Teen Issues
Alyssa Lindley
Teenagers have to learn how to deal with many different problems. During your teenage years people are going through changes and they are trying to find who they are. Teen issues are a major problem in today's world.
Teen Pregnancy
Teen pregnancy is when a girl between the ages of 13-19 become pregnant. There are many ways to tell if a young girl is pregnant. She would have the same symptoms as a older woman if she was pregnant like, nausea, abdominal distention, and fatigue. Statistics say 1 in 3 girls in South Carolina will become pregnant before her 20th birthday. 80% of teen mothers are unmarried, fathers pay <$800/year for child support. 95% of South Carolinians rate teen pregnancy as a problem in their community. There are so many ways to prevent pregnancy; you can enforce sex education classes in schools, target messages to teen boys and girls, and explain safe sex. Teen pregnancy rate increases every year, more and more teenage girls are becoming pregnant.
Sexual Diseases
A sexual disease is an infection transmitted through sexual contact, caused by bacteria, viruses, and parasites. Symptoms are not always obvious; some symptoms are painful urination, bleeding between periods, vaginal discharge in women, but there are other symptoms. People between the ages of 15 to 24, account for 50% of all new STD's. Although they represent just 25% of the sexually experienced population. The annual number of new infections is roughly equal amount teen girls (51%) and teen guys (49%). Some solutions for STD's are having regular doctor visits, have your partner checked for any diseases before sex, and if you have a STD get treated for it. There are so many teens with sexually transmitted diseases in today's world.
Eating Disorders
Eating Disorders are any range of psychological disorders characterized by abnormal or disturbed eating habits. Anorexia Nervosa is an emotional disorder characterized by an obsessive desire to lose weight by refusing to eat. Bulimia Nervosa is an emotional disorder involving distortion of body image and an obsessive desire to lose weight, in which bouts of extreme overeating are followed by depression and self-induced vomiting, purging, and fasting. Binge Eating is the consumption of large quantities of food in a short period of time, typically as part of an eating disorder. Teens and young adults between the ages 12 and 26 make up 95 percent of those who have eating disorders. Eating disorders are a daily struggle for 10 million females and 1 million males in the United States. 50% of teenage girls and 30% of teenage boys use unhealthy weight control behaviors such as skipping meals, fasting, smoking, vomiting, and taking laxatives to control their weight. Some symptoms are abnormal blood counts, insomnia, bluish discoloration of the fingers, thin hair, etc. There are some solutions for eating disorders but most of them involve professional help. Encouraging healthy eating habits, promote a healthy body image, and share dangers of dieting and emotional eating.
Depression
Depression is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest. This affects how teenagers think, feel, and behave; this also causes emotional, functional, and physical problems. More cases of depression are mental diseases, but there are cases of depression from people mentally, physically, and verbally abusing teenagers and children. About 20% of teens will experience teen depression before they reach adulthood. 30% of teens with depression also develop a substance abuse problem. Untreated depression is the number 1 cause of suicide, 90% of suicide victims suffer from a mental illness, and suffering from depression can make a teenager 12 times more likely to attempt suicide. Usually depression needs professional therapy and rehab to recover, but small cases just need antidepressants or other medication.
Drug and Alcohol Abuse
Substance abuse, is a patterned use of a drug in which the user consumes the substance in amounts or with methods which are harmful to themselves or others, and is a form of substance-related disorder. There are not that many symptoms but there are a few. Neglecting your responsibilities, built up a drug tolerance, take drugs to avoid or relieve withdrawal symptoms, lost control over your drug use and abandoned activities you used to enjoy. 4 in 10 high school students report drinking some alcohol and more than 1 in 5 have engaged in “binge drinking” daily. In 2014, hookah use continued to increase among high school students to 22.9 %. In 2014 27.2% of high school students used drugs. Some solutions are changes social / friends groups, go to a rehabilitation hospital and get medical help.