TEENS ENGAGING IN INCREASINGLY RISKY BEHAVIOR

Dr. Robin McFee, who teaches a course in adolescent health to medical
students at State University of New York at Stony Brook, points out an
interesting paradox: While adolescence is the time of greatest
"inherent health," the overall health of adolescents, unlike other age
groups, has declined over the past several decades.

Why?

It seems that the years from age 10 to the early 20s are marked by a
tendency to engage in risky behavior with serious consequences. About
three-quarters of deaths among 10- to 24-year-olds in the United
States are caused by car crashes (29 percent), murders (20 percent),
suicides (12 percent) and unintentional injuries such as drowning or
poisoning (11 percent), according to the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention.

Although the unintentional pregnancy rate among American teens has
dropped slightly in the past several years, it is still among the
highest in the world. And every year, 3 million teens - about one in
four who are sexually active - get a sexually transmitted disease.

About 5 percent of adolescent females have a full-blown eating
disorder, according to the Society for Adolescent Medicine; the
percentage with disordered eating has been estimated to be much higher.

According to the CDC, more than one-third of high school students are
smokers, and college-age smoking also has risen dramatically.

A 1997 CDC survey found that close to 40 percent of high school
students had ridden in the previous 30 days with a driver who had been
drinking alcohol. The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that
more than half of the Class of 1997 had used an illegal drug.

Adolescents are also among the most underserved groups medically.
Although they make up 17 percent of the U.S. population, they
represent only 11 percent of medical visits, and less than 20 percent
receive routine or preventive care annually, according to the National
Adolescent Health Information Center at the University of California,
San Francisco. About 15 percent of adolescents have no health insurance.

Part of the reason adolescents don't go to the doctor is that many are
uncomfortable with the doctor who took care of them as babies and
toddlers. And, experts say, while pediatricians have the technical
expertise for medical problems, some may be uncomfortable with the
psychosocial issues involved in dealing with teens.

Yet, doctors can be important, nonjudgmental sources of information
for kids unable or unwilling to ask their parents for information or
help, Dr. McFee she said. And kids want information. A Kaiser Family
Foundation survey, released this week, found that young adolescents -
10 to 12 years old - wanted more information on issues ranging from
HIV to what to do if someone brings a gun to school to how to handle
pressures to have sex.

Adolescent health care
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For more information on adolescent health care:

The American Society for Adolescent Health provides names of health
care providers at (816) 224-8010.

Kaiser Family Foundation has a Web site (http://www.talking
withkids.org) to help parents talk with kids.