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Death by suicide is a significant cause of mortality among youth. However, there is limited information on the demographic and clinical factors associated with youth suicide deaths. The objective of this study was to link large statewide databases to describe demographic, clinical, and cause of death characteristics among youth who died by suicide. We examined 1,218 decedents under age 26 who died by suicie between 2000 and 2014. Eighteen died before age 12, 53 died between ages 12 and 14, 292 died between ages 15 and 18, and 855 died between ages 19 and 25. Most were male (83%), and firearm was most common cause of death; 28% previously attempted suicide, 31% had a mental health diagnosis, and 17% were prescribed psychotropic medication. Younger children died by hanging/smothering (89% of all 7- to 11-year olds), and overdose/poisoning increased progressively with age. Adolescents had a higher proportion of females than young adults (23% vs. 14%, p = .002). Combining data from the medical examiner and large hospital systems allows examination of youth suicide from a developmental perspective. Differences between age groups included gender, method, diagnosed mental illness, and diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. These data point to missed opportunities for effective interventions for specific developmental stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on evidence of the vulnerability of migrants to disadvantages in morbidity and mortality, we examine the relationships between internal migration and early life mortality. We apply the Cox-proportional hazards model on the nationally representative data from the 2008 Demographic and Health Surveys in Kenya and Nigeria to predict the hazard of dying between birth and age 14. We find more deaths in Nigeria than Kenya, with the highest mortality burdens among rural and urban non-migrants in both countries. We also find urban-rural and rural-urban migrants in Kenya and rural-urban migrants in Nigeria showing elevated mortality burdens than other migrant categories. Consistent with evidence that social and biological disadvantages trail individuals through the life course, we find that distinct mortality patterns displayed after 2 years of life gradually enlarge till age 14 in both countries. Beyond migration, we find commonalities in more deaths among children with shorter birth intervals, multiple than singleton births, children whose mothers have no/preschool education, with shortest duration of stay in current place of residence, divorced/separated, and from the poorest households. On differentials, we find in Kenya higher mortality burdens among ethnic Somali children, in Northeastern and Western regions. In Nigeria, we find more deaths among boys, children of mothers under 20 years old, unemployed, Muslim, and from North-west and North-east regions. Our study is a critical step in providing credible evidence that can guide discourse and actions in addressing the health challenges of migrants and non-migrants in two major African countries. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improvements in childhood and adolescent cancer mortality and survival rates have continued in recent years, but the rate of progress has been greater in hematologic malignances than in solid tumors. A short reflection on these achievements is warranted before quickly turning our attention to the remaining challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The aim of this study was to explain adolescents’ volunteering in terms of their morality and identity and to examine the moderation effect of gender and age in this process. Data were collected among 698 Dutch adolescents aged 12 to 20 (M = 15.19; SD = 1.43). Adolescents’ moral reasoning was positively associated with understanding moral issues and thinking about public responsibility towards these issues. In turn, moral understanding, along with being personally committed to act upon moral issues, were positively associated with identity. Extending the number of identity contexts tended to be related to being more likely to volunteer and to more volunteering involvement. Adolescents’ identity integration was not related to how likely they were to volunteer, and was negatively related to their volunteering involvement. Clearer effects were found when differentiating between adolescent gender and age groups. Future research could examine this process over time, along with additional factors that may further explain adolescents’ volunteering, and examine their age and gender specific effects. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Nicotine addiction is the most common preventable cause of premature death presenting during adolescence. No prior study has described the onset of this condition based on case histories. We used trained personnel to conduct individual semi-structured interviews to obtain case histories from 50 adolescent and young adult current and former smokers. Smokers experience a compulsion to use tobacco that spans a spectrum of severity from wanting, to craving, to needing. The compulsion is commonly experienced as originating foreign to the will of the smoker and recurs with a predictable periodicity that determines the latency from smoking one cigarette to wanting, craving or needing another. Novice smokers could experience latencies as lengthy as a few weeks, and more experienced smokers attributed their escalation in smoking frequency to the shortening of their latencies. Wanting, craving or needing tobacco, as described in this study, are pathognomonic for a compulsion to use tobacco. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Presents an abstract of the study `Juvenile Mortality and the Evolution of Human Life History' B.C. Campbell and M.K. Stoller.