Tag: young people

THE KIDS AREN’T ALRIGHT

We little knew that morning
that God was going to call your name,
in life we loved you dearly; in death we do the same.
It broke our hearts to lose you, you did not go alone.
For part of us went with you, the day God called you home.
You left us peaceful memories, your love is still our guide,
and though we cannot see you, you are always at our side.
Our family chain is broken, and nothing seems the same,
But as God calls us one by one, the chain will link again.

Jordan would have turned 20 years old on Tuesday. Instead, His parents and grandparents had to bury him this morning. My son Jimmy befriended him in middle school, about 8 years ago. Jordan faced difficulties, as he had difficulty in school and a pretty bad stutter. I’m sure he was probably picked on as a youngster because of these issues. None of that stuff bothered Jimmy or his three other best friends. The five of them did everything together: basketball, baseball, football, and especially skate boarding. They were always skateboarding in the street in front of our house.

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Americans over 30 are more miserable than they’ve ever been

Guest Post by
MGM Television/courtesy Everett Collection
Ken Olin and Mel Harris on the TV show “Thirtysomething,” which ran from 1987 to 1991.

It all goes downhill after 30 — at least when it comes to happiness.

“Adults over 30 are less happy than their predecessors,” concludes a study published online Thursday in the journal Social Psychology and Personality Science, which examined happiness data from more than 50,000 adults, gleaned from the General Social Survey, carried out by NORC at the University of Chicago, a nonpartisan, independent research organization, which has collected information about American adults since 1972.

From 2010 to 2014, adults over 30 had an average happiness score of just 2.18, compared with 2.24 a decade ago. That’s significant considering happiness scores were measured on a tiny scale from just 1 to 3, with 1 being “not too happy” and 3 being “very happy.” (The data used five-year cohort periods so that single year fluctuations were smoothed out.)

What’s perhaps even more interesting is that, for the first time ever, adults ages 18 to 29 were happier than adults over 30. “The happiness advantage of mature adults over adolescents has dwindled,” write the authors of the study, entitled “More Happiness for Young People and Less for Mature Adults: Time Period Differences in Subjective Well-Being in the United States, 1972 – 2014.”

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Antidepressants Scientifically Linked To Violent Behavior In Youth

Submitted by Derrick Broze via TheAntiMedia.org,

A new study published in the PLoS Medicine journal has found that younger people taking antidepressants are more likely to commit violent crimes.

Reuters reports that the researchers “used a unique study design which aimed to avoid confounding factors by comparing the same individuals’ behavior while they were on and while they were off medication.” The study was led by Seena Fazel of Britain’s Oxford University.

Fazel’s team used matched data from Sweden’s prescribed drug register and its national crime register over a three-year period. Among 850,000 people prescribed Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs), one percent were convicted of a violent crime. SSRIs are often prescribed to fight off anxiety and depression and include drugs like Prozac and Paxil.

Most of the age groups did not show an increase in crime and violence, however, the 15-24 year-old group showed a 43 percent increase in their risk of committing violent crime while on SSRIs. The researchers also observed an increased risk for younger people to be involved in violent arrests, non-violent convictions and arrests, non-fatal injuries, and alcohol problems when they were taking antidepressants. The results also showed those who took lower doses had an increased risk of being violent.

Ironically, the researchers recommend that young people might take higher doses of the drugs to reduce the risk of violence and criminal activity. Fazel told Reuters it is possible that younger people taking lower doses are not being “fully treated,” leaving them vulnerable to impulsive behavior.

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Back in the day

Guest Post by Angel from Lonely Libertarian

When I went to school, we had the option to take “electives” including Home Economics (cooking, sewing, budgeting, finances, etc.), auto mechanics (basics of car maintenance), building trades (seriously, if you own a home, you need this), agriculture (care and processing of farm animals and crops). We were all encouraged to take advantage of “real life education”. I took a semester of auto mechanics, a semester of building trades and a semester of home Ec. I can do most auto repairs, run basic wiring and plumbing, replace lighting and plumbing fixtures, frame, drywall, cook, can, budget,  and figure taxes (I’ve never paid to have my taxes done and I’ve never been audited…yet.)
While I had a pretty well-rounded high school education, most of the credit goes to my folks. Mom and Poppy never discouraged me from seeking knowledge, especially if it was useful. And much of my practical education came from my parents and grandmas. I’ve told the story of my first car, I worked years of odd jobs and saved every penny I earned. I paid $2500 cash for my 1965 Mustang. And Poppy took the keys until we went over every inch of it, engine and transmission, and he was satisfied I knew how to take care of it. I rotated my own tires, changed my own oil, belts and hoses. I still do all of my own vehicle maintenance.
Every house I lived in growing up was a “handyman special”. We were very very low income blue collar, but always owned instead of rented. The first house was purchased from an old farmer for $1000 cash and a $10,000 builder’s loan. Two bedroom, one bath, less than 1000 sq ft. Poppy later added a master suite, increasing the square footage to 1200. Total investment was $35,000, they sold it a few years ago after 20 years of being rental property for $98,000. I was too young to do much on that one but fetch tools and carry trash, but the next one was different.

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