high school seniors use alcohol daily, while 92% have tried it. Millions of teens have had adverse experiences caused by excessive drinking. (Elkind 203) Researchers have found that depressed teens are at particularly high risk for drug and alcohol abuse. Abuse of drugs, alcohol, or other substances is often used to assuage depression. Studies have found that when depressed patients were given treatment, alcohol and drug intake diminished as well. Substance abuse is seen as both a symptom and a cause of depression. (Papolos 66) There is more sexual activity among teenagers today than at any other time in our history. By the time they leave high school, some 90% of seniors are no longer virgins. Sexually transmitted diseases among teenagers have reached epidemic proportions. Eight million young people each year are infected with a sexually transmitted disease. Every thirty seconds, another U.S. teenager is infected. (Elkind 71) Sexual acting-out, which cannot only be life changing, but also life-threatening in this age of AIDS, can become an antidote to the loneliness and isolation many teenagers feel. Sexual activity is often used as an attempt to deal with feelings of depression, to increase self-esteem by feeling wanted and to achieve intimacy. (McCoy 21)Approximately 3,000 teenage girls in the United States will get pregnant today. An estimated 3 million teenage girls become pregnant each year. Beth is a shy, quiet eighth-grader who is expecting a baby in two months. Beth admits her pregnancy was intentional and she plans to keep her baby "because then I'll have someone of my own who will love me for sure. I won't be alone anymore." This illusion of unconditional love, coupled with a lack of insight into the unrelenting demands that the complete dependence of an infant brings leads a number of girls to seek pregnancy." Some teens see parenthood as a way to recapture the joy of childhood they are losing, a way to be loved ...
