Who We Are

Problem: 25% of U.S. teenagers (an estimated 5.3 million youths 12-17) have been involved with weapons, 26% have engaged in binge drinking in high school, while 10 percent (an estimated 2 million teens) say they drink alcohol weekly.
Source: Laura S. Stepp, "New Study Questions Teen Risk Factors," Washington Post, November 30, 2000, A1, A10-11; University of Minnesota Medical School, National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (NLSAH), "Protecting Teens: Beyond Race, Income and Family Structure," American Journal of Public Health (December 2000).

According to the "largest national study of adolescents," surveying 10,000 students ages 12-17, "school performance and spending a lot of unsupervised time with friends predicts much more accurately [than race, income, or family structure] whether teenagers will drink, smoke, use weapons, attempt suicide, or have sex at a young age."

"'The prevalence of violence is much higher than we expected,' said Robert Blum, the study's principal investigator, 'particularly when you consider we've taken out all the fist fighting that seventh- and eighth-grade boys do.'"

"Younger teens are not immune [from drinking problems]: One in 12 seventh- and eighth-graders say they drink two or three times a month."

"Among the 25 risk factors that investigators examined--including working 20 hours a week and being raped or sexually abused --problems with schoolwork are the most serious. . . . Rather than viewing bad grades as symptomatic of a larger problem, grades themselves need to be addressed, and promptly, [the principal investigator] said."

The second most consistent risk factor is time spent with friends, especially in an unsupervised setting with friends who engage in unhealthy behaviors."

"'. . . targeting neighborhoods based solely on race or income 'cannot solve the larger public health program,' [the authors of the study] wrote." These patterns of risky teenage behavior are "as true of affluent white teens in the suburbs as it is of poor black teens in the city, as true of children living with both parents as those living with one."

". . . a strong emotional bond to parents protected kids from taking unhealthy risks more than any other factor."

Because success in school is one of the key antidotes for teenagers engaging in risky behavior dangerous to their health and safety, a strong public school system becomes even more important. But see How the Public Schools Are Failing Our Children -- The Drop Out Problem for information on student performance problems, dropout rates, consequences, and solutions.
Problem: By the time they reach college, an estimated 44% of students can be classified as "binge drinkers," according to a 2001 survey of 10,000 college students at 119 four-year colleges. Okie, "44% of College Students Are Binge Drinkers, Survey Finds," Washington Post, March 25, 2002, A6:

This level persists despite declining popularity of fraternities and sororities, where drinking behavior is at the highest levels, despite the rise of alcohol and drug free residences, and despite alcohol education programs. Id.

Sometimes, binge drinking leads to death. See Stockwell, "Criminal Charges Studied in Death of U-Md. Pledge," Washington Post, March 27, 2002, A1, citing a case in which fraternity binge drinking resulted in an acute alcohol intoxication, coma, and death. The young man's blood alcohol levels reached 0.5% (more than 6 times higher than the legal driving limit of 0.08%).

Problem: Smoking rates for pregnant teen-agers began to rise in the last half of the 1990s after a significant decline in the first half of the decade. Cimons, "Smoking During Pregnancy Drops 33%; Teen Rates Rise," Los Angeles Times, August 29, 2001, A14.
Problem: Additional risk behaviors of youth 10-24 years of age were documented by the U.S. Health and Human Services Department's Centers for Disease Control and the Prevention Division of Adolescent and School Health in their Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS). In 1999, these risky behaviors included the following:

"7.6% of students had taken diet pills, powders, or liquids without a doctor's advice to lose weight/avoid gaining weight; "

"8.3% of students had attempted suicide >1 times during the 12 months preceding the survey;

"During the 12 months preceding the survey, 8.8% of students nationwide were hit, slapped, or physically hurt on purpose by their boyfriend or girlfriend," and "[n]ationwide, 8.8% of students had ever been forced to have sexual intercourse when they did not want to;

"13.1% of students had driven a vehicle after drinking alcohol in the thirty days preceding the study, and 33.1% had ridden with a driver who had been drinking alcohol [at least once during this thirty day period];

"16.2% of students had had sexual intercourse with four or more partners;

"16.4% of students riding in cars driven by someone else had rarely or never worn seat belts;

"16.8% of students had smoked cigarettes on >20 of the 30 days preceding the survey;

"17.3% had carried a weapon during the 30 days preceding the survey; and 6.9% of students had carried a weapon (e.g., a gun, knife, or club) on school property [during this period];

"Among students nationwide, 35.7% had been in a physical fight >1 times during the 12 months preceding the survey, and 4.0% of students received treatment by a doctor or nurse for injuries sustained during these fights; and

"Half of all students (50.0%) nationwide had had >1 drinks of alcohol on >1 of the 30 days preceding the survey."

Problem: Teens are particularly at risk during the after school hours (2-7 p.m.) when they often face lack of adult supervision and absence of structured, constructive activities, according to Fighting Crime: Invest in Kids.   In 1998, the U.S. Justice Department and the Department of Education estimated that 28 million children have parents working outside the home and 5 million of these children are "latchkey kids" -- children who come home after school to an empty house. See Dear Colleague Letter from Attorney General Janet Reno and Education Secretary Richard Riley, June 1998, "Safe and Smart: Making the After-School Hours Work for Kids."
Despite evidence that after school programs work, "The number of children and teens nationally whose need for after-school programs is unmet likely exceeds eleven million." [emphasis added] Fighting Crime: Invest in Kids

"When the school bell rings, turning millions of children and teens out on the street with neither constructive activities nor adult supervision, violent juvenile crime suddenly triples and prime time for juvenile crime begins. On school days, the hours from 3-6 PM are the peak hours for: Teens to commit crimes; innocent kids to become crime victims; 16- and 17-year olds to be in or cause a car crash; teen sex; [and] kids to smoke, drink or use drugs."

"High school freshman were randomly selected from welfare families in four cities to participate in The Quantum Opportunities after-school and graduation incentives program. Boys left out of the program were six times more likely to be convicted of crime, and boys and girls left out were twice as likely to drop out of school and 50% more likely to have children before graduating. Kids in the after-school program were twice as likely to continue their education beyond high school. " [emphasis added]

"Five housing projects without Boys & Girls clubs were compared to five getting new clubs. At the beginning, drug use and vandalism were the same. But by the time the study ended, the projects without the programs had 50% more vandalism and scored 33% worse on drug use."

"In the three years after Baltimore's Police Department opened a Police Activities League (PAL) after-school program in one high-crime
neighborhood, juvenile crime in the neighborhood dropped nearly 10%. The risk of kids becoming crime victims was cut nearly in half. While juvenile victimization rates were coming down for all Baltimore juveniles, the rate in the area served by PAL came down nearly three times as fast as it did for the city as a whole. "

Problem: Even when after school homework club programs are formed to provide academic support, tutoring, and structured supervision in the hours between 3-6 p.m., these may be the first to go when economic downturn occurs. See Becker, "Cuts Reach Students, Roads, Pools," Washington Post, February 9, 2002, B1, B4:

"Three times a week, 45 kids gather at a teen center in Sandy Spring [Maryland] for help with their homework. The mostly volunteer program, which costs Montgomery County $5,300 a year, provides needy teenagers with a safe place to go after school, a few snacks, and an occasional field trip." (B1)

"No one argues that the homework club isn't working, or isn't needed. It serves mostly minority children from single-parent families in a county struggling to close the educational achievement gaps among racial and ethnic groups." (B1)

"Nevertheless, program coordinator Jennifer Schauffler was informed last month that the county was cutting off her funding. . . . Under intense pressure to cut government spending in the face of an economic downturn and falling revenue, County Executive Douglas Duncan (D) this week detailed his cuts as part of a plan he announced late last year to save $15 million by the end of the fiscal year. . . . After school programs, such as Schauffler's have been eliminated." (B1, B4)

Underlying Causes: The solutions need to address underlying causes. As indicated by the studies referenced above, the following factors or conditions tend to give rise to these risky behaviors by teenagers: poor performance in school, unsupervised time spent with friends engaging in unhealthy behavior, being subject to sexual abuse or violence as child, absence of a strong bond to parents or other significant adults, poor self-image or self-esteem, and [more to come].
Solutions:

Oregon Success in Reducing Teen Smoking: "Oregon residents are well ahead of the rest of the country in quitting smoking, state health officials say. Since 1996, cigarette use in the state has fallen by 29 percent, compared with a 13 percent decline nationally. The percentage of Oregon eighth graders who smoke is down 44 percent since 1996, the Department of Human Services said." AP, "Oregon Smoking Declines," New York Times, March 27, 2002, National Briefing: Northwest. Among the key elements of the Oregon tobacco prevention initiative are: an increased excise tax on cigarettes; anti-smoking coalitions in each of the state's counties; a counter-marketing campaign; a statewide tobacco cessation quitters’ help line; competitive grants to community groups, tribal associations, and school districts for tobacco education; and local ordinances restricting tobacco sales and use. See K Rohde, et. al., Centers for Disease Control, "Effectiveness of School-Based Programs as a Component of a Statewide Tobacco Control Initiative — Oregon, 1999–2000," MMWR.

After School Programs: For more information on guidelines for successful after school programs, see U.S. Department of Education, "Safe and Smart: Making After-School Hours Work for Kids," June 1998, chapter 2: "What Works: Components of Exemplary After-School Programs."

Smaller Schools & Greater Connectedness: " Students who attend small schools are less likely than others to engage in risky behavior such as drug use, violence or early sexual activity, largely because they feel better connected to their teachers and one another, according to a study released yesterday. The results, drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a federally funded survey of 72,000 junior high and high school students, found that when the number of students in a school increases beyond 1,200, students become more isolated from one another, which contributes to a wide range of unhealthy activity. 'In smaller schools, students, teachers and school administrators all have more personal relationships with each other,' said Robert Blum, Director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Adolescent Health and Development and author of the report on the study. 'They know who you are. This is important to keeping kids engaged and a part of the school.' While studies over the years have linked school size to academic achievement, researchers called this the first that points to school size as a factor in student health and behavior. . . . Beyond school size, the survey found that teachers who foster strong relationship with students and make them feel like valuable contributors are important in determining how students feel about school. The survey found that teachers who did the best job of fostering a welcoming environment were not necessarily the most experienced nor the holders of advanced degrees--a finding that flies in the face of many accepted notions of teacher competence." Fletcher, "Connectedness Called Key to Student Behavior: Study Says Close Ties in Smaller Schools Reduce Likelihood of Drug Use, Violence, Early Sex," Washington Post, April 12, 2002, A 3.

[more to come]

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