The Changing Lives of Teens

Let’s start with the good news. When it comes to time-honored forms of teen rebellion–sex, cigarettes, fistfights–American adolescents appear to have heeded some important health warnings. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest survey of 13,000 high school students found that the numbers for all three were down compared with recent years. But the report also shows that teens seem to have traded in those unhealthy behaviors for new ones. Here’s the lowdown.

The Ups, Downs and In-Betweens of Teens

SMOKING

DOWN

CIGARETTE SMOKING dropped to 15.7%, the lowest in 22 years and below the 2020 goal of having no more than 16% of teens smoking.

STEADY

Use of SMOKELESS TOBACCO remains unchanged, and vaping with E-CIGARETTES, whose health effects are unknown, is growing.

SEX

DOWN

About 34% of teens reported HAVING SEX in the past three months, representing a continued decline since 1991.

UP

The percentage of sexually active teens who DID NOT USE A CONDOM during intercourse is up since 2003, to 41%.

SCREEN TIME

UP

Daily leisure use of COMPUTERS, TABLETS AND SMARTPHONES for more than three hours doubled since 2003.

DOWN

Since 1991, TV WATCHING dropped. Just 32% of teens viewed more than three hours of television a day.

HEALTH

DOWN

Fewer teens are DRINKING SUGARY SODAS; 27% said they had one in the past week, compared with 34% in 2007.

STEADY

OBESITY remains high, with 14% of teens obese and 17% overweight, although rates have been leveling off since 2011.

DRIVING

UP

Distracted driving is up, with 41% of teens admitting to TEXTING OR EMAILING WHILE BEHIND THE WHEEL.

DOWN

While teen CAR ACCIDENTS are down from 1970, they still account for 23% of deaths among 10-to-24-year-olds.

BULLYING

DOWN

A quarter of students were PART OF A PHYSICAL FIGHT in the past year. In 1991, it was twice that.

NOT ENOUGH DATA

Violence is moving online; the survey now asks about CYBER-BULLYING, but there isn’t enough data to assess trends yet.

Source: CDC MMWR Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance–United States, 2013; Insurance Institute for Highway Safety