What's Happening

By Pamela M. Anderson, PhD | September 12, 2017
Senior Research Associate, ETR

First published on the blog of yth.org on August 2, 2017.

“When young people are cyberbullied, why don’t they reach out to trusted adults for help?” This is a question a lot of youth health providers are asking.

Think about it: here we are, a nationwide community of caring, concerned parents/guardians and professionals. We’re teachers, health providers, counselors, outreach workers, researchers and more. We want to support young people and empower them to live healthy, positive and productive lives.

By Seow Ling Ong, MSW | September 5, 2017
Research Associate, ETR

Colorful charts. Gorgeous graphs. Incredible infographics. Yes, everybody loves data visualization, and we can’t enough of it. But if you’ve never worked with dataviz, how do you get started?

Here is my own story—the confession of how a self-professed “data-only” person who is not a graphic designer ended up venturing into the colorful world of dataviz.

By Vignetta Charles, PhD | August 21, 2017
Chief Executive Officer, ETR

Are you going to watch? It seems like almost everyone in the nation is anticipating today’s total solar eclipse.

In a time when we’re seeing so much divisiveness in our country, people of all perspectives are coming together to share this inspiring experience. That’s powerful.

By Selah Agaba, MA, MEd | August 8, 2017
Kirby Summer Intern, ETR

Sit with this for a minute…

There are currently 65.6 million people worldwide who have been violently displaced from their homes by conflict. Refugees makeup about 34% of this number and more than half of this refugee population are individuals under 18 years of age.

To put this last figure into perspective, the number of young people under 18 who have been violently displaced from home is more than the number of people in the whole state of North Carolina or the entire nation of Greece.

By Love Odetala, MPH | August 1, 2017
Kirby Summer Intern, ETR

I was born in West Africa and grew up in Senegal.

In Senegal, “Jamm Rekk” is a commonly used phrase. It means “Peace Only,” a phrase we use to pass peace unto others and to accept peace in return. Simply a way of saying hello.

A couple years ago, I started a venture called Jamm Rekk Projects (JRP). These are projects that seek to promote peace through public health.

By Beverly Iniguez-Conrique | July 11, 2017
Research Assistant, ETR

This time a year ago, I was taking the last final exam of my undergraduate career! I was also preparing for the next chapter of my life as an ETRian in our Research/Science Department. Now that a year has gone by, I’m looking all over for where the time went. I guess time flies when you’re having fun!

Here are five things I’ve learned since being at ETR.

By Taylor Vandenbossche, MPH | June 22, 2017
Graduate Research Intern, ETR

What comes to mind when you hear the words “young father”? I’ve noticed the narrative behind teen pregnancy often focuses solely on the thoughts and feelings of the mother. Funding and programs primarily serve teen moms.

So what about the young fathers? 

By Elizabeth McDade-Montez, PhD | June 1, 2017
Senior Research Associate, ETR

We joined the march. Along with millions of others across the globe, my young daughters and I marched for women’s rights on January 21, 2017. It was exhilarating and empowering! It was also sometimes challenging. I found myself having to explain some difficult topics to my girls. 

By Marcia Quackenbush, MS, MFT, MCHES | May 24, 2017
Senior Editor, ETR

A group of developmental neuroscientists walks into a room. They sit down with some sexual health experts. They all talk about ways to support healthy adolescent development.

What happens then? As it turns out, some pretty amazing things.

By Katrina Hunter | April 25, 2017
Research Assistant, ETR

I was in a college calculus course. We were learning how to use quadrants and angles to solve functions.

People can either solve the function visually, or by calculating out their answer. As we were going through different problems, I was using the visual method to solve the function. My instructor commented that it was good that I could solve the equation that way, and that it was rare for women to be able to visualize the solutions. 

By Emily Green, MA | March 30 2017
Research Assistant, ETR

There is something about being a teacher that you carry with you, even if you transition to something else. I didn’t expect to become a K-12 science teacher, but I loved doing it. Now, I find myself being a teacher in everything I do. It gets into your blood. It changes the way you think. And I cannot thank my students enough for changing me in this way.

By Elizabeth McDade-Montez, PhD | March 28, 2017
Senior Research Associate, ETR

TV is not what it used to be. Over the past decade, we have seen a range of new methods of content delivery (Netflix, AmazonVideo, Hulu), new ways of watching (bingeing on favorites, catching short segments on YouTube, checking out cute kittens suggested by friends on Facebook), and new ways of calculating ratings.

Unfortunately, although television platforms have clearly modernized over time, television themes and stereotypes around gender and sexuality have not. 

By Gina Lepore, MEd | March 16, 2017
Research Associate, ETR

 “Everything is about sex except sex. Sex is about power.”

This saying is usually credited to Oscar Wilde, probably erroneously, but I love it anyway! It brings home an essential truth. When we talk about norms related to sex and sexual consent, we are often actually talking about norms related to power.

By Vignetta Charles, PhD | February 23, 2017
CEO, ETR

I’m thrilled to be ETR’s new CEO. This is a job I’ve wanted for 19 years!

In 1998, I was Program Director of a teen pregnancy prevention program in Oakland, CA. I went to a training on Reducing the Risk (RTR), one of the best-known evidence-based programs in the field. It also happens to be a program ETR developed, evaluated and distributes.

By Janine Saunders, EdD, MPH | February 21, 2017
Program Manager, ETR

Neil deGrasse Tyson famously said, "The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it." During this time of fake news and alternative facts, promoting science-based approaches is more important than ever. If you’re like me, you encounter people every day who, knowingly or unknowingly, are making decisions based on false information. 

By Pamela Anderson, PhD | February 9, 2017
Senior Research Associate, ETR

I’m having a sentimental parent moment. Our three-year-old is looking at the iPad. She is trying to defy gravity by watching her show upside down. The iPad falls on her face. She falls off the couch and hits the floor.

Our almost-seven-year-old immediately sprints over to help and console her sister. 

By Karin Coyle, PhD | December 19, 2016
Senior Research Associate, ETR

ETR is delighted to announce the release of our report on the 2016 Kirby Summit. If you work with adolescents to address sexual and reproductive health, I strongly encourage you to check it out.

Here’s why. We deliberately designed this invited Summit to challenge and disrupt what we thought we knew about adolescent health behaviors.

By BA Laris, MPH | December 13, 2016
Research Associate, ETR | Personal pronouns: She, her, hers

We were excited for the much-anticipated release of The National Center for Transgender Equality’s new 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey Report.