My teen's wearing a brace for scoliosis. Does time spent in the brace affect how well it works?

Absolutely. Braces are designed to prevent further sideways curvature of the spine. A recent study demonstrated that teens with large spinal curves (greater than 35 degrees) had better results the more they wore the brace. Teens who wore the brace more than 18 hours a day avoided further curvature of the spine 80 percent of the time. When teens wore the brace 12 to 18 hours, the success rate fell to 50 percent. And for teens who wore the brace less than 12 hours a day, the success rate was only 30 percent.

This is clearly a case of "parent knows best." The more your teen wears the brace, the better his or her outcome will be.