Troubled Teens Resources

A retiree acquaintance moonlights as a limo driver during prom season. A hard and fast rule with limo drivers during prom season is to make sure that their teenage passengers do not sneak in any alcoholic beverages to drink before arriving at their prom. He was amazed at the ingenuity some teens are capable of in disguising alcohol and other contraband.

He speculated that the revealing prom gowns worn by today’s teenage girls mixed in with alcohol consumption created a dangerous combination that has transformed a night meant as celebration into a night of temptation and danger.

Statistics support his concerns.

• Nearly 25 percent of drivers ages 16-20 involved in fatal automobile accidents had been drinking (NHTSA, 2005).
• Half of all persons who die in traffic accidents involving underage drivers who drank are people other than the drinking driver (NHTSA, 2003).
• About one in three high school students say they have ridden in an automobile with a driver who had been drinking (NHTSA, 2003).
• Forty-seven percent of high school seniors drank during the past month (NIDA, 2006).
• More than a quarter of 12th graders drink heavily, while more than 20 percent of 10th graders do so (Johnson et al. 2005).
• Girls 16-19 are four times more likely to be the victims of rape, attempted rape or sexual assault than the general population (National Crime Victimization Study, 2000).
• Twenty-five percent of high school students said they were under the influence of alcohol or drugs when they last
• Twenty-five percent had used alcohol or drugs the last time they had sex (YRBS, 2004).
• Alcohol or drugs influenced 29 percent of 15-17 year-olds and 37 percent of 18-24 year-olds to engage in sexual activity (Henry J. Kaiser Foundation, 2003).

Prom season has become another arena in which teen crisis intervention tools and programs must be in place. The data above was provided by just such an intervention program known as BuzzFree Prom. It is a site that you and your at-risk teen may want to explore.