THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 13, 1995 TAG: 9510130520
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MATTHEW BOWERS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 153 lines
A 10-year study of America's young adolescents concludes many are neglected, misunderstood and in high peril of ``seriously damaging their life chances'' through drug abuse, pregnancy, antisocial behavior and deficient education.
Nearly half of the nation's 19 million children ages 10 through 14 are at ``high or moderate risk,'' the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development concluded in a report released Thursday.
The panel called for new cooperation among society's primary institutions - such as families, schools, health care agencies, community organizations and the media - that most influence these youths as they make the increasingly treacherous transition to adulthood in a time of AIDS, gangs and a technologically demanding job market.
All this doesn't surprise Kevin J. Yearwood, a local director of the Boys and Girls Clubs of South Hampton Roads. He has been working with adolescents in the clubs for 16 years and has long seen the need for parents, schools and organizations like his to work together to keep kids on safe, productive paths.
Take the mother who stopped in Wednesday after work to see Yearwood at the Virginia Beach Boys and Girls Club. The midterm school grades of her adolescent son, an after-school club regular, were way down. What was the boy doing every day?
Playing pool, she was told. Yearwood added that he couldn't force the boy to do his homework - he's not the boy's parent. But now that Yearwood was aware of the problem, he said he would nudge the boy toward the club's homework room, where college students are available for help.
``They're at that defiant age,'' Yearwood said. ``We try to provide those avenues to channel that energy to positive directions.''
More and more of the children he sees come from single-parent or two-income homes, where time with parents can be limited.
``That age group, they're really venturing,'' Yearwood said. ``A lot of kids today, they're just not getting that direction.''
So agrees the 168-page Carnegie report, ``Great Transitions: Preparing Adolescents for a New Century.'' Its research showed the ages 10 to 14 - largely the middle-school years - to be a pivotal time in children's development, ``when adolescents naturally experiment with risky activities but before damaging behavior patterns have become firmly established.''
They want independence and, contrary to stereotype, they also crave adult support and guidance. But it's the age when they get the least such help, the report said.
``The risks facing adolescents affect those in families of all income levels and in cities, suburbs and rural areas,'' David A. Hamburg, chairman of the council, principal author of its report and president of the Carnegie Corp. of New York, said in a news release.
``Massive social and economic changes have resulted in the nation's neglect of its young people.''
Teens fare better in Virginia than the nation as a whole, according to figures compiled by Carnegie. Fewer here live in extreme poverty - 5.9 percent compared with the national 8.9 percent in 1992.
The violent-death rate is lower - 61 per 100,000 teens compared with 66.6. The violent-crime arrest rate is lower - 228 per 100,000 compared with 483. Fewer drop out of school - 6.6 percent compared with 9.3 percent. And fewer births are to unwed mothers younger than 20 - 8.1 percent compared with 9 percent.
The Carnegie report offered suggestions and examples of how to help adolescents cope with growing up:
Employers should offer flexible work hours. Schools should cultivate parents' continued involvement, which usually drops off after their kids leave elementary school. Schools and community groups should offer after-school programs. Child-care tax credits should be extended for after-school supervision for adolescents.
Reorganize middle schools on smaller scales - ``schools within schools'' - so teachers and students can form stable relationships. Provide motivation and problem-solving and critical-thinking skills to prepare students for working and living in the next, more technologically oriented century. Specially train teachers and principals for this age group.
Closely relate education and health. Schools should promote healthy habits and help students avoid risks, and should provide facts - about nutrition, substance abuse and sex - early. Decision-making and conflict-resolution skills should be taught. Primary health services should be available in or near schools.
New Jersey offers ``one-stop service centers'' in or near 37 schools, providing - with parental consent - basic health services as well as family, drug and employment counseling, crisis intervention, referrals to other service providers and summer and part-time job development. The centers are open during and after school, on weekends and all summer.
Expand the reach of youth and community organizations - such as Boys and Girls Clubs - especially during the high-risk, out-of-school hours. Schools should form partnerships with community groups. Make community service part of schools' core curriculums.
Schools, community groups and families should work to make children ``media literate,'' able to examine more critically the messages they receive from television, video games and other sources.
All should encourage ``socially responsible'' media programming and making the media more adolescent-friendly by not glamourizing violence or substance abuse. All should work together to produce comprehensive health-promotion campaigns. The media should include more young people's views and involve them in production.
The report called on businesses, universities and government to help put solutions into action.
``Preventing much of the damage now occurring would have a powerful social and economic impact, including higher productivity, lowered health costs, lowered prison costs, and improved human welfare,'' the report stated.
``In an era where there is much well-founded concern about losing a vital sense of community, these initiatives on behalf of all our children can have profound collateral benefits of building solidarity, mutual aid, civility, and a reasonable basis for hope.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
``KIDS'' PHOTO COURTESY MIRAMAX FILMS
Graphic
NEW RISKS AT YOUNGER AGES
A third of all eighth graders report the use of illicit drugs.
Marijuana use more than doubled between 1991 and 1994.<
Two-thirds eighth graders have tried alcohol; a quarter say they
still drink. Twenty-eight percent say they've been drunk at least
once.
Smoking among eighth-graders rose 30 percent between 1991 and
1994.
The firearm homicide rate for ages 10-14 has more than doubled
between 1985 and 1992. More 12-15-year-olds are assault victims than
any other age group.
In 1988, 33 percent of the boys and 27 percent of the girls had
sexual intercourse by their 15th birthday. Pregnancy rates for girls
younger than 15 rose 4.1 percent - more than any other teenage
group.
Suicide among adolescents increased 120 percent from 1980 to
1992.
Eighth-graders' average proficiency in writing, math and science
was up slightlyin 1992 over the 1970s, but hasn't kept pace with the
higher level of skills required. In 1992, only 30 percent of
eighth-graders were reading at or above their grade level.
One in five adolescents live in poverty. One in two will live
with only one parent sometime in their lives.
And by mid-adolescence, the report said, young people have
watched about 15,000 hours of television - more time than they've
spent in school.
SOLUTIONS
Re-engaging families
Redesigning schools
Promoting health of adolescents
Strenthening community organizations
Promoting the constructive potential of the media
KEYWORDS: TEENAGERS ADOLESCENTS STATISTICS
PROBLEMS by CNB