Risky teen behavior may not occur at home or school: but how to track?

How can researchers track where teens go when not in or near home or school to see if this movement has an impact on health-related behavior such as smoking or sexual activity? The answer is through that ubiquitous teen accessory – the cell phone.

In a paper published in the April issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health researchers from Indiana University School of Medicine report on a pilot study which evaluated the feasibility of using global position system -enabled cell phones to track where 14- to 16-year-old girls spent their time.

“We didn’t know if the technology would work, if the kids would take the cell phones with them or would leave them at home. But they did carry the phones and the GPS data revealed that they were spending more time away from home, school and surrounding areas than anticipated. Learning that we were able to track their movement is important because previous studies which have looked at the effect of environment on teens have focused only on home, school and surrounding areas,” said Sarah Wiehe, M.D., M.P.H., an assistant professor of pediatrics at the IU School of Medicine and a Regenstrief Institute affiliated scientist.

“A person’s environment in some way influences or is at least associated with their health and health outcomes and in the case of adolescents their health behaviors. But we don’t have a great idea of why that association exists. What in the environment is contributing to behavior choices such as drug use" When tracked with GPS we know where the teens are and when they are there but we don’t know what they are doing. Now that we know that the technology works, that the girls took their phones with them, we need to learn the characteristics of the environments in which they find themselves,” she added.

This pilot study of the feasibility of GPS tracking to discern teen travel patterns was supported by the IU School of Medicine’s General Clinical Research Center’s Health Outcomes and Research Feasibility Fund. Based on the success of the initial project, the researchers have received funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to enroll 160 urban teenage girls in a study to track their movements in spring, summer, fall and winter (to account for seasonal variations). They hope to learn much more about how teenage girls interact with their many environments in ways that impact health.

“We are at the tip of the iceberg seeing where and how teens spend time. As a doctor charged with keeping kids healthy, I am hoping our studies will result in interventions, perhaps something as simple as text messages encouraging healthy behavior or something we haven’t even thought of yet, that will encourage good choices,” said Dr. Wiehe, who is a pediatrician with the Wishard Health System.

Source: Indiana University

Related stories:

Commonly used medications associated with impaired physical function in older adults
Older adults who take drugs designed to block the neurotransmitter acetylcholine – including common medications for incontinence, high blood pressure and allergies – are more likely to be dependent in one or more activities of daily living and to walk slower, according to new findings from researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and colleagues.
Part I: Hunting for a miracle, grasping at a chance
(AP) -- It was only a chair, but it had become his purgatory. Each day that John Pou spent in the wheelchair, his spirit seemed to die a little more. It was a perpetual reminder of the calamity that had brought him and Marci, even the kids, to this place.
Does it matter that medical graduates don't get jobs as doctors?
In 2007, 1300 UK medical graduates were unable to secure training places, and this shortfall looks set to be repeated this year. But is this a betrayal of students’ expectations or is this inevitable if patients are to get the best care? Two experts debate the issue in this week’s BMJ.
Dual treatment of incontinence and dementia associated with functional decline
Older nursing home residents who took medications for dementia and incontinence at the same time had a 50 percent faster decline in function than those who were being treated only for dementia, according to a study from researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and colleagues.
Body image program reduces onset of obesity and eating disorders
In their research on eating disorders, Oregon Research Institute (ORI) scientists help young women reduce the influence of the “thin ideal,” which is described as associating success and happiness with being thin.
Low Grades, Bad Behavior? Siblings May Be To Blame
We all know the story of a man named Brady and the group that somehow formed a family. But if the iconic ‘70s sitcom about a “blended” family reflected reality, the Brady Bunch likely would have been dealing with much more than silly sibling squabbles.

No place like home: Katrina's lasting impact
New Orleans residents who lost their homes in Hurricane Katrina were over five times more likely to experience serious psychological distress a year after the disaster than those who did not. That is one of the findings from a study presented at the annual meeting of the Population Association of America in New Orleans.
Mind the gap: Indigenous lives improving, but too slowly
Ahead of this weekend’s 2020 Summit academics from The Australian National University are warning research shows significant changes need to be made to Indigenous affairs policy to ‘close the gaps’ but the “narrative of failure” that dominates discussion on the area is unfounded.

News discussion:

Medicine & Health news