Those Teenage Years!

By Catherine Steele

Between the ages of 11 and 16, children become young adults. During these years, youth may try smoking, alcohol or drugs -- all those things on parents’ lists of "don’ts"! It may be just part of growing up. Youth may try these things to gain peer support, cope with stress and assert maturity.

Researchers have found that, over these six years, there is a sharp increase in the percentage of youth in the general population who engage in risky, unhealthy no-nos. As youth with physical disabilities become teenagers, is there the same alarming rise in unhealthy behaviours?

The answer is no. When comparing 319 Ontario youth with physical disabilities to 7,020 Canadian youth, very different results are found. Fewer youth with physical disabilities smoke, drink, have been drunk or have used drugs. Furthermore, there are only modest increases in unhealthy no-nos between 11- and 12-year-olds, 13- and 14-year-olds, and 15- and 16-year-olds. In fact, the percentage of 15- and 16-year-old youth with physical disabilities who smoke approximates the percentage of 11- and 12-year-old youth in the Canadian sample who reported smoking. The same trend is found for drinking and using drugs.

Yet literature suggests that adults with physical disabilities smoke, drink and use drugs at the same rate as the general population!

What can be done to prevent this catch-up? Are there ways to better prepare youth with physical disabilities for adulthood? Are there programs or information in schools, health clinics or recreational centres or on websites geared to these youth? Are parents, siblings, friends and health care professionals discussing with them the issues around tobacco, alcohol and drug use? Can health promotion initiatives be developed? Are these youth being overprotected during the teenage years, and so do not have the tools to cope in adulthood?

Enjoy those teenage years... but remember, one day the teenager will be an adult. Will he or she be ready?

(If you have any suggestions on preparing youth for adulthood, please call Catherine Steele at Bloorview MacMillan Centre in Toronto, (416) 424-3855 (or 1-800-363-2440), ext. 3642, or e-mail: csteele@bloorviewmacmillan.on.ca.)