Reading Reflections - Behavioral Development

              Having now completely read the Developing Adolescents publication I would just like to state how much I enjoyed reading it.  Overall it is concise and to the point as well as being very information with factual and practical information.  The behavioral development section was no different. 

In this section of Developing Adolescents I really enjoyed ready the facts and figures on adolescent risk-taking behaviors.  These figures were elaborated in much more depth in the Youth Risk Behaviors link with statistics collected from September 2010 to December 2011 including results from a national survey, 43 state surveys, and 21 large urban school district surveys for students in grades 9–12.  However, I thought overall they were pretty similar in findings with a few discrepancies here and there.  Some of the statistics didn’t surprise me at all while others made me think.

According to the Developing Adolescents article, “among currently sexually active high school students, 58% used a condom during the last sexual intercourse”.  Really?!?!?  Only 58%...needless to say this statistic made my jaw drop a little as I thought it was really low.  Do adolescents not realize they can get pregnant if they don’t use protection or do they really just not care when they are in the moment?  I mean, using a condom in my mind should be included in sex 101.  If you are going to have sex, protect yourself; bottom line.  I expected that figure to be much closer to 75 or 80% with how much public sex education there is through mass media.  Also according to the Developing Adolescents article, “70% of high school students have tried cigarette smoking” and “47% of high school students have tried marijuana”.  We have known for years now that cigarette smoking leads to cancer and that the nicotine in a cigarette is addictive.  And yet 70% of high school students have still decided, with this knowledge, to try it?  That really goes to prove that social pressure can be more important than even cold hard data and research for adolescents.  The marijuana figure I found to be interesting being close to 50% indicating just how easy it is for adolescents to obtain an illegal drug.  Marijuana is becoming more and more acceptable as a drug in the eyes of our society and yet it is still an illegal drug.  Now I am not going to get into the debate about whether it should be legal or illegal, but I think that figure speaks for itself as to how prevalent it is even though it is an illegal drug. 

I really liked the Raising Teens link as the information it had is very applicable for parents.  I remember my dad saying to me once, “When you buy a new electronic you get a booklet of instructions and directions with the reassurance that if you have any issues or questions you can go back to the store and get some help.  After having a kid I wasn’t given anything and was sent away from the hospital without so much as a ‘good luck’,” or something along those lines.  He has a very good point though; neither children nor adolescents come with directions or instructions.  The five points made in Raising Teens are a great start to a direction booklet for adolescents:

1.      Love and Connect – Most things about their world are changing.  Don’t let your love be one of them.

2.      Monitor and Observe – Monitor your teen’s activities.  You still can, and it still counts.

3.      Guide and Limit – Loosen up, but don’t let go.

4.      Model and Consult – The teen years:  Parent’s still matter; teen’s still care.

5.      Provide and Advocate – You can’t control their world, but you can add to and subtract from it. 

I found it interesting that the Parental Involvement in Middle School study link showed that parental involvement is positively associated with achievement expect in the area of homework help.  It makes me wonder if that is because parents don’t know/understand their adolescent’s homework or if they just give their child the answers.  It makes sense that parents who are involved, but not over involved, in their teenager’s life will have a positive effect on their child’s achievement.  It just surprised me that this isn’t the case with homework.  Also going back for a minute to the Developing Adolescent link I really liked the part which stated that several studies have found girls use contraception more when they believe their parents support it.  This goes back to having a good balance of parental involvement in the teenager’s life while being accepting when the teenager may have a different point of view than the parents.  When I have kids, I won’t want my teenage daughter to be having sex.  But if she is, I sure as heck want her to be using protection.  Have a good relationship with an adolescent that is open, accepting, and more of a guide than anything else is essential.  If a parent doesn’t have this relationship with the teenage, maybe a teacher can. 

Lastly, the Youth in Foster Care System link made me rather sad.  When people go to the orphanage they want the new born babies and not the teenagers just like when someone goes to the pound they want the new born puppies instead of the old dogs.  I liked how the report tried to stay focused on the strength, intelligence and aspirations of the teenagers in temporary custody instead of the upsetting factors.  However, they are all interconnected.  Teenagers who are in temporary custody of the government have a hard and difficult road to travel as they don’t get a lot of personalized support and love.  As teachers, we can try our best to provide that for them at least while they are at school.