Pulitzer prize winner Leon Dash, in his book When Children Want Children, discovered after living for a year in Washington Heights that his assumptions that teenage pregnancy among poor, black urban youths grew out of ignorance and girls falling victim to manipulative boys were wrong. Many of the children he talked to had had extensive sex education. Dash concluded that young people sometimes choose to have babies so they can love and be loved-satisfying needs of belonging and generosity. Pregnancy was a statement of achievement-they might fail in school but they were fertile or virile enough to have or to create a baby. Dash noted that some found that sexual activity was a statement of independence-nobody, especially parents who attempted to control, could tell them how to use their bodies.
Cultural abuse comes from anything that keeps youth from having their needs met.
Meeting the developmental needs of youth can become a guide to repair the crumbling infrastructure that works against young people's ability to thrive. The work of the Institute clearly demonstrates that as assets or the developmental needs of youth are met, health-compromising behavior decreases. A place to begin is with youth-serving systems such as schools, religious institutions, and youth organizations. Programs, policies and practices need to be reshaped to focus on meeting the needs of youth. For example, schools that suspend students without providing social skills for reintegration deprive children of belonging and mastery.