Assignment 20 (annotation)

In doing research for my paper. I decided to read a psychology journal which discussed adolescent decision making. In this particular journal psychologists Valerie F. Reyna and Frank Farley discuss the risks and rationale that adolescence go through when they are making decisions. What I found to be particularly interesting was the eye opening statistics that was provided through reading this journal. For an example I have placed an excerpt in from the journal.

Excerpt: "The scientific literature confirms the commonsense belief that adolescence is a period of inordinate risk taking. For example,three million new cases of sexually transmitted infections are identified in adolescents every year in the United States, and more than half of all new cases of HIV infection occur in people younger than 25 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,2004). Moreover, adolescents have one of the most rapidly increasing rates of HIV infection (e.g., 37% more young people were living with AIDS in 2003 than in 1999), with an average of two new young people in the United States infected with HIV every hour (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,2004; Rosenberg, Biggar, & Goedert, 1994). Substance use also typically begins in adolescence, as do its adverse health consequences, such as the risky sexual and driving behavior associated with alcohol use (Bachanas et al., 2002; Fergusson &Lynskey, 1996; Strunin & Hingson, 1992; Tapert, Aarons, Sedlar,& Brown, 2001). Motor-vehicle accidents are the leading cause of deaths among those aged 15 to 20 years; 31% of young drivers killed in motor-vehicle crashes in 2003 had been drinking (National Center for Statistics and Analysis, 2003;Turner & McClure, 2003). "

This information provided by this source allows me to support the idea that it is probably not a good idea to allow the Amish teens to make such an important and life altering decision at such a young age.