teens

Michigan teenagers may have a better chance of landing a summer job

Steve Carmody — Mon, 13 May 2013 19:06:00 +0000

Michigan labor officials say teenagers may have a better chance this year of landing a summer job.

In the summer of 2010, at the height of the recession, teen summer unemployment was pegged at 35 percent.

State economic analyst Bruce Weaver predicts this summer teen unemployment should be closer to 25 percent.

“The types of industries that tend to hire teens … which primarily fall in the service and retail sector … have added jobs in Michigan over the past several years,” says Weaver.

How do we react when kids make mistakes?

Mark Brush — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 17:24:30 +0000

The State of Opportunity team found this short animation put together by a campaign called "Mistakes Kids Make."

The campaign is described as a "storytelling project to remind us that the mistakes we make as kids should not ruin the rest of our lives." It's funded by the MacArthur Foundation.

Take a look at the video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y45RismalUw

Michigan ban on teen drivers using cell phones starts tomorrow

Steve Carmody — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 18:32:00 +0000

A new state law takes effect tomorrow that bans teenage drivers from talking on a cell phone behind the wheel.

“Kelsey’s law” is named for an Upper Peninsula teen who died in a car accident while using her mobile phone in 2010.

Kelsey’s mother, Bonnie Raffaele, lobbied hard for the law.

“Kelsey’s law will undoubtedly save lives,” says Bonnie Raffaele, “We may not know the exact number that it will save, but we know that it will save lives.”

Snyder OKs ban on phone use by teen drivers

Rick Pluta — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 23:26:45 +0000

New drivers in Michigan will soon face restrictions on cell phone use while they’re behind the wheel.

Governor Rick Snyder signed “Kelsey’s Law” Tuesday.

It bans cell phone use by teen drivers who still have their probationary licenses unless they use a hands-free device or are reporting an emergency.

The law is named for 17-year-old Kelsey Raffaele. The 17-year-old Sault Sainte Marie girl died in a car crash two years ago while talking on her cell phone.

Her mother, Bonnie Raffaele, lobbied for the law and attended the signing ceremony.

Study: Michigan teens smoking and drinking alcohol less

Michigan Radio Newsroom — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 19:38:00 +0000

Teenage alcohol and cigarette use is down across the country, and Michigan is no exception.

That's according to the state's Youth Risk Behavior Survey, which collects information on Michigan high school students.

Though many risky behaviors are on the decline, obesity remains the state's biggest health concern, when it comes to students.

Kyle Guerrant helped with the study. He says the success of the anti-tobacco campaign could help reduce other health concerns.

MSU study finds 16 year olds at peak risk for abusing prescription drugs

Steve Carmody — Sat, 12 May 2012 20:01:01 +0000

A new Michigan State University study finds the peak of teen misuse of prescription drugs comes earlier than previously believed.

MSU researchers say teen misuse of prescription drugs peaks at age 16, not the later teens as previously believed. Many children start using pain killers and other prescription drugs to get high in their tweens.

The MSU study shows about 1 in 60 young people between 12 and 21 years old starts abusing prescription pain relievers each year. That ratio rises to roughly 1 in 30 at age 16.

Jim Anthony is a professor of Epidemiology at MSU. He says the study shows it’s important to get the public health message against misusing prescription drugs to children when they are in middle school.

“We don’t want to delay public health programs…until the high school years or college years," says Anthony, "We want to begin to think about them as early as 12 and 13.”

Anthony says it may also be a good idea for doctors to write some pain killer prescriptions for just a few day supply instead of the more common one or two week supply. He says that might reduce the number of prescription drugs that sit unused in the family medicine cabinet.

Anthony says parents need to pay close attention to their teenager and their medicine cabinet and properly dispose of unneeded painkillers and other prescription drugs.

The MSU study appears in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

Kids make music about their lives & struggles

Kyle Norris — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 12:24:05 +0000

A program based out of Flint teaches kids the fundamentals of songwriting and music production. But the songs kids write are not your typical bubble-gum pop. The program is a professional music studio that travels to schools and community centers in Flint, Grand Rapids, and Kalamazoo. It's called Studio on the Go.

Report: MI teens are doing better, young children are worse off

Laura Weber — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 11:10:43 +0000

Teen deaths are on the decline in Michigan. That’s according to an annual report that compares indicators on the wellbeing of children.

According to the report, Michigan ranks better than the national average for the death rate among teens. Jane Zehnder-Merrell is the “Kids Count” project director at the Michigan League for Human Services. She says teens are getting into fewer fatal car accidents. But she says Michigan is experiencing a national trend toward more teen murders.

“It’s troubling to see that as we push down one rate another rates starts going up; the homicide rate. Suicide rate has remained relatively stable, but we may see increases in that as well with the stress.”

There has been a 64 percent increase in the child poverty rate in Michigan over the past decade, according to the report.

Zehnder-Merrell says increases in unemployment and home foreclosures affect the wellbeing of children.

“Very stressful, very difficult times for families, even though in Michigan I think part of it too is we’re used to having a lot more people living a middleclass life and having access to housing and good jobs and good health insurance, and the world is changing.”

Zehnder-Merrell says many budget and program cuts and made in the Legislature have exacerbated child poverty issues. That includes a proposed four-year cap on cash assistance that is set for a final vote when lawmakers return to Lansing next week.

Law clarifies graduated license rules

Rick Pluta — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 10:40:57 +0000

A new law seeks to clear up some confusion on when teen-aged drivers may have other teens in a vehicle with them. Governor Rick Snyder signed the law yesterday. It says teen drivers may carry passengers between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. to and from school, church, or work-related activities.

Jack Peet is the traffic safety manager for AAA of Michigan. He says it was good to make the law more clear. But he says the law could have been made better if it placed some new restrictions on passengers in vehicles driven by teens. He says passengers increase the likelihood that a teen will be in a fatal crash.

“So limiting those to no teen passengers in the vehicle would be our preference and we’re just talking about drivers there. Obviously, adding teen passengers during that time frame increases the risk for those teen passengers as well, so this would make teens a lot safer if there were stronger restrictions on that.”

Peet says it would make sense to at least have a no-passengers rule when a teenager first gets a license to drive without an adult in the car.

Michigan teens face (slightly less) high unemployment this summer

Michigan Radio Newsroom — Fri, 20 May 2011 21:18:35 +0000

30% of Michigan teens hoping to find work this summer…won’t. That’s according to the Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget.

Bruce Weaver is an analyst for the state. He says the rate has actually declined from last year:

“ The unemployment rate for teens reached a thirty year high, in the summer of 2010.”

He says teens will have a tough time finding jobs because of the high unemployment numbers for adults:

Number of homeless kids in MI has tripled in the past few years

Kyle Norris — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 21:27:22 +0000

School districts reported 23,000 homeless kids in grades K-12, for last year’s school year. But keep in mind, those were only the kids who actually showed up to school and who identified as homeless.

Lot’s of young people don’t want to admit they're homeless to an adult, or they don’t consider themselves homeless if they sleep on a friend’s couch for months at a time.

More teens using marijuana, fewer using alcohol

Mark Brush and Steve Carmody — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 20:43:05 +0000

The University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research has been monitoring drug use among teens for 36 years. This year's "Monitoring the Future" study had responses from more than 46,000 8th, 10th, and 12th graders.

They found that marijuana use is on the rise. 43.8% of 12th graders said they've used marijuana in their lifetime. That's up from 42% in 2009, and 42.6% in 2008. From the study:

Marijuana use, which had been rising among teens for the past two years, continues to rise again this year—a sharp contrast to the considerable decline of the preceding decade

Alcohol use, on the other had has been decreasing. 54.1% of 12th graders said they'd been drunk in their lifetime. That's down from 56.5% in 2009, and 54.7% in 2008. From the study:

Alcohol use—and, specifically, occasions of heavy drinking—continues its long-term decline among teens into 2010, reaching historically low levels.