By Rayana Godfrey

Gratitude, research psychologists have found, is an abstract concept. It requires reflecting on not only how another person has done right by you, but also how you might return the favor. Perhaps that’s not something we need experts to tell us, but it’s worth bearing in mind when considering whether gratitude might be beyond the capabilities of the teenage brain.

Take for example the popular YouTube clip “Greatest freak out ever (ORIGINAL VIDEO),” in which a teenage boy goes ballistic in his bedroom after his mom cancels his World of Warcraft account. “I'm going to run away! You'll never see me again! I swear!” he shouts, as he slams himself repeatedly into his bed, tears off his clothes and screeches like someone out of an Exorcist movie.

The California Pregnant and Parenting Youth Guide was just released by the National Partnership for Women and Families. The guide is for young people under 18 who are looking for answers to basic and complicated questions regarding being a new mother or father, or making decisions during pregnancy.

Sections in the guide include:

- Can I stay in school if I’m pregnant?

- What are the father’s rights and duties?

- What do I do if I’m homeless?

- What kind of health care should I get if I’m pregnant?

- What if I have no insurance?

The guide is presented in a question and answer format, with simple cartoon scenarios on the side. There are also resources and companion guides for healthcare providers, educators, and social workers on the website.

Diamond Bell, 18 and a new mother, previewed the site and had mixed feelings. “When I look at the page, I see the quotes and questions, but it’s not telling me why the quotes and questions are there, it’s just going straight to the answers,” she said.

When you are a young teen you always get told what to do by your parents and grandparents or older family members and police officers. Read more...

This story was originally published on L.A. Youth.

By Audrey Salas

Last year around Christmas my family and I went to skid row, a section of downtown L.A. with a lot of homeless people, to hand out 50 care packages with blankets, toothbrushes, toothpaste and clothes to the homeless. My aunt wanted to start a tradition of giving, not just receiving, during Christmas time. As soon as we stepped out of our car, about 20 people came to ask for a package. We ran out before we could walk down the block. I didn’t see any teens. But according to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, there are more than 3,000 homeless people under the age of 18 in L.A.

When Laura , one of the L.A. Youth editors, asked if I’d like to interview some teens who had been homeless, I thought it would be a chance to try to understand what it means to be homeless at my age. I thought that being a homeless teen meant that you were addicted to drugs, had abusive parents or were mentally ill. Even though some of those things were true for one of the teens I met, I was surprised to learn that their stories weren’t that simple.

We went to Covenant House, a 104-bed shelter in Hollywood that gives homeless youth ages 18 to 21 a place to stay, food to eat, help finding jobs and tutoring for the high school equivalency test. They also learn skills like how to budget and cook, so they can live successfully on their own when they leave the shelter. To live at Covenant House you have to be in school or working. They provide services like counseling and free medical care.

A large amount of teenagers are watching YouTube videos of other teenagers cutting themselves, possibly normalizing the behavior, according to the Los Angeles Times.

This growing trend may have some correlation with the fact that leading cause of death for 15 - 24 year-olds is suicide according to the Center for Disease Control, and between 14 - 24 percent of teenagers and young adults have tried cutting or self-mutilation, according to Stephen Lewis, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Guelph in Ontario and co-author of the YouTube video study.

The article does not suggest that these videos will have spontaneous effects on teenagers and plant the urge to harm themselves, but for teens who already have tried cutting, the videos may reinforce the activity.  In addition, YouTube gives these teens a community of other “cutters,” which might encourage them to continue doing it. The LA Times reports that researchers looked at the top 100 videos of these acts, and found that over 2 million people had seen them. 

According to USA Today, YouTube is working on putting a mechanism in place to flag resources to users who search for key words like, “cutting,” and “self injury.”  This is similar to the mechanism Google has in place for people who search for suicide.  The first search result is a suicide prevention line.

This commentary originally aired on WAMU, American University Radio in Washington, D.C.

By Katisha Frederick

So I’m texting a guy at night. You know, having a general conversation about nothing. And somewhere along the way he asks a very simple question: “Do you smoke?” For a second I’m stuck -- why is he asking me this? But then I decide not to put too much thought into it and just respond with the truth. “No.” Then comes his next text: “Good,” he writes, “it’s not ladylike.”

There’s that annoying word again. Ladylike. Every time I hear it, I picture this imaginary woman. She wakes up in the morning and puts on a skirt, a pretty little blouse, a pair of heels and make-up. She crosses her legs when she sits and speaks in this soft gentle voice.

If my image of being ladylike seems outdated, that’s because it probably is. I’ve never met anyone like that and probably never will. And even though I don’t really want to be that woman, sometimes in small ways I find myself trying to live up to this standard. If I’m talking to a guy and he tells me he prefers me to look more feminine, I’ll choose a skirt and flats even though I’d rather wear jeans and tennis shoes.

But if I step back for a second, I find it strange that I – and people my age – still care about being ladylike, considering how far we’ve come in other ways. Like in school -- we’re all equals, and we’re all taught to dream big.

As a high school senior, I’ve already sent out my college and scholarship applications, and am now waiting for acceptance letters. My family, friends, and mentors expect me to succeed so that I can live out my dream of becoming a graphic designer. And it’s good to know that I’m going through the same tough process as my guy friends.

So why is that even though we’ve made so much progress in school and with our careers, some of us still hold onto some old-fashioned definition of femininity?

I can’t help but wonder how this standard will affect my future. Fast forward 7 years and I’ll be 25. Maybe I’ll have my career and a family -- and what will being ‘ladylike’ mean then? Will it mean that I’m expected to cook, clean, and practically raise a child on my own WHILE working?

That’s definitely NOT a standard I want to hold myself to.

These commentaries by D.C. area teens are part of a collaboration between WAMU's Youth Voices program, Youth Radio and the Latin American Youth Center.

In 2008, Viacom launched a show on MTV called "16 and pregnant," which was followed by "Teen Mom." These shows were produced to show audiences around the world what it would be like for a teenager in high school to accidentally become pregnant and have to take care of a second, delicate life while attempting to balance their own. Read more...

The following was broadcast on 1/29/11 WABE-FM, Atlanta.

By Gabrielle Siegel

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Last year, I showed up at a small local theater an hour early on the release day of the movie “Twilight” and still had to wait in a line.  I looked around at the crowds and realized that my peers and I had fallen in love with the blood, lust, immortality, and mystery that make up the world of vampires.  
 
After I finally gave in and read author Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga series, I couldn’t help but join the mania myself.  And when I say mania, I mean all ages and types of people flocking to movie premiers and midnight book openings. But don't worry, I'm not one of those crazy people dressing up in capes and things. My friends and I think the books capture typical teenage angst, so they are easy to relate to. They are addicting!
 
Every generation has its fad, and considering all of the possible trends that could overtake the lives of teenagers, the vampire rage is rather tame. Most people would agree with me when I say an obsession with vampires and immortality is better than a passion for cocaine, marijuana, or violence.
 
Even though the craze is an odd one, it’s fun and less dangerous. When the next vampire movie comes out, I’m sure I will be standing in line again.

Previously on WABE:

* Mom's Voice In My Head

* Brother

* Seagulls Are Still There

Can you scare someone away from being a criminal? A new series on A&E called “Beyond Scared Straight” is raising questions about using fear as a juvenile delinquency prevention tactic. 

Scared straight programs take troubled youth into a prison setting.  The youth get a taste of life as a convicted criminal, the idea being that they will make different choices after that to avoid ending up in jail themselves.  Youth Today reports, “The strategy evolved in the late 1960s at California’s San Quentin Prison. By the late 1970s, officials at a number of facilities were involved in using inmates’ horror stories about prison life to help trouble-making kids visualize the end of the line for criminals.”

Arnold Shapiro, who previously produced a documentary coining the phrase “scared straight,” is the director of the new series.  Youth Today states that Shapiro believes in the scared straight concept because of common sense, and admits to not having read any research about its effectiveness. 

Federal judges, researchers, and the Coalition for Juvenile Justice are intense critics of scared straight programs. Youth Today reports that research has shown scared straight programs may increase a teenager’s likeliness to offend in the future.

Each episode in the new series features a group of teens visiting a different inmate program around the country. The show profiles the teens before they visit the prison, and then follows up with them a month later to see if they have changed, according to Examiner.com.

If you’ve ever questioned the power of TV ads, you have obviously never heard of Juvenile Junk Food Zombies. Researchers say that kids eat twice as much unhealthy food after watching TV shows that have commercials for soda, candy and fast food than they would if they had watched their shows without the ads. That is, the mere exposure to these commercials is enough to turn a kid who would have stopped at one bag of Cheetos into a kid who will reach for – and mindlessly consume! – a whole second bag. If that’s not zombie behavior I don’t know what is.