Teenage

Quotes

•      The thing that impresses me most about America is the way parents obey their children. – Edward, Duke of Windsor (1895–1977)

•      Adolescence has become a waiting period of enforced leisure with few responsibilities and little or no meaningful contact with adults. – “Adolescent Rolelessness in Modern Society,” a report of the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development

•      Ours is the only era in the entire history of human life on this planet in which the “elders” of the tribe ask its newer members what the tribal rules and standards of expected behavior would be. – Paul Ramsey, ethicist, Princeton University.

•      More often than not, children are learning major value systems in life from the horizontal peer-culture. The vertical structure is not there in adequate increments of time or intensity to do the job. – Gordon MacDonald, The Effective Father

•      The culture of the electronic Media Prescribes perpetual adolescence and consumption as developmental ideals. Indeed, perpetual adolescence and consumption constitute the twin-pronged gospel of these media.

Quentin J. Schultze et al., Dancing in the Dark

Peers Dialoging With Peers

When peers have dialogue primarily with peers, they fail to be exposed to those with more advanced insights and more highly developed faculties….Our children, who are constantly engrossed in peer-centered activities, interact minimally with those more mature than themselves.

Stephen Glenn and Jane Nelsen, Raising Self-Reliant Children in a Self-Indulgent World

Resource

•      Mark DeVries, Family-Based Youth Ministry, (Downers Grove, IL, InterVarsity Press, 1994, p. 34

Teen Pregnancy

“Teen pregnancy is at the root of nearly every other social problem in the U.S.,” according to Joycelyn Elders, MD, who was the keynote speaker at a recent American Academy of Pediatrics meeting.

Look at the Figures: 90% of Americans who are currently serving time in U.S. prisons were born to teenage mothers. Pregnancy is the leading reason young girls drop out of high school. The public-assistance tab for teen mothers and their children in 1991 was $26 billion.

Source: American Medical News

Teen Facts

Since the popular push for contraceptives for teens began, teenage sexual activity and pregnancy have increased 400%. 70% of unwed teen mothers will go on welfare. Of teens who marry because of pregnancy, 60% will be divorced in five years.

Josh McDowell, Family Happiness is Homemade, Vol. 14, No. 6, June, 1990

Why Do Teens Drink?

Why do teens drink? 66% cited stress and boredom, 25% said they drink to get high, and 31 percent said they drink alone. In 1989 3000 teens between the ages of 15 and 19 died in alcohol-related auto accidents. The favored drink among teenagers is wine coolers, but many choose beer because it is cheaper and easier to get. Students annually consume 35 percent of all wine coolers sold in the U.S. or 31 million gallons. They also consume 1.1 billion cans of beer, or 102 million gallons.

Spokesman Review, 12–30-91, p. B1