Page 127 - Understanding Psychology

Di?d You Know? Did You Know?
Reporting Suicides Publicizing teen suicides does not seem to prevent more suicides. In fact the opposite seems to occur—publicizing suicides seems to encourage more suicides. Psychologists are trying to understand why this happens.
The illusion of invulnerability—“Others may get
caught, but not me!”—is a part of adolescent egocen-
trism. This illusion may lead adolescents to do things
with their peers they would not do alone. This
troubled minority often “acts out” problems in one of
several ways. Acts of juvenile delinquency—running
away from home, teen pregnancies, alcohol and drug
abuse, and underachievement at school—are typical
(see Figure 4.10). Juveniles were involved in 17 percent
of all violent crime arrests and 35 percent of all prop-
erty crime arrests in the United States in 1997 (Snyder, 1997). Repeat offenders and the fact that many offenders are not caught make these data hard to interpret, though. Most juveniles generally outgrow these tenden- cies as they mature.
Unfortunately, troubled adolescents do not simply “outgrow” their problems but carry them into later life if they are not treated. Adults, therefore, should be concerned about troubled teenagers. It is important to note, however, that unusual behavior should be seen as a more intense form, or a more extreme degree, of normal behavior. It should be consid- ered just a different kind of behavior. For example, teenagers who exper- iment with drugs—or even become drug abusers—need understanding. By not labeling the teenaged drug abuser “strange” or “abnormal,” we can begin to understand his or her psychological needs.
Teenage Depression and Suicide
According to Kathleen McCoy (1982), the phenomenon of teenage depression is much more widespread than most parents or educators suspect. To many grownups who see adolescence as the best years of
Figure 4.10 Arrests Per 100,000 Juveniles Ages 10–17
The juvenile arrest rate for all offenses reached its highest level in the last two decades in 1996 before declining in 1997. What factors contribute to juvenile delinquency?
12,000 10,000 8,000 6,000 4,000 2,000 0
1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997
Year
Al
l Arrests
Source: Snyder, Howard. “Juvenile Arrest Rates for All Crimes, 1981–1997.”
Chapter 4 / Adolescence 113
Juveniles