The Fox News (9/30) website reports that whether teenagers “who are allowed to drink alcohol at home go on to have negative involvement with alcohol is dependent on the family structure,” according to the results of a 772-participant study conducted by researchers at the University at Buffalo Research Institute on Addictions. The study found that adolescents “from intact families that were allowed to drink at home had the lowest levels of alcohol use and problems,” whereas “teens who lived in non-intact family environments, and were allowed to drink at home, had the highest levels of negative alcohol involvement.”

Related Links:

— “Study finds family structure plays role in adolescents’ future alcohol attitudes,” Fox News, September 30, 2015.

HealthDay (10/1, Dotinga) reports that a “report [pdf] released Sept. 30 by the US National Center for Health Statistics compares suicide rates among those aged 18 to 24 in various racial and ethnic groups,” revealing that “young adult Native Americans continue to be at a much higher risk of killing themselves than other racial or ethnic groups in the” US. According to the report’s findings, “Native Americans ranked the highest overall, at 23 suicides per 100,000 people, followed by whites (15), Asians and blacks (about nine), and Hispanics (just over eight).”

Related Links:

— “Younger Native Americans Face High Suicide Rate: Report,” Randy Dotinga, HealthDay, September 30, 2015.

TIME (10/1, Sifferlin) reports that according to a study published online Sept. 30 in JAMA Psychiatry, “people who are depressed and respond strongly to placebo treatments also reap the most benefit when they’re given real antidepressants.” For the study, investigators “focused on the mu-opioid system in the brain,” having “35 people with major depressive disorder take a new depression drug (which was actually a placebo) before taking drugs already proven to treat depression.” The study revealed that people “who reported the greatest improvement in depression symptoms after taking placebo pills also showed the greatest mu-opioid system response in the brain, which was determined through brain scans.”

Related Links:

— “The Fascinating Link Between Placebo and Antidepressants,” Alexandra Sifferlin, Time, September 30, 2015.

The Kaiser Health News (9/30, Andrews) reports that according to an analysis by the Brennan Center for Criminal Justice at New York University School of Law, “at least 35 states authorize copayments and other fees for medical services at state prisons or county jails.” Additionally, “the Federal Bureau of Prisons also permits inmates to be charged copayments for medical services.” Lauren-Brooke Eisen, senior counsel at the Brennan Center’s justice program, says “the practice is part of a larger trend of charging inmates for prison services.”

Related Links:

— “Prisons And Jails Forcing Inmates To Cover Some Medical Care Costs,” Michelle Andrews, Kaiser Heath News, September 29, 2015.

On its front page, the Washington Post (9/30, A1, Jouvenal) examines the plight of inmates with mental illnesses, who “are being warehoused for weeks, months and, in rare cases, years in jails around the nation, waiting to go to state mental hospitals where experts determine whether they are well enough to stand trial and treat those who aren’t.” The Post notes that advocates “say the delays are leaving vulnerable defendants to languish, sometimes with tragic results.”

Related Links:

— “Man accused of stealing $5 in snacks died in jail as he waited for space at mental hospital,” Justin Jouvenal, Washington Post, September 29, 2015.