Since 2013, the Romanian office of UNICEF has been focusing on teenagers, as their issues are viewed as largely overlooked by public and educational policies.
Since 2013, the Romanian office of UNICEF has been focusing on teenagers, a group whose problems and identity are viewed as largely overlooked by public and educational policies. In their case, the risk-taking behaviour is quite frequent. According to 2013 surveys, 42% of teenagers have drunk alcohol at least once in their lives, 23% have smoked at least one cigarette, 10% of all the 16-year olds have tried drugs at least once, and one-quarter of the teens over 14 years of age have already had sex. The social background as well as the psychological changes that prompt such behaviour in teenagers were the subject matter of a separate survey initiated by UNICEF. Sandie Blanchet, the representative of UNICEF in Romania, told us that, although the teenage brain is capable of adult intellectual performances, self-control and instincts are still immature. And parents and educators must take into account how the teenage brain works. Here is Daniela Dumulescu, a psychologist with the Babeş-Bolyai University:
"Unlike adults, teenagers don't yet have the brain structures in charge with self-control fully developed. This is why they are more impulsive, more willing to take risks, more instinctive and less reasonable. Moreover, they are more vulnerable to emotions and want everything to happen here and now. Hence their urge to experiment. Grown-ups must take this propensity into account and try to guide teens towards experimenting new things in a safe environment. Teenagers understand they have a negative behaviour, but that part of their brains that enables them to refrain from this behaviour is not yet developed. They perceive it as being dangerous, but they are unable to hold back."
Besides their propensity for novel experiences and thrill and adventure, teenagers are very much influenced by their peer group. Within this mini community they develop their own so-called norms and social beliefs about alcohol consumption, smoking, drug consumption and sexuality. Fidelie Kalambay, a sociologist, explains:
"Teenagers believe that all these risk-involving practices are unhealthy, are not necessary and can affect the social image of an adolescent or of a person in general. But, although most of them have this belief, they still make room for some nuances. For instance, tasting alcohol is acceptable. Therefore they make a difference between drinking and tasting. Moreover, given that smoking and drinking alcohol are common habits in a society, adolescents consider them "accepted deviances". These are behaviors that they consider negative but that can be tolerated. They affect your self-image but not to the extent that you may be excluded from society".
This type of relating to their peers or to society in general, but through the eyes of the peer group, is also valid when it comes to starting one's sex life or taking drugs. Here is Fidelie Kalambay again:
"I talked to a number of teenagers and have found out that they have the predominant empirical belief that most adolescents smoke, drink alcohol and have started their sex life. Consequently, they said, if everybody is doing that, then they have no reason not to do it. But, oftentimes, this supposition is false. In reality smoking, alcohol and early sex life are less widespread than my interviewees believed. Also I have identified something I had not expected, namely another normative belief: they believe that very few of their friends or rather none of them take drugs. We believe that one of the explanations for this kind of belief is the criminalization of drug consumption. Most teenagers won't admit they have experienced taking drugs. Another explanation we have come up with as a hypothesis is their low level of knowledge about drugs."
To UNICEF, just as to many other similar organizations, what is important is that society and institutions alike should understand the teenagers' psychological mechanism, because, starting from this understanding, they should try and prevent dangerous behaviors. In this sense, UNICEF has been implementing a new intervention model in five cities: Bucharest, Iasi, Constanta, Bacau and Cluj. Their intervention actually consists in setting up, alongside the local authorities, resource centers for teenagers in disadvantaged areas. In these centers teenagers can benefit from psychological counselling, interventions in crisis situations, educational counselling, vocational and professional coaching and psychological and social assessment. Furthermore, the website www.adolescenteen.ro helps them through the information provided and through the online support group created there.
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