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Unhealthy behaviors including smoking, drinking, and drug use often begin during adolescence and are closely related to morbidity and mortality. This study examines the prevalence and factors associated with substance use among adolescent boys in Bihar, India. Data from the Understanding the Lives of Adolescents and Young Adults (UDAYA), conducted in 2015–16 in two Indian states, was used for analysis (n = 2004 adolescent boys aged 14–19 years). A multivariate logistic regression model was applied to estimate the effect of various correlates on substance use. Prevalence of tobacco consumption (19%) is high, followed by consumption of alcohol (8%) and drug use (1.2%) among adolescent boys in Bihar. One-fifth have ever used at least one substance. Age, education, current schooling status, wealth quintile, household head's educational attainment, and mother's education level are found to be important factors influencing substance use. It is essential to adopt more pointed programs which can effectively reduce substance use among adolescents in this and similar states. Programs related to prevention of substances should be expanded effectively through health education programs, media messages at the grassroots level, especially in the socio-economically backward states in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to test the moderating role of sport participation in the mediation model of media pressures, internalisation of appearance ideals and body dissatisfaction in adolescent boys. Five hundred and seventy adolescent boys (mean age 17.2 ± 0.45; range 15–19 years) participated in the cross-sectional study. Adolescents completed a questionnaire consisting of measures of attitudes towards sociocultural pressures on appearance, body dissatisfaction and sport participation (participation in achievement sport, leisure exercising and non-participation in any sports). Sports participation moderated the associations between the internalisation of stereotyped appearance ideals and body dissatisfaction. In athletes, the effect of internalisation of thin body ideals on body dissatisfaction was not significant, while the effect of internalisation of muscular/athletic body ideals was negative. In leisure exercisers, the effect of internalisation of muscular body ideals on body dissatisfaction was not significant, yet internalisation of thin body ideals had a significant effect on body dissatisfaction. The strongest associations between appearance ideals internalisation and body dissatisfaction were found in adolescent boys who reported no participation in sports. Sports participation might be an effective tool in decreasing the negative effect of internalisation of stereotyped appearance ideals on adolescent boys' body image. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Rates of adolescent HIV and unintended pregnancy in southern Africa are amongst the highest in the world. Gender-transformative interventions that address underlying gender inequalities and engage both males and females have been emphasised by the World Health Organisation, amongst others, to target prevention. However, few such gender-transformative interventions have been rigorously developed or evaluated. Objective: To expedite potential impact and reduce development costs, we conducted a needs assessment to inform the co-design, in consultation with local stakeholders, of adapted versions of an existing gender-transformative Relationships and Sexuality Education intervention for use in South Africa and Lesotho. Methods: Adaptation of the intervention was guided by a modified version of Intervention Mapping (IM). This process involved consultation with separate adolescent, community and expert advisory groups and a collaboratively conducted needs assessment, which drew on focus groups with adolescents (8 groups, n = 55) and adults (4 groups, n = 22) in South Africa and Lesotho, and was informed by our systematic review of the literature on the determinants of condom use among adolescents in the region. Results: The findings clarified how the intervention should be adapted, which individual- and environmental-level determinants of condom use to target, and actions for facilitating successful adoption, evaluation and implementation in the new settings. Conclusions: The IM approach allows for a systematic appraisal of whether components and processes of an existing intervention are appropriate for a new target population before costly evaluation studies are conducted. The findings will be of interest to those wishing to rigourously develop and evaluate gender-transformative interventions engaging men to improve health for all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The practice of child marriage has been well-studied among girls, but there has been little information to date about child marriage among boys. This paper presents an analysis of all nationally representative and internationally comparable data on the prevalence of child marriage among boys. Such data are available for 82 countries within the past 10 years, representing 51% of the global population of men. In the countries with data, on average, 4.5% of young men aged 20–24 years were first married or in union before age 18, with a range of values from less than 1% to nearly 30%. Data from all regions show that the practice has become less common compared to 25 years ago. The countries with the highest prevalence of child marriage among boys are geographically diverse and differ from the countries where the practice is most common among girls. Further research is needed on the drivers of the practice and its effects on child grooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on data generated from semi-structured, one-to-one interviews in 2012, this article focuses on the attitudinal disposition toward homosexuality of 12 English academy level football players aged 14-15. Results highlight the presence of progressive attitudes toward homosexuality even though some of the youth feel they lack the agency to contest homophobia when espoused in their schools. Using a blend of two dominating masculinities theories, we use these interviews to highlight that boys in this setting are best understood as a complex imbrication of inclusivity yet socially-passive acceptance. We suggest that boys of this age are now primed for learning agency to contest the social marginalization of others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessing physicians' experiences in HPV vaccine recommendation and delivery to adolescent boys is essential to providing an understanding of the issues of vaccine acceptance and an insight for policymakers to enhance HPV vaccinations among adolescent boys. Between January and April 2014 a mail survey was conducted using physicians in Malaysia known to provide either one or both HPV vaccine (Gardasil and Cervarix) immunisation services. A total of 357 completed questionnaires were received (response rate 22.5%). Of these, 335 physicians see adolescent boys aged 11 to 18 years old in their practice. Only 26.3% (n = 88) recommended the HPV vaccine to these boys. A total of 46.6% (n = 41) have successfully given the HPV vaccine to adolescent boys. A lack of proper guidelines from the health authorities regarding the recommendation of HPV vaccine to the boys (37.2%) and a lack of awareness of the availability of the vaccine for boys (32.8%) were the most commonly cited reasons for non-recommendation. Impact statement Recommending the HPV vaccine for adolescent boys remains a challenge for physicians. Our study provides evidence of challenges and barriers faced by Malaysian physicians who recommend the HPV vaccines (Gardasil and Cervarix) in their practices. In this study, physicians reported HPV vaccine uptake by adolescent boys was very poor. A lack of proper guidelines from the health authorities regarding the recommendation of HPV vaccine to boys and a lack of awareness of the availability of the vaccine for boys were the most commonly cited reasons for non-recommendation. Physicians viewed that support and encouragement from the health authorities are needed to promote the recommendation of the HPV vaccine to adolescent boys. Physicians were also of the opinion that the lay public should be educated about the availability of the HPV vaccine for boys, and its benefits, safety and efficacy, and the high susceptibility of boys to getting HPV infections. The findings provide insights that could be helpful to policymakers or high-level decision-makers of the potential strategies to enhance HPV uptake among adolescent boys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored and described the lived experiences of adolescent boys who are obese. Participants were a purposive sample of nine boys between the ages of 13 and 18, six of them currently with obesity and with BMI levels at or above the 95th percentile for weight for height, and three with a history of obesity. Data were collected using in-depth phenomenological interviews, direct observations and field notes. Thematic coding was applied during the analysis process. Four themes emerged from the thematic analysis to characterise the adolescent boys’ experiences of being obese: living an empty life in a full body; vulnerable self-concept and low self-esteem; and being teased and humoured. They reported to cope with lived obesity by actively using motivation such as fear of death to lose weight and passively coping by wearing a mask. Obesity carries significant physical and psychological health risk to children in adolescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored how black South African adolescent boys talk about ‘gay’1in schools. Thirty two boys (age ranged from 13–18 years old) attending two high schools in a historically black South African township took part. Data on their understanding of being gay were gathered using individual interviews and focus group discussions. The data were analysed using Edley and Wetherell's (2001) discursive interpretive framework. Findings suggest negative bias in the boys' attitudes towards ‘gay’ boys. The boys considered being ‘gay’ as ‘deviant’, ‘abnormal’, ‘un-Christian’ and ‘un-African’. Furthermore, ‘straight’2boys reported isolating themselves from ‘gay’ boys and avoiding practices stereotypically associated with being ‘gay’, such as wearing colorful pink clothes. Social constructions of hegemonic masculinity and homophobia appear present within an ordinary South African school setting. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the pursuit of understanding declining levels of participation from scholastic Health and Physical Education (HPE), ethnographic research has been increasingly utilised as a tool to explore the intersubjective and intrasubjective meaning-making processes that concurrently invite or dissuade participation. Despite the ostensible epistemological benefits of deploying ethnographic research as a vehicle for better understanding contextual HPE (dis)engagement processes and meanings, a critical methodological discussion of the actual implementation and positionality of these methods is largely absent in the extant literature. Reflecting on an ethnographic study conducted with adolescent boys at a Canadian elementary school, this paper provides HPE ethnographers with a series of methodological deliberations, and reflexive points of departure for consideration in the design and implementation of ethnographic research. Specifically, this paper elucidates the process of rapport building with teachers/students, the omnipresent tensions, ethical dilemmas and triumphs that can emerge during ethnography, and the various socio-contextual interview factors that can influence data generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to identify factors discouraging adolescent boys from choosing to become involved in gangsterism, as well as to understand the temptation of becoming involved in gangs. Four focus groups and three in-depth individual interviews were conducted with 23 colored adolescent males between the ages of 16 and 18 years residing in gang-prevalent areas in the Western Cape, South Africa. Attraction to gangs was indicated in terms of external factors, including material gain, entertainment, substance availability, dominance, and survival, as well as internal factors of acceptance and belonging, esteem, and loyalty. Personal factors such as ambition/aspiration, identity, responsibility, and morals emerged as factors discouraging participants from gang involvement, as did relational factors including respect for others, family values, positive relationships, and reputation. Furthermore, fears of danger and its consequences, avoidance of unpleasant psychological experiences and loss, and perceived purposelessness were highlighted as significant factors at play in participants’ decisions against gang involvement. If these findings can be acknowledged and attended to by various systems involved in youth development, greater preventative support may be provided for youth at risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the gender socialization patterns and masculine constructions of a group of adolescent boys living in single-mother households. Data collection methods such as observation and interviews were employed together with interpretive techniques to explain how the participants constructed their realities based on their experiences. The results revealed that gender socialization of adolescent boys took place when their single mothers—pressured by dramatic physical changes in their adolescent sons—concluded that the boys were already men, and admonished them to act as expected of men. Gender socialization also took place when mothers observed in the behavior of their adolescent boys traits regarded as typically male, which they (mothers) did not like; and also when the mothers, in response to harsh socioeconomic and other adverse conditions, directed their sons’ attention to the failure of their absent fathers to perform traditionally defined masculine roles in the families. The attitudes of the participants to male gender were revealed in their notion of fathers as providers and figures of authority, and in their involvement in gang-related activities and other risky behaviors associated with masculinity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The aim of this grounded theory study was to investigate strategies used by school-based nurses to promote adolescent boys' access to and engagement with school-based health services. Interviews were conducted with 10 school nurses in South-East Queensland, Australia. The central process identified was creating connections, encompassing three inter-related sub-processes: facilitating communication, mediating contextual issues and bridging cultural issues. These processes incorporate strategies that highlight ways school nurses can engage with boys, individually and collectively, to promote and facilitate help-seeking from school-based health services. Findings inform practice and guidelines for improving boys' access to school-based health services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study adopted interpretive/constructivist approach to examine father absence experience in teenage South African boys. Ten adolescent boys (with mean age of 15 years) from an impoverish suburb of Cape Town participated in the study. Mixed method data collection techniques were used including observation, interview and compilation of collage. Data were collected on participants' emotional and behavioural reactions to the absence of their fathers in their households. The results revealed that participants considered fathers as role models to teach them safe behaviours, male interests, values and activities. Participants' perceived fathers as providers and protectors who occupy positions of authority and control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to explore how adolescent boys talk about absent fathers in Alexandra Township, a historically working-class and black community in Gauteng, South Africa. Individual and group interviews were conducted with 30 adolescent boys between the age of 14 and 18 years in two high schools in Alexandra Township. The results reveal that many of the adolescent boys in the study did not know their fathers or their fathers had separated with their mothers. Despite this, some of the boys were able to construct positive male identities that were not risk-taking. This process involved certain psychical and defensive manoeuvres such as fantasy and an idealized self representation of wanting to become 'different' fathers as compared to their own biological fathers. Young adolescent boys' positive voices about future fathering and fatherhood could be supported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study is on the effects of entertainment media on physiological and psychological indicators of stress. The concept of stress is considered to play a key role in the explanation of the effects of media use on aggression, academic performance, and health. Two types of media (television and video games) and violent versus nonviolent content were compared. Differential effects on physiological measures (heart rate [HR], heart rate variability [HRV], cortisol, salivary alpha-amylase [sAA]) and subjective experience were expected. Study participants consisted of 98 boys, aged 11 to 14. Physiological stress reactions were higher for video games than for television with regards to HR and HRV. Violent content had greater effects on physiological stress than nonviolent content, when measured in terms of sAA, cortisol, and HRV. Violent content, in general, was rated as being more stressful but also more enjoyable. The results underline that certain types of media use are associated with subjective and physiological indices of stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Violence among adolescent boys in impoverished urban areas is a major public health problem. We assessed violence-related attitudes and beliefs and exposures among 29 delinquent, 22 truant and 12 dependent of the state adolescent boys who attended an urban publicly funded extended day program. One purpose of this study was to assess violence related factors among truant boys as much is unknown about violence in this population. Another objective was to compare truant and dependent boys with delinquent boys to identify violence-related factors distinguishing aggressive/destructive boys from boys with social adjustment problems but who are not aggressive/destructive. All three groups of boys had high exposure to community violence, delinquent friends and anti-social attitudes and beliefs about violence with the highest levels found among delinquents. Absence of a caring adult was pervasive among all groups and highest among delinquents (91% vs. 83%, p=.04). and urgently needs to be addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the work of a consultation to a staff group at a residential home for adolescent boys. The work discovered that each encounter increased each group's sense of deprivation. This escalation is understood as their relationship being based upon a spiral of deprivation. In this situation the staff's capacity to think in terms of their training in Winnicott's ideas about residential care, and that behaviour has meaning, was lost. By using himself as the container of staff emotional states, through recognising their communications in terms of Bion's concept of normal projective identification, the consultant was better able to understand the nature of the difficulties in the boys' and staff relationship. Hence, the attempt to engage staff through the consultation was successful and their capacity to think was restored. The material discussed shows this development enabled staff to better contain their own and the boys' feelings, thus allowing the spiral to reverse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]