At Risk Youth

Violent crimes continued to be committed by teenagers — and at least one official is calling for harsher penalties for those who use guns in the commission of these offenses.

We’re seeing serious robberies committed by kids who really aren’t fully mature in the way they think but they’re carrying guns which makes them very dangerous …

[King County, WA Prosecutor Dan] Satterberg is focusing on research that shows juvenile brains are not yet fully developed. He cites studies that show adolescents must rely heavily on emotional centers of the brain when making decisions.[Source: KCPQ-TV (Seattle)]

Satterberg suggests that penalties for teens who use guns to commit violent crimes should be harsher, in the hopes that stiffer penalties would make kids think twice. Satterberg has lobbied for such changes to Washington state laws, but been told the change would cost too much money.

Teenagers who are just entering puberty often experience sleep disorders, such as trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, being overtired in the daytime. Now a new study from University Nijmegen finds a link between early puberty, sleep problems and alcohol abuse. Some teenagers may be using alcohol in order to fall asleep.

Professor Carmen Van der Zwaluw studied 430 children ages 11 to 14 years old, and found that entering puberty was related to sleep problems and later bedtimes, which in turn correlate with experiments with alcohol.

The study appeared in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

Teenagers who take antidepressants are at five times the risk of suicide as other teenagers according to a new study. The type of antidepressant a teen is taking did not change the likelihood of suicidal thoughts or attempts.

Researchers in British Colombia followed 20,906 children ages 10 to 18 years old white men diagnosed with depression and prescribed an antidepressant. There were no significant differences in suicide risk among the five depressants studied, which included fluoxetine, fluvoxamine, citalopram, paroxetine, and sertraline.

“Our analysis supports the decision of the Food and Drug Administration to include all antidepressants in the black box warning regarding increased suicide risk for children and adolescents initiating use of antidepressants,” said lead author Dr. Sebastian Schneeweiss of Harvard University.

This study appeared in the journal Pediatrics.

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.

In Saginaw County, Michigan, several organizations work to encourage young men to look beyond their immediate environments and toward their potential futures. One of the Michigan organizations that are dedicated to helping troubled teens is the Kappa Instructional Leadership League.

Eric Joyce of The Saginaw Newsreported on the Leadership League’s efforts in an April 10 article:

“The teenagers in the community are not just fighting and shooting and killing each other,” Prince F. Robertson said. “We do have teenagers in the community that are involved in their schools, in sports, academics and other groups such as ours.”

Robertson is the program director for the Kappa Instructional Leadership League for at-risk high school students in Saginaw County. …

“Our main goal is to have them achieve in every field of human endeavor,” Robertson said. “We do our best to teach them how to be responsible, to be successful young men and to be leaders in the community.”

He said the Kappa “leaguers” are invited into the program and meet after school about twice a month throughout the academic year. They practice their leadership skills through community involvement by fundraising, community service and cultural events across the state.