New drug research suggests that teens may get addicted and relapse more easily than adults because developing brains are more powerfully motivated by drug-related cues. This conclusion has been reached by researchers who found that adolescent rats given cocaine - a powerfully addicting stimulant - were more likely than adults to prefer the place where they got it. That learned association endured: Even after experimenters extinguished the drug-linked preference, a small reinstating dose of cocaine appeared to rekindle that preference - but only in the adolescent rats.

A new national survey indicates that Americans are more likely to talk with their children about drug use or sex than with a seriously ill parent about their end-of-life wishes. The same survey respondents also shared that they would want others to talk with them about end of life issues. The survey, completed by more than 2,300 individuals, was conducted in conjunction with the first National Healthcare Decisions Day to be held April 16, 2008.

Students competing for resources in the classroom while discounting each others' success are less likely to earn top grades than students who work together toward goals and share their success.

The spreading out of cities' residential, commercial, recreational and public spaces, otherwise known as urban sprawl, poses a special risk for teen drivers.

Afterschool programs can modestly increase the amount of physical activity among girls in middle school.

Teenagers who eat breakfast regularly are healthier and slimmer than those who don't.

Driving might be a badge of freedom for teen-agers, but it can also be deadly. Traffic crashes are the leading cause of teen fatalities in the United States, accounting for 44 percent, according to the National Safety Council (NSC). A new study suggests that urban sprawl could put teens at more risk.

There is a strong relationship between the number of miles a teen drives and the risk of injury or death, said lead author Matthew Trowbridge, a fellow of the University of Michigan Injury Research Center. "So, are there things in the environment that promote driving exposure?"

Patients should routinely discuss the dangers of their prescriptions with the children in their homes.

About nine percent of teenagers may have metabolic syndrome, a clustering of risk factors that put them on the path toward heart disease and diabetes in adulthood.

Imagine that you are a Somerville parent and you send your child to toxic schools in Somerville.

According to a startling new study, 80 percent of students say they sustained some form of injury from their textbooks.

Research will use photography to explore how teenagers and their families feel about their altered appearance as a result of cancer treatment.

Newly homeless youth are likelier to engage in risky sexual behavior if they stay in non-family settings - such as friends' homes, abandoned buildings or the streets - because they lack supervision and social support, a new UCLA AIDS Institute study has found.

Drug use also factored into this behavior, according to the study, which is currently available in the online edition of the peer-reviewed Journal of Adolescent Health.

Youth who recently have become homeless are more likely than other youth to engage in risky sexual behavior.

Indiana State Department of Health will convene high-school aged young people in spring 2008 to focus on health issues facing Hoosier youth and involve them in a discussion on how to prevent unhealthy behaviors.