15 Percent Of Teens Think They'll Die Young

[babylonsister]

15 Percent Of Teens Think They'll Die Young
LINDSEY TANNER | June 29, 2009 06:26 AM EST | AP


CHICAGO — A surprising number of teenagers _ nearly 15 percent _ think they're going to die young, leading many to drug use, suicide attempts and other unsafe behavior, new research suggests.

The study, based on a survey of more than 20,000 kids, challenges conventional wisdom that says teens engage in risky behavior because they think they're invulnerable to harm. Instead, a sizable number of teens may take chances "because they feel hopeless and figure that not much is at stake," said study author Dr. Iris Borowsky, a researcher at the University of Minnesota.

That behavior threatens to turn their fatalism into a self-fulfilling prophecy. Over seven years, kids who thought they would die early were seven time more likely than optimistic kids to be subsequently diagnosed with AIDS. They also were more likely to attempt suicide and get in fights resulting in serious injuries.

Borowsky said the magnitude of kids with a negative outlook was eye-opening.

Adolescence is "a time of great opportunity and for such a large minority of youth to feel like they don't have a long life ahead of them was surprising," she said.

more...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/29/15-percent-of-teens-think_n_222136.html

[notesdev]

1. I used to think that

Imagine my surprise when I didn't... had a lot of catch-up to do, getting things in order for a long life rather than a short one.

[WillParkinson]

4. Same...

I always thought I would not live to see my 21st birthday.

At 45 I now am grateful I did. My life is fulfilled and happy with my soon-to-be husband by my side.

[ecstatic]

13. Me too! I figured I'd be gone by 16

I think it's because when growing up my parents/grandparents would always give stern warnings about what would cause death. For example, writing on yourself, and various other silly things.

[Psychic Consortium]

2. Our children have been contaminated by the nasty and difficult environment

created by corrupt and greedy leadership.

Thank God Obama is going to change all of this....

[DoctorMyEyes]

5. Are you serious?

You think Obama can end teen angst? I grew up in the 60's and 70's and I think many teens then imagined that they'd die young too. I don't think we were the first generation to feel that way and obviously we weren't the last. I don't think this survey is revealing anything more earth shattering than "water is wet" or "the sky is blue".

[Psychic Consortium]

10. Some is normal. Some is not.

Look at the adolescent psychology research.

[Echo In Light]

15. It's the social systems kids are indoctrinated into, not a natural 'condition' of youth

That so many don't see that speaks to the efficacy of the indoctrination.

[Deja Q]

25. I think you both have valid points.

But ambient environment has a direct impact on psychological manipulation too.

And at the same time, most kids prefer to think about getting laid anyway and asking "Where do babies come from" until they finally realize it 9 months later and then wish they could put it back into the vending machine and get a snickers bar instead...

[Xenotime]

14. Agreed.

I have seen how he has inspired youth and other groups to be better citizens.

[FirstLight]

17. While I agre that it has to do with the state of the planet...

I think Obama is but a fraction of what can give hope to our kids about the future....but a very important piece.
The future for them looks bleak, even more so than when I was a kid in the 80's and we worried Reagan would nuke the world...

Climate change, starvation, unemployment, etc...all of these things aren't just little fluxuations, they seem to be rolling downhill like a snowball gaining momentum...today's children are not dumb, they can see it.
I used to think my generation would come into power in time to rectify the way things have been spiraling for the past 30 yrs...but it feels too late on many fronts...so where does that leave our kids? they look at this mess and know there's not enough time for them to grow up and fix things. It should have ben done YESTERDAY...

No wonder many of them just want to give up and leave the planet, they feel they can't help, they see the carelessness of their elders - all around them is wastefulness, pollution, corruption, and financial ruin...gee, who would WANT to dive in and try to vision a future, much less try and BUILD one...?

But that is just what this is about, somehow we have to look past the obvious awfulness and find our hope. Obama HAS been a galvanizing force for the youth of this country in that ideal...so perhaps the least that our cynical Gen X and older group can do is try and do the same. Obama spoke to our hearts when he spoke of seeking innovation and acting from our highest good. I am an idealist, yes, and in the face of the depressing news and my own personal struggles...I find the will to keep trying for something beter. THIS is the thing our youth are missing... all we can do is lead by example, and the powers tht be have not done so. So WE have to do it as individuals...that is the only way change happens. in attitude and reality

[Psychic Consortium]

21. Yes. We must all work to change the future. It will happen. nt

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

27. Excuse me for just a bit...

what the fuck are you talking about?

[anigbrowl]

30. Um, no.

I had issues like this as a teen, in another country and long before anyone had heard of Obama, and for reasons which had nothing whatsoever to do with politics.

[Psychic Consortium]

31. Our children have been affected in part by the sociopathy and greed

that surrounds all of us. This pathology is superimposed on normal adolescent developmental issues.

It has impacted adults, how can it not affect the children
in our society.

Until we address the underlying psychopathology of our times, the murders, suicides, and chemical dependency will remain high.

[anigbrowl]

33. What is the normal baseline rate for this kind of adolescent belief?

It may be a factor as you say, but how much of a factor is hard to say.

[Psychic Consortium]

38. Consulting the adolescent psychology literature is a good idea.

The public tends to overestimate the amount of teen angst according to this body of work.

PC feels the current high number of teens who feel they will die young is reflective of the societal sociopathy and current institutional disruption (financial, political, etc.)

[Historic NY]

3. Most think 30 is old too....I don't see this as breaking new ground.

[BlooInBloo]

6. Did the poll ask them what they thing "young" means?

[Akoto]

7. I'm only 24 and I feel the same, but I've always been sickly.

When chronic pain set in last year, that really knocked me for a loop. I'm still trying to adjust to daily life with that, but it's a mind warp. If it weren't for my pain management doctor, who happened to be a rare specialist in my problem living just down the road, I don't know where I'd be.

On the other hand, it has made me a lot more thankful for my family and other things I'd taken for granted. I also don't sweat the small crap like I once did - just makes me more tense and more in pain.

[Echo In Light]

8. As a civilization we've been circling the drain for decades. No surprise they sense impending doom..

...of one sort or another

[Davis_X_Machina]

9. I'd bet that 15% figure was very stable across time.

If it's guns and drugs and car crashes today, two hundred years ago it was tuberculosis ('consumption'). Nineteenth Century novels are riddled with a similar sensibility.

[Rebubula]

20. excellent point

Each generation thinks they are living in the worst time of all.

The more things change, the more they stay the same

[LeftinOH]

11. Adolescent melodrama - I used to think the same thing. Fortunately, the drama fades quickly

when life's REAL challenges begin: Work, Bills, Marriage, Kids -etc.

[RaleighNCDUer]

12. Non- story.

When I was a teen I'm sure the numbers were 2x+ higher. "Hope I die before I get old". I'd bet better than 30% expected to see a nuclear war before they hit 30. I know I did.

Now, with better international exposure, kids from the suburbs can see they death rates of youth in troubled areas around the world - it is far from surprising that they would internalize some of that.

[JVS]

16. How accurate is their prediction?

[ThoughtCriminal]

37. For a person born in 2004...

99.0% will live to age 15
98.7% will live to age 20
97.8% will live to age 30
96.5% will live to age 40
93.7% will live to age 50
88.0% will live to age 60
76.1% will live to age 70
53.9% will live to age 80
22.2% will live to age 90
2.5% will live to age 100

Edit:
At 51, I consider 65 dying young and about 17% do die before reaching that age. But, teens generally consider 30 "old" and less than 2% of them will die before their 30th birthday.

[Fumesucker]

41. Those numbers are basically bullshit..

Statistically accurate in one way but it is impossible to predict the future.

There are any number of things that could change those numbers drastically, your chances of dying in a asteroid or comet strike are roughly the same as in an airplane crash and higher than floods, tornadoes, venomous bite or sting or food poisoning.

An asteroid or comet strike could kill hundreds of millions or perhaps even billions of people, which is why the chance of death from such an event is as high as it is.

http://www.tulane.edu/~sanelson/geol204/impacts.htm

[ThoughtCriminal]

43. I guess if you are REALLY expecting...

one of those events to happen in your lifetime, you can say bullshit and crawl into a bunker for the rest of your life. It makes a convenient excuse not to quit smoking if you expect a giant rock from space has your number on it.

Oh sure, an asteroid strike or a nuclear war would make actuarial tables irrelevant, but outside of these low-probability, high-mortality the number of people in a given age bracket who die in a year is fairly predictable.

[Vidar]

18. Had the same idea. I'm 53.

[scheming daemons]

19. Alternate headline: "85% of teens think they'll live long, happy lives"

admittedly, my headline is less eye-grabbing and controversial.

...but no less true.

[Berry Cool]

23. What percentage of people actually do "die young"?

I mean, let's say you put a specific limit on it--say, before age 30--what percentage of people, on average, die before age 30?

Maybe they're not so wrong--or maybe they're wrong about themselves, but not about the general population?

[ThoughtCriminal]

40. 2.23% before age 30

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr56/nvsr56_09.pdf

Although this is based on estimates for a person born in 2004, it should be pretty close to that for somebody who is a teen now.

[Deja Q]

26. Alternate alternate headline: "100% of teens are naive."

:hide:

[guitar man]

22. Hope I die before I get old

T..t..talking bout My Generation ;)

[johnnie]

24. Only 15?

It seems like it was higher when I was young. Things must be getting better for these kids.

[madokie]

28. When I was a teen I thought the same thing

it was a good feeling to go with the body killing I was doing to myself at the time. No big deal that I play hard cause I won't be living long anyway. Yeah I think many of us know the drill.

[lumberjack_jeff]

29. That's all?

Kids these days didn't invent the saying "live fast, die young and leave a good-looking corpse."

[old mark]

32. I never thought I'd see 21.

This August I'll be 62.....if I make it.

mark

[Forkboy]

34. I'm amazed it's that low.

[Codeine]

35. Nothing new.

I figured my chances of reaching 25 were zero, and I was absolutely straightedge. Add in the normal "youthful indulgences" and it's a natural assumption.

[ThoughtCriminal]

36. Seemed like it was higher when I was a teen

in the 70's a lot of kids I knew were very fatalistic. Global nuclear war seem pretty inevitable to many at the time and the prospects for survival were bleak.

And the "I won't live past 25 anyway" mind set was a convenient excuse for being lazy.

[Blue-Jay]

39. Only the good ones think that.

They run with a dangerous crowd.

[Fumesucker]

42. I'm very close to sixty, it never even occurred to me that I would become a father..

Now I'm a grandfather multiple times over.

I never anticipated living past my teenage years.

It's still a bit of a shock to me that I'm still alive now when I think about it.