Teenagers

In New York times are always rough for teenagers growing up. Teens must deal with things like school, violence, drugs, and parents. But when you have good friends to have your back you could get through almost everything. This is evident with these three girls Latoya, Monica, And Regina. They have been through everything together, the good times and the bad. Like the time when Monica was given an academic scholarship to NYU; when Latoya was going through weight problems; and who could forget the prom. These girls have had many memories between them.

Anticipation of the prom started as soon as the New Year began. They started looking for dates and dress the very next day. The days and night flew by until it was finally the eve of the prom. They all slept over Latoyas house that night. The day of the prom was pretty nerve-wracking for the girls. They all wanted everything to go perfect. Finally when that doorbell rang their three handsome dates and a stretch limo greeted them. They went to dinner at a very ancy restaurant that was given a five-star rating by the New Your Times.

Even though they were having the nights of their lives, they were a little sad because of the fact that this will be one of the last times that they would spend time together. Then the tree girls got together laughed and reminisced about the good times. After this they took a picture to remember this exact time. So as these girls start the new millennium and go their separate ways, they will always look back at this picture and remember that they are still best friends.

Today’s world is full of worries and problems which did not affect teens a generation ago. New problems keep appearing in today’s world, such as STDs, increased pregnancy rates, and other factors facing teens who choose to have sex. Emotionally and physically teens and getting less developed before having sex and are not prepared for the serious problems which come along with their decision to have sex. No longer is it a matter which will just go away if we ignore it, but teen health and the health of our society depend on choices which today’s teens make regarding sex.

With so many diseases and problems facing today’s world, abstinence is the only way to protect ourselves. Abstinence is a safe choice in preventing the possibility of pregnancy. One-tenth of young women between the ages of 15 and 19 get pregnant every year, 83 percent of these pregnancies are unwanted or unplanned. Half of the unmarried teens who get pregnant do so within six months of their first sexual experience. In fact, between 1986 and 1990, teen childbearing increased by 16 percent. What’s worse, pregnant teenagers often don’t see a doctor until the time of delivery.

The dangers of going through a pregnancy without seeing a doctor are not only serious to the mother and child, but may risk the lives of both. “I’m doing the body count at 3 a. m. at Ben Taub [Hospital],” said Dr. Hunter Hamill, “and I can tell you that most of our (teen pregnancy prevention) programs aren’t working. We have blood on our hands. ” (Feldman 1). Without seeing doctors or receiving correct pre-natal care, the risk of complications for mother and child nearly quadruple. Not only can these complications include still birth, but may also cause excessive bleeding and hemorrhaging of the mother.

According to an article in America magazine, “The place to begin combating teenage pregnancy is in the family, not a clinic. ” (Leone 19). Although parents seem to be afraid to talk to their children about sex, it is vital to the teens’ health. If teens feel their parents are reluctant to speak about sex, they may feel uncomfortable coming to theur parents with any problems or concerns about sex. Teens who feel they cannot speak to their parents about STDs or pregnancy can now speak confidentially with their doctor.

Doctors are required to inform and treat teens with confidentiality if the teen seeks their help. Another serious problem surrounding teen sexual intercourse is the probability of AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Each year, three million teens are infected with STDs. Among 14- to 20-year-olds, chlamydia is the most common. It has no obvious symptoms, and can cause infertility if left untreated. Another common disease is herpes, which causes sores and painful swelling of the genitals. Its symptoms can be managed, but not cured.

Fifteen percent of all teenage girls carry the virus that causes genital warts, another common STD. Gonorrhea, not uncommon in teens, is known to cause pelvic pain, discharge, and painful urination. It may leave its victims sterile. Perhaps even more serious is the disease Syphilis, which killed famous mobster Al Capone. It causes sores, rashes, brain and organ damage, and death. It can also harm an unborn child. AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) is a growing danger, and is by far the most serious sexually transmitted disease.

“Kids don’t take AIDS seriously,” said Dr. James W. Curran. “One thing they do have is sex. They have sex. They have sex. They have sex. ” (Ferriss 16) AIDS is the sixth leading cause of death among 15- to 24-year-olds. Cases among teens have grown 62 percent in the past two years, and the number of teens with AIDS doubles every 14 months. A fifth of all AIDS victims in this country today are in their twenties, and since the disease takes two to ten years to develop, those victims contracted it in their teenage years. Even scarier is that, according to a study of 19 universities, one in 500 college students may carry the AIDS virus.

With these frightening statistics, it’s easy to see why many teens are choosing not to have sex. Many bold teenagers think they can totally avoid pregnancy and STDs by using various forms of contraceptives. However, while it does lessen the chances of disease and unwanted pregnancy, birth control is not always dependable. According to Dr. John G. Sholl. the term “safe sex” is a “misleading, incongruous combination of words. ” (Ferriss 16) Dr. Sholl is particularly concerned with the faults of the most popular form of birth control, the condom.

“Condoms do leak, and they do slip off,” Dr. Sholl said. (Ferriss 16) Not only that, but STDs and even HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, have been known to pass through condoms made of lambskin. Believe it or not, even oral contraceptives (better known as “The Pill”) aren’t always foolproof. Although “The Pill” diminishes the chances of pregnancy, it does not offer any protection against STDs or AIDS. Other medical drawbacks include side effects such as minimal weight gain, nausea, hypertension, benign liver tumors, and an increased risk of blood clots and strokes. Recent studies have linked its use with the development of breast cancer.

In smokers, it may also increase the risk of heart attacks. “The Pill” is not cheap; it costs from $10 to $30 a month, plus doctors’ fees. Women who are taking analgesics or antibiotics should NEVER take oral contraceptives, as those medications can interfere with “The Pill’s effectiveness. All things considered, if today’s abstinence programs were working, “The Pill” wouldn’t be necessary, anyway. An older form of birth control, the IUD (intrauterine device) has many drawbacks. IUDs can only be inserted by a physician, and those containing copper or slowly-released progesterone (a female hormone) must be periodically replaced.

More recent studies have revealed that IUDs may also cause pelvic inflammatory disease, an infection which could lead to blockage of the fallopian tubes or an ectopic pregnancy (within the fallopian tubes or elsewhere outside the uterus). It h….. as also been linked with the increased risk of infertility, even when there are no obvious reasons. Other methods of birth control are also troublesome. The diaphragm, sponge, female condom, IUD, and cervical cap must all be inserted into the vagina. Most are messy and awkward to insert, and must be left in place for six hours after intercourse.

Norplant, small capsules placed in the skin that release hormones periodically over a period of five years, are expensive and have to be inserted and removed by a doctor. The “withdrawal” method (removal of the penis prior to ejaculation) is very ineffective, because pre-ejaculate fluids some-times carrying diseases and containing small amounts of sperm can leak from the penis. It takes only a single sperm to fertilize an egg! By far, the best form of birth control is abstinence. It’s a hundred percent effective, clean and easy to use, prevents pregnancy and STDs, always available, and it costs nothing.

The only major drawback is that it requires self-discipline on the parts of those who practice it. Perhaps an even more convincing factor is that of religion and moral value. As the Christian church puts it, sex should be for the purpose of reproduction and nothing else. In the Bible, 1st Corinthians 6:13 states: “Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. ” And 6:18 says that we should “flee from fornication… he that commiteth fornication sinneth against his own body.

In biblical times, any married woman who was proven to have had premarital sex was stoned to death at the door of her father’s home by the men of the city. If an engaged woman was seduced by one other than her fiancee, she and the man who seduced her were also stoned to death she for not screaming for help, and he because he’d violated the virginity of another man’s fiancee. The bible clearly states that “God wants you to be holy and pure, and to keep clear of all sexual sin so that each of you will marry in holiness and honor – not in lustful passion as the heathen do, in their ignorance of God and his ways.

Honor your marriage and its vows, and be pure; for God will surely punish all those who are immoral or commit adultery,” says Hebrews 13:4. The Catholic religion is very strict in its teachings of abstinence. They believe strongly in that sex is for procreation only. In fact, the only form of birth control approved by the Roman Catholic church is the “rhythm method,” or the avoidance of intercourse around the time of the female’s ovulation. (This method is not effective in preventing pregnancy.

However, nine out of ten Catholics do not believe that pregnancy prevention is wrong, and six of ten are using some form of artificial contraception. Catholics are engaging in premarital sex more than any other group of single Americans. Only 17 percent think that premarital sex is always wrong. These facts are just another example proving that abstinence teachings are weak in our churches and schools. Teenage members of the Baptist church have signed agreements saying they’ll abstain until they’re married.

The program is called True Love Waits, and more and more high school and college kids are vowing to remain chaste. -year-old Kenneth Legary thinks it’s a great idea, “I don’t want to catch anything, and at the same time, I can be loyal to God and my parents,” he says(Maynard B3). The promise reads: “Believing that true love waits, I make a commitment to God, myself, my family, those I date, my future mate, and my future children to be sexually pure until the day I enter a covenant marriage relationship. ” “The core of the whole thing,” says Margaret Gleason, youth group leader at the First Baptist Church of Lakewood, “is that God tells us to wait,” (Maynard B3).

So remember what the Bible says in Psalms 119:1 “Happy are all who perfectly follow the laws of God. ” In addition, sex is surrounded by many emotional and mental consequences. “Sex, especially the first time, can leave you feeling very emotional and very vulnerable,” says child and adolescent psychologist Joan Kinlan. (Rodriguez 52). Many people feel used after having sex for the first time. Others may feel as though they’ve been exploited. Sex can be very disappointing, due to differing physical sexual responses and uncomfortability between two partners.

Guilt is also not an uncommon feeling after sex. People who weren’t ready feel like they’ve let themselves and others down. Sex, in contrast to popular belief, does not always lead to emotional intimacy. Many teens who have sex before they’re ready have complicated and unsatisfying relationships, and soon the bond between the couple deteriorates. Sex can’t make one person like another more than they did before. Having sex doesn’t mean that a person will stay in a relationship, and it certainly won’t mend a crumbling one. It may prolong one, but cannot heal one. It can only make things worse.

While maturity plays a large part in the decision to have sex, it may not be enough. Other factors are involved. There is no certain “right” age to start a sexual relationship. “Sex is a very individual, personal decision,” says New York psychotherapist Laurie Stein,(Rodriguez 52). Besides, a person can have a warm, satisfying relationship without sex. Priscilla Reynolds, a Maine mother-of-two, says, “As far as I’m concerned, you don’t need a sexual relationship to be involved with another person. ” (Ferriss 19). In conclusion, I believe Marjorie Love says it best: “Complete monogamy is the only safe way. Ferriss 19)

It’s true there is no better way to protect yourself from all the dangers surrounding sex. After all, you’re a role model. You have standards to maintain, and responsibilities to fulfill. Take it from Timothy 4:12 “Don’t let anyone think little of you because you are young. Be their ideal; let them follow the way you teach and live; be a pattern for them in your love, your faith, and your clean thoughts. ” In a matter of life and death such as this, abstaining from premarital sex is the only reasonable and safe choice for today’s teens.

In April of 1999, two students shot 15 fellow students and a teacher in Columbine High School. A few years before that, a teenage boy committed suicide in his bedroom. What do these two have in common? In both instances, their choice of music was to blame. Alternative music has been the center of a lot of controversy as well as a scapegoat for many adolescent tragedies. This type of music is meant to be different and it is being persecuted because artists do not fall into the categories of R&B and pop rock. Music is the artists livelihood and religion. Condemning the music is breaching both an artists freedom of expression and religion.

Millions of teenagers listen to alternative rock groups such as Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails every day. These same teenagers walk into their schools every morning and dont blow their classmates heads off. These same teenagers dont go home and blow their own brains off. However when these things do happen, parents all over the country start protesting against the entire genre of alternative rock. Alternative rock has become a national scapegoat for adolescent violence. But is it really to blame? The parents that protest are probably the same ones that deny that the teens lashed out because of bad parenting.

Of course it cant be that because parents such as themselves are all perfect. This sort of attitude is precisely why teenagers respond to their environment so violently. Parents refuse to get help because theyre afraid of how they as parents would be perceived. Some parents even refuse to admit that there is a problem in the first place. With this view, parents often search for something else that might have caused such violent behavior. That is where alternative rock comes in. Parents say that it breaches hate, violence, and anti-Christianity. However, are they really protesting these issues or the way the artists look?

Ricky Martins Livin La Vida Loca glorifies a prostitute but there wasnt a huge uprising over it. He even makes a music video that is near pornographic. Ricky Martin is off the hook because he has a pretty face. He can do anything and sing anything he wants as long as it is legal. On the other hand, if Marilyn Manson calls their CD Anti-Christ Superstar, the whole country erupts in disbelief. This shallow hypocrisy is enough to make anyone sick. Marilyn Mansons lead singer looks like he has a glass eye and wears a thong to the MTV Music Awards. Trent Reznor of the Nine Inch Nails swings anvils from his nipple rings.

No, this may not be the normal, acceptable behavior, but who determines what is or is not normal? Should an entire genre be condemned because a few bands dont fit the norm? There are plenty of alternative rock groups that dont have glass eyes or swinging anvils such as Stone Temple Pilots, Garbage, and Hole. By denouncing alternative rock, the country is restricting these bands freedom of expression, and that is not the kind of moral foundation the Constitution was built on. There are others who say alternative rock groups are infamous for drug use. So are athletes, rappers, and George W. Bush.

They may not always be seen in a favorable light either but rarely do you see parents suing the Dallas Cowboys for being a bad influence. You also wont see Bush being chased out of the presidential elections. On the contrary, surveys show that Bush is leading in the polls. The longer people attack the artists of alternative rock, the more distracted they become from the real issues. Parents are so concerned with shutting down Marilyn Manson concerts that they are missing the signs of trouble in their kids. One of the main reasons teenagers act out the way they do is because they are not getting enough attention from the parents.

Hopping on a plane to join a anti-rock demonstration is not the way to solve that problem. There is no reason why alternative rock should be made a scapegoat. It is a type of music that appeals to teenagers. The way a message is interpreted is not the fault of the artist. Obviously, the mind of the teenager is already troubled before he/she ever listened to the music. The loud music may have aggravated the wounds but that is not an excuse for scapegoating. The truth is, the popularity of alternative music is growing and a recent study done by the Horatio Alger Foundation shows that violence is on the decline.

This proves the idea that the genre of alternative music is a bad influence on kids is just a myth. If people didnt listen to alternative rock, no one would be recording it. The genre is listened to and appreciated whether or not people choose to admit it. People are going to have to accept the fact and move on. There are other issues in the world today that are much more important such as world hunger, poverty, ethnic cleansing, prejudice, etc. Those are the problems that people should be worrying about, not some singer who had two sets of ribs removed.

This book is exactly what it says it is a Guidebook or Manual for both parents and teens that offers insight and advice on a wide range of adolescent developmental concerns. Organized into convenient topical sections for both parent and teen readers, the text can be easily consulted when seeking advice on a particular issue, or simply read cover to cover. Either way, the reader will find a wealth of practical advice for both parent and teen. The authors approach their subject in a sympathetic and sensitive manner in an effort to ameliorate typical parent/teen confrontations.

Sections intended for teen readers are highlighted in blue and written in a conversational style where the author is talking to the teen reader. Numerous quotes from other teens are interspersed within these sections to give the material a very user-friendly feel. Parents will find these sections very useful in that they provide a supportive and understanding perspective. They give teens a chance to step into the shoes of their parents and ponder their situation within a wide range of potential parental concerns.

The primary content of the book is intended for parents and goes into more depth than a typical teen section. Illustrated with easy to follow graphic organizers, the section intended for parents is packed with numerous case histories, tables and charts, questionnaires, dialogues, and issues common to families with teenagers. Of particular importance are the case histories, dialogue, and issue boxes. The case histories are taken from real-life situations and present both problem and solution for a wide range of situations.

These stories present the point of view of both parent and teen, which the reader can compare and contrast to his or her own situation. They also provide insight into the probable cause of the conflict as well as explaining how the problem was actually resolved. The issues sections present problems that parents and teens tend to argue about. Issues such as style of dress and friendships are written is such a way as to provide a helpful middle ground position for parents to take while struggling with a recalcitrant teen. The dialogue boxes present scenarios common to families dealing with teenagers.

In addition to presenting a typical parent/teen conversation (such as playing music too loud or talks about drugs) these sections offer insight on how to discuss certain issues with your teens. Having such models to follow can be very helpful to a parent or teacher searching for the right words or ways in which to approach a controversial subject. In addition to the dialogue, the authors have also included advice at the end of dialogue sections that suggest several ways in which the stated problem might be reconciled. The numerous tables found throughout the text provide convenient, up-to-date data on a wide variety of issues.

Parents and teachers alike can make good use of these tables, in particular, the section in the first chapter dealing with physical development. Entitled Milestones of Early (ages 11 to 14), Middle (ages 15 to 16), and Late Adolescence (ages 17 to 18), this section presents various developmental milestones in the context of the consequence for the child as well as the potential effect on the family. Of all the issues and concerns expressed in this book, the only section which parents may find objectionable concerns chapter eleven sexuality in adolescence. The authors seemingly approach this subject with a no-holds-barred policy.

They discuss all possible sexual issues, from the more innocuous dating and foreplay concerns to controversial issues such as homosexuality, masturbation and pre-marital sex. Parents with strong religious convictions may take issue with a number of the authors perspectives and recommendations. For instance, concerning the issue of early sexual experimentation the authors say: n itself earlysexual experience is not necessarily either abnormal or deviant early sexual behavior although it may shock or disappoint you should not be regarded as a major catastrophe.

Concerning homosexuality the authors say: you have no choice but to accept that this (homosexuality) is the way things are. They cannot help being gay and they cannot change even if they want to. (Pg. 131) On the issue of deciding to become sexually active the authors say: You (the teenager) are the only person who can make decisions about your body, your feelings, and your life. (Pg 132 in a section intended for teen readers)

On the issue of safe sex the authors say: Probably the most important thing to consider before you start having sex is how to avoid unwanted pregnancy. (Pg. 135 in a section intended for teen readers) On the issue of parental authority in relation to minors engaging in premarital sex the authors say: Your sex life is your own affair, but there is just a chance your parents may think its theirsFor example, if you know it would upset your parents to have you sleeping under their roof with a boyfriend or girlfriend whos coming to stay make it clear youll have separate bedrooms.

Pg. 145 in a section intended for teen readers) While religious families may take issue with these perspectives, it is important to remember that the authors have presented information based upon what current society is, and not on what it should be. Nonetheless, being both a parent and strongly religious myself, this writer finds it extremely discouraging to see no mention of planning for marriage in this book.

While there are significant chapters on such mundane subjects such as Money Matters, there is not even one chapter devoted to marriage and family life. This is very disconcerting to see in a book that proposes to be parent-friendly. This writer suspects that many parents, strongly religious or otherwise, may question whether the primary concern of a young teen considering whether to engage in sexual activity ought to be how not to get pregnant. This is like telling a thief that the only concern he or she should have is how not to get caught!

It would seem to this parent that a chapter on How to prepare for committed love in marriage and/or The familys role in establishing a healthy and successful society would be equally appropriate. Given the seriousness of the potential outcomes of sexually promiscuous teen behavior, this writer cannot recommend this book as a manual or resource for parents. On the other hand, there is a wealth of useful information in other chapters. Those who value the integrity of the family would do better to simply tear out chapter eleven and use the rest of the text.

Teens reflect a culture all of their own within American society. The language that they speak, music that they listen to, and many aspects of their lives differ from that of past generations (Linehan 3). Therefore, many people of older generations tend to make judgments and assumptions about teenagers. These assumptions are typically based on the manner in which teenagers speak, dress, and present themselves. Because of these generalizations, faith of many teens is commonly overlooked. In a society where violence seems to be accepted and many teens are lost about who they are, faith can be the one bond interlinking a group of many.

Despite occurrences such as the shootings April 20, 1999 at Columbine High School, and other negative aspects surrounding teenagers’ lives, there are still many young people involved and/or seeking a life with faith in Christ. Although there are many instances of violence and hate in society today, one that shocked the nation more than most was the massacre at Columbine High School. Some people say that the boys’ families caused them to kill, some say it was other students, however there was also another ingredient… a lack of faith in their lives (Grace and Mitchell 58).

In a world where many teenagers are surrounded by things such as materialism and discrimination many have the strength to maintain a spiritual life. However Klebold and Harris, the shooters at Columbine High School, had a loss of a sense of sin. They killed innocent people, one of whom was Cassie Bernall, a devout Christian. When a Columbine gunman asked Cassie Bernall if she believed in God, she allegedly replied, “Yes, and you should too. ” Moments after hearing this reply, one of the gunmen put the gun to he head and took her life. Such a strong testament of her faith in Christ cost young Bernall her life (58).

Because of this strong commitment, many consider Bernall a martyr of sorts, and say that she is a testament to their own faith (Grace and Mitchell 58). Many teens and younger youth have been greatly influenced by Bernall’s decision to stand up for her beliefs, this is a large encouragement to teens everywhere, especially because we live in a society where teens’ identifies are greatly challenged (59). Susan Teran is one student to whom Bernall’s act spoke out to. “If there were a shooter in my school,” says Teran, “I’d volunteer to sacrifice my life. I’d say, Don’t shoot my friends; shoot me, because I know where I’ll go when I die. 58).

While some teens, like Teran, are quite secure in their faith not all Christian youths would have the same courage and security in where “they will go” when they die. Today’s church wants to play a larger role in letting teens know just where they will go upon their death from this world. More than many previous popes, Pope John Paul II has a distinct goal for the ministry of youths (Light For All the World, 3). “Help these young men and women be a light for all the world to see,” (3). Part of John Paul II’s plans for ministry includes Sons and Daughters of the light: A Pastoral Plan for ministry with young adults.

That is a plan for ministry to people in their late teens and early twenties, with a purpose of a development of a spiritual life (3). The plan seems to be working because where as five or ten years ago it was not cool to believe and pronounce faith in God, now many teens cannot think of anything cooler. In high school, there is a second side to the blessing of modern Christianity. While many communities offer programs for fellowship and leadership in Christ, many teens get caught up in the wrong things. These programs are meant to not condemn the “bad” ideals teens may posses of things that they may do, but these programs are an outreach.

The philosophy of many programs being to love the unlovable, and to accept people as they are. Several of these nation-wide programs for teenagers wanting to grow closer to Christ include FCA (fellowship of Christian athletes), Young Life, and church youth groups. While none of these programs are better than the other, each has its own uniqueness and own appeal to different groups of teenagers. Despite the many youth ministries, American culture has let many of today’s young people go uninformed about the church and, uninstructed in their spiritual lives (“Light For All the World” 3).

A further look into one of the teen ministry programs available is FCA. What is FCA? A group that meets weekly and is led by high school students, promoting youth leadership and fellowship (Personal Interview, Story). There is a strong focus among group members in relating sports and life while in high school to Christ (Story). Where is FCA held? You can find FCA meetings all over the country and on all age levels from high school and college students to a group of adults still active in the organization (Story).

The basic concept of FCA is to take an issue that many people face, find a scripture, relating to the problem or issue, then through prayer, communication, and skits use Christ to eliminate that problem (Story). FCA works so well as youth ministry because a group of people whom might not typically come together join to worship and lift up Christ and the word of God. While it is easy to walk into a room of teenagers and easily find a group of teenagers who would consider themselves atheists, and admit so without shame, it is a bit more difficult to find someone strong enough to admit their relationship with God.

One person who will quickly identify herself as a Christian is Jessica Ruth Lang, or Jessi to her friends. Jessi is a Christian and accepted Christ into her life when she was only seven years old (Personal Interview Lang). “Because I grew up in a Christian home, it (faith) was always present in our lives,” said Lang. Lang is a very strong believer and follower of Jesus Christ and therefore her weekly schedule consists of a lot of church oriented activities. “Let’s see…

Sunday I go to church, Monday is bible study- Teen CBS, Wednesday is young life club, and Saturday nights are HMC, like senior leadership,” (Lang Personal Interview). Another factor of her life is also affected because of Lang’s faith- the party and dating scene. “I don’t think that there is anything wrong with drinking, I don’t do it though- it is against the law of the land, and you should obey those laws … yeah that is one problem with drunkenness. I don’t condemn people who do drink- it just isn’t a thing I do,” (Lang).

When it comes to dating, Lang feels like in high school there is really no point because she is looking for a person to marry. “In high school I just can’t imagine treating anyone as a serious relationship with marital prospects,” (Lang). Also, Jessi feels that her strong faith gives her an advantage of sorts over those who don’t have Christ in their lives. “Being a Christian helps me to be more concerned for others, because I have Christ being concerned for me. A lot of things that I think and do are self-centered but, having Christ still helps to keep the focus on others,” (Lang).

Jessi also said that her possessing the light of God helps for others, to look up to her and perhaps notice something that they desire, then go after it; that being Christ (Lang). While teens like Jessi may seem to be the exception they really aren’t, but most media attention isn’t focused on teens like her. The media tends to focus on incidents where teens have a lack of faith, which drives them to doing many things, such as murder. In a certain hope to raise the faith among teens and in hopes that more teens will give their lives to Christ, many youth ministry seminars are run around the country.

Typically the seminars are filled with ten to twenty thousand youths, all of which are excited and screaming for Jesus. In Anaheim, California there was a weekend of celebrating the gospel and praising Christ that could easily beat out the noise and excitement level of any rock concert. At youth conferences like the one held in California a speaker will talk about the gospel and about the life of Christ and then, an hour later a Christian rock band will take the stage, lighting the fires of every youth in the place (Kauffman, L.

A. 306). When teens are given an environment in which they can feel loved and the love they have for Christ can be nurtured the number of people like Jessi Lang climb quite exponentially. While sharing the word of Christ through rock music and merchandise may not be quite what the bishops were calling for when they recommended that, “They hope to find ways that will allow young people to connect with Jesus Christ through a program of spiritual formation and religious education,” (Light For All the World, 2).

The teachings are still being spread though not as conservatively as many straight line Christians would have hoped. Even though teens have jumped up at this call for evangilization many seecontradictions in the teachings of their faith. “The same kids who were told to shun worldly concerns in the name of Jesus spent much of the California conference pursuing the newest, hipest Christian commodities. They were warned to not worship false idols, and then ran off to get autographs from their favorite Christian rock stars,” (Kauffman, L. A. , 307).

While it may be true that there are contradictions to be found- shouldn’t the evangelists rejoice in this teen worship to Christ? After learning about all of the programs available for teenagers, and the number of teens whom participate in such programs and church groups, it becomes quite obvious that a vast majority of teenagers are strong in their faith. Teen worship in our society and is more evident the harder that a person looks for signs of faith in teens’ lives the more evident that worship becomes.

One last specific example of a strong deep routed faith in God took place in a small town only a little over a year ago. In the summer of 1998 four classmates from Webster Groves High School died. The following September a loved counselor passed on as well; then only weeks later a former student known to many as Rico dies of a drug overdose. One of the many common characteristics in all of these tragedies is this- teens gathered in grief and prayed, they cried and they prayed.

Many of the affected students would console one another with a set of what grew to be far too familiar words, “It was all in God’s time,” or, “There was a reason that he/she is gone, God needed them. ” It is unfortunate that in a time of tragedy faith typically becomes more evident than ever, but it does prove a serious and most important fact. Despite tragedy, sorrow, and times of pure and utter grief faith will always remain evident in teenagers lives.

Teenage depression is a growing problem in today’s society and is often a major contributing factor for a multitude of adolescent problems. The statistics about teenage runaways, alcoholism, drug problems, pregnancy, eating disorders, and suicide are alarming. Even more startling are the individual stories behind these statistics because the young people involved come from all communities, all economic levels, and all home situations-anyone’s family. The common link is often depression. For the individuals experiencing this crisis, the statistics become relatively meaningless.

The difficult passage into adolescence and early adulthood can leave lasting scars on the lives and psyches of an entire generation of young men and women. There is growing realization that teenage depression can be life- changing, even life threatening. Depression is a murky pool of feelings and actions scientists have been trying to understand since the days of Hippocrates, who called it a “black bile. ” It has been called “the common cold of mental illness and, like the cold, it’s difficult to quantify. If feelings of great sadness or agitation last for much more than two weeks, it may be depression.

For a long time, people who were feeling depressed were told to “snap out of it. ” According to a study done by National Institute of Mental Health, half of all Americans still view depression as a personal weakness or character flaw. Depression, however, is considered a medical disorder and can affect thoughts, feelings, physical health, and behaviors. It interferes with daily life such as school, friends, and family. Clinical depression is the most incapacitating of all chronic conditions in terms of social functioning. Teenagers have always been vulnerable to depression for a variety of reasons.

It’s a confusing time of life because a teen’s body is changing along with their relationships. Teenagers constantly vacillate between strivings for independence from family and regressions to childish dependence on it. But today’s teens face an additional challenge: They’re growing up in a world quite different from that of their parent’s youth. Adolescents today are faced with stresses that were unknown to previous generations and are dealing with them in an often self-destructive way. Contemporary society has changed the perception of teenagers.

New parental lifestyles, combined with changes in the economy, often give less time and energy for parents to devote to their offspring. Society all too often views teens for what they can be instead of for who they are. Who they are becomes the identity of teenagers today. “They are confronted with the ambiguity of education, the dissolution of family, the hostile commercialism of society, and the insecurity of relationships. ” This identity is fragile and is threatened by fears of rejection, feelings of failure, and of being different.

These young people face stress in school as well with resources dwindling and campus violence and harassment increasing. Their sexual awakening comes in the age of AIDS, when sex can kill. In summary, teens today feel less safe, less empowered and less hopeful than we did a generation ago. Depression is a common concomitant to this struggle. It strikes 5% of teens and about 2% of children under 12. One in three adolescents in the nineties are at risk for serious depression. Depression is the result of a complex mix of social, psychological, physical, and environmental factors.

Teens with depressed parents are two to three times more likely to develop major depression. Genetic factors play a substantial but not overwhelming role in causing depression. Some type of significant loss can be a factor in triggering teenage depression. Loss can be due to death, divorce, separation, or loss of a family member, important friend or romantic interest. Loss can also be subtler such as the loss of childhood, of a familiar way of being, of goals through achievement, or of boundaries and guidelines. Gender differences are becoming apparent, with girls having more difficulty with depression.

Studies show girls are three times more likely than boys to suffer depression. A university study showed a close link between depression and negative body image and girls are usually more self-conscious about their bodies than boys. The reasons for depression are not always clear-cut. Although some depressed, even suicidal teenagers come from extremely troubled backgrounds with a lifetime of difficulties at home and at school, the vast majority of depressed teens are not without resources, support, or love. They simply find, for a variety of reasons, that they’re feeling overwhelmed by a sensation of hopelessness and helplessness.

It is imperative to realize that depression can happen to teenagers, even those who have everything going for them. It can happen to the best and brightest of young people. It’s hard to detect depression in teens because it’s a developmental stage characterized by considerable anger and withdrawal. Adolescents don’t necessarily look sad and depressed and its normal for teens to have mood swings but within limits. A depressed teen may cry for help indirectly through troublesome, even destructive behavior and through physical symptoms. For a teenager to admit that he or she needs help feels like regressing back to childhood.

To be a teen means to externalize feelings and deal with the world through action. Depression ranks second only to advanced heart disease in exacting a physical toll, measured by days in bed and body pain. It’s common for people with depressive disorders to complain about recurring headaches, backaches, chronic fatigue, and insomnia. Being sick can be a binding thing that keeps the teenager tied to parents, if the illness is the only time the teen receives attention and love from their parents. The body may signal what the mind is saying through physical symptoms.

The body expresses feelings and conflicts that the teenager is unable to verbalize. Physical ills are often viewed with more importance than emotional pain by parents, teachers, or even the teens themselves. “It’s much easier for adolescents to ask for medical care than for psychological help. They often have a great fear of being crazy or of being thought to be crazy. Another serious medical problem that is affecting more and more teens is an eating disorder. An eating disorder often represents a teenager’s attempt to gain some control by engaging in a behavior, which cannot be regulated by another person.

One-third to one-half of patients with eating disorders has a major depressive illness at the same time. More than one million teens, most under the age of sixteen, run away from home every year. They are neither adventurous nor rebellious adolescents, but teens tested and troubled by life’s circumstances. A young girl at a shelter for teenage runaways tries to explain why she has run away from home four times in the past two months. Drawing her blanket around her like a cocoon, the fourteen-year -old quietly stares at the floor. “I’m no good to anyone, I get upset and fuss at home and it causes trouble for everyone.

I had to run away to save my parent’s marriage. ” Unfortunately, this story is not at all unusual. Of the 1. 2 million teen runaways in the United States, an estimated 300,000 have little hope or chance of returning home. They often feel things are hopeless and that their parents would never understand. Drug use is on the rise among teens as young as thirteen. According to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, about 4% of high school seniors use alcohol daily, while 92% have tried it. Millions of teens have had adverse experiences caused by excessive drinking.

Researchers have found that depressed teens are at particularly high risk for drug and alcohol abuse. Abuse of drugs, alcohol, or other substances is often used to assuage depression. Studies have found that when depressed patients were given treatment, alcohol and drug intake diminished as well. Substance abuse is seen as both a symptom and a cause of depression. There is more sexual activity among teenagers today than at any other time in our history. By the time they leave high school, some 90% of seniors are no longer virgins. Sexually transmitted diseases among teenagers have reached epidemic proportions.

Eight million young people each year are infected with a sexually transmitted disease. Every thirty seconds, another U. S. teenager is infected. Sexual acting-out , which cannot only be life changing, but also life-threatening in this age of AIDS, can become an antidote to the loneliness and isolation many teenagers feel. Sexual activity is often used as an attempt to deal with feelings of depression, to increase self-esteem by feeling wanted and to achieve intimacy. Approximately 3,000 teenage girls in the United States will get pregnant today. An estimated 3 million teenage girls become pregnant each year.

Beth is a shy, quiet eighth-grader who is expecting a baby in two months. Beth admits her pregnancy was intentional and she plans to keep her baby “because then I’ll have someone of my own who will love me for sure. I won’t be alone anymore. ” ” This illusion of unconditional love, coupled with a lack of insight into the unrelenting demands that the complete dependence of an infant brings leads a number of girls to seek pregnancy. ” Some teens see parenthood as a way to recapture the joy of childhood they are losing, a way to be loved and important to someone else, or as an antidote to depression.

Suicide among teenagers has skyrocketed 200% in the last decade. If we were talking about mononucleosis or meningitis we’d call this an epidemic. Suicide has become the second leading cause of death among older teenagers. Adolescents are particularly at risk for suicide attempts because they progress through a variety of rapid developmental stages. The seriously depressed teen may often have a sense of hopelessness. Many teens are too immobilized by depression to see any alternatives or to take any positive steps toward change.

All too often depressed teenagers don’t have the experience to know that time heals, that there is always hope. They don’t realize that they can survive a crisis and perhaps even learn from it. Life is often seen in absolutes which intensifies any crisis. The destructive potential of serious teenage depression can have many long-lasting aftereffects. Having and keeping a baby, getting into trouble with the law, sustaining a serious injury as the result of risk-taking behavior or stunting one’s emotional growth by anesthetizing painful feelings with drugs or alcohol can have a great impact on one’s future.

It can prevent a young adult from having a full, healthy, and productive life or make it considerably more difficult to do so. Depression is a growing problem amongst today’s teenagers. Depression brings with it many problems that can be self-destructive. If a teenager has the benefit of early intervention and help in coping with his or her depression, however, the life script can be quite different.

Adolescence is a period of time between childhood and adulthood. This is the age when one can either make something of his life or destroy it all, this is the time when a person makes those friends who changes the how he looks at life and how he faces it. An adolescent’s main goal these days is to fit in and not be different from their peers. In this paper I will explore the probabilities of the following grievances experienced by the adolescent youth which are drugs, suicide, and homelessness.

Adolescence is the developmental stage between childhood and adulthood; it generally refers to a period ranging from teen years through 20s. As now life is growing more complex, however, adolescents are increasingly cut off from the activities of their elders, leaving most young people with education as their sole occupation. Inexorably, this has isolated many of them from the adult world and has prolonged their adolescence. Now almost all over the world the adolescent years have become marked by violence to an alarming degree.

The phenomenon of teenage suicide has become particularly disturbing, but risk-taking behaviors of many sorts can be observed, including alcohol and drug abuse. Adolescents only want to have fun and go to parties. They get addicted to drugs and start to revolve their lives around drugs. Some get arrested and others encounter death. Addiction is so powerful that it takes control of people’s brains and only tells them to do wrong. Drugs are highly Addictive, and most of the adolescents main goal is to fit in the group by doing what the whole group does, this is how they get into crack, booze, pot and crystal.

Dr. Nowinski’s book in which he states his study of Adolescents drugs and addicts describes specific cases of adolescent drug abuse that he has worked with. He describes the different patterns of adolescent drug abuse and the causes of such type of abuse. He describes causes like alienation, low self-esteem and confidence, stress, and peer pressure. He goes into how developments of new treatment techniques are necessary because adolescent addictions are different from those of adults. He describes the process of counseling, denial and compliance, and surrender and recovery.

Nowinski stresses the need for family intervention in cases that involve adolescents. Addiction is the disease that eventually starts to plague the adolescents that decide to take the wrong path. Addiction lurks up on anyone putting aside race, age, or gender because this disease does not care. Adolescents are not aware of the consequences of drugs and have a hard time listening to their elders, since they think their all night parties in which drugs and alcohol booms are safe until someone dies or they are confronted by the law.

These parties take place in warehouses, outdoor recreation areas or any place where more than 1,000 young people can gather. At these kind of parties the trance music is played which is a composition of electronic sounds driven into shape by a DJ. Adolescents see these things just as fun; and do not understand that this road reaches nowhere. In time, this behavior becomes a way of every day life and causes in most case a lot of pain for the adolescent. This is where the disease of addiction takes over an adolescent’s body and controls it until someone helps him or her out of it.

The sad part is that most of the time help is given forcefully by the law or even by death. (New York Times, 1997) (Fort 209-215) Eventually after all the consequences occur treatment and rehabilitation is needed if death did not already occur. Adolescents need to hear stories and be able relate themselves with the stories. All the commercials and adults talking in schools do not helps our society out of this. Adolescents anyhow do not listen and still do what they want not realizing the results. Adolescent Suicide is a result of frustration and negligence because there is a lot to live for.

Each year in the U. S. , thousands of teenagers commit suicide. Suicide is now the third leading cause of death for people 15 to 24 (behind accidents and homicide), and the sixth leading cause of death for adolescents 5 to 14. (Miller) Adolescent suicide is now responsible for more teen deaths than cardiovascular diseases or cancer. The suicide rate for adolescents has increased more than 200% over the last decade. Adolescent Suicide is a type of Adolescent Depression. Recent studies show that more than one fifth of adolescents have emotional problems and one-third of adolescents who attends psychiatric clinic go under depression.

The primary care physician with the support of the family can effectively take the majority of adolescent depression, says Maurice Blackman MB, FRCPC. Adolescence is a time of emotional instability, gloomy introspection, great drama, and discriminating sensitivity. The psychiatrist challenge is to identify depressive symptoms that may be superimposed on the milieu of a more evanescent, but anticipated developmental storm. It is common for adolescent to be preoccupied with issues of death and to consider the effect their death would have on close family and friends. Luckily, these ideas are habitually not acted upon.

Suicidal acts are generally associated with intense crisis in the adolescent’s life and may involve linked depression. It is important to stress that the crisis may be insignificant to the adults around, but very significant to the teenager. The losses of a boyfriend or girlfriend, a drop in school marks or negative reprimands by a significant adult, predominantly a parent or teacher, may be precipitant to a suicidal act. Suicidal acts are more common among adolescents who have already experienced major stress in their lives. Major stress includes parent discord, being physically or sexually abused and alcohol or drug abuse.

A suicide of close relative or confidant may also be an important identifier of those at the greatest risk, as when a teen commits suicide, it affects the whole community that they live in as well as their family. When a family member commits suicide, the whole family must grieve and show their emotions openly. The worst possible thing to do is to hold all of the emotions inside the body. The teenager who exhibits very clear character alter, including backing up from society, or who gives away cherished belongings may also be seriously contemplating ending his or her life.

Many adolescents try to commit suicide than who actually succeed, and the methods used may be unfledged. There is a propensity to treat alleged minor attempts as attention seeking, theatrical and of no importance. This is a mistake, as a teenager who has attempted suicide and has not received any relief from his or her unfeasible circumstances may well be a thriving repeater. All with nothing-to-live-for behaviors reflect a cry for help and must be taken seriously. Showing adolescents that you care about them is quite possibly all that they need to prevent them from becoming a statistic in the agonizing story of adolescent suicide.

No one is satisfied with what he has, an average person complains at least 50 times a day about his life, most of them have loving families, and good homes and almost all they need. Now, think of the stress on a homeless adolescent. School does not seem to be an easy place for homeless adolescents. The peers do not except homeless adolescents and therefore practically all suffer from low self esteem. Adolescents who share their room with their entire family or adolescents who share room with many other adolescents lack privacy and have limited space for all sort of activities.

Therefore, they are tending to become aggressive in nature. Adolescents who often change schools lack both structure and permanence in their lives, and may be unwilling to make close friends. Adolescents who have to keep moving have no sense of roots, personal space, or possessions. School is just one of the many places where homeless adolescents have trouble in. Many homeless adolescents find that exchanging sex for food, clothing, and shelter they are only chance for survival on the streets. Moreover, homeless youth are at a greater risk of contracting AIDS or HIV-related illnesses.

Homeless adolescents often undergo from harsh nervousness and depression, poor health and sustenance, and low self-esteem. Therefore, more than half of homeless adolescents will die before the age of 19. Accidentally before starting writing on this topic I read a story of a man who used to live on streets and after his hardwork throughout the life he is now a millionaire and helps homeless people now. It just goes to show that there are all types of people on the streets. Maybe the next Mozart sleeps in a refrigerator box.

Possibly, the next Hitler eats out of a garbage dump. In spite of the fact that we still can not state a solution, for homelessness, but we can say that all the adolescents out there with no homes deserve at least a chance to become something. In conclusion Id just like to state that adolescence is a period when an individual can either make or mar his future. Adolescence is a time when an adolescent gets easily carried away by all the things he is exposed to. Sometimes an adolescent seeks for easy way out of what all goes on and gets involved with pot, crack and booze.

This happens when he faces negligence, stress and group pressure and sometimes due to these factors they also choose the option of ending their life. This is the time when people start facing real challenges of life. There are many homeless adolescents which r given proper care and guidance while this period of their life and they fall prey to all kind of crimes. This is period when people should take control of their life. This is where the most of them lose their path, and gets attracted towards all sorts of things , i. e. why this period of life is called a period of storm and strife.

Before successfully preventing teen pregnancies among teenage girls, there are many underlying causes and facts about the dilemma that must be first exposed. Children from homes run by teenage mothers have to face almost insurmountable obstacles in life. The incidents of depression and mental health problems, the lack of father figures, and the high rate of poverty often connected to children in homes run by teenage mothers put them at serious disadvantages when compared to children raised in nuclear families.

Many people believe that the implementation of sex education in schools and the addition of more federal aid for single parents are major causes for the country’s high rate of teen pregnancies. The true purpose of sex education and federal aid is to help strengthen the mother and her child so that they can eventually lead productive lives. Although teen pregnancy rates dropped significantly in the USA over the past decade, rates remain higher than in many other developed countries (Ventura et al. , 2001; Flanigan, 2001).

Almost 900,000 teenage girls still become pregnant each year in the USA and significant racial/ethnic disparities exist (Ventura et al. , 2001). Given the adverse economic and health consequences stemming from teen pregnancy, including low birth weight and economic hardship, no one is claiming that the battle is won. Instead, experts are debating what motivated the decreases in sexual activity and increases in the use of contraceptives at first intercourse, and strategizing ways to continue the positive trends.

Possible explanations for the good news include economic prosperity, more informed and cautious attitudes about sex, improved use of contraceptives, and funding of new teen pregnancy prevention efforts through welfare reform (Darroch and Singh, 1999; Flanigan, 2001). Previous research has attributed a girl’s increased risk of pregnancy to the possible consequences of a father leaving such as, lower family income, conflict at home and weak parental monitoring. Yet even when these factors were taken into account, the study found that a father’s absence in itself seemed to put daughters at risk for having children early.

Girls’ whose fathers left before they were born or previous to age five were seven to eight times more at risk of becoming pregnant as an adolescent, than girls living with their fathers. A father’s departure between ages six to thirteen suggested that teen girls are two to three times’ at greater risk of becoming pregnant. (Psychology Today, 2003) Girls who see their single mothers date many partners may become primed for early sexual exploration. Or, a father’s absence early in life may trigger doubts in girls about male reliability that hasten sexual activity and reproduction, as well as promote a preference for brief relationships.

Juvenile abuse of alcohol and other drugs is strongly associated with risk-taking behavior, including promiscuity. According to the 1999 National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) study “Dangerous Liaisons,” increased promiscuity leads to a greater risk for sexually transmitted diseases and unplanned teenage pregnancy (National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse 1999). Adolescents aged fourteen and younger who use alcohol are twice more likely to engage in sexual behaviors than non-drinkers; drug users are five times more likely to be sexually active than youth who are drug-free.

Teens between the age of fifteen and nineteen who drink are seven times more likely to have sex and twice as likely to have four or more partners than those who refrain from alcohol. Furthermore, more than 50 percent of teenagers say that sex while drinking or on drugs often produces unplanned pregnancies. An Ohio study of high school girls who tried cocaine indicated that these adolescents were five times more likely to have experienced an unintended pregnancy than peers who avoided cocaine (Rome, E. S. , Rybicki, M. S. , & Durant, R. H. 1998).

Nevertheless, the results suggested that preventive efforts should be initiated within the family, targeting systematic functioning, drug and alcohol problems, and violent behaviors. Secondary, efforts should be made when physical or sexual abuse is uncovered, or when adolescents engage in delinquent acts or substance abuse. Once a teenager becomes pregnant, intervention must focus on her vulnerability to abuse.

Unfortunately, teenage mothers are more likely to associate with abusive partners (Berenson, San Miguel, & Wilkinson, 1992a. ). A 1990 study showed that almost one-half of all teenage mothers and over three-quarters of unmarried teen mothers began receiving welfare within five years of the birth of their first child (National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy). The growth in single-parent families remains the single most important cause for increased poverty among children over the last twenty years, as documented in the 1998 Economic Report of the President.

Out-of-wedlock childbearing (as opposed to divorce) is currently the driving force behind the growth in the number of single parents, and half of first out-of-wedlock births are to teens (Sawhill, I. V. 1998). Therefore, reducing teen pregnancy and child-bearing is an obvious place to anchor serious efforts to reduce poverty in future generations. Adolescent pregnancy is a complex problem. There is no single or simple approach that will reduce adolescent pregnancy among all groups of teenagers. Because the causes of teen pregnancy are complicated, the strategies should be multi-pronged (Kirby, 1997).

Over the past two decades, there has been dramatic growth in the number and variety of programs aimed at preventing adolescent pregnancy. These have included education programs, family planning/contraceptive services, school-based health centers, youth development programs, and multi-component programs. Unfortunately, recent comprehensive reviews of adolescent pregnancy prevention programs concluded that few programs have been well evaluated. Of those that have been evaluated, none have been significantly successful in reducing adolescent pregnancy.

However, although there are studies that indicate that some programs can have some success at reducing one or more sexual behaviors for at least a brief period of time, few studies have measured long-term effects (Kirby, 1997, 1999; Moore et al. , 1995). Youth and communities need a comprehensive approach to teen pregnancy prevention that involves multiple intersecting strategies, including comprehensive sexuality education, access to contraceptives and reproductive health care, and youth development. When employed together, the following policy strategies will have the most significant impact on reducing teen pregnancy.

There are three main goals in preventing teen pregnancy. First there is comprehensive sexuality education. Research confirms that comprehensive sexuality education programs (those that include information about both abstinence and contraceptive methods) can delay the onset of sex, reduce the frequency of sex, reduce the number of sexual partners, and increase the use of condoms and other forms of contraception. In schools a effective way to help prevent students from being sexually active is having teachers that want to volunteer and are comfortable with using scientifically evaluated best practices programs and curricula.

By teachers volunteering to do this program it could work more effectively because they want to help teens learn more about it. Instead of a teacher that is picked and does not want to help as much would not bring the best approach to help the teen learn about what goes on in a pregnancy and the consequences of becoming a teen parent. Next is access to contraceptives and reproductive health care. In order to reduce teen pregnancy rates, sexually active teens, estimated to be over 60% of teens by age 18, and 80% by age 20 (Alan Guttmacher Institute. 01), must have access to reproductive health care and contraception.

Nationally, publicly funded family planning prevents 385,800 unintended pregnancies among adolescents aged 15 to 19 annually, avoiding 154,700 teenage births and 183,300 abortions (Forrest, J. D. , & Samara, R. 1996). Health care providers could adopt policies and procedures that are teen friendly, such as convenient hours and drop-in appointments; and care that is non-judgmental and respectful of teens; care provided by peer providers; and services provided off-site.

Finally, youth development plays a big role in preventing teen pregnancy. There is a widely held belief that one of the most effective pregnancy prevention strategies is to provide youth with supportive environment and a positive sense of the future. Youth development programs are one way to improve life skills and life options for youth who may be likely to become pregnant because they perceive a lack of opportunity. With these three options open for teens, the rate of teen pregnancy would drop effectively.

Adolescence is a stage in life that has many biological, cognitive and sociocultural changes. This stage in life is when individuals are most vulnerable and health behaviors play an important role in their future. An adolescent this day in age is bombarded with many behaviors that can affect their future such as; smoking, drug use, and sex. These behaviors can carry immediate and severe consequences but there are other health behaviors such as eating choices and physical activity that can carry risks as well (Lytle, 2002).

Lytle explains that there is data that suggests that adolescent’s current eating behaviors are putting them at risk for many different diseases later in life. Some of those diseases include: cardiovascular disease, cancer, osteoporosis, obesity and type 2 diabetes. Adolescents today have decreased physical activity and poor diet habits which makes nutritional issues for adolescents a very important topic that needs to be addressed (Lytle, 2002). Cardiovascular disease begins in childhood. A study completed by Kelley, Krummel, Gonzales, Neal and Fitch examined 279 children.

There hypothesis was that children who were at high risk for cardiovascular disease based on their family history would have diets that were different than the low risk children. The children’s height, weight, and total cholesterol were measured and each child filled out a food frequency questionnaire. 23% of the children were at risk for cardiovascular disease and their cholesterol was significantly higher. However intakes of energy, fat, cholesterol and fiber were similar in both the high risk and low risk groups.

The researchers concluded that all children whether high risk or low risk need to change their dietary patterns in order to prevent cardiovascular disease. Those at high risk need specific guidelines in order to lower their risk for the disease. Healthcare professionals must promote the healthy benefits of healthy eating habits to both children and their families and finally it is critical that public health research address behavior modification in children (2004). Diets high in saturated fat, total fat, sodium and low in fiber are associated not only with cardiovascular disease but also some types of cancer.

Also diets low in fruits and vegetables are associated with increased risk of some types of cancer. National nutrition surveillance data shows that only 34% of girls and 27% of boys aged 12-19 years fall within the recommended levels for saturated fat, and 36% of girls and 30% of boys aged 12-19 years fall within the recommended levels for total fat. Adolescent diets also exceed the recommended level of 2,400mg of sodium. National Health and Nutrition Health Survey (NHANES) III showed the range of sodium aged 12-19 years ranged from 3,000mg – 5,000mg/day for both girls and boys.

The recommended intake of fiber for children aged 2-18 years is their age plus 5 grams per day. NHANES III data suggest that aged 12-15 year olds would need to increase their fiber intake by 25%-50% and 16-19 year olds would need to double their intakes to meet the recommendations for fiber stated above (Lytle, 2002). Adolescent’s high fat, high sodium and low fiber diet not only contribute to increased risk for cardiovascular disease and cancer but also put them at risk to be obese and potential develop type 2 diabetes. Childhood obesity is becoming an epidemic in the United States.

The increasing prevalence of childhood obesity has led policy makers to rank it as a critical public health threat. Its rate has doubled for preschool children aged 2-5 years and adolescents aged 12-19 years, and it has tripled for children aged 6-11 years. This has all occurred in the past 30 years. Childhood obesity involves immediate and long-term risks to physical health. For children born in the United States in the year 2000, the lifetime risk of being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes at some point in their lives is estimated at 30% for boys and 40% for girls if obesity rates level off (Koplan, Liverman & Kraak, 2005).

Koplan, Liverman & Kraak also explain how dramatically the Unites States has changed over the past thirty years and how that has impacted the rise of childhood obesity. Family dynamics have changed, now both parents work and they work very long hours. Majority of meals today are not eaten as a family and are usually eaten outside the home. The school environment has changed; children have many more options at lunchtime including fast food, soda, and candy. Physical activity has decreased.

Children’s leisure time is spent watching television or playing on the computer. Understanding all of these things and working to modify them is essential for reducing childhood obesity (2005). Clearly the food choices of adolescents are not consistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Children’s food intake tends to be low in fruits, vegetables and calcium rich foods, and high in both total fat and saturated fat. Children’s dietary habits are causing many nutritional issues that can affect their health in many negative ways.

In order to develop effective nutrition interventions to change eating behaviors and ward off disease, factors influencing adolescent eating behaviors need to be understood. Story, Neumark-Sztainer & French discuss Social Cognitive Theory (SCT). “SCT provides a useful theoretical framework for understanding and describing the multiple influences that have an impact on the food behaviors of adolescence. In SCT, behavior is explained in terms of a 3-way, dynamic and reciprocal interaction between personal factors, environmental influences, and behavior.

Key concepts of SCT are self efficacy (self confidence to change a behavior), observational learning (modeling), reciprocal determinism (bidirectional influences), behavioral capability (knowledge and skills to change the behavior), expectations (beliefs about likely results of the action), functional meanings (personal meaning attached to the behavior), and reinforcement (response to a person’s behavior that increases or decreases the chances of its recurrence)” (2002).

Ecological perspective is another model used for understanding factors influencing eating behavior. Ecological perspective looks at the connections between people and their environments. Reciprocal determinism is central in both SCT and the ecological perspective. Reciprocal determinism means that both the behavior and the environment influence each other in both directions (Story, Neumark-Sztainer & French, 2002). Adolescent eating behavior has multiple levels of influence.

There are four broad levels of influence, they are as follows; individual influences (intrapersonal), social environmental influences (interpersonal), physical environmental influences (community settings) and macrosystem influences (societal) (Story, Neumark-Sztainer & French, 2002). The following portion of this paper will examine the four levels of influence. Story, Neumark-Sztainer & French explain how psychosocial, biological and lifestyle factors are apart of individual influences.

Psychosocial factors like attitudes, beliefs, knowledge, self-efficacy, taste and food preferences, biological factors like hunger and life-style factors like cost, time demands and convenience are all considered individual factors that effect eating behaviors (2002). Social environmental influences include family and friends. Family not only provides the food but also shapes a child’s food attitude, preference, values and habits. As stated before, United States families have dramatically changed over the past thirty years.

Family structure is different, both parents are working, both children and parents are too busy for meals at home. Family meals no longer exist and parents can not control what their child is eating outside of the home. Friends influence adolescent behavior in all aspects. Adolescents seek out approval among their peers. There are however not many studies that have found a strong association between eating behaviors and peer influence (Story, Neumark-Sztainer & French, 2002). Another influence that effect adolescent-eating behavior is the physical environment (community setting).

One third of all eating done by adolescents is outside of the home. Children these days eat majority of their meals at school, fast food restaurants, from vending machines, and convenience stores. Macrosystem influence (Societal) is the last of the four influences. Factors within the larger society, which can affect adolescent eating behavior, include the media, cultural norms, social norms, food production and distribution systems, and food accessibility and availability. Adolescents are consumers. Marketers have now targeted adolescents specifically.

Adolescents spend about 140 billion dollars a year, 94 billion is money they have earned themselves. Boys spend $59. 00 a week and girls spend $53. 00 a week and 15% of the money spent is on fast foods and snacks. Adolescents also influence their parents spending. It is estimated that adolescents spent 47 billion of family money and 19. 6 billion in grocery money spent was influenced by adolescent’s preferences. Marketers see adolescents as future adult spenders and really work to maintain brand loyalty (Story, Neumark-Sztainer & French, 2002). Clearly there are a multiple influences on adolescent eating behavior.

An understanding of how the four levels of influence interact and affect adolescent eating behaviors is needed for the development of effective nutrition interventions. Interventions addressing factors at the different levels of influence are needed to improve eating behaviors of youth. This is a challenge that will require multifaceted, community wide efforts. Through community outreach, advocacy work, partnerships with food/restaurant industries, media groups, government programs, and school districts efforts can be made to positively influence adolescent eating behavior.

Knowing the all the influences adolescents have today, where does a dietitian begin when addressing eating behaviors of adolescents and their nutritional status? An article written by Jamie Stang, PhD, MPH, RD discusses the assessment of nutritional status and motivation to make behavior changes among adolescents. Nutritional screening, establishing a relationship, setting an agenda, assessment of growth and development, assessment of dietary intake and physical activity, in-depth dietary assessment and assessing motivation to make behavior changes are all aspects a comprehensive, effective counseling session with a child (2002).

A nutritional screen should be completed on the initial visit and should involve a complete nutritional profile of the adolescent. A review of available medical, laboratory, psychosocial, and socioeconomic assessments should be completed and provide relevant information on physiological, psychological, and economic factors that may influence nutrient needs and dietary adequacy among the adolescent population. Second a relationship needs to be established. Stang recommends that the counselor introduces his/her self and explains why they are meeting. Open-ended questions should be used giving the adolescent adequate time to respond.

Also working to normalize the adolescent’s feelings of apprehension aids in opening the lines of communication. The third step is to set an agenda. Discuss with the adolescent how long they will be talking and what they will be discussing during the session. Also asking the adolescent what they expect from the session is beneficial and letting them know that they can address any topic discussed at any point during the session is important. Stang suggests that the agenda is mutually agreed upon and permission is granted to proceed. The fourth step involves obtaining an accurate assessment of growth and development.

Looking at the client’s height and weight at every session is very important there is a rapid rate of growth and development during this period of time. Initial assessment of dietary intake and physical activity is the fifth step. Physical activity should be briefly discussed to determine whether or not further counseling is appropriate on exercise. Asking questions like, “How many days of the week do you participate in light exercise such as walking, and rigorous exercise such as a competitive sport? ” will provide the counselor with the adolescent level of physical activity.

Also inquiring about the amount of time the client watches television or spends on the internet is good information for the counselor. This information can be used during educational and counseling sessions for goal setting and determining behavior changes. The initial dietary assessment involves gathering a large amount of data to determine eating patterns and to identify nutrition risk indicators. Stang lists many questions that can be used to characterize usual eating patterns of adolescents and to determine the presence of nutrition risk indicators.

Here is a list of a few: Number of meals and snacks eaten n weekdays and weekends Location where meals and snacks are eaten Determine the kind of meals eaten at school, a la carte or program meals The number of family meal times, whether the adolescent eats alone or with peers Food preferences Determine the adolescent’s ability to purchase and prepare food Note the number of servings of fruits and vegetables consumed in a week Determine ethnic or religious food preferences, food allergies or intolerances

Bullets listed above are just a few questions that can be asked in order to obtain information about an adolescent’s eating behaviors. Brief, informal, dietary assessment questionnaires that target specific behaviors can also be useful for an initial nutrition screening. These can be done quickly to determine whether an adolescent needs further nutritional counseling or to determine the need to address certain food components such as fat, sodium or calcium (2002). An in-depth nutritional assessment is completed on adolescents with a nutritional related health risk.

It should involve a full medical history review, psychosocial development and evaluation of laboratory data. A detailed dietary assessment is also obtained and has four main components – 24 hour recall (A1), food frequency questionnaire (A2), food record (A3) and diet history (A4). Also Stang provides a helpful table that lists the strengths, limitations and applications of the four main components of a detailed dietary assessment. After obtaining the adolescent’s diet history with one of the four components, the data should be analyzed with a nutrient analysis program.

The results should be compared with the recommended dietary intakes of the adolescent and Stang suggests allowing the client to view the results of his/her diet with the recommended dietary intakes to see how they compare. His gives adolescents’ empowerment builds rapport between client and counselor and increases the likelihood that they will be motivated to make dietary changes (2002). Once the counseling session has begun with an adolescent it is important to evaluate the motivation to make behavior changes.

The adolescent at this point has already compared his/her diet with the recommendations and has identified what areas they need to improve. At this time the adolescent should prioritize one or two areas they are willing to work on. Once that is decided upon the counselor must make suggestions as to how the adolescent can achieve the goal. For example if the adolescent is overweight recommendations can be made on ways to lose weight such as increasing physical activity, decreasing portion sizes, making healthier food choices. The adolescent should be asked what changes would work for them and focus in on one change.

This way the client is making the decisions and is not being told what to do. Also with the client choosing it shows that they want to change and is willing to work on one goal. Stang suggests that the adolescent rates his/her motivation to make the behavioral change on a scale of 0-10, 0 meaning not willing to change and 10 meaning very willing to change. The counselor should than ask why he/she choose that number and not a higher number. The adolescent is than given the opportunity to voice some potential barriers to change.

This should be discussed for every behavior change the adolescent decides to work on. An intervention such as nutrition counseling and education can be tailored to the level of change the adolescent is comfortable with (2002). Fit Family Fit Kids is a joint initiative of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Gruner & Jahr USA Publishing. Their goal is to help raise awareness and provide long term strategies to help parents of kids ages 9-13 in their efforts to improve their family’s physical activity and nutrition habits (xxxxxxx, ).

Every month in Fitness magazine has an update on the current family in. In the March issue of Fitness magazine the Schall family was featured in their six and last month. Donna and Roth Schall agreed in October 2004 to change their sedentary ways and increase their physical activity. Their ultimate goal was 60 minutes a day for Roth (teen-age son) and 30 minutes a day for Donna (busy single mom). The Schall’s motivation to make behavior changes is clear. Both mother and child agreed to be followed by Fitness magazine and have their stories told to millions of readers.

Keri Kulik, an exercise physiologist, who helped the Schall’s with monthly strategies to meet their goals, followed them for the next 6 months. Each month Keri gave the Schall family key strategies for success. Strategies started small like walking two nights a week together, watching less television and decreasing soda intake. By month 3 the family was including more sports like cycling, tennis and baseball in their routine also they have started circuit weight training together and have been drinking more water. By month six the Schall’s have consistently included exercise in their daily life and love it.

They had one goal as a family and that was to increase physical activity, now the Schall’s are interested in working on their diet. They had made a consistent effort to eat a healthy breakfast every morning and include more healthy meals and snacks in their day. As Keri stated, “they now see the big picture and are motivated to continue their healthy lifestyle. ” Fit Family Fit Kids has shown how making small behavior changes in one families life can make big changes in both parent’s and children’s health (Fitness, 2005).

Teenage years are the hardest times. Your having changes in your body, going through relationships, and trying to plan your future. When you go to look for answers, it seems like no one has them. Thats what starts teenagers to feel alone. When they feel this way they will try to medicate themselves by drugs and alcohol or violence. Studies show that teens who feel this way are Suicide, intentional, self-inflicted death. A uniquely human act, suicide occurs in all cultures. People who attempt or complete suicide usually suffer from extreme emotional pain and distress nd feel unable to cope with their problems.

They are likely to suffer from mental illness, particularly severe depression, and to Suicide is becoming a public-health problem. It is now the leading cause of death worldwide. Researchers believe mental illness in young people are the cause of the increase in suicide. Not only do suicides rates differ between age groups but also men and women. Men succeed in more suicides but more women attempt. Methods of suicide can differ from drug overdose to hanging. Poisoning or overdose is the least amount of suicide ates.

Hanging is the leading method worldwide. The United States has 60 percent suicides committed by guns. Where it is less easy to get a gun in Canada there is only 30 percent committed suicides. Only 15 to 25 percent of those who kill themselves leave suicide notes. People often think suicide is caused by difficult situations such as failure in school or marriage. Experts believe those are just triggers and its really caused by the brain, genetics or social forces. The majority of people who kill themselves are suffering from depression.

Researchers believe that genetics play a role in suicidal behavior. They believe it runs in the family. There are also some psychological theories. Suicides have three interrelated and unconscious dimensions: revenge/hate, depression/hopelessness, and guilt. said Karl Menninger. Many suicide attempts are a cry for help and to try to get attention. Soem socialogical theories show suicidal people dont know how to cope with stress well. They are also probably suffering from a loss of a family member. There are ways to help prevent suicide.

If recongized early you can get psychiatric help and get on medication. Some risk factors can be people with mental illnesses, or substance-abuse disorders. Hopelessness is shown to be the best predictor. Behavioral disorders also have a higher risk of suicide. These people complete about 90 percent of suicides. People with this may see suicide as the only way to a pained existence. Many people feel uneasy talking about suicide, especially surviving family members and friends. Most suicides can be prevented because the suicidal state

Suicide has a devasting emotional impact on surviving family members and friends. THe intentional, sudden, and violent nature of the persons death often makes others feel abandoned, helpless, and rejected. A family member or friend may have the added burden of discovering the body of the suicide victim. Parents often suffer exaggerated feelings of shame and guilt. Because of the socail stigma, or shame, surrounding suicide, survivors may avoid talking to others about the person who died, and others may avoid the survivors.

Despite these extra problems, research has shown that suicide survivors go through the same grieving process as other people who have lost someone. They will eventually recover from grief. Support groups may be helpful for There is a myth that suicide should not be a topic of conversation around depresed people because they would put this idea in their head. Suicide was once a crime. Now no U. S. state considers a suicide a crime. Helping someone complete suicide is criminally punishable in several states.

Teenage depression is a growing problem in today’s society and is often a major contributing factor for a multitude of adolescent problems. The statistics about teenage runaways, alcoholism, drug problems, pregnancy, eating disorders, and suicide are alarming. Even more startling are the individual stories behind these statistics because the young people involved come from all communities, all economic levels, all home situations-anyone’s family. The common link is often depression. For the individuals experiencing this crisis, the statistics become relatively meaningless.

The difficult passage into adolescence and early dulthood can leave lasting scars on the lives and psyches of an entire generation of young men and women. There is growing realization that teenage depression can be life- changing, even life-threatening. (McCoy 21) Depression is a murky pool of feelings and actions scientists have been trying to understand since the days of Hippocrates, who called it a “black bile. ” It has been called “the common cold of mental illness and, like the cold, it’s difficult to quantify. ” (Arbetter 1) If feelings of great sadness or agitation last for much more than two weeks, it may be depression.

For a long time, people who were feeling depressed ere told to “snap out of it. ” According to a study done by National Institute of Mental Health, half of all Americans still view depression as a personal weakness or character flaw. Depression, however, is considered a medical disorder and can affect thoughts, feelings, physical health, and behaviors. It interferes with daily life such as school, friends, and family. “Clinical depression is the most incapacitating of all chronic conditions in terms of social functioning. ” (Salmans 11-12) Teenagers have always been vulnerable to depression for a variety of reasons.

It’s a confusing time f life because a teen’s body is changing along with their relationships. “Teenagers constantly vacillate between strivings for independence from family and regressions to childish dependence on it. ” (Elkind 89) But today’s teens face an additional challenge: They’re growing up in a world quite different from that of their parent’s youth. Adolescents today are faced with stresses that were unknown to previous generations and are dealing with them in an often self-destructive way. Contemporary society has changed the perception of teenagers.

New parental lifestyles, combined with changes in the economy, often give less ime and energy for parents to devote to their offspring. Society all too often views teens for what they can be instead of for who they are. Who they are becomes the identity of teenagers today. “They are confronted with the ambiguity of education, the dis! solution of family, the hostile commercialism of society, and the insecurity of relationships. ” (McCoy 16) This identity is fragile and is threatened by fears of rejection, feelings of failure, and of being different.

These young people face stress in school as well with resources dwindling and campus violence and harassment increasing. Their sexual awakening comes in the age of AIDS, when sex can kill. In summary, teens today feel less safe, less empowered and less hopeful than we did a generation ago. Depression is a common concomitant to this struggle. (McCoy 36) It strikes 5% of teens and about 2% of children under 12. One in three adolescents in the nineties is at risk for serious depression. (Stern 28) Depression is the result of a complex mix of social, psychological, physical, and environmental factors.

Teens with depressed parents are two to three times more likely to develop major depression. Genetic factors play a substantial but not overwhelming role in causing depression. (Dowling 37) Some type of significant loss can be a factor in triggering teenage depression. Loss can be due to death, divorce, separation, or loss of a family member, important friend or romantic interest. Loss can also be more subtle such as the loss of childhood, of a familiar way of being, of goals through achievement, or of boundaries and guidelines. McCoy 46-48)

Gender differences are becoming apparent, with girls having more difficulty with depression. Studies show girls are three times more likely than boys to suffer depression. A university study showed a close link between depression and negative body image and girls are usually more self-conscious about their bodies than boys. (Sol! in 157) The reasons for depression are not always clear-cut. Although some depressed, even suicidal teenagers come from extremely troubled backgrounds with a lifetime of difficulties at home and at school, the vast majority of depressed teens are not without resources, support, or love.

They simply find, for a variety of reasons, that they’re feeling overwhelmed by a sensation of hopelessness and helplessness. It is mperative to realize that depression can happen to teenagers, even those who have everything going for them. It can happen to the best and brightest of young people. (McCoy 27) It’s hard to detect depression in teens because it’s a developmental stage characterized by considerable anger and withdrawal. Adolescents don’t necessarily look sad and depressed and its normal for teens to have mood swings but within limits.

A depressed teen may cry for help indirectly through troublesome, even destructive behavior and through physical symptoms. For a teenager to admit that he or she needs help feels like regressing back to childhood. To be a teen means to externalize feelings and deal with the world through action. (Arbetter 6) Depression ranks second only to advanced heart disease in exacting a physical toll, measured by days in bed and body pain. It’s common for people with depressive disorders to complain about recurring headaches, backaches, chronic fatigue, and insomnia.

Being sick can be a binding thing that keeps the teenager tied to parents, if the illness is the only time the teen receives attention and love from their parents. (Dowling 127) The body may signal what the mind is saying through physical symptoms. The body expresses feelings and conflicts that the teenager is unable to verbalize. Physical ills are often viewed with more importance than emotional pain by parents, teachers, or even the teens themselves. (Papolos 36) “It’s much easier for adolescents to ask for medical care than for psychological help.

They often have a great fear of being crazy or of being thought to be crazy. ” (McCoy 209) Another serious medical problem that is affecting more and more teens is an eating disor! der. An eating disorder often represents a teenager’s attempt to gain some control by engaging in a ehavior which can not be regulated by another person. One-third to one-half of patients with eating disorders have a major depressive illness at the same time. (Papolos 72) More than one million teens, most under the age of sixteen, run away from home every year.

They are neither adventurous nor rebellious adolescents, but teens tested and troubled by life’s circumstances. A young girl at a shelter for teenage runaways tries to explain why she has run away from home four times in the past two months. Drawing her blanket around her like a cocoon, the fourteen-year – old quietly stares at the floor. I’m no good to anyone, I get upset and fuss at home and it causes trouble for everyone. I had to run away to save my parent’s marriage. ” Unfortunately, this story is not at all unusual. (McCoy 22) Of the 1. million teen runaways in the United States, an estimated 300,000 have little hope or chance of returning home.

They often feel things are hopeless and that their parents would never understand. Drug use is on the rise among teens as young as thirteen. According to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, about 4% of high school seniors use alcohol daily, while 92% have ried it. Millions of teens have had adverse experiences caused by excessive drinking. (Elkind 203) Researchers have found that depressed teens are at particularly high risk for drug and alcohol abuse.

Abuse of drugs, alcohol, or other substances are often used to assuage depression. Studies have found that when depressed patients were given treatment, alcohol and drug intake diminished as well. Substance abuse is seen as both a symptom and a cause of depression. (Papolos 66) There is more sexual activity among teenagers today than at any other time in our history. By the ime they leave high school, some 90% of seniors are no longer virgins. Sexually transmitted diseases among teenagers have reached epidemic proportions. Eight million young people each year are infected with a sexually transmitted disease.

Every thirty seconds, another U. S. teenager is infected. (Elkind 71) Sexual acting-out , which can not only be life-changing, but also life-threatening in this age of AIDS, can become an antidote to the loneliness and isolation many teenagers feel. Sexual activity is often used as an attempt to deal with feelings of depression, to increase self-esteem by feeling wanted and to achieve ntimacy. (McCoy 21) Approximately 3,000 teenage girls in the United States will get pregnant today. An estimated 3 million teenage girls become pregnant each year.

Beth is a shy, quiet eighth-grader who is expecting a baby in two months. Beth admits her pregnancy was intentional and she plans to keep her baby “because then I’ll have someone of my own who will love me for sure. I won’t be alone anymore. ” ” This illusion of unconditional love, coupled with a lack of insight into the unrelenting demands that the complete dependence of an infant brings leads a number of girls to seek pregnancy. Some teens see parenthood as a way to recapture the joy of childhood they are losing, a way to be loved and important to someone else, or as an antidote to depression. McCoy 81-82) “Suicide among teenagers has skyrocketed 200% in the last decade. If we were talking about mononucleosis or meningitis we’d call this an epidemic. ” (Solin 155)

Suicide has become the second leading cause of death among older teenagers. Adolescents are particularly at risk for suicide attempts because they progress through a variety of rapid developmental stages. The seriously depressed teen may often have a sense of hopelessness. Many teens are too immobilized by depression to see any alternatives or to take any positive steps toward change. Salmans 40) ”

All too often depressed teenagers don’t have the experience to know that time heals, that there is always hope. They don’t realize that they can survive a crisis and perhaps even learn from it. ” Life is often seen in absolutes which intensifies any crisis. (McCoy 64) The destructive potential of serious teenage depression can have many long-lasting aftereffects. Having and keeping a baby, getting into trouble with the law, sustaining a serious injury as the result of isk-taking behavior or stunting one’s emotional growth by anesthetizing painful feelings with drugs or alcohol can have a great impact on one’s future.

It can prevent a young adult from having a full, healthy, and productive life or make it considerably more difficult to do so. Depression is a growing problem amongst today’s teenagers. Depression brings with it many problems that can be self-destructive. If a teenager has the benefit of early intervention and help in coping with his or her depression, however, the life script can be quite different. (McCoy 66-67)

Marijuana (also spelled marihuana) is a psychoactive drug made from the dried leaves and flowering parts of the hemp plant. It is one of the most strictly classified illegal drugs in the United States. Under the 1970 Controlled Substances Act, marijuana is listed as a Schedule I substance, which defines it as having “a high potential for abuse” and “no currently accepted medical use. ” Marijuana is therefore classified more severely than cocaine and morphine, which as Schedule II drugs are also banned for general use, but can be prescribed by doctors.

It is illegal to buy, sell, grow, or possess marijuana in the United States. Marijuana prohibition comprises a large part of the federal governments War on Drugs. Law enforcement officials made 600,000 marijuana-related arrests in 1996, and 800,000 in 1998-four out of five arrests being for possession alone. Under federal and state laws, many of which were strengthened in the 1980’s, people convicted of marijuana offenses face penalties ranging from probation to life imprisonment, plus fines and forfeiture of property.

In addition to criminal justice efforts, the federal government, state government, and local communities spend hundreds of millions of dollars annually on prevention programs such as Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE), in which local police officers visit schools to teach young people to refrain from trying marijuana and other drugs. However, public controversy has been growing over the two assumptions-high abuse potential and no legitimate medical use-that underlie marijuana’s status as a Schedule I drug.

In turn, disputes over the abuse and medical potential have shaped differences of opinion over public policy. Many of those who question one or both of these assumptions about marijuana have advocated a full or partial relaxation of the governments blanket prohibition of the drug, while those who accept these assumptions generally are opposed to any full or partial legalization of marijuana. Supporters of marijuana’s continued prohibition argue that the drug is easily abused and can lead to numerous physical and psychological harms.

Short-term health effects-according to the NIDA (National Institute of Drug Abuse)-of the drug listed in this paper include memory loss, distorted perception, problems with learning and coordination, an increased heart rate, and anxiety attacks. Long-term effects according to NIDA-include increased risk of lung cancer for chronic marijuana smokers and possible damage to the immune and reproductive systems. In addition, marijuana opponents argue that many users attain a psychological dependence on the “high” that marijuana can create.

Such dependence can result in stunned emotional and social maturity as these users lose interest in school, job, and social activities. About 100,000 people each year resort to drug abuse treatment programs to end their marijuana addiction. Marijuana is also viewed by some commentators as a “gateway” drug that can lead to the abuse of other dangerous and illegal substances, including cocaine and heroinOn the other hand, critics of U. S marijuana policy argue that the dangers of marijuana have been exaggerated.

They contend that many, not most, users of marijuana suffer no lasting harm, do not move onto other drugs, ad do not become addicts. Some surveys on marijuana use in America have shown that nine out of ten people who have tried marijuana have since quit. Researchers working with rats have found that marijuana is a far less addictive substance for the animals than cocaine or heroin Pro-Legalization activist R. Keith Stroup summed up the views of many who oppose marijuana prohibition when he asserted before a committee that “moderate marijuana use is relatively harmless-far less harmless than that of either tobacco or alcohol. Whether or not marijuana, as a Schedule I drug, truly has “no currently accepted medical use” is also a matter of public controversy. In November 1996, voters in two states, California and Arizona, passed referenda that legalized marijuana for medical use (these developments and the actions of other states have no impact on marijuana’s status as an illegal Schedule I drug). Supporters of the California and Arizona initiatives maintain that marijuana is effective in alleviating the symptoms of medical conditions such as AIDS, glaucoma, and multiple sclerosis.

Anecdotal evidence of marijuana’s efficacy, advocates claim, comes from AIDS patients who have used marijuana to restore a appetite and cancer patients who have smoked it to combat nausea caused by chemotherapy treatments-often as a last resort when legally prescribed medicines failed. Those who contend that marijuana has useful medical purposes call for the government to at least reclassify the drug as a Schedule II substance that can be prescribed by doctors.

As stated by Lester Grinspoon, a Harvard University psychiatrist, marijuana’s continued prohibition as a Schedule I substance “is medically absurd, legally questionable, and morally wrong. ” The California and Arizona referenda legalizing medical marijuana were strongly opposed by prominent federal government officials, including the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Barry McCaffrey, who criticized the measures as being “dishonest” and asserted that marijuana “is neither safe or effective” as medicine.

Opponents argue that the very concept of medical marijuana is absurd because it is not, like most modern medicines, a synthesized chemical whose composition can be precisely manufactured and controlled. Instead, it is taken from a plant and consists of four hundred chemicals whose exact composition varies with each “dose”. Furthermore, they assert, marijuana’s claimed medical effectiveness by clinical trials. Marijuana’s psychoactive properties may make people feel better, contends Robert L. Peterson, a former Michigan drug enforcement official, but that “does not make a drug a medicine. Marijuana opponents maintain that better legal medical alternatives to marijuana exist-including Marinol, a pill available by a physicians prescription that contains THC, the main active ingredient in marijuana. An additional concern voiced by many is that legalizing marijuana for medical purposes would send the wrong message to America’s youth.

“At a time when our nation is looking for solutions to the problem of teenage drug use,” asks Thomas A. Constantine, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, “how can we justify giving a stamp of approval to an illegal substance which has no legitimate medical use? Whether or not marijuana’s possible medical advantages outweigh its potential harm is a central question in current debates about this controversial drug. This paper presents various opinions and viewpoints of marijuana and its uses, as well as information on its history and genetic make-up. The marijuana, cannabis, or hemp plant is one of the oldest psychoactive plants known to mankind. There are three classifications or species of cannabis: Cannabis Sativa, Cannabis Indica, and Cannabis Ruderalis.

The fiber has been used for cloth and paper and was the most important source of rope until the development of synthetic fibers. The seeds have been used as bird feed and sometimes as human food. The oil contained in the seeds was once used for lighting and soap and is now sometimes employed in the manufacture of varnish, linoleum, and artists’ paints. The chemical compound responsible for the intoxicating and medicinal effects are found mainly in a sticky golden resin exuded from the flowers on the female plants.

The marijuana plant contains more than 460 known compounds of which more than 60 have the 21-carbon structure typical of cannabinoids. The only cannabinoid that is both highly psychoactive and present in large amounts, usually 1-5 % in weight, is (-)3,4-trans-delta-1-tetrahydrocannabinol, also know as delta-1-THC, delta-9-THC or simply THC. A few other tetrahydrocannabinols are about as potent as delta-9-THC but are present in only a few varieties of cannabis and in much smaller quantities. A native of central Asia, cannabis may have been cultivated as much as ten thousand years ago.

It was certainly cultivated in China by 4000 B. C. and in Turkestan by 3000 B. C. It has long since been used as a medicine in China, Southeast Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and India for malaria, constipation, rheumatic pins, “absent-mindedness”, and “female problems”, to quicken the mind, to induce sleep, dysentery and fevers. The medical use of cannabis was already in decline by 1890. The potency of cannabis preparations was to variant, and individual responses to orally ingested cannabis seemed erratic and unpredictable.

Another reason for the neglect of research oh the analgesic properties of cannabis was that the greatly increased use of opiates after the invention of the hypodermic syringe in the 1850’s allowed soluble drugs to be injected for fast relief of pain; hemp products are insoluble in water and cannot be administered so easily by injection. Toward the end of the twentieth century, the development of synthetic drugs such as aspirin, chloral hydrate, and barbiturates, which are chemically more stable than cannabis indica and therefore more reliable, hastened the decline of cannabis as a medicine.

But the new drugs had severe disadvantages. More than a thousand people died from aspirin-induced bleeding each year in the United States, and barbiturates are, of course, more dangerous. One may have expected physicians looking for a better analgesic to turn to cannabinoid substances, especially after 1940, when it became possible to study congeners (chemical relatives) of THC that might have more stable and specific effects. But the Marijuana Tax Law of 1937 undermined any such experimentation.

This law was the culmination of a campaign organized by the Federal Bureau of Narcotics under Harry Anslinger in which the public was led to believe that marijuana was addictive and its use led to violent crimes, psychosis, and mental deterioration. The film Reefer Madness, made as a part of Anslinger’s campaign, may be a joke to the sophisticated today, but it was once regarded as a serious attempt to address a social problem, and the atmosphere and attitudes it exemplified and promoted continue to influence our culture today.

Under the Marijuana Tax Law Act, anyone using the hemp plant for certain defined industrial or medical use was required to register and pay a tax of a dollar an ounce. A person using marijuana for any other purpose had to pay $100 an ounce. The law was not directly aimed at medicinal use of marijuana; it was aimed at the recreational use of marijuana. By the 1960’s, as larger numbers of people began to use marijuana recreationally, anecdotes about its medical use began to appear, generally not in medical literature, but in the form of letters to popular magazines like Playboy.

Meanwhile, legislative concern about recreational use increased, and in 1970 Congress passed the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act (also known as the Controlled Substances Act), which assigned psychoactive drugs to five Schedules and placed cannabis in Schedule I, the most restrictive. NORML petitioned this placement in 1972, asking that it be moved to Schedule II, therefore enabling it to be prescribed by physicians.

Congress compromised 13 years later by placing synthetic delta-9-THC (dronabinol) as a Schedule II drug in 1985, but kept marijuana itself-and the THC derived from marijuana-in Schedule I. “Marijuana can be harmful when abused, and its use by minors should be discouraged. However, when used in moderation and responsibly, marijuana is far less harmful than tobacco or alcohol. It’s continued criminal prohibition by the government is a wasteful and destructive social policy that results in the needless arrests of thousands of otherwise law-abiding citizens.

Marijuana should be legalized or decriminalized. At the very least, it should be made available by medical prescription for patients who need it to alleviate suffering. ” -R. Keith Stroup, founder of NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) Since 1970, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws has been a voice for Americans who believe it is both counter-productive and unjust to treat marijuana smokers as criminals. “We do not suggest that marijuana is totally harmless or that it cannot be abused.

That is true for all drugs, including those which are legal. We do not believe that moderate marijuana use is relatively harmless-far less harmful to the user than either tobacco or alcohol, for example-and that any risk presented by marijuana smoking falls well within the ambit of choice we permit the individual in a free society. Today, far more harm is caused by marijuana prohibition than by marihuana itself. It’s time we put to rest the myth that smoking marijuana is a fringe or deviant activity, engaged in only by those on the margins of American society.

In reality, marijuana smoking is extremely common, and marijuana is the recreational drug of choice for millions of mainstream, middle-class Americans. According to the NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse) data, between 65 and 71 million Americans have smoked marijuana at some point in their lives, and 10 million are current smokers (have smoked as at least once in the last month. ) In fact, NIDA found that 61% of all illicit drug users report that marijuana is the only drug they have ever tried; this figure is raised to 80% if hashish is included (a marijuana derivative. )

At NORML, we believe that marijuana smokers, like those who drink alcohol, have a responsibility to behave appropriately and to assure that their recreational drug is conducted in a responsible manner. Neither marijuana nor alcohol consumption is ever an excuse for misconduct of any kind, and both smokers and drinkers must be held to the same standard as all Americans. NORML Board of Directors in February 1996 issued the following statement that defines how any responsible marijuana smoker should act: ? I. ADULTS ONLY Cannabis consumption is for adults only. It is irresponsible to provide cannabis to children II. NO DRIVING The responsible cannabis user does not operate a motor vehicle or other dangerous machinery impaired by cannabis, nor (like other responsible citizens) impaired by any other substance or condition, including some medicines and fatigue. ? III. SET AND SETTING The responsible cannabis user will carefully consider his/her set and setting, regulating use accordingly. ? IV. RESIST ABUSE Use of cannabis, to the extent that it impairs health, personal development or achievement, is abuse, to be resisted by responsible cannabis users. ? V. RESPECT RIGHTS OF OTHERS

The responsible cannabis user does not violate the rights of others, observes accepted standards of courtesy and public property, and respects preferences of those who wish to avoids cannabis entirely. ” -Testimony of R. Keith Stroup on behalf of NORML before the Subcommittee on Crime of the Judiciary Committee, U. S. House of Representatives, on March 6, 1996 In November 1996, the people of California approved proposition 215, an initiative that could, in effect, make marijuana legally available as a medicine in the United States for the first time in many years.

Under this new law, patients or their primary caregivers that possess or cultivate marijuana for medical treatment recommended by a physician are exempted from criminal prosecution. The treatment may be for “cancer, anorexia, AIDS, chronic pain, spasticity, glaucoma, arthritis, migraine, or any other illness for which marijuana provides relief. ” Physicians may not be penalized in any way for recommendation, which may be either written or oral.

The passage of this law is only the beginning of a trend that presents new challenges for physicians, who will be asked to assume responsibilities for which many have not prepared themselves. As more and more patients approach them with questions about marijuana, they will have to provide answers and make recommendations. That means they must not only listen more carefully to their patients but also educate themselves and one another. They will have to learn which symptoms and disorders may be treated better with marijuana than with conventional medications, and they may need to explain how to use marijuana.

Cannabis is a strikingly safe, versatile and potentially inexpensive medicine. When reviewing its medical uses in 1993 after examining many patients and case histories, the following are those diseases, disorders, and pains that were immensely helped by marijuana: nausea and vomiting in cancer chemotherapy, the weight loss syndrome of AIDS, glaucoma, epilepsy, muscle spasms and chronic pain in multiple sclerosis, quadriplegia, and other spastic disorders, migraine, severe pruritus, depression, and other mood disorders.

Since then, a dozen more have been identified, including asthma, insomnia, dystonia, scleroderma, Crohn’s disease, diabetic gastroparesis, and terminal illness. For example, cannabis has also been found useful in the treatment of osteoarthritis. Aspirin is believed to have caused more than 1,000 deaths annually in the United States. More than 7,600 annual deaths and 70,000 hospitalizations caused by non-steriodal ant-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are reported. Gastrointestinal complications of NSAIDs are the most commonly reported serious adverse drug reaction.

Long term acetaminophen use is thought to be one of the most common causes of end-stage renal disease. Cannabis smoked several times a day is often as effective as NSAIDs or acetaminophens in osteoarthritis, and there have been no reports of death from cannabis. It is often objected that the evidence of marijuana’s medical usefulness, although powerful, is merely anecdotal. It is true that there are no studies meeting the standards of the Food and Drug Administration, chiefly because legal, bureaucratic, and financial obstacles are constantly put in the way.

The situation is ironical, since so much research has been done on marijuana, often in unsuccessful efforts to show health hazards and addictive potential, that we know more about it than about most prescription drugs. In any case, controlled studies can be misleading if the wrong patients are studies or the wrong doses are used, and idiosyncratic therapeutic responses can be obscured in group experiments. The chief legitimate concern is the effect of smoking on the lungs. Many physicians find it difficult to endorse a smoked medicine.

Although cannabis smoke carries even more tabs and other particulate matter than tobacco smoke, the amount needed by most patients is extremely limited. Furthermore, when marijuana is an openly recognized medicine, solutions for this problem may be found, perhaps by the development of a technique for inhaling cannabinoid vapors. Even today, the greatest danger of using marijuana is not impurities in the smoke, but illegality, which imposes much unnecessary anxiety and expense on suffering people.

A synthetic version of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, the main active substance in cannabis, has been available in oral form for limited purposes as a Schedule II drug since 1985. Both patients generally regard this medicine, dronabinol (Marinol), and physicians as less effective than smoked marijuana. A patient who is severely nauseated and constantly vomiting, for example, may find it almost impossible to keep a pill or capsule down. Oral THC is erratically and slowly absorbed into the bloodstream; the dose and duration of action of smoked marijuana are easier to titrate.

Furthermore, oral THC occasionally makes many patients anxious and uncomfortable, possibly because of cannabidiol, one of the many substances in marijuana, has an anxiolytic effect. Besides their direct responsibility to individual patients with respect to medical marijuana, physicians have another obligation that is social and ultimately political. Jerome P. Kaiser has identified it in his recent New England Journal of Medicine editorial entitled “Federal Foolishness and Marijuana. He describes the governments policies on medical marijuana as “hypocritical” and predicts that physicians who “have the courage to challenge the continued prescription of marijuana for the sick” will eventually force the government to reach some sort of accommodation. That important task will inevitably fall to the younger generation of doctors, including present and future medical students. “Marijuana’s claimed healing power with regards to glaucoma, cancer, and pain relief have not been proven by scientific studies. Because of its damaging effects to the brain and lungs, marijuana should be considered a health hazard, not a medicine.

The media should fully inform the public about the dangers of smoking marijuana. ” -Dr. Paul Leithbert, substance abuse specialist. There has been more extensive research on marijuana over the past 40 years than on any other substance. Cannabinoids from a single marijuana cigarette deposit in the fatty tissue of the body (brain, testes, ovaries, etc. ) and remain there for three to four weeks. Repeated use of the drug produces THC storage in these vital organs for months. By contrast, when alcohol is consumed it is metabolized in a few hours.

Contrary to the arguments of its advocates, marijuana is physically and psychologically addictive. Additionally, when a user stops he experiences withdrawal symptoms. Also, myriads of psychological symptoms develop as use becomes chronic. When a joint is inhaled, over 2,000 noxious chemicals invade the lungs. Users typically “toke”, holding the smoke in their lungs to enhance the absorption of THC. This produces more rapid lung damage than smoking tobacco. Marijuana and tobacco share the same chemical compounds (except for the cannabinoids), but somehow cigarettes are deemed the more deadly, while pot is touted as a medical necessity.

The high from pot has been described by its users as a euphoria, a pleasant, relaxed escape that causes one to become self-absorbed and to pay less attention to his surroundings. The anticipations of these sensations is the major reason for use. And with repeated use, one’s ability to think becomes dulled, concentration is more difficult, and pathological thinking develops. The ability to perform tasks-especially new ones-diminishes, the memory becomes impaired, the sense of time is altered, and an inertia or lack of motivation develops. In many users, an antimotivational syndrome sets in.

Chronic users often develop such problems as emotional instability, difficulty in absorbing and integrating new information, and decreased work performance. As the brain’s “pleasure center” becomes exhausted, users have difficulty in experiencing pleasure and often put forth less effort to socialize. Users go from a sense of suspiciousness to a full-blown paranoia-and, eventually, to total “burnout. ” In spite of the documented side effects associated with marijuana use, it has nonetheless been promoted as useful in the treatment of an amazing variety of ailments.

Unfortunately, the truth about marijuana’s effectiveness in treating physical maladies is completely overblown: ? Glaucoma. Proponents claim pot smoking lowers the pressure in the eyes of glaucoma patients. A small pressure drop does occur in some patients when marijuana is used two to four hours around the clock. This would mean, of course, that the user would be constantly stoned. In many users the pressure increases, however, and recent research indicates that marijuana users have a decreased circulation to the optic nerve-a serious problem.

Also, there have been medications available for years that are as effective as marijuana and that have minimal side effects. ? Cancer. Marijuana is advocated to fight nausea in patients receiving intensive chemotherapy. But it is really no better than the many safer anti-nauseates available. Also marijuana has been found to damage the immune-system, which is important in fighting cancer and other serious ailments like AIDS, infection, etc. ? Pain. Marijuana is not an analgesic. For example, users frequently have toothaches which are not relieved with their marijuana smoking; they require the standard pain killers.

Marijuana is not helpful in fighting other kinds of pain either. In short, all the “medical uses” for marijuana, including asthma, seizures, multiple sclerosis, muscle spasms, etc. , are really just excuses to get high. Some users may be under the delusion they are being helped, but marijuana users typically smoke for the THC while still taking the standard medications for their disease. Synthetic delta-9THC (Marinol) is available by prescription for some conditions and is effective. Marijuana users say they prefer the side effects from cannabis to the side effects of prescription drugs, however.

In essence, then, rather than being a medicine, marijuana is a health hazard. Who would call a drug “recreational” if they realized that chronic use caused permanent brain damage? Marijuana use is never cited by proponents as a factor in high school dropout and failure rates, as well as the increase in promiscuity and sexually transmitted diseases. Such is the case, however. Another area they ignore is the dramatic effect cannabis has on the ability for one to drive a car safely. Not only is the driver impaired in major ways while high, but for hours after the high wears off.

Why are these important facts not better understood by the public? For more than 35 years the media have suppressed information on cannabis. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) published an annual report on “Marijuana and Health” for many years-each issue cataloguing the increasing THC content of the weed and the dramatic research findings on damage to the users body. These reports have been ignored by the media, although all levels of media outlets were supplied with NIDA findings. In 1971 the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) was founded.

It soon became a highly organized and influential body. There are 80,000 members in many larger cities. NORML conducts seminars to train lawyers in defending users and pushers when they are arrested. The hearings in state houses across the country are highly choreographed by these lawyers. They often call in NORML’s national advisors-Lester Grinspoon, MD and Thomas Ungerleider, MD-for the hearings. For many years these two psychiatrists have been major activists in the marijuana war. Dr. Grinspoon declares that marijuana is a “wonderful medicine” and finds it useful for almost everyday malady.

Users who have major medical problems are featured witnesses at hearings. These patients declare that they would be dead except for their marijuana. The media (especially TV) featured these experts and patients, usually ignoring the testimony of legitimate medical experts. If marijuana is legalized there are billions of dollars to be made by the unscrupulous. Billionaire financier George Soros, who admits to having experimented with cannabis, gave a million dollars for the California and Arizona pro-pot initiatives. The FDA issues narcotic licenses to physicians.

Under license guidelines, Schedule I substances “ have no accepted medical use…and have a high abuse potential. ” Included in this category are heroin, marijuana, and LSD. Any physicians, however, can receive marijuana for use in legitimate medical research. But marijuana users want free access to the drug. For the more, the Psychotropic Convention Treaty of 1971 classifies marijuana as Schedule I drug. The U. S. is on of the 74 nations that have accepted the treaty. A fascinating article, “ The Return of Pot,” by Hannah Rueban, appeared in the February 17, 1997 issue if The New Republic.

A visit by Reuban to San Francisco’s Cannabis Cultivators Club demonstrated the total absurdity of state-sanctioned use of marijuana. Reuban stated, “ it’s as if the rotting of the late ‘60s San Francisco described by Joan Didion in Slouching Toward Bethlehem has been preserved in reverse; the characters are the same, but the center was holding. ” Reuban recounted the lives of the burnt out beings that frequent the clubs and made it obvious that “medical marijuana” is the red herring that NORML plotted.

The article should be must reading for state legislature facing the issue of legalizing “medical marijuana. ” The views shared by many critics of marijuana is: Using marijuana for illness would be like prescribing moldy bread (containing penicillin) for phenomena or suggesting cigarette smoking for weight loss. Prescribing marijuana for any medical condition is totally irresponsible. Some doctors do and are either nave about the damage marijuana causes or perhaps are users themselves.

During the past several years, there has been a renewed national concern about drug abuse, culminating in the current “war on drugs. ” In this review, we emphasize that even though child or teenage drug use is an individual behavior, it is embedded in a sociocultural context that strongly determines its character and manifestations. Our focus is on psychoactive substances both licit (cigarettes and alcohol) and illicit (e. g. , cannabis and cocaine).

We feel that it is critical to draw a distinction between use and abuse of drugs and to do so from a multidimensional perspective that includes aspects of the stimulus (drug), organism (individual), response, and consequences. Our selective review of substance use and abuse among children and adolescents covers epidemiology (patterns and extent of drug use), etiology (what generates substance use), prevention (how to limit drug use), treatment (interventions with drug users), and consequences (effects and outcomes of youthful drug use).

In this abbreviated review, we selectively examine the recent literature and current status of substance use and abuse among children and adolescents. Our focus is on psychoactive substances both licit and illicit, including cigarettes, alcohol, cannabis, cocaine, and other drugs. We examine the use and abuse of substances by children and teenagers from five perspectives: epidemiology, etiology, prevention, treatment, and consequences (see Rogers, 1987 , for additional overviews and references).

The United States is a drug culture. Drugs are used commonly and acceptably to wake up in the morning (coffee or tea), get through the stresses of the day (cigarettes), and relax in the evening (alcohol). The Marlboro Man and the Virginia Slims woman are widely seen models, and licit drugs are pushed to remedy all of the ills one may facestress, headaches, depression, physical illness, and so on. Children face a monumental task of sorting out the many images and messages regarding both licit and illicit drugs.

Adolescents are quite adept at spotting hypocrisy and may have difficulty understanding a policy of “saying no to drugs” when suggested by a society that clearly says “yes” to the smorgasbord of drugs that are legal as well as the range of illicit drugs that are widely available and used. A few words are in order on the distinction between use and abuse of drugs. This differentiation is critical to such diverse topics as societal justification for limiting access to drugs (whether By legal or other means) or for considering psychological intervention.

This distinction has been a difficult one to determine. Accepted definitions among professionals or citizens do not exist because abuse is clearly a multidimensional phenomenon. From our study of this literature (e. g. , Long & Scheli, 1984 ), negative reactions and other adverse consequences to self, others, or property form the backbone for defining abuse, although several distinct but related dimensions are also critical.

Taken together, these dimensions present a comprehensive appreciation of the difference between what constitutes benign use of a drug and what is clearly abuse and destructive use of a substance. The major relevant dimensions include the classic concepts of stimulus, organism, response, and consequences. Stimulus involves the nature of the drug and the context of its use ( Newcomb, 1988 ). All drug use occurs in environmental contexts, some of which are problematic, holding constant all other dimensions, while some are not so.

Ingestion of drugs in inappropriate settings such as the workplace, classroom, driver’s seat, or in isolation can be considered abuse, even though some potential consequences may not have occurred yet for an individual (e. g. , a crash after drinking and driving or being fired from a job). Different substances have different physiological and psychological effects, doseresponse curves, and potentials for negative consequences. For each substance, consuming large quantities or intermediate quantities over prolonged time periods is probably abuse, again because of the potential for harm.

Holding everything else constant, abuse depends on the organism. Not all individuals respond the same way to drugs; nor does the same individuals respond the same way at different times in the life course. Regular use of drugs at developmentally critical life periods such as when an individual is very young or has not yet reached puberty can be considered abuse because of the potential for interfering with crucial growth and adjustment tasks.

Ability to deal maturely with the challenge of drug use depends on personal resources, as well as physiological parameters that determine the response to drug ingestion. Unhealthy attitudes toward use, such as to flaunt independence, are signs of abuse. Inability to evaluate adequately the known potential consequences of use may indicate inadequate organismic resources to deal with use: For example, choosing to use drugs such as crack, phencyclidine (PCP), or strychnine, which are known to have a high probability of dependence, death, toxicity, or other adverse effects, is more than likely abuse.

Stronger response signs of abuse may involve drug dependence when associated with using increased amounts of the substance to achieve the same effect, needing it to get through the day, being unable to stop using it, craving it when not available, showing withdrawal symptoms, and experiencing negative consequences (as defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Third Edition-Revised) , American Psychiatric Association, 1987 ).

Finally, adverse or negative consequences of use on self, others, or property, such as having deleterious health sequelae, impaired relationships, getting arrested, causing an accident, blacking out, or starting fights, indicate that use has progressed to abuse, whether or not physical dependence is involved. With this multidimensional perspective for distinguishing use from abuse, some general descriptions can be applied to children and teenagers. Any regular use of a psychoactive drug by a child can be considered abuse.

This is true regardless of the context, substance, quantity, maturity, reaction, or obvious consequences involved. It is difficult to imagine any type of child drug use that is not abuse, except for, in our society, the occasional, irregular, and low-quantity sampling of alcohol in a positive social context. This type of guided experimentation is probably quite prevalent (e. g. , taking a sip of mother’s beer). For adolescents, however, the distinction becomes more complicated. Occasional use of beer, wine, or marijuana at a party is not abuse.

However, overindulgence of any substance to the point of being very high or stoned is at least acute or temporary abuse, and if it continues this is chronic abuse. Getting into trouble at school, having problems with the police, causing an accident, or starting a fight while high is consequential evidence for abuse. Getting loaded in the classroom or at work is a circumstantial event indicating abuse. Donovan and Jessor (1985) have combined some of these dimensions to define a problem-drinking teenager as one who engages in heavy drinking on a regular basis, resulting in negative outcomes.

Our perspective on use and abuse questions the generally accepted emphasis on illicit drugs as an especially important focus for professional and citizen attention. Within the past several years, there has been renewed national interest and commitment toward dealing with drug problems. It is difficult to determine what has caused this most recent concern, but such national attention is not new. There is a cyclical process to society’s willingness to face drug problems.

For example, there were the cocaine patent medicines of the early 1900s, the brave attempt at prohibition, reefer madness of the 1930s, the drug cultures of the 1960s, the heroin war of the 1970s, and now the current concern about people getting high on cocaine and killing themselves with crack. It is interesting that aside from the lethal toxicity of certain drugs such as crack, relatively little attention has been given to the two drugs with the most proven record of abuse in terms of the population affected and the magnitude of the consequences; these are, of course, alcohol and cigarettes.

Although efforts are made, in schools, for example, to provide a balanced picture, youngsters too often are provided with the mixed message that marijuana and cocaine are bad, destructive, and will rot their brains while seeing media idols holding a drink in one hand and a cigarette in the other. Perhaps this is one explanation of why so many prevention efforts have failed. Substance use and abuse during adolescence are strongly associated with other problem behaviors such as delinquency, precocious sexual behavior, deviant attitudes, or school dropout.

Any focus on drug use or abuse to the exclusion of such correlates, whether antecedent, contemporaneous, or consequent, distorts the phenomenon by focusing on only one aspect or component of a general pattern or syndrome. Epidemiology Despite occasional dramatic case reports of involvement with drugs by grade school children, the prevalence and incidence of a significant amount of drug use in the first decade of life have not been reliably documented. Systematic research on adolescent abuse is almost as rare, no doubt because of the relatively low prevalence of the phenomenon.

Because of availability, experimental use of tobacco products has the widest prevalence during preadolescence. A substantial portion of children at least experiment with puffing cigarettes by age nine, and in a new and disturbing trend, a small but significant portion (13% of third-grade boys in one Oklahoma survey) use smokeless tobacco. A child’s first drink lags somewhat, occurring typically around age 12 for boys and a bit later for girls. Although age data are difficult to obtain, inhalants may have been used by this age, remarkable primarily as a first consciousness-altering substance used by children.

Only regarding early adolescence are reliable U. S. national prevalence figures available through surveys sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The triannual National Household Survey of Drug Abuse permits estimates to be made for 12- to 17-year-olds, and the annual Monitoring the Future survey of high school seniors provides estimates for the approximately 8085% of students who are in school (such estimates are attenuated because of the higher rates of use among dropouts).

Both surveys provide data on lifetime, annual, and monthly prevalence of a wide variety of drugs, and the high school senior survey also provides data on daily use that may provide suggestions on drug abuse. Prevalence figures from the 1985 National Household Survey ( NIDA, 1987 ) show that smoking (45%) and drinking (56%) are the most prevalent activities in the early adolescent age group.

However, nearly 30% had tried at least one illicit drug or controlled substance without medical orders during their lives. The primary drug in this category was marijuana (used by 24% of the teenagers). In contrast, use of any one drug other than alcohol, cigarettes, or marijuana was low. For example, inhalants (9%), analgesics (6%), and stimulants (6%), were more prevalent than cocaine (5%), the current national drug of concern. Any use of heroin by this age group was too low to be presented

Teen Violence is a big dilemma in todays society. Violent behaviors usually start from family and peers, as well as teens observing it at there neighborhoods or communities. These behaviors are reinforced by what youth see on television, on the Internet, in video games, movies, music videos, and what they hear in their music. When children are disciplined with severe corporal punishment or verbal abuse, or when they are physically or sexually abused, or when they witness such behavior in their home, it is not surprising that they behave violently toward others.

Teen Violence has had such an impact in our youth today that it leads many destructive things and thats why we have so much violence today. Violence hits hard on teens today and they become very depressed which leads them to drugs and alcohol. When they are under the influence they then can do things that are much worst such as bringing a gun or knife to school or even being in a gang which puts them and every other teen in danger.

Gang violence has also become a big concern, teens are either forced to shoot, beat , or There has been a lot of factors linked to child aggression. One of biggest factors is children playing violent video games. Although video games are commonly used by children there can be negative effects when introduced to violent video games. Recent studies have shown a correlation between violent video games and the behavior of young children.

Violent video games influence children’s behavior because their attitudes become more aggressive, the availability of violent games has become very easy for children , and with the help of technology the graphics of the video games make the game look identical to real life. This phase is always noted to have a calm and apologetic demeanor, in which the individual partners tend to go through denial about the abuse, coming up excuses and making promises of better behavior in the future.

It is important to know how professionals identify and define violence in teen dating, however it is just as important to understand how the teens themselves view the abuse in their relationships. Research shows that some teens define abuse according to the intention and actual harm that is caused, in the same research individuals have reported that they take into consideration whether the act was a result of their partner joking around or a demonstration of their love