Month: June 2014

Middle school students who send and receive sexually explicit messages (sexts) are also more likely to be having sex, a new study finds. The study included about 1,200 students in grades 6 through 8. Their ages ranged from 10 to 15. Most were 12 or 13. They filled out questionnaires about phone use and sex. About 3 out of 4 students had access to a phone that sent text messages. About 11% said they had ever had vaginal, oral or anal sex. Twenty percent said they had ever received a sext message or photo. About 5% said they had sent a sext. Students who had ever received a sext were 7 times as likely to report having sex as those who had not received a sext. Those who had sent a sext were 3 times as likely to report having sex as those who never sent one. Students who texted at least 100 times a day were nearly 5 times as likely to send a sext as those who texted less often.

About 1 out of 10 deaths of working-age U.S. adults is linked to excess drinking of alcohol, health officials report. The study came from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It estimated the number of U.S. deaths attributed to alcohol among adults ages 20 to 64. The study covered the years 2006 through 2010. Excess drinking for a man was defined as more than 14 drinks a week, on average, or more than 4 at one sitting (binge drinking). For women, it was defined as more than 7 drinks a week or more than 3 at one sitting. About 71% of the alcohol-linked deaths were among men. About half of the alcohol-related deaths were linked with binge drinking. Most of these were caused by traffic accidents. The most common long-term condition linked with excess alcohol use was alcoholic liver disease.