As mentioned in the findings, the range is from poverty, violence (including gun possession), bullying and harassment, teen pregnancy, sexual behavior, alcohol and drug abuse, mental health issues. The “Mental Health Issues and Services” list several concise and well documented frightening facts about today’s youth. Even though alarmingly high, they reported that 12% of high school aged students’ complete suicide. Suicide rates are on the rise for persona aged 10-14 years. Limitations: There aren’t clear outlines to firm up the statistics.
Those at highest risk of teen pregnancy are girls from single parent homes, families with low socioeconomic status, and girls with a sister who became pregnant as a teenager (Talashek, Alba, & Patel, 2006). A significant risk factor identified by the National Center for the Prevention of Teenage Pregnancy (NCPTP) is that 75% of pregnant teens have mothers who were also pregnant as a teenager (VanLenten, 200?). The lifestyle of the average teenager is not conducive to fetal development. Teen mothers are more likely to smoke, eat a fast food diet, less likely to have adequate prenatal care, and more
In 2006, the proportion of mothers with newborns that were in the workforce was at 57% (“Working Parents”, 2012). That number increased to 61% in 2008 (“Working Parents”, 2012). There are many single working mothers who have not finished High School or received a GED. This leads to problems down the road. Thirty percent of teenage girls who have dropped out of school listed pregnancy or parenthood as the primary reason (“Teen Pregnancy Prevention”, n.d.).
Abuse always involves physical, emotional, or sexual injury to a child and involves commission of a particular act against a child. Abuse is the second leading cause of death among children under age 6 months, behind sudden infant death syndrome. Although parents have been raising children for thousands of years, it was not until the early seventies that child abuse was consider a crime in America. According to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services statistics, in 1998 1,397,000 children received preventive services and an estimated 903,000 children were victims of abuse or neglect. Abuse often occurs when the adult is having difficulty adjusting to new circumstances or is coping with such issues as marital problems, economic difficulties,
Incarcerations can also have a major impact on the community. Thus, this form of punishment can affect everyone around the punished women. Incarceration of women with children is a very large percentage that has a huge impact on their family. 1.3 million Women are convicted primarily on drug crimes. The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world since 2000, and 52% are parents.
The Developmental Issues on Children in the Foster Care System The foster care system is the system where children go when their parents are unable to take care of them. In the foster care system, children are placed by trained professionals who are licensed adults that provide substitute parental care when the parents are away. Research states that the number of children in the foster care system was 513,000, a decline of about 10% from 2000 (Bigner, 2011). Children that are placed in foster care have suspiciously high rates of physical, developmental, and mental health problems and often have many unmet medical and mental health care needs. A greater number of young children with complicated, serious physical health, mental health, or developmental problems are entering foster care during the early years when brain growth is most active.
Shaken baby syndrome (SBS) is a shocking phenomenon that is increasingly recognized as one of the most severe forms of child abuse, with very high rates of morbidity (more than 50%) and mortality (15%-38%) among children under 1 year (American Academy of Pediatrics [AAP], 2001; King, MacKay, Sirnick, & the Canadian Shaken Baby Study Group, 2003; Ward, Bennett, & King, 2004). Shaken baby syndrome is responsible for the majority of deaths that are due to child abuse (King et al. ; Morad et al., 2004). About 75% of survivors suffer neurological, cognitive, developmental, or psychological sequels, and severe functional cerebral palsy-type sequel occur in 60% of survivors (Bonnier et al., 2003; Karandikar, Coles, Jayawant, & Kemp, 2004; King et al. ;
Underage Drinking Underage drinking mostly starts at the early ages of 11 to 14 years old. This has become one of the largest discussed issues and major problems in America because of the increase of deaths every year. According to the department of health and human services underage drinking has caused problems such as: public health and safety problems, potential brain damage issues, alcohol disorders, violence, suicides, sexual assault, rape and many car accidents. Underage drinking has become a very huge problem for teenagers where life and health are at great risk. In my point of view as sophomores in high school and as a member of the small community I live in I think that there should be other ways and more classes on underage drinking.
I was naïve enough years ago to believe the same. But that is far from the truth. For instance Atlanta a city that is only about 530 miles from my house is taking claim of being one of the biggest underage sex trafficking cities in the United States. A local teen group recently came together to make awareness of this issue stating facts that 500 girls are trafficked in Atlanta each month, servicing 7200 men
This evidence proves that elder abuse is increasing in Canada. “For those over 65, 47 out of every 100,000 women were violently assaulted by a family member, according to 2005 statistics. For men over the age of 65, the figure was 36 cases per 100,000” (Walsh et al., 2011, p.20). This evidence demonstrates that more senior women are being abused than senior men. The most common perpetrators of elder abuse were “adult children (15 per 100,000 cases) or a current or former spouse (13 per 100,000)” in 2009 (Walsh et al., 2011, p.20).