Teen Trends - Monthly Newsletter from CWK

Summer Months Deadliest For Teen Drivers

July and August are the deadliest months of the year for 16- and 17-year-old drivers – nearly 20 percent higher, in fact, compared to other months - according to a study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.

“Summer vacation for teens often means unstructured schedules, less guidance from mom and dad, and more exposure to crashes,” says AAA Vice President Susan Pikrallidas. “Enforcing safe driving rules that include passenger and nighttime limits is essential to keeping your teen and others safe on the road.”

The study also found that twice as many crash-free teens reported never having violated their state’s passenger restrictions for young drivers, compared to teens that had crashed.

Source: AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety

Teen Birth Rate and Dropout Rate Declining

Fewer U.S. teens are becoming pregnant, according to a new report. The 17th annual KIDS COUNT Data Book, from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, also noted a decline in the number of teen deaths - and better numbers for the national high school dropout rate.

Teen birth rates fell from 42 per 1,000 females in 2003 – the most recent statistics available – compared to 48 per 1,000 females in 2000.

“We’ve done a pretty good job of convincing teenagers that they should wait until they are older,” says Wade Horn, with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “But we’re not doing as good a job convincing them they should wait until they are married to have children.”

The number of high school dropouts, according to the report, decreased to eight percent in 2004 – compared to 11 percent in 2000.

Sources: Annie E. Casey Foundation, Associated Press

New Technologies Turn Teens Into Broadcasters

The easy availability of video recorders, video cell cameras, Mp3s and other new, inexpensive technology has helped to create a new medium for teens: video web logs, also known as videologs, v-blogs or vlogs.

Clips from videos, shot by amateurs or taken from broadcasts, are now being compiled and shared on web sites like YouTube, Blinkx, Dailymotion and others – and accessed by tens of millions of people each week. The sites also allow viewers to submit comment on the videos – which cover a wide variety of topics and content.

Some schools are even using v-blogs as an educational tool – including student films on a school web site, or creating class video logs.

But the ease of uploading video to the Internet is also sparking concerns about the spread of offensive, malicious and/or pornographic content. There have also been fears that the videos are making it easier for so-called ‘cyber stalkers’ to locate and harass teens.

Source: University of Connecticut

Teen Smoking Rates, Once Declining, Remain Unchanged

The successful campaign to get teens to stop smoking may be running out of steam.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says cigarette use among high school students remained unchanged from 2003 to 2005 – that, after dramatic declines in teen smoking from the late 1990s to 2003.

According to the report, nearly 25 percent of U.S. high school students were current smokers in 2005.

The CDC believes there are several factors behind the stall in teen smoking rates: less money has been spent on anti-tobacco campaigns in recent years, cigarette prices have been relatively stable, and there’s less funding available for state tobacco-prevention programs. The tobacco industry has also nearly tripled its spending on advertising and promotion since 1997 – to a reported $15.2 billion in 2003.

Source: CDC

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