At Risk Youth

Last week, a 15-year-old high school student drowned when he tried to make good on a dare to swim across the Patuxent River in Maryland. Strong currents swept him downstream and his friends were unable to pull him from the water in time. His death has re-ignited the conversation and concerns about teenagers engaging in risky behavior.

“Knowing what’s going on inside the teenage mind can help parents better understand where their children are coming from and why they make such seemingly stupid decision sometimes, [Dr. Lou] Aymard said…

Such lessons can help parents prevent their teens from taking dares and risks. Another way to help is to keep the channels of communication open so that when trouble is brewing, teens trust their parents enough to talk about it.” [Source: The Capital]

Karin Anstendig-Mosk is a psychologist who works with teenagers. She suggests that parents who are concerned about their teens’ thrill-seeking try to channel that energy into something else, like extreme sports. While there’s still a risk involved, it’s more manageable, and someone is more likely to be around if the teen gets hurt.

Only one in four teenage boys who engage in high-risk sex is receiving adequate counseling about sexually transmitted diseases, according to a new study from the Johns Hopkins University.

High-risk sex was defined as having sex with prostitutes or while drunk, or having sex with someone who is infected with HIV.

The boys in the study who did receive counseling received it from their doctors.

This study appeared in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

Though the risks of excessive video gaming have become better understood in recent years, a new study has revealed a surprising effect of spending too much time in the company of the console.

According to researchers with the University of Iowa, the longer teenagers spend playing video games, the more likely they are to have tooth decay.

Researchers studied adolescents ages 12 to 16 years old and found that video gamers tended to eat sugary sweets and drink sweet sodas as they played their games, leading to tooth decay.

“For these kids ages 12 to 16 who are gamers living without parental supervision after school, tooth decay is huge, and they will pay for it for a lifetime unfortunately,” said Dr. Anne Stewart, vice president of the Australian dental Association. “It’s really not a surprise. These studies back up what is already known about the tooth decay process and what we have been telling patients for years about snacking.”

Every year, more than 1.6 million teenagers run away. Some stay with friends, moving from house to house. But most end up on the streets. Joe Mazzilli and his team are hoping to find some of these kids and bring them home.

Monday night, Mazzilli stars in “Runaway Squad,” a reality show making its debut on A&E that follows him and his team as they comb gritty streets – and the Internet – to rescue troubled kids …

Mazilli worked undercover for the NYPD, infiltrating the Colombo crime family and Colombian drug gangs. He also started the “Pimp Squad’”to lock up enslavers of the young girls who flocked to Times Square in the ’70s and ’80s. [Source: New York Daily News]

The show’s first episode will follow Mazzilli and his team as they search for 15-year-old Tayvela who’s been missing for nine months. Mazzilli hopes people who watch his show will realize how many teenagers are living on the streets, in danger of being exploited and even killed.

Teenagers take risks because they like the thrill, not because they have problems understanding the consequences of their behavior, according to a new study from University College London’s Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience.

Professor Stephanie Burnett and her colleagues studied 86 males, ages 9 to 35 as they played a computer gambling game, and found that the 14-year-olds were the most likely to choose the riskiest maneuvers.

“This is the first evidence from a laboratory-based study that adolescents are risk takers,” said Dr. Burnett. “The onset of adolescence marks an explosion in risky activities — from dangerous driving, unsafe sex, and experimentation with alcohol to poor dietary habits and physical and activity.”

The study appeared in the journal Cognitive Development.