Research on suicide rates
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
The suicide rate among young men in England and Wales is at the lowest level for 30 years, say researchers.
Using data on suicides from 1968 to 2005, the researchers found that for males aged 15 to 24, the overall suicide rate dropped from 16.6 per 100,000 people in 1990 to 8.5 per 100,000 in 2005. Amongst men aged 25 to 34, overall suicide rates declined from 22.2 to 15.7 per 100,000 over the same period.
For women, suicide rates have been fairly steady. However, the proportion of women aged 15 to 34 committing suicide by hanging has increased "massively" - from 5.7% of all suicides in 1968 to 47.3% by 2005. More research is needed to find out why this is, the study says.
Thanks Nigel.
Predictive texting leads to new language
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Some of the most popular textonyms show intriguing links between the originally intended word and the one the predictive text throws up -- "eat" becomes "fat" and "kiss" becomes "lips", "home" is "good" and the vodka brand "Smirnoff" becomes "poison".
8,000 new friend requests on Facebook
Jesus in Prime Time
Saturday, February 09, 2008
Rowan Williams on Sharia Law
Friday, February 08, 2008
Some of what the media and the politicians are saying Rowan Williams said last night on Sharia law is just not true. Instead, read what he actually said.
Teen pregnancy trends
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
I've definitely had my issues with Seventeen magazine in the past, and as a young sex educator am always a little leery of studies like this one, mostly because they allow adult readers to generalize from the statistics without being exposed to the intricate, convoluted reasons why things are the way they are. But this time, Seventeen got it right: the issue, out on newsstands, talks respectfully and frankly to young women, in a space where they are all eyes, about sex and the real world -- and allows us to learn a few things in the process.
Focus on relationships and quality - not buildings
“My heart sank a little when we spoke of building youth centres. Those of us in the faith communities and the churches have been involved in work with young people for a long time.
“Buildings are important, and churches sometimes struggle with that, but it is the relationships and the quality of the work that are really important. We must be focused."
Fizzy drinks sales set to lose sparkle
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Some random statistics:
- Fizzy drinks are set to make up 50% of the UK soft drinks market by 2011 - down from 61% today.
- By contrast bottled water will increase from a 19% to a 24% share over the same period, Datamonitor said.
- Juices are also tipped to get more popular, making up 22% of UK soft drink consumption by 2011 compared to 16% today.
For more information read this Which article.
Increase in child murders in the UK
One in twelve victims of gun-related murder last year was a child, official figures published say. Five of the 59 people shot dead in 2006-07 were aged under 16 compared with none in the previous year. The figure will fuel concerns about young people becoming victims of gun-related crimes, particularly after the fatal shooting of Rhys Jones, 11, on Merseyside last year.
For more information check out The Times article.
£30m to keep parks and sports facilities open later
He urged more councils to end the ‘no balls game’ culture and help give children and young people out-of-school sports provision by opening up local facilities such as parks, playgrounds, basketball and tennis courts for longer hours.
Some of the comments Ed Balls made include:
“We have some great sports facilities in schools. But at this time of year some young people find their local pitches are unlit and waterlogged. And even if they do function the gates are locked at sundown."
“And I’d ask all local authorities to look at the public sports facilities they already provide and make sure they are usable for as long as possible. If young people want to play sport after school we should encourage it - not lock the gates or turn off the lights."
“Of course local authorities have to make sure places are safe and secure - but floodlights can make areas safe for use and experience shows us that area which have provided out of hours sporting opportunities have seen a fall in anti-social behaviour.”
Check out his statement here.
Park hosts pensioners' play area
Friday, February 01, 2008
A playground designed specifically for pensioners has opened in a park in north Manchester. The Older People's Play Area on the Dam Head Estate in Blackley, is kitted out with equipment to strengthen hips, tone legs and train the upper body. It was set up by the local residents' association, who were inspired by a similar playground in Germany.The park, which cost £15,000 to build, was tested by locals aged over 70 before it opened to the public. It was paid for by Northwards Housing, which said it was "delighted" to support the scheme. It can be found next to the under-fives play area, and has six pieces of equipment designed to give older people a gentle workout.
This sounds a great idea - how much fun for grandparents to go and play in a playground at the same time as their grand children! Go here for the rest of the article.
More children drinking alcohol, fuelling violence
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
From Reuters news agency:
Almost half of Britain's youngsters are drinking in their pre-teen years, fuelling violence and anti-social behavior, a government-backed study said on Wednesday. Drinking was damaging their health and inflating crime figures, it found. The crime prevention charity's study, commissioned by one of its umbrella groups Positive Futures, also revealed that people were drinking at increasingly younger ages, which it concluded had "serious consequences to health and crime".
The Home Office-backed Crime Concern study, "Binge drinking: young people's attitudes and behavior" conducted one-on-one interviews with 1,250 people aged between 10 and 19.
It found that about half of respondents said they had been involved in fighting, violence and aggression as a result of underage drinking.
Almost half said they began drinking aged 13 or younger, almost a third said they drink to get drunk and almost a quarter had been in trouble with the law after drinking.
80% of Crime in the UK committed by teenagers!
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Children ages 4 to 16 dislike clown images
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Clowns have been used in children's ministry for years. But recent research has discovered that most children ages 4 to 16 dislike clown images. The research was an effort to find ways to improve healthcare environments for children and young people.
"As adults we make assumptions about what works for children. We found that clowns are universally disliked by children. Some found them quite frightening and unknowable." Dr. Penny Curtis, Researcher, Centre for the Study of Childhood and Youth.
"Very few children like clowns. They are unfamiliar and come from a different era. They don’t look funny, they just look odd. Children are much more happy with things stuck on the wall that have some sort of personal relevance for them, not some images that are foisted upon them by adults." Patricia Doorbar, Child Psychologist.
I thought this was an interesting bit of research. For more I can see the way in which Patricia Doorbar is right, clowns are from a completely different era. But at the same time I have been at events where children and young people have loved clowns. It would be interesting to explore the opportunity to change some of their image without changing the techniques and skills linked to clowning.
Teen sex habits revealed in survey
The percentages of 15-year-olds who said they had sexual intercourse varied by country ranging from 14.1 percent in Croatia to 37.6 percent in England. Boys were more apt than girls to report having had sexual intercourse.
John Piper on Martin Luther King day
Girls 'being brainwashed to be promiscuous'
Friday, January 18, 2008
In Prude: How The Sex-Obsessed Culture Damages Girls, Liebau claims there is "scant recognition or respect" for a woman's achievement that is not associated with sex appeal.
Liebau says the sexy images of performers such as Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera catapulted them to fame.
She claims that teenage girls are growing up in a culture in which being called "a slut" is preferable to being labelled "a prude".
Go here for more information.
Older Mums keener on religious values
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Older mothers are more likely to want religious values for their children than their younger counter-partsa study across 15,590 families in the UK has revealed. 64% of mothers aged 35-39 want their children to adopt religious values, whereas only 38% of 16-24 year olds agree to this. Ethnically, the vast majority of Pakistani and Black African mothers (98% and 96%) regard religious values as important, compared with 54% of White mums.
When asked whether they were very good mothers, on average 31% of UK women agreed. The most confident group was the Bangladeshi females at 65% with the Black Caribbeans also doing well with 42%. Interestingly these two groups disagreed with what made them very good at parenting, as the Black Caribbeans were the most likely to have a lot of rules (39%) and the Bangladeshi the least (17%).
Northern Ireland reported having the calmest atmosphere at home and also the highest proportion of married natural-parent families. Wales had the highest proportion of lone natural-parent families. Lone-parenthood was a reality for 42.5% of mothers aged between 16 and 24. In the 36 to 39 age group this figure had dropped to 8.1%. Further details of the research carried out by the Centre for Longitudinal Studies can be accessed here: precis by the Bible Society
Find the survey here.
Girls' self-perception of popularity tied to weight gain
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Go check it out, interesting issues to think around.
David Beckham has one of the biggest carbon footprints in the world
Monday, January 07, 2008
'The amount of flying David does means he holds the dubious crown of having the largest carbon footprint in human history…He has more freedom of choice when it comes to methods of travelling. He could also choose greener cars.'
