November 03, 2012

Fewer Teens are Drinking and Driving

There’s encouraging news on teens, drinking and driving – the percentage has been cut in half over the last 20 years. We’ll find out why. Then, countless numbers of young people are battling obesity. New research shows the disparity between races in stress-induced weight gain.

Episode Segments:

InfoTrak: Teens, Drinking and Driving New government data says there has been a 54 percent drop in drinking and driving among high school teens during the past two decades. Pamela Hyde, Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration discussed the reasons behind the decline, and offered advice for parents who are concerned about their teenagers.
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InfoTrak: Stress, Race and Obesity Janet Tomiyama, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at UCLA conducted a study that examined the roles that stress and race play in the epidemic of obesity among teenage girls. She found that although stressed-out black girls and white girls tend to gain weight, stress appears to have a greater effect on the weight of black girls. And surprisingly, black girls reported less stress overall than white girls. Dr. Tomiyama talked about the racial disparity and why obesity is such an important public health concern.
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InfoTrak: When Helping Hurts Dr. Brian Fikkert, author of author of When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor talked about the challenges faced by faith-based organizations and other groups when seeking to help poor or homeless Americans. He said aid efforts often end up perpetuating poverty, rather than solving the problem. He believes that building personal relationships with aid recipients and giving them a sense of self-worth is more effective than simply providing food or other material items.
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