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Why Does Every Teenager Need To See
"Dead Serious...About Life"
Suicide
approximately 11 young people between the ages of 15-24 die every day by suicide
in just a 24 hour time period, 1,439 teens will attempt suicide
there are over 4,135 teen suicides (ages 15-24) each year.
every 38 seconds, a teenager will attempt suicide
suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death among 15-24 year olds.
1 in 5 teens have seriously considered attempting suicide.
teen suicide statistics reveal teen suicide rates have tripled since 1970.
more than 1 in 12 had made a suicide attempt in the past year.
Pregnancy
each year, almost 750,000 women aged 15-19 become pregnant.
There were 214,750 abortions among 15-19 year olds in 2002.
1106 teenager girls have abortions every day.
every 60 seconds a child is born to a teen mother.
Sex
one out of three 13 to 15 year olds have had sex.
on average, music videos contain 93 sexual situations per hour, including eleven "hard core" scenes depicting behaviors such as intercourse and oral sex.
46% of all high school students report that they have had sexual intercourse.
half of all new HIV infections occur among adolescents.
73% of all teens say that the reason they engage in sex is due to social pressure
one in four sexually active teens become infected with an STD every year.
46% of those surveyed used no form of contraception.
Families
one out of four children live with only one parent.
500,000 children live in foster care.
Each day, 3506 kids run away from home.
one out of 3 children are born to unmarried parents.
Each day, 2,989 kids find out that their parents are getting divorced.
Drugs
in 24 hours, 15,006 teens will use drugs for the first time.
more than 60% of teens said that drugs were sold, used or kept at their schools.
nearly one in five teens has tried prescription medication to get high.
one in 10 teens reports abusing cough medicine to get high.
marijuana use in the past year has more than doubled since 1992 among 10th graders.
50% of the junior high, middle school and high school students surveyed admitted involvement in some kind of drug related substance.
Alcohol & Drugs
78% of the survey high school students had their first drink before the age of 16.
It is estimated that more than 3 million teenages in the US between the ages of 14-17 are problem drinkers..
80% of the high school students surveyed have consumed alcohol beyond a few sips before graduating from high school.
74% of high school students nationwide had one or more drinks of alcohol during their lifetime.
Almost 11% of 8th graders, 22% of 10th graders, and 27% of 12th graders report binge drinking.
in the last 30 days, 50% of teenagers report drinking with 32% being drunk at least on one occasion.
each year, college students spend approximately $5.5 billion on alcohol - more than they spend on soft drinks, milk, juice tea, coffee and books combined.
Cutting/Self-Mutilation
for 3 million Americans, cutting is a serious problem.
of those surveyed, 72% were cutters, 30% self hitting, 22% hair pulling, 10% bone breaking, 5% burning.
1 in 5 teens say they have purposely injured themselves.
Church Kids
55% of the Christian teens surveyed said they were sexually active.
by the age of thirteen, 43% of the “churched” teens had experiences sexual intercourse and 65% of the youth had engaged in fondling breast and/or sexual intercourse.
less than 10% of the churched teens differed in their moral values and actions from non-christian teens.
Resources
Josh McDowell, “Why Wait”
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 1999 survey
2002 Kids Count Date Book by The Annie E. Casey Foundation.
1998 American Association of Suicidology statistics
National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. (1997). Whatever Happened to Childhood? The Problem of Teen Pregnancy in the United States. Washington, DC
Analysis of Henshaw, S.K., U.S. Teenage Pregnancy Statistics
New York: Alan Guttmacher Institute, May, 1996; and Forest, J.D.,
Maynard, R.A., (Ed.). (1996). Kids Having Kids: A Robin Hood Foundation Special Report on the Costs of Adolescent Childbearing,
Wolfe, B., & Perozek, M. (1997). Teen Children's Health and Health Care Use. In R.A. Maynard (Ed..), Kids Having Kids: Economic Costs and Social Consequences of Teen Pregnancy,(pp. 181-203).
George, R.M., & Lee, B.J. (1997). Abuse and Neglect of Children.