A frightening situation? Youth in the USA today.

The Youth Behavior Surveillance System monitors categories of health-risk behaviours among youth and young adults in the USA. A recent study on the young, aged 10 24 years, indicated that three-quarters of all deaths were due to only four causes, namely motor vehicle crashes, other unintentional injuries, homicide, and suicide.' High-school students engage in numerous behaviours that increase their likelihood of death from these four causes: during the 30 days preceding the survey, 14.1% had rarely or never worn a seat belt, 30.7% had ridden with a driver who had been drinking alcohol, 17.4% had carried a weapon, 47.1% had drunk alcohol, and 23.9% had used marijuana. During the previous 12 months 8.8% had attempted suicide. Substantial morbidity and social problems among young persons resulted from unintended pregnancies and from sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV infection. Among high-school students, 45.6% had had sexual intercourse; 42.1% of sexually active students had not used a condom at last intercourse; and 2.3% had injected an illegal drug. With regard to other adverse characteristics, 28.5% of high-school students had smoked cigarettes during previous 30 days; 78.6% had not eaten the recommended 5 servings per day of fruits and vegetables during the previous 7 days; 10.5% were overweight; and 67.8% did not attend a school physical education class daily.