Unmet healthcare needs in adolescence is a predictor of poor adult health

A recent Pediatrics study co-authored by Pop Center Faculty Members Mark Schuster and Tracy Richmond showed that the odds of adverse adult health outcomes were higher among subjects who had reported unmet health care need in adolescence, compared with subjects with similar adolescent health outcomes, insurance coverage, and sociodemographic background but no unmet need. Importantly, the authors point out that lack of insurance isn’t the only barrier to meeting adolescent health…

Gay youth bullied more than their peers

Harvard Pop Center faculty member Mark Schuster, MD, PhD, is lead author of a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine that found that not only did sexual minority kids in tenth grade experience more bullying than their peers, but so did youth in the fifth and seventh grades. The study has received media attention in LGBT Weekly.

Bullied in fifth grade, poor health in tenth grade?

A new study in Pediatrics, co-authored by faculty member Mark Schuster, examines the longitudinal associations of bullying with mental and physical health from elementary to high school. The study, titled “Peer Victimization in Fifth Grade and Health in Tenth Grade,” revealed that bullying was associated with worse mental and physical health, greater depression symptoms, and lower self-worth over time. These findings suggest that if clinicians recognize bullying when it first starts and intervene accordingly,…