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Puberty is a potentially sensitive period during which the adolescent demonstrates rapid changes in aggressive/delinquent behaviour. Early onset of puberty has been implicated, not only in the earlier occurrence of [...]

AbstractPurpose:There is little known about the association between breastfeeding and long-term child psychopathology. This study aimed to examine the impact of breastfeeding on child mental health and problem behavior at 14 years and whether this association is confounded by other variables.Subjects and Methods:Data were from a pre-birth prospective study that included mothers and their children followed up from pregnancy to 14 years of the child's age in Brisbane, Australia. The child's anxiety/depression, withdrawal problems, somatic complaints, social problems, thought problems, attention problems, aggression, and delinquency were measured using the Achenbach Youth Self Report at 14 years. Breastfeeding was prospectively assessed at the 6-month follow-up of the study. The analysis was based on 4,502 adolescents who responded to the YSR questionnaire and for whom prospective data were available on breastfeeding.Results:Breastfeeding as reported by mothers when the child was 6 months old predicted reduced symptoms of child mental health and problem behavior at 14 years. The impact of breastfeeding on the child's social problems, attention problems, and aggressive behavior remained statistically significant after controlling for the effect of other variables, such as unplanned pregnancy, maternal mental health, and substance use during pregnancy.Conclusions:Our data suggest that breastfeeding for at least 4 months can have a significant protective effect on a child's social, attention, and aggression problems in early adolescence. Given the limitations of the existing evidence, further research is needed to investigate the robustness of the findings of this study and the mechanisms of long-term association between breastfeeding and reduced social, attention, and aggression problems of the offspring in adolescence.

Objective:To examine the socio‐demographic characteristics of young adults’ gambling and its association with mental health and substance use behaviour.

Introduction:This study aimed to examine the association between cannabis use before and during pregnancy and birth outcomes.Results:Overall, 26.3% of women reported previous use of cannabis and 2.6% reported current use. Multivariate analysis, controlling for potential confounders, including tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption, and use of other illicit drugs, showed that cannabis use in pregnancy was associated with low birth weight (odds ratio (OR) = 1.7; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.3–2.2), preterm labor (OR = 1.5; 95% CI: 1.1–1.9), small for gestational age (OR = 2.2; 95% CI: 1.8–2.7), and admission to the neonatal intensive care unit (OR = 2.0; 95% CI: 1.7–2.4).Discussion:The results of this study show that the use of cannabis in pregnancy is associated with increased risk of adverse birth outcomes. Prevention programs that address cannabis use during pregnancy are needed.Methods:Data were from women birthing at the Mater Mothers’ Hospital in Brisbane, Australia, over a 7-y period (2000–2006). Women were interviewed in the initial antenatal visit about their use of cannabis and other substances. Records for 24,874 women who provided information about cannabis use, and for whom birth outcomes data were available, were included in the analysis.

Introduction: Attention to caregiving consequences has been mainly restricted to bipolar disorder, although studies suggest that relatives of bipolar patients also experience considerable distress. The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of family member caregivers of bipolar disorder patients.

The aim of this study is to examine cost-effectiveness of fluoridation of drinking water supplies for Brisbane and South East Queensland. The benefits conveyed are expressed in reduced costs of dental treatment and years of life with dental caries as a disability. The analysis utilises a developed life table modelling initial cohort of 36,322 newborns, which when applied to the target population equals to 181,925 persons in the age group 2–100 years, 338,617 persons in the age group 7–100 years and 390,524 persons in the age group 12–100 years respectively. The analysis was conducted using a real discount rate of 3%. Sensitivity analyses investigated the effects of varying the parameters such as: discount rate, costs of dental treatment and costs of fluoridation plant. Uncertainty analysis was also conducted on costs and the measure of ratio of decayed, missing, filled teeth surfaces in deciduous dentition between the cities of Brisbane (non-fluoridated) and Townsville (fluoridated). If fluoridation was implemented there would be a total saving of $10,437.43 (95% CI 6,406.5014,035.35) disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and AU$ 665,686,529 (95% CI -$973,573,625- $381,322,176). This result is both desirable and dominant as more DALYs are saved along with significant cost savings. Fluoridation remains still a very cost-effective measure for reducing dental decay. Fluoridation should be implemented as this strategy will reduce the cost of treating dental caries significantly in the future and lower the disease burden associated with the disease of dental caries on population of Brisbane and South East Queensland.

Background Relatively little is known about why almost half of young adults in Australia have used cannabis. Because the upwards trend in use of cannabis has been coincident with an increase in marital breakdown, this study examines the relationship between marital status, marital changes, and the onset of cannabis use. Methods Data are from the Mater-University Study of Pregnancy (MUSP), a 21-year prospective study in Brisbane, Australia. The present study is based on the 3008 mothers and their children for whom there were complete follow-up data at 21 years. Outcomes were self-reported cannabis use at age 21 and early onset (before age 15) cannabis use as judged from a retrospective report obtained at 21 years. Analyses were conducted using multivariate binomial and multinomial logistic regression. Results Change in maternal marital status when the child was aged between 5 and 14 years was significantly associated with increased risk of cannabis use [odds ratio (OR) = 1.7; 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.4–2.0 for one or two marital changes and OR = 2.3; 95% CI 1.5–3.4 for three or more marital changes], after adjustment for a range of potential confounders. Conclusion Experience of changes in maternal marital status in mid- to late-childhood is a significant predictor of subsequent and early use of cannabis by the child. This holds true even after allowing for certain possible causes and consequences of marital breakdown.