A new study examines the relationship between teens who participate in family activities and those who engage in sexual activity, including how safe they are. Many studies have been done on whether or not teens actually have sex, but not to the degree of protection they were using.
To investigate, as well as to better define whether parental qualities influence a child’s sexual behavior rather than vice versa, [Boston College’s Dr. Rebekah Levine] Coley and her team used increasingly stringent statistical techniques to analyze the results of a survey of 4,950 U.S. teens, 1,058 of whom were siblings. The adolescents were 12 to 16 years old when the study began, and completed the survey every year for 3 years.
By comparing parenting quality and sexual behavior for siblings raised in the same household, Coley noted, it is possible to tease out potential cause-and-effect relationships.
The more times a week that an adolescent reported having dinner with their family, "doing something religious" as a family, or having fun with their family, the less likely he or she was to engage in risky sexual behavior, the researchers found.
However, having a parent who used "negative and psychologically controlling" behavior increased the likelihood that a teen would be having risky sex. This includes "criticizing the ideas of the adolescents, controlling and directing what they think and how they feel," Coley explained.
The findings make it clear, Coley said, that "what parents do with their adolescents really matters."
Statistics on children’s internet usage as reported in a study by Cox Communications and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children:
- By age seven, 60 percent of kids have been online; a number that jumps to 90 percent by age 9, the study said. Most tweens – kids between the ages of 8 and 12 — stay on the Internet for at least two hours a day.
- About 71 percent of kids age 11-12 have personal email accounts, compared to 42 percent of kids age 8-10. About 41 percent of older tweens use instant message; 15 percent of younger kids use IM.
- As for social networking profiles, many of which have age limits, 34 percent of 11-12 year olds said they had profiles, while 9 percent of 8-10 years old said they used the sites.
- 28 percent of tweens reported having been contacted by a stranger while online. About 18 percent did not tell anyone about being contacted, while 11 percent responded to the stranger. However, not many tweens reported actually meeting the people with whom they chatted online.
- 22 percent of kids said they have friends who have been bullied online.
As children and teens become more and more web savvy, keeping up with their online activities is becoming increasingly difficult for parents. A Galveston, Texas woman learned that that hard way when her 15 year old daughter went missing. It was discovered the teen had gone off to meet with someone she met on MySpace and was gone for more than two days.
As it turns out, not even Gonzales’ mother knew of her daughter’s online activities. Police said the teen’s conversations with the man who she allegedly ran off with began in May.
No one knew how serious those conversations were.
That, said child safety experts, is the first tip parents should follow.
“You (need to) monitor that activity. Know who your kids are interacting with,” said Ken Baines, the director of programs of the Covenant House.
Studies have shown a third of all teenagers have been contacted by complete strangers online. Experts agree the best defense is still a face-to-face conversation before stories like Lauralee Gonzales’ begin.
A video report that addresses the issue further can be found on
KHOU.com
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Many parents these days don’t know the best way to protect their child, so they fall into one extreme camp or the other, the ones that hover and others that are hands off. Surely there is a happy medium in there somewhere, no? Parenting expert Pattie Fitzgerald lays out a few key things to remember in a commentary she wrote for MomLogic.com:
1. It’s a parent’s job to help our kids learn to recognize unsafe situations or behaviors in others, especially when we aren’t around to intercede. But we need to do so in a way that empowers our children with confidence and self-esteem.
2. Kids need an inner barometer that tells them when something or someone doesn’t seem quite right.
3. Not every stranger is waiting in the wings, ready to scoop up an unsuspecting child.
To read the rest of Pattie’s recommendations, check out her commentary, as well as her site SafelyEverAfter.com.
An Amber Alert is the most widely know system of finding missing children. But did you know that one is not always issued should a child go missing? Each state has very strict criteria for how to issue an alert. Las Vegas Metro Police Sergeant Tom Wagner informs us on the qualifications to issue an Amber Alert in Nevada:
First, for an Amber Alert to be issued, there has to be a confirmed abduction. "So, what we want is somebody that saw the abduction, whether there was a note left by a suspect," said Sergeant Wagner.
Secondly, the child must be under 18. Third, there must be threat of serious bodily harm or death. And fourth, police need something to tell the public. Explains Wagner, "Whether that’s the description of the vehicle, whether that’s a license plate, suspect’s name, suspect’s description."
And when that information goes away, so does the Amber Alert. When the car the Ortega brothers were in was found, even though the boys were still missing, the Amber Alert ended. "So we’re going to be very careful when we activate an Amber Alert to make sure it fits those four criteria."
And the system works. Out of 30 Alerts issues in Nevada since the inception of the program in 2004, 29 children were found safe.
Are your kids getting enough exercise? Not as they get older according to new research , which is having adverse effects on their health.
Kids who were averaging three hours of moderate to vigorous activity when they were 9 barely manage to get more than a half-hour of daily exercise by the time they reach 15, according to a study in the July 16 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The lack of physical activity is linked to the growing problem of childhood obesity, and most experts recommend that children should be getting at least one hour of moderate to vigorous activity each day, reports the study.
Modern conveniences such as the ability to drive to school as well as elevators and other means of automatic transportation have been a big aid to children not getting enough physical activity. Parents are encouraged to stress the importance of this so that their children can live as healthy a life as possible.
The Child Safety Pilot Program, which allows groups to obtain background checks on volunteers that will be working with children, will be getting an extension in Michigan thanks to Representative Mike Rogers.
“The pre-existing Child Safety Pilot Program stopped criminals with very serious convictions — including sexual abuse of minors, assault and murder — from working with vulnerable children,” said Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton. “Extending the pilot will allow organizations to continue to protect children while Congress works on a permanent, nationally-accessible solution.”
Rogers is working with Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., to establish a permanent background check system for youth-serving organizations.
Curious about the hidden dangers in your home for small children? A non profit group in Kansas City is in the process of opening a demonstration house that showcases safety issues that may arise in your home and highlights how to make it a safer space for your family. Called Charlie’s Safe Haven, the group hopes to inform parents about issues they might not think about and save any accidents from happening.
In the Kansas City area, Fenwick [Julie Fenwick, executive director] said the major sources of accidental child injuries and deaths are from falls, burns, poison, hits from other children or running into furniture and walls, and being struck by a motor vehicle. Charlie’s Safe Haven will focus on those five biggest concerns, she said, because those are the main reasons a place like the demonstration house is so important.
Plans are in the works to open the first safety house through grants with Children’s Mercy Family Health Partners.
