What Social Workers Should Know about the Status of Adolescent Health
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Risk-taking behaviors, such as substance use and abuse, are escalating.
Cigarette smoking is the single leading preventable cause of death, yet the prevalence of cigarette smoking among high school students has increased 27 percent since 1991 (CDC, 2000c).
The most recent data from 1999 indicates that about half of all high school students report alcohol use within the last 30 days, and 63 percent report binge drinking (CDC, 2000c).
Trends in illicit drug use are also on the rise. More than half of our nation's 12th graders have tried an illicit drug, and more than 29 percent have tried a drug other than marijuana, such as cocaine, inhalants, or heroin (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration [ SAMHSA] , 2000).
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The health and well-being of our young people and the adults they will develop to be, is critically affected by health behaviors adopted during adolescence, and the social context. The genesis of most health problems in adolescents are environmental and behavioral in nature, and social influences, good and bad, can foster, mitigate, or exacerbate immediate and long-term health consequences and conditions. Although key health threats are preventable, we have not been able to reduce, reverse, or eliminate alarming trends of mortality and morbidity in our youths.
Violence continues to be a pervasive health problem disproportionately affecting children and adolescents in the United States.
- Approximately 17 youths are murdered each day. Homicide is the second leading cause of death for people 15 to 24 years of age and is the leading cause of death for African Americans (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [ CDC] , 2000a).
- The prevalence of intimate partner violence among teenagers is also cause for concern as a quarter of eighth and ninth-grade students have experienced dating violence, and 8 percent have been victims of sexual dating violence (CDC, 2000b).
- Partner violence is an important issue to address within the context of adolescence, particularly for girls in that domestic violence is the number one public health threat to women in their adult years.
Unprotected sexual activity is also linked to key health problems experienced by teenagers.
- Although national overall rates of teenage pregnancy have decreased, African American and Latina teenagers continue to experience disproportionate rates of pregnancy.
- Every year, 3 million adolescents contract sexually transmitted diseases (Alan Guttmacher Institute [ AGI] , 2000).
One-quarter of all new HIV infections in the U.S. are estimated to occur in young people under the age of 21( Advocates for Youth, 1998). Sixty-four percent of adolescents between the ages of 13 to 19 reported with HIV are females, and 84 percent are minority youth (CDC, 2000d). Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death during adolescence. A disturbing 19.3 percent of all students have seriously considered suicide, and females are disproportionately represented in this category at 25 percent (CDC, 2000e).
- The rate of suicide among those 10 to 14 years old has increased 100 percent from 1980 to 1996, with a 14 percent increase for those between the ages of 15 to 19 (U.S. Public Health Service, 1999).
- African American males experienced the most dramatic increase of 105 percent (U.S. Public Health Service, 1999).
Improving Adolescent Health: Implications for Social Work The proliferation of poor health outcomes among our nation's youths reflects their unmet needs and the inadequacies of our current investments. Addressing the factors affecting adolescents and their families will help to improve our nation's overall health status. Efficacy of interventions, however, will require a move beyond biology, toward a broadened yet integrated understanding of, and attention to, the multiplicity of factors and complexity of circumstances affecting adolescent health and well-being. Improvements in health status will require the collective efforts of individuals and communities, social institutions, and the different disciplines involved with adolescents. It is evident that improvements in adolescent health require interdisciplinary, collaborative, and comprehensive efforts. The involvement of social work, with our expertise and broad scope of involvement with youths and families, schools, and health service institutions, is vital to the achievement of good health outcomes for our youths. The social work profession values the fundamental underlying need for positive youth development as an effective approach in improving adolescent health. Social work has long acknowledged the need for a "new paradigm" in defining and addressing adolescent health by highlighting strengths and assets on which to build. It is important that we understand the importance of our role in advocating for programs, policies, and practices that promote adolescent health. References Advocates for Youth, (1998). Factsheet on Adolescents, HIV/AIDS, and other STDs. Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI), 2000. Factsheet on STDs and HIV. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2000a). Factsheet on Youth Violence in the United States. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2000b). Factsheet on Dating Violence. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2000c). National Center for Health Statistics, Adolescent Health Chartbook. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2000d). (National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention). HIV/AIDS Surveillance in Adolescents. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2000e). Youth risk behavior surveillance, 1999. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Factsheet on Adolescent Substance Abuse and Treatment. U.S. Public Health Service, The Surgeon General's Call To Action To Prevent Suicide. Washington, DC: 1999.
Shelia Clark, MSW
Senior Staff Associate
Adolescent Health
sclark@naswdc.org |
