A youth substance misuse prevention program from the Illinois Association for Behavioral Health [IABH] has partnered with the Illinois High School Association [IHSA] and IESA to expand outreach efforts.

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Illinois Association for Behavioral Health

Generation Lead is in its second year of operation. The program aims to delay initial substance use through physical and digital material made accessible to middle and high school students. This includes commercials, posters, bookmarks and other awareness-raising materials. Messaging also offers information on recovery services for those in need.

The program needed ways to reach students beyond the occasional visit to a school assembly or health class, said Ashley Webb, chief operating officer and vice president of programs at the IABH, during an interview on WGLT’s Sound Ideas.

“Our goal is to captivate an audience, to let them know that being a leader is OK, being substance-free is OK, and taking that positive message and hopefully sprinkling that through their peers,” said Webb.

“Our best leaders can be student athletes, and so it’s a way for coaches and the athletes to get involved in a community awareness event and campaign.”

The IHSA and IESA, both based in Bloomington, already have policies against substance misuse for student-athletes. The partnership with Generation Lead provides tangible resources to further share messages against such practices with students, families, teachers and social workers. Generation Lead also shares digital materials.

“We know youth are on social media, so making sure that they’re seeing those advertisements and listening,” said Webb. “We’re targeting those communities and making sure that it’s not just something that they’re hearing at school or in their meetings that you need to live substance free, but also seeing it and connecting it.”

The program is funded by a grant from the Illinois Department of Human Services, through the Regional Care Coordination Agency.

Generation Lead offers free material that can be requested on its website. Webb said there are requests each week for more material to be used in schools throughout the state.

“We have heard from many preventionist school teachers, social workers, guidance counselors, coaches, about how they’ve seen our material and how they want our campaign in their community,” said Webb.

All programs offered by the IABH have youth advocates to represent their communities and share messaging that they think works. For Generation Lead, the group helps with messaging that works statewide and can also work on differentiating messaging based on where in the state the material goes.

“Illinois is really diverse, and so from rural communities to urban and suburban, we have to make sure that we’re tweaking our messaging and our outreach in those ways,” said Webb.

TUESDAY, Dec. 9, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Worried your boy is going to be a difficult teen, in constant friction with parents, teachers and other authority figures?

Get him involved in sports, a new study suggests.

Boys who participated in organized sports between 6 to 10 years of age were less likely to show signs of oppositional-defiant disorder in their tweens, researchers reported Dec. 8 in the journal European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

“Boys who consistently participated in organized sport showed significantly fewer subsequent oppositional-defiant symptoms at both ages compared to boys with low or inconsistent participation,” said lead researcher Matteo Privitera, a doctoral student at the University of Pavia in Italy.

“Sport may serve as a natural and influential context for learning self-regulation, cooperation and respect for rules,” he added in a news release.

For the study, researchers tracked nearly 1,500 boys and girls who participated in organized sports between ages 6 and 10, and then answered questionnaires at 10 and 12 to gauge oppositional-defiant disorder.

“Symptoms of the disorder include persistent patterns of irritability, defiance and hostility toward authority figures,” Privitera said. “The disorder is over-represented by boys and often accompanies other neurodevelopmental disorders like ADHD and learning disabilities.”

Importantly, “these behaviors can interfere with learning, relationships and long-term mental health,” Privatera added. “In our study, we wanted to look into the symptoms and try to identify accessible, community-based strategies that foster more adaptive behavior in children.”

Results showed that boys who stuck with organized sports were likely to show fewer signs of defiance at 10 and 12, compared with those who participated less often.

No similar associations were found among girls, researchers said — not surprising, given that boys generally show more defiance in their tween years than girls.

“Our findings support the idea that structured extracurricular activities can promote behavioral resilience,” researcher Kianoush Harandian, a doctoral student at the University of Montreal, said in a news release. “Sport offers a supervised and socially engaging environment that may help boys internalize adaptive behavioral norms.”

Senior researcher Linda Pagani, a professor at the University of Montreal, pointed to long-term benefits.

“Encouraging sustained sport participation in middle childhood may reduce the burden of disruptive behavior disorders and support long-term well-being,” she said in a news release. “It’s a simple, actionable strategy with benefits for families, schools and communities.”

More information

The University of San Diego has more on the benefits of youth sports in child development.

SOURCE: University of Montreal, news release, Dec. 8, 2025

What This Means For You

Parents worried about having a difficult teen may want to get their boys involved in youth sports.

Key Takeaways

• Youth sports can help prevent boys from fighting with authority figures

• Boys who participated in sports at a young age were less likely to be defiant as tweens

• However, no such benefit was seen with girls

TUESDAY, Dec. 9, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Worried your boy is going to be a difficult teen, in constant friction with parents, teachers and other authority figures?

Get him involved in sports, a new study suggests.

Boys who participated in organized sports between 6 to 10 years of age were less likely to show signs of oppositional-defiant disorder in their tweens, researchers reported Dec. 8 in the journal European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

“Boys who consistently participated in organized sport showed significantly fewer subsequent oppositional-defiant symptoms at both ages compared to boys with low or inconsistent participation,” said lead researcher Matteo Privitera, a doctoral student at the University of Pavia in Italy.

“Sport may serve as a natural and influential context for learning self-regulation, cooperation and respect for rules,” he added in a news release.

For the study, researchers tracked nearly 1,500 boys and girls who participated in organized sports between ages 6 and 10, and then answered questionnaires at 10 and 12 to gauge oppositional-defiant disorder.

“Symptoms of the disorder include persistent patterns of irritability, defiance and hostility toward authority figures,” Privitera said. “The disorder is over-represented by boys and often accompanies other neurodevelopmental disorders like ADHD and learning disabilities.”

Importantly, “these behaviors can interfere with learning, relationships and long-term mental health,” Privatera added. “In our study, we wanted to look into the symptoms and try to identify accessible, community-based strategies that foster more adaptive behavior in children.”

Results showed that boys who stuck with organized sports were likely to show fewer signs of defiance at 10 and 12, compared with those who participated less often.

No similar associations were found among girls, researchers said — not surprising, given that boys generally show more defiance in their tween years than girls.

“Our findings support the idea that structured extracurricular activities can promote behavioral resilience,” researcher Kianoush Harandian, a doctoral student at the University of Montreal, said in a news release. “Sport offers a supervised and socially engaging environment that may help boys internalize adaptive behavioral norms.”

Senior researcher Linda Pagani, a professor at the University of Montreal, pointed to long-term benefits.

“Encouraging sustained sport participation in middle childhood may reduce the burden of disruptive behavior disorders and support long-term well-being,” she said in a news release. “It’s a simple, actionable strategy with benefits for families, schools and communities.”

More information

The University of San Diego has more on the benefits of youth sports in child development.

SOURCE: University of Montreal, news release, Dec. 8, 2025

What This Means For You

Parents worried about having a difficult teen may want to get their boys involved in youth sports.

A group of eight Philly teenagers who were in Polk County, Florida, to play a youth football championship game were arrested for stealing more than $2,000 worth of merchandise from a Dick’s Sporting Goods, law enforcement said on Monday.

According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, the eight teenagers, who were all between the ages of 14 and 15 and played for Philly’s United Thoroughbreds, entered a Dick’s Sporting Goods at Posner Plaza in Davenport at around 10:55 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025.

While inside, one of the teens went and bought something at the register as the others went looking around the store, the Sheriff’s office said.

The teen who purchased something then went and met with the seven others inside the store, where they started placing merchandise inside the Dick’s store bag. Three of the teens then attempted to leave the store with stolen merchandise, the Sheriff’s office said.

Law enforcement were able to stop the three trying to leave and found more than $2,000 worth of stolen merchandise inside the bag, as well as a backpack, the Sheriff’s office said.

The other five teens were then detained inside the store, the Sheriff’s office said.

All eight teenagers were taken to a juvenile detention center in Florida and face two felony charges: retail theft over $750 and conspiracy to commit retail theft, according to the Sheriff’s office.

The total value of all the goods the teens tried to steal, according to law enforcement in Florida, was $2,296.07.

BENNINGTON — December 2025 marks a meaningful milestone for Coggins Auto Group, as the company celebrates its 5-year anniversary of local, family-owned operation of Coggins Toyota of Bennington, Coggins Honda of Bennington, and Coggins of the Berkshires.

When owner Mike Coggins purchased the stores in 2020, his goal was simple but ambitious: restore a true sense of community-minded dealership culture—something he felt had faded under previous national ownership.

“My primary focus from day one was bringing back that connection to the region,” Coggins said in 2021. “This area values real relationships. They want to know the people they’re doing business with. We set out to rebuild that trust.”

Since taking ownership, Coggins Auto Group has become an active community partners—supporting local youth sports, first-responder initiatives, nonprofit fundraisers, holiday giving programs, cancer support organizations, and dozens of family-centered events across Bennington County, Berkshire County, and nearby New York towns.

“Our journey started in Bennington, and growing into the Berkshires with our stand-alone store in 2023 was a natural next step,” said Scott O’Connell, General Manager. “We serve customers across Vermont, Massachusetts, and New York, and we take that responsibility seriously. Community involvement isn’t a tagline for us—it’s our identity.”

When the stores were purchased five years ago, they were considered 2-star dealerships in online ratings. Today, all three Coggins locations collectively average 4.7 stars with numerous positive reviews.

“Reading our customers’ genuine feedback tells the story better than I ever could,” O’Connell said. “People feel the difference. They feel respected, they feel heard, and they feel taken care of.”

Coggins and O’Connell credits the group’s growth to an unwavering focus on people—not quotas.

“What truly sets us apart is our people,” said O’Connell. “The culture our team shows up with every day—supportive, honest, and customer-focused—is what creates the experience our guests feel. When your employees care about each other and their community, that naturally translates into customers who feel genuinely cared for.”

As the company enters its sixth year, Coggins Auto Group plans to continue expanding its community involvement, customer experience initiatives, and regional partnerships—building on the strong foundation created over the past half-decade.

“We’ve built something we’re proud of, but we’re nowhere near finished,” said O’Connell. “The people here deserve top-tier service and support, and we’re thankful to have a role in what comes next for this community.”