College Clips

By Kyle Daly

Published Dec. 4, 2007

Studies differ on link between

delinquency, virginity loss

Researchers at Ohio State University and University of Virginia produced two competing studies this year, both exploring the link between the age at which individuals lost their virginity and later delinquent behavior.

The OSU team found that an early "sexual debut" would "open the doorway to problem behaviors" by a margin of 20 percent, even when other factors like wealth, race, parental involvement and physical development were added to the equation.

Graduate student Paige Harden suspected the first study assumed correlation implied causation.

Harden studied more than 500 pairs of twins, focusing on their age of sexual debut.

"Earlier age at first sex predicted lower levels of delinquency in early adulthood," wrote Harden and her team in the study, directly challenging OSU's findings.

— The Daily Collegian

(Penn State)

University of Florida-developed

steak doubles in national sales

A steak developed at the University of Florida has become one of the most popular steaks in the nation.

Working with the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and the University of Nebraska, UF science researchers led a study to help evaluate undervalued portions of beef. The result was the flat iron, a new, inexpensive and fairly lean cut of steak.

The steak's sales almost doubled from 2005 to 2006, from 47 million pounds to about 92 million pounds per year, stated statistics compiled by Technomic, a Chicago-based research firm. The steak has become the fifth most popular in the U.S.

Dwain Johnson, a meat science professor with UF's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, led the study in 1999 that produced the flat iron.

Johnson said several restaurant chains have featured the flat iron on their menus.

— The Independent Florida Alligator

(University of Florida)

Police locate missing Miami student

Miami University sophomore Adam Fout was found in Santa Fe, N.M., on Nov. 17 after his parents reported him missing to the Oxford Police Department earlier that week.

Sgt. Jim Squance of the OPD said after Fout's mother placed the report, OPD alerted the Law Enforcement Automated Data System across police agencies in the U.S.

"It was through the credit card that we actually located where he'd been," Squance said.

Fout reportedly used his card in Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado and finally at a hotel in Santa Fe. Local police reportedly found Fout at the hotel in good condition with no illegal activity to report.

"We've never really tracked any student to this extent before without any sign of foul play," Squance said.

Squance said Fout apparently left because of personal problems he was dealing with at the time of his departure, and he was looking at job options out West.

— The Miami Student

(Miami University)