Teens Learning to Say "No" to Risky Behavior

You often hear and read about the declining manners and morals of the youth of the world, particularly from those of older generations. But in truth, teenagers are actually making better choices than some of their predecessors. In fact in the last ten years, teens were 16 percent more likely to use condoms when they had sex, use seatbelts more often, and avoid riding with drivers who had been drinking than had the teens of the 1990s.

America's teens are doing better at resisting drug use and also exhibiting less risky sexual behavior than previously surveyed teens, according to a 2007 survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that sampled 14,000 students in grades nine to 12 through a voluntary, anonymous, questionnaire. The participating teens came from 22 large urban school districts in 39 states. The survey covered categories that are felt to put teens at risk for unintentional injuries, addiction, sexually transmitted diseases-including HIV/AIDS-and unintended pregnancy. It also queried teen's suicide attempts, drinking and eating habits, and car safety belt use.

• The number of high school students who were no longer virgins decreased by 6 percent, down from the 54 percent of teens who grew up in the 1990s.
• Drinking had decreased from the 42 percent who reported they had at least one drink a month in the 1991 survey; to the 35 percent who answered they drank at least one drink a month when were surveyed in 2007.
• Marijuana use fell from 27 to 20 percent.
• Methamphetamine use was down from 10 percent in 1999, to four percent in 2007.
• Weapons were reported being carried by 17 percent of the teens in the 2007 survey; 33 percent reported they carried weapons in the 1991 survey.
• There was no change in the number of students who said they stayed home from school, on occasion, because they felt unsafe going. That number stayed at seven percent.
• Good progress was shown in the area regarding students wearing seatbelts: In 1991, 35 percent of the students reported that they rarely or never wore seatbelts, but in the 2007 survey only 12 percent said they rarely or never wore seatbelts.

Hispanic teens have not made as much progress toward healthier lifestyles as the black and white students have made during the same time period. There was no change from the 1991 survey to the 2007 survey in the number of Hispanic students who reported that they had had sex, whereas that number had decreased among both the black and white teens. Also, in 2007, 48% of the Hispanic female students who reported having had recent intercourse said they had not used a condom which was a higher percentage than either the black or white students reported in 2007.

Hispanic teens were found to be more likely to attempt suicide, use cocaine, heroin or ecstasy, ride with a driver who had been drinking, or fast for more than 24 hours at a time to lose weight than their black or white counterparts. More Hispanic teens reported drinking while at school, staying away from school because of safety concerns, and selling illegal drugs on school property than was reported among the black or white teens in the 2007 survey.

Black teens were four times more likely than white teens to have sex before age 13, and twice as likely to have sex before age 13 than Hispanic teens, the 2007 survey showed. They were also more likely to have been involved in a physical fight, or to have hit their girlfriend or boyfriend.

Black teens did smoke less, the 2007 survey showed: Only 12 percent of black teens reported smoking, where 23 percent of white teens said they did, and 17 percent of Hispanic teens admitted to smoking.

Although the risky behavior of U.S. teens shows much room for improvement, healthy behavior has increased since 1991; nonetheless, much work needs to be done to better educate our teens on healthy lifestyle choices, so that they will be better able to make good decisions in the future.