Adolescence: The Forgotten Age

"Are you lying to me?" "Don't EVER let me catch you doing that again." "And don't ask me WHY, the answer is NO." These are a few of the things that adolescents hear from their parents on a regular basis. Teens are often perceived as troubled kids or trouble makers and their problems are largely ignored.

Research shows that even good students from wealthy backgrounds go off track when they reach junior high. "They desperately want the approval of their friends, to be perceived as 'cool,' and they will do dangerous and just plain dumb things to gain that status" says Phyllis Ellickson, a senior RAND analyst. In high school, dangerous temptations arise from peers to use drugs, alcohol, and to engage in unsafe sex practices. These behaviors contribute to violence and emotional problems. Children between 12 and 18 are extremely vulnerable and have not developed the skills to cope with temptations that arise by this age.

Some of these temptations result in serious consequences, including death. Seventy-five percent of adolescent deaths are primarily caused by three things: automobile accidents, homicide and suicide. These are directly linked with risky behaviors, such as drug use (alcohol and other drugs). Twenty percent of high school seniors smoke and about 30% are binge drinkers. Such things often go together: drug usage increases the risk of unsafe behavior; teens with mental health problems often use drugs.

The problem is compounded by the limited ability to get help. About one-third of poor and near-poor teens have no medical coverage, and a surprisingly large portion of middle-income teens also lack coverage.

So, how do we prevent adolescents from potentially life threatening behaviors? Studys by Ellickson and others discovered that school-based prevention programs can curb drug use. These programs work best at delaying or reducing cigarette and marijuana use. These programs are most effective when continued throughout high school.

We can do better. Treatment plans need to be developed for adolescence that involve families, schools, and health professionals. "We need to promote community-based or school-linked systems of care that recognize the interrelatedness of many adolescent problems" says Ellickson. Better training in adolescent medicine would go a long way to helping health professionals identify with mental disorders and drug abuse in teens.

"Adolescence: Forgotten Age, Forgotten Problems." RAND Corporation Provides Objective Research Services and Public Policy Analysis. RAND, n.d. Web. 25 Jan. 2010. . www.dicts.info/img/ud/alcohol.jpg

Kentuckians and Increased Health Access

Thirty-eight percent of adults from 18-65 went without health insurance at some time during this past year, said a study done by the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky. This year the foundation joined with the Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati to conduct an extensive Kentucky Health Issues Poll.

There were over 1600 interviewed and the study had a margin of error less than 2.5 percent, according to Eric Rademacher of the Institute for Policy Research. Despite the economy, 81% of Kentuckians still favor “providing access to affordable, quality healthcare for all Americans,” noted Foundation Executive Director Susan Zepeda. This percentage is down 10 percentage points from the prior year. Of those favoring, 64% supported increased access “even if it means raising taxes.”


The support for access to healthcare may be a reflection of another finding from their study. Thirty-seven percent of white and 55% of African American Kentuckians 18-65 reported going without coverage now or some time in the past year. And, 47% of younger adults (18-29) and 49% of those with family incomes below the federal poverty level are currently uninsured. This contributed to the support of affordable quality healthcare for all Americans.

There were some insured Kentuckians who reported going without needed healthcare in 2009 “because of the cost.” For more information go to www.health-ky.org

Foundation for a Health Kentucky. Despite Economy, Kentuckians Still Favor Increased health Access. Jan 13, 2010.

Vision

I believe that there is one characteristic that differentiates homo sapiens from all other life species and that attribute is the capacity for vision. All other living creature's behaviors are dominated by their conditioning, their history, their past. Human beings have the additional option of visualizing a future that is yet to be and they can utilize it to determine how they will act.

A rat consistently reinforced for turning left at a choice point in a maze becomes conditioned to always turn left at that choice. A human being confronted with the same choice point can chose to turn right regardless of prior conditioning. We have the choice of repeating the past or innovating change in ourselves based upon where we wish to go rather than where we have been.

Vision provides us with direction. It allows us to gauge our progress and examine the effectiveness of our behaviors. If you know where you want to go you can begin to develop strategies to get there. When I counsel others invariably my first question is "What is your vision of how you would like your life to be?" Beginning with the end in mind allows us to evaluate the effectiveness of our choices in getting us there.

Conditioned behavior takes place at a level that generally is outside of our consciousness. I often recall the story of a friend of mine who found himself driving into his office parking lot to discover that his child was in the back seat because he was to have dropped him off at day care.
He mindlessly drove his usual route since he was conditioned by many repetitions to drive to work each morning. On this day he had a new destination but he did not keep his end in mind and so he repeated his old behaviors. Being mindful is the key.

How often have you experienced people coming from virtually identical backgrounds behaving in very different ways from one another. Consider a family of origin in which there is alcoholism and abuse. Too often such dysfunction appears to perpetuate itself but there are certainly instances of offspring who have created lives of sober living and family nurturance.

Breaking the tyranny of our past involves three components : 1) Developing a vision, 2) Evaluating the effectiveness of our behaviors in terms of moving us closer or further away from that vision and 3) Mindfulness of both our vision and behaviors.
It is these elements that make recovery, achievement and the shaping of our future, possible.

Howard F. Bracco, Ph.D.