Staff writer - Maureen Gordon
I refer to my blog facing up to reality (6.2.12) in which I posed the question about our awareness of the times that our young people are living in, and whether it is a kind of parallel universe.
This week I want to shed more light about the facts of their world. I read an article once that referred to adolescence as wolves in sheep clothing. I believe this refers to the unpredictability of the teenage temperament, the extremes of behaviour.
It is said that today’s adolescents are a troubled generation, and instead of it being a healthy and care free time for them it is now seen as the riskiest and most vulnerable time and as I mentioned in my blog on mental health.
Although modern teenagers are hitting puberty at an earlier age, it is said that they are taking longer to grow up, someone may be of the chronological age of 18 but they are not necessarily classed as mature adults. To back this up scientists have now proven that the brain is not fully developed until age 24.
Therefore they believe that an adolescent’s brain is handicapped in the rational assessment of risk and therefore prone to making rash decisions which adults are more able to resist. If this is the case have we got it all wrong in what society in general and parents expect of our teenagers?
Contrast this with fifty or sixty years ago people married and started families at this age; at that time teenagers actually dressed like their parents and were encouraged to take on responsibility as an adult. Today teenagers at 18 are likely to be encouraged to pursue a career so they stay on longer in full time education. Marriage and children come later.
Today it is said that risky behaviours by adolescents cause the highest number of deaths normally these are accidents. Right now there are some disturbing billboards posted around London with the faces of different teenagers. It shows that they have been run over and killed by a bus/car because they were distracted either because they were on their mobiles or listening to music or taking the risk that the car or bus will wait until they cross the road.
Teenage pregnancy; Photo courtesy child-development-guide.com
Here is some more information that may surprise you or not about our teenagers. British teenagers come near the bottom of most league tables that measure adolescent behaviours in developing countries. Statistics show that 1 in 5 adolescents binge drink on a weekly basis, and that the U.K has the highest rates of sexual activity in early adolescence and the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in Western Europe.
These are the stark realities for adolescence in the U.K what about the rest of the world, there are 1.8 billion adolescents in the world today comprising more than a quarter of the world’s population. What do they all need for healthy development and in a time when family life and family values are being eroded, what role does the family play in this? I was interested in an article which I read in a local newspaper recently. It lauded the key role the family played in helping teenagers.
“Adolescents who feel connected to their families are more likely to smoke fewer cigarettes, drink less alcohol, use less marijuana, start sex later and are less likely to be involved in violence.”
This quote I found in the Jamaican Gleaner November 2011 about the family, I believe also reinforces this.
“A strong family structure results in a strong nation. Persons raised in a stable family structure are likely to be productive citizens. They are usually taught good work ethics, to have ambition, value life and to exhibit the common courtesies that create a civil society.”
Therefore the family has to be the glue that holds everything together, because that is what it was designed to do.
The fact is our young people are not only the now generation but they are also our future assets. How can we help to turn depressing statistics about their health and behaviours on its head?
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