A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
Drinking too much Coke killed mother of eight Natasha Harris, a New Zealand coroner has found. Ms Harris drank up to 10 litres of Coke every day – equal to more than twice the recommended safe daily limit of caffeine and almost 1 kilogram of sugar. She died aged 30, on February 25, 2010, from [...]
Media is everywhere. Increasingly children are directly targeted and marketed to by media and advertising who are projecting images that are age inappropriate. The sexualisation of children by the media can be seen in adult style clothing for young girls, sexual references on clothing for boys and girls, music videos, billboards and magazines. Melinda Tankard [...]
The problem is that WikiLeaks – whose mission statement was “to produce . . . a more just society . . . based upon truth” – has been guilty of the same obfuscation and misinformation as those it sought to expose, while its supporters are expected to follow, unquestioningly, in blinkered, cultish devotion. via Jemima [...]
For the vast majority of teens, using social-media sites and texting has become a part of daily life, but they still prefer communicating face-to-face, according to a survey released Tuesday. Overall, the teens who participated in the study painted a positive picture of the influence of social media on their relationships and self-image. More than [...]
In 2011, researchers at the University of Chicago conducted a simple experiment to ascertain whether a rat would release another rat from a cage without being given a reward. The answer was yes. After several sessions, the rats learned intentionally and quickly to open the restrainer and release the caged rats. The rats also repeated [...]
A new study shows a strong, early penchant for gothic, punk, heavy metal and hardcore dance music can be a predictor of teens who will go astray. Lovers of "deviant" music by age 12 were "more engaged in minor delinquency in late adolescence", the four-year study, published in the journal Pediatrics, found. The bad behaviour [...]
My tilt at sobriety came after 20 years of partying that had left me physically and emotionally spent. It was ironic, given my job. Sunday Age readers may remember an article I wrote at the time, in which I outed myself as the binge-drinking health reporter. During the week I wrote about Australia's booze-soaked culture. [...]
Surveys reveal deep social pessimism and public unease in developed nations, including Australia; pessimists outnumber optimists about our future quality of life. But environmental and resource issues are not the main reasons. The concerns are more immediate and personal; more social, cultural and economic; more about the quality of relationships than material conditions. We need [...]
Australia could benefit from a world-first training program developed by the Kuwaiti government to combat religious extremism at its roots, one of its senior officials has advised. The program, which has been running successfully in Russia, Azerbaijan and the Ukraine, is aimed at eliminating radical ideology by educating religious leaders and those in positions of [...]
97% of children play video games* 2% are addicted The recent story of an Adelaide mother who is struggling with her 17 year old son’s addiction to the online fantasy game Runescape probably rang alarm bells with many parents who suspect or know their teenager is in front of a screen far too often and [...]
