HHS HealthBeat (January 09, 2007)

Safer in many ways

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I'm Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Safer teenagers? It goes against what people think about teens, but the statistics say it's happened. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracks the changes. Fewer high school students are engaging in risky behaviors compared to their counterparts from the 1990s.

The CDC's Howell Wechsler:

"One of the most dramatic examples of this progress is seat belt use. The percentage of students who rarely or never wore a seat belt has dropped from 26 percent in 1991 to only 10 percent in 2005." (12 seconds)

Teens were also less likely to use alcohol and tobacco, and have sex.

But there are still things to work on. For instance, physical activity and dietary behaviors have not improved since the 1990s, and the percentage of teens who are overweight has grown dramatically.

Learn more at www.hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I'm Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: January, 09 2007