Check out these culture snapshots pulled from the pages of YouthWorker Journal.
Teens Smoking Less (But They Still Text a Lot)
There was a bevy of good news in the new National Youth Risk Behavior Survey, released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But every silver lining, it seemed, had a cloud.
The survey, in which more than 13,000 American high school students participated, found that teen smoking is at its lowest since the CDC started conducting its bi-annual servey in 1991. Just 15.7 percent of students say they smoked in 2013—a two percentage-point drop from 2011 and more than 20 points lower than the all-time high of 36.4 percent, hit in 1997.
But the CDC cautions that other surveys have shown that e-cigarette use is on the rise.
Teens don’t watch television nearly as much as they used to, either. Only about a third said they watched more than three hours of TV a day. But they’re using other screened devices a lot more. More than 41 percent admit to using some sort of computer device for more than three hours a day for something other than studying. And doctors have long warned that too much screen time is bad for a child’s health.
They’re having less sex overall: Less than half of teens (47 percent) said they were sexually active, compared to the 54 percent of teens in 1991 who admitted to having sex. But doctors lament that sexually active teens are using condoms less frequently.
Also troubling: More than two out of every five teens—41 percent, to be exact—admitted to texting and driving at least once in the last month. (CDC, Washington Post)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/06/12/high-school-kids-are-giving-up-on-cigarettes-and-tv-but-they-have-a-few-other-problems/
A Reasonable Stance on Pot
Children raised by controlling, overbearing parents are more likely to use marijuana than those of parents who rely more on reason and persuasion, according to a new study conducted across six European countries (Spain, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Portugal and the United Kingdom).
For the study, researchers asked more than 7,000 kids between the ages of 11 and 19 to describe the parenting styles of their mothers and fathers, ranging from controlling to lenient. The scientists found that parents who “reasoned” with their children were most effective in steering them away from pot.
“Our results support the idea that extremes are not effective: Neither authoritarianism nor absence of control and affection,” said study author Amandor Calafat. (Time)
If You’re a Strict Parent, Your Kid Is More Likely to Smoke Pot
‘Go Away. This ATM Has Been Hacked’
A group of precocious but considerate teens spent their lunch hour trying to hack into a nearby ATM in Montreal, Canada. But when the 14-year-olds succeeded in doing so, they promptly marched to the bank to let officials know what they did.
Bank personnel were skeptical at first … until the teens came back with proof in the form of all sorts of personal documents from the ATM—and they changed the ATM’s greeting screen from its normally chipper “Welcome to the BMO ATM” to “Go away. This ATM has been hacked.”
Eventually, the branch manager sat down with the teens to discuss how the bank might improve security, and then sent them back to school with a note explaining why they were a little late to class. (The Winnepeg Sun)
http://www.winnipegsun.com/2014/06/08/code-crackers–charleswood-teens-hack-into-grant-avenue-atm
Top 10 Favorite Shows “Liked” by Both Dad and His Kids
- Family Guy
- Tosh.0
- House
- NCIS
- The Office
- Duck Dynasty
- The Big Bang Theory
- Two and a Half Men
- Sons of Anarchy
- MythBusters
(The list looks a bit different when Facebook separates “likes” between boys and girls. When it came to dads and daughters, the top five mutually liked shows were NCIS, Teen Mom, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Grey’s Anatomy and Duck Dynasty. Fathers and sons, meanwhile, mutually liked Seth McFarlane’s Family Guy, followed by SportsCenter, Mythbusters, Tosh.0 and South Park.
(Source: Facebook, Time)
http://time.com/2861293/the-top-10-interests-dads-share-with-their-kids-according-to-facebook/