Answer to Question 1
Troubles in the home, the school, and the neighborhood, coupled with health and developmental hazards, have placed a significant portion of American youth at risk.
Youths considered at risk are those dabbling in various forms of dangerous conduct such as drug abuse, alcohol use, and precocious sexuality.
They are living in families that, because of economic, health, or social problems, are unable to provide adequate care and discipline.
Millions of children now live in substandard housinghigh-rise, multiple-family dwellingswhich can have a negative influence on their long-term psychological health.
Adolescents living in deteriorated urban areas are prevented from having productive and happy lives.
Many die from random bullets and drive-by shootings.
Some are homeless and living on the street, where they are at risk of drug addiction and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including AIDS.
Today about one-third of U.S. households with children have one or more of the following three housing problems:
o physically inadequate housing
o crowded housing
o housing that costs more than 30 of the household income
Despite the fact that the minimum wage has increased to more than 6.50 per hour, the poor can barely afford to live in even the lowest-cost neighborhoods of metro areas such as Chicago, New York, and Washington, DC.
Student answers will vary.
Answer to Question 2
For some adolescents, substance abuse is one of many problem behaviors that begin early in life and remain throughout the life course.
Longitudinal studies show that youths who abuse drugs are maladjusted, emotionally distressed, and have many social problems.
Having a deviant lifestyle means associating with delinquent peers, living in a family in which parents and siblings abuse drugs, being alienated from the dominant values of society, and engaging in delinquent behaviors at an early age.
Youths who abuse drugs lack commitment to religious values, disdain education, and spend most of their time in peer activities. Youths who take drugs do poorly in school, have high dropout rates, and maintain their drug use after they leave school.
Student views will vary.