual communication, discussion of condoms, and condom use among adolescents in mental health treatment. Adolescents with a history of sexual intercourse and their parents completed questionnaires assessing adolescent sexual risk behavior, sexual communication, and discussion of sexual topics. Greater condom use by adolescents was associated with parent-adolescent condom discussion but was not associated with openness in sexual communication. Seventy-six percent of adolescents reported that parents had discussed condoms with them and these discussions were significantly associated with protected sexual acts. In a logistic regression, accounting for age, gender, race, and psychiatric diagnosis teens that discussed condoms with their parent were more likely to report condom use at last sex. Increasing direct communication about condoms may be an important step in increasing adolescent's safer sex behavior. Mental health disorders and family distress may make such discussions challenging but are not an insurmountable barrier to direct discussions about condoms.

This study aimed to evaluate an intervention designed to enhance early adolescents’ emotion regulation skill use and to decrease risk behaviors. Adolescents 12 to 14 years old (N = 420; 53% male) with mental health symptoms were referred for participation in either an Emotion Regulation (ER) or Health Promotion (HP) intervention consisting of twelve after-school sessions. Participants completed baseline and follow-up questionnaires on laptop computers. Using a generalized analysis of covariance controlling for baseline scores, participants in the ER intervention were less likely to be sexually active and engage in other risk behaviors, such as fighting, at the conclusion of the program. Additionally, participants in the ER intervention reported greater use of emotion regulation strategies and more favorable attitudes toward abstinence. Interventions directly targeting emotion regulation may be useful in addressing health risk behaviors of adolescents with mental health symptoms.

Switching EFV to ETR led to a significant reduction in overall G2-4 CNS adverse events, including insomnia, abnormal dreams and nervousness as individual adverse event. Lack of improvement for some events suggests other causative factors.