Today’s culture is rapidly changing and has a direct correlation in shaping our youth. Today’s adolescence are being pre-disposed to more at-risk behaviors now than ever before. Sexual activity, drugs, alcohol, and violence are just a few of the risky behaviors that we need to inform our students about. As professionals, it is our responsibility to help educate our youth on how to avoid risky behaviors. We need to advocate for the students as a whole, alternatives to risk-taking activities, and prevention programs. We may not be able to prevent the students from abstaining from the fore-mentioned activities, but educating them on the risks is crucial.
Studies seem to show that adolescents are most influenced by their peers.
Young adults …show more content…
The statistics on sexual behavior are shocking. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported, 41% of high school students have reported that they have had sexual intercourse. 43% of the students who admitted to having sexual intercourse, also admitted that they did not use a condom the last time they had sex. 14% of the students did not use any method of birth control to prevent pregnancy. 21% of students who had sex had used drugs/alcohol before having sexual intercourse. Only 10% of sexual active students have ever been tested for HIV (CDC, 2015.) Sexual activity places the students at higher risks for diseases and unplanned pregnancies. Young people who fall in the age category of 13-24 years old, account for an estimated 22% of new HIV cases in the United States. Also, 10 million repowered cased of new STDs, were reported from those ages 15-24. Approximately, 250,000 babies were born to young girls aged 15-19 years old in 2014 (CDC, 2015.) Our students are becoming younger when they begin to experience life styles that are not meant for them. They need to become more educated on the risks associated with their …show more content…
This suggests that interactive programs are effective, the degree to which is discussed in a practical context below. Figure 1 graphically depicts the efficacy of these results. What is quickly observed is that, regardless of whether only high quality experimental studies [56 (46.6%) out of 120 studies] or all studies are included in the analyses, interactive programs are statistically superior to non-interactive programs across different drugs to include tobacco, alcohol, cannabis, and other illicit drugs. Although not graphically displayed, interactive programs also are statistically superior to DARE, a well- known, national program. Tobler and Stratton ' noted that the interactive programs had higher weighted effect sizes (WES, proportional to the sample size) in comparison to the four project DARE programs and another group of non-interactive programs. Their WESs were .19, .07, and .08, respectively” (Black, Tobler, & Sciacca,
Studies seem to show that adolescents are most influenced by their peers.
Young adults …show more content…
The statistics on sexual behavior are shocking. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported, 41% of high school students have reported that they have had sexual intercourse. 43% of the students who admitted to having sexual intercourse, also admitted that they did not use a condom the last time they had sex. 14% of the students did not use any method of birth control to prevent pregnancy. 21% of students who had sex had used drugs/alcohol before having sexual intercourse. Only 10% of sexual active students have ever been tested for HIV (CDC, 2015.) Sexual activity places the students at higher risks for diseases and unplanned pregnancies. Young people who fall in the age category of 13-24 years old, account for an estimated 22% of new HIV cases in the United States. Also, 10 million repowered cased of new STDs, were reported from those ages 15-24. Approximately, 250,000 babies were born to young girls aged 15-19 years old in 2014 (CDC, 2015.) Our students are becoming younger when they begin to experience life styles that are not meant for them. They need to become more educated on the risks associated with their …show more content…
This suggests that interactive programs are effective, the degree to which is discussed in a practical context below. Figure 1 graphically depicts the efficacy of these results. What is quickly observed is that, regardless of whether only high quality experimental studies [56 (46.6%) out of 120 studies] or all studies are included in the analyses, interactive programs are statistically superior to non-interactive programs across different drugs to include tobacco, alcohol, cannabis, and other illicit drugs. Although not graphically displayed, interactive programs also are statistically superior to DARE, a well- known, national program. Tobler and Stratton ' noted that the interactive programs had higher weighted effect sizes (WES, proportional to the sample size) in comparison to the four project DARE programs and another group of non-interactive programs. Their WESs were .19, .07, and .08, respectively” (Black, Tobler, & Sciacca,