
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 18, 1990                   TAG: 9004180332
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

STUDY: TROUBLED TEENS AIDED BY STABLE FAMILY

Teen-agers who had serious delinquency records or mental or emotional health problems were far more likely to straighten out as adults if they lived in a two-parent family, according to a new study.

"It's a striking illustration of what we've observed in many instances - the difference a stable family can make to a troubled teen-ager," said Emmy Werner, a psychologist and professor of human development at the University of California at Davis. She conducted the most recent phases of the study that tracked several hundred youths from birth in 1955 to age 30.

"It's also one of the many cases that inspire a sense of hope and optimism about the recoveries such children can make in early adulthood. As a society we dwell so much on what can go wrong with children that we tend to forget how strong are the self-righting tendencies that move them toward normal adult development in all but the most persistent adverse circumstances," Werner said.

She said the study also found that troubled youths who joined a highly structured religion such as Mormonism or who entered the armed forces were more likely to avoid difficulties after age 18 than those who did not.

The study followed the lives of all 698 children born on the Hawaiian island of Kauai in 1955. Family interviews and evaluations were done at ages 1, 2, 10 and 17 or 18. A follow-up survey, sponsored by the W.T. Grant Foundation, found and interviewed 505 of the children at age 30.

Werner said that at the beginning of the study the children were divided into two groups - one included those considered likely to encounter problems in later life while the other numbered those not expected to be at special risk.

The high-risk group - those were viewed as "more vulnerable" than the others - were children whose parents were in poverty or were teen-agers, single parents or had not advanced to high school. Also in the high-risk group were children born to parents with a history of mental illness or alcoholism. Children who had birth complications or other health problems right after birth also were placed in the vulnerable group. Of the 235 children placed in the vulnerable group, 218 were located for the age 30 follow-up, Werner said. The 30-year study will be described in a forthcoming book, "Against the Odds."

Werner said between 5 and 10 percent of the children in the low-risk group developed delinquency or other troubles during childhood and adolescence. After age 18 those in the low-risk group with problems declined to 1 to 2 percent.

However, Werner said, two thirds of those in the high-risk group "developed problems along the way during childhood and adolescence," among them, delinquency, mental illness and teen pregnancy.

Werner found, however, that a high percentage of those who developed problems during childhood and adolescence had no such difficulties after 18.

Werner said the study also seemed to show that two circumstances seemed to enable teen-age mothers from single-parent families to have a more stable adult life: if she was "surrounded by other concerned adults - neighbors, friends, mentors, teachers, acting as substitute parents" or if her mother provided a strong role model as one who worked and could take care of herself.

by CNB