Friday, October 14, 2011

Current State of Affairs

           The world today is full of problems that often times are presented far worse than they really are. There are problems thousands of miles from ones position in the world and others that are as close as the room next door. Family problems are huge issues in many households, they affect the young, tender souls more than they affect the adults in the situation. Some problems are as simple as oppression for what the family will watch on television to the dramatic problems like divorce. These problems affect the younger kin since they don't know how to process the drama and don't realize the true intensity of every battle or struggle in a family. The responsibility and stress of maintaining a family is not on their shoulders. Now there are large amounts of teenagers consuming drugs, alcohol, smoking tobacco, and doing other things which they think help them escape reality, the realities they are facing at home. Others circumnavigate the problems completely and use suicide as their only escape route.
              For every problem there is at least one solution there are many times in which solutions come from every direction. Teenagers are not the best problem solvers and sometimes their only solution is suicide. Teenage suicide is influenced greatly by problems at home, school or anywhere else that brings stress upon their shoulders. In the article "The Third Leading Cause of Death Amongst Teenagers: Suicide," it states the following;
          Among many things, some suicidal youths experience family trouble, which leads them, to                    
          doubt their self-worth and make them feel unwanted, superfluous, and misunderstood. According to
          one study, 90 percent of suicidal teenagers believed their families did not understand them. Young     
          people reported that when they tried to tell their parents about their feelings of unhappiness or failure,
          their mother and father denied or ignored their point of view.
The guilt of being responsible of everything that happens at home is what provokes them to think the way they do, to act in such deleterious manner. Being misunderstood, like many people say, hurts. In some cases it hurts not only the central person in the conflict but the people that have the close ties around them. Parents find themselves making their children feel guilty of things to make them change something they do wrong and correct this. It might be useful but it changes the teenagers character abruptly causing their stress levels to rise and their thoughts to explode in suicide or attempt in suicide.
           Domestic violence at home is another cause for troubled teens. In the article, "Effects of Domestic Violence in Teens," it estimate that around 7 to 14 million children are witnessing domestic violence and are then caught up in the effects. It doesn't only say that, it also states that many of the children who witness it at home feel guilty and live fearing for the worst. This fear secludes them from the rest of the world and has their mind set on the problems they feel involved in daily. They fear for their safety, well being of themselves and the rest of the family. They wait around expecting the worse out of every situation while blaming themselves all at once. They try to pamper and tame raging giant in their heads, the thoughts of guilt, by creating a gateway. The gateway is many times alcohol use, the use of illicit drugs or other controlling substances, the most tragic gateway is the gateway to eternal sleep, suicide. Although they can find this by consuming the alcohol or drugs, it's not often intentional to overdose on them, they do it to subjugate their thoughts and fears and circumnavigate the problem.
             The teenage life is to live experiences, fail and succeed but other times it only feels like failure. Someones home environment isn't always so pleasant. It's sometimes feared like a toddler fears the dentist or the fear of a lost child. Teenagers might act tough on the outside but deep down their as delicate as a new born child, only trying to survive and cooperate with the world. Suicide is the third leading cause of death for troubled teens and continues to be used as the escape to everything. Not all problems can be avoided, especially when they're at home.



"Effects of domestic violence on children - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_domestic_violence_on_children>.

"The third leading cause of death amongst teenagers: Suicide." Serendip Home | Serendip's Exchange. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2011. <http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/biology/b103/f03/web3/r2kallon.html>.

Friday, October 7, 2011

Family Problems Lead To Troubled Teens


I notice my friends have parents that don't have much care for them on what they do. I find myself saying, "I wish my parents were like that." But a majority of them do illegal drugs, gang violence, and other influential things. Ever heard of you are who you hang out with? What influences that? You're raised by your blood and flesh, your parents. So where do these teens develop violence or mental issues? Families are the beginning of turning the good teens into the troubled.
            Divorces and parents separating are becoming at an all time high for young adults. They come to blame themselves for their parents’ own complications. Two out of three marriages that end in divorce involve a minor. 71% of high school dropouts are known to be from fatherless homes. Child support, child custody, and all these other laws involving divorce with minors, they feel stuck, unsure and hopeless on what to do. Sometimes there’s no discipline allowing the teen to wonder and do as he or she does freely. Causing more violence, drug use, sculpting them into someone they never hoped to be when they were still wearing the fresh scent of baby powder on their bums.
            Abuse occurs more often in households than you can look at into teenager’s eyes. Either sexual or physical, even mental abuse, can create a reoccurring bruise on ones growing mind. About 44% of teens are sexual and/or physically abused.  Unfortunately four children die from abuse or neglect. Yes girls are most likely to be sexually abused more than boys, but it’s still the equal amount of abuse for each gender. With constant discomfort and unhappiness in a home, it can lead to destruction of a teens mind. Their naïve and are still are developing on who they are as a person. With abuse they become scared, scarred, angry, leaving hopelessness in their sunken heart, they develop anger problems, depression, anxiety, phobias, paranoia, all these mental disorders. Also even leaving bruises, black eyes, broken bones, even broken hearts.
            A friend once told me about her friends dad who died from his liver exploding from an excessive amount of alcohol consumed. Alcoholism changes a person perspective, vision, and just their whole personality in general. You see your parent walk in all wobbly and such slurring their words, maybe even breaking household items. Does this set a good example on teens or does it give the ‘ok’ on underage drinking? More than one-fourth of all children in the United States are exposed to alcohol abuse or dependence in their families before they are the age of 18.  When your family member is sick you usually want to do anything in your power to help them because they're temporarily impaired. It’s almost like with alcohol, a sickness, you have to help your parent into bed, take care of them so nothing wrong happens to them. But constantly doing so, the teen feels a huge responsibility is loaded onto their shoulders. It could cause them to fall into depression, create an unbalanced routine.
            In this nation of ours, teens go through more at home than you can imagine. Sometimes everyday is a battle, where life becomes our war. You can’t judge them based on how they appeal themselves to you, theirs always a bigger side to the story, their lives. Families are beginning to fall apart, breaking hearts, minds and souls. What can we do about it? Theirs counselors, friends, psychologists, groups, etc. People that care enough to help out a teen in their struggle of a household. Let’s hope that instead of statistics rising and becoming more negative, but hope for families that can grow stronger and create children that can peruse their happiness.

SOURCES
Buddy, T. "More Effects of Parental Drinking." Alcoholism - The Alcoholism Home Page. Buddy,T, 20 Dec. 2007. Web. 08 Oct. 2011. <http://alcoholism.about.com/cs/tipsforparents/a/aa000725a.htm>

Iannelli, Vincent. "Child Abuse Statistics." About Pediatrics - Pediatric Parenting and Medical Advice. Iannelli,Vincent, 21 Apr. 2010. Web. 08 Oct. 2011. <http://pediatrics.about.com/od/childabuse/a/05_abuse_stats.htm>.

"Divorce Statistics in the USA | Divorce Information." How to Divorce - The Essential Guide to Divorce, Laws about Divorce, Divorce Rates, Free Divorce, Divorce Lawyers & More. 2011. Web. 08 Oct. 2011. <http://www.divorceguide.com/usa/divorce-information/divorce-statistics-in-the-usa.htm