According to the 2016 Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey, rates of teenage drug and alcohol use are on an encouraging decline. However, any substance use by adolescents is too much. The most recent results from the MTF survey reveal that past-year use of illicit drugs other than marijuana stood at 5.4% of 8th-graders, 9.8% of…
In a newly released full report, Virginia’s Child Fatality Review Team (CFRT) found that 26 teen overdose deaths that occurred in the state between 2009 and 2013 were fully preventable. The state’s CFRT studied the issue in response to the increase in overdose deaths throughout the state and across age groups. The number of deaths…
Researchers from the Nationwide Children’s Hospital have recently discovered that the number of children younger than 6 years old exposed to marijuana is rising. Results from their study, published online in the journal Clinical Pediatrics in June 2015, showed a 147.5% increase in marijuana exposure among those under the age of 6 between 2006 and…
Immigrating to the U.S. is the dream of many people throughout the Hispanic world, but once arrived, immigrants often struggle. Hispanic immigrants, especially young people, face a lot of pressures and difficulties in this country. For adolescents, the pressure of bicultural stress can be overwhelming. They face pressure from their parents and other older relatives…
Parents worried about the cloud of smoke hanging over their teens’ heads can breathe a little easier. Teen smoking is at its lowest level in years, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But this type of risky behavior may have been traded for another, equally deadly one:…
According to an extensive 2008 study, teens ages 12 to 17 showed the highest percent of drug use with just over 60 percent surveyed saying they had a dependence issue with an illicit drug. The 18 to 25 age group reported a dependence rate of 37 percent while people 26 and older were dependent at…
Nearly a quarter of Americans between the ages of eight and 15 have experienced a mental health disorder over the previous year. These disorders can result in substance use or additional mental health diagnoses. A new study suggests group therapy can make the difference for teens.
Because education is about more than reading, writing and arithmetic, most schools and communities offer extra-curricular activities to complement learning and test-taking. This kind of activity is referred to as youth engagement, which has been shown to help teens avoid negative pitfalls while experiencing positive outcomes.
Teenagers are in a turbulent life phase. There are many normal developmental reasons why teens change how they dress, speak and behave. But teenagers are also at risk for substance experimentation which could lead to addiction. That’s why it is important for parents to be on the lookout for any clues indicating something may be…
Everywhere they look—television, billboards, magazines, the Internet, and the radio—adolescents see messages about alcohol, sex, drugs. According to The Journal of Adolescent Health, “those brands with higher youth-to-adult viewership ratios were significantly more likely to have a higher percentage of occurrences with addiction.” That means the things adolescents see in their everyday lives may negatively…