Public Health Commission Convenes Forum to Discuss Dating Violence April 24, 2009
Posted by Katelyn Mack in Children and Adolescents, Events, Neighborhoods, Violence.5 comments
This afternoon, the Boston Public Health Commission along with Northeastern University brought together stakeholders and citizens interested in learning more about youth attitudes toward dating violence and current activities to prevent intimate abuse and reach out to teens.
Soon after Chris Brown’s assault on Rihanna in February, the Commission conducted a survey of 200 teens to examine their attitude toward dating violence, and the Rihanna-Chris Brown incident specifically. The results: staggering.
- 44% of youth said fighting was a normal part of a relationship.
- 46% said Rihanna was responsible for the incident.
- 52% said both individuals were to blame (despite knowing that Rihanna had been beaten badly enough to require hospital treatment)
Young people from various violence prevention organizations sat on a panel to discuss the findings and share their own views on dating violence and its meaning for Boston teens. They gave excellent commentary and provided strong insight into some of the causes of partner violence, especially witnessing domestic violence in your own family, and the lack of awareness and communication about the issue.
Boston is in a strong position to address dating violence; they have a Division of Violence Prevention and recently received funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to develop programs and change norms around dating violence among young adolescents. The RWJF program is called Strong Start: Building Healthy Teen Relationships and is directed by Casey Corcoran.
The organizers were extremely cognizant of the need to include young people in the discussion, especially in dicussing what the results of this survey really mean.
Strong Start intends to continue these conversations in neighborhoods throughout the city. If you hear about one near you — go! And if you have kids, bring them too!
What Teenagers REALLY Think April 22, 2009
Posted by healthandsociety in Children and Adolescents, Neighborhoods.add a comment
The teenage mind is a funny thing. On one level, teens are capable of complex logical reasoning that is equivalent to that of an adult, by about age 16. But cool-headed comprehension is not the same as decision making, judgment and planning – also known as executive function, these competencies don’t finish developing until as late as 25. Moreover, at puberty the brain’s sensitivity to dopamine – or the “reward” neurotransmitter – changes, so that teens seek out greater thrills and risks to get the same level of satisfaction they had in childhood, also known as “reward deficiency syndrome.”
Early adolescent brain changes that encourage risk taking, late adolescent brain development of impulse control and self regulation: a temporal window for the perfect storm that makes the teenage years so turbulent.
So what does all of this biologically-driven, individualistic neuroscience mumbo jumbo have to do with the social factors and influences that affect health?
One: Because the other decision-making portions of their brains haven’t developed yet, teens rely on their emotions to help them make decisions. This also makes them particularly susceptible to peer influence. Ever notice that most risk-taking by teens occurs in groups? Who your peers are, their norms and expectations, these are all influenced largely by environment.
Two: Many high risk behaviors begin in adolescence. If we really want to learn more about preventing violence, alcohol and drug abuse, risky sexual practices, many have their roots in this period of vulnerability to risk-taking.
Three: Interactions between genes and environment shape the brain’s development. Adolescence is a period of great brain development that begins with a wave of proliferation of neural synapses, followed by pruning and myelination; you trade plasticity and potential for increased competency and faster connections between the brain cells that remain. It is critical to create safe, supportive environments in which teenagers can develop. This means supportive home environments, school environments, neighborhoods. This is an interactive process between biology and social context, between neurons and neighborhoods.
Families and individuals are constrained by external forces that shape the flexibility and choices they have. Parents cannot provide oversight to their children if they have a 3 hour daily commute of bus connections or traffic-logged highways, or if they have to work multiple jobs just to make ends meet. We need safe neighborhoods for our children. The family unit is important, but families do not exist in a vacuum. Poverty and income inequality, access to healthy foods, neighbors and friends who can lend a hand, safety and crime, presence of sidewalks or parks to facilitate exercise, these all affect a family and individual’s options to lead a healthy life.
Four: In order to truly understand how the larger social context affects teenagers, we should understand the brain’s response to this context, and which tools we can capitalize upon to effect change.
At the very least, the next time a teen acts out – in your life, or as portrayed in the media – you’ll hvae a better understanding as to why.
