Girls Report More Problems and Special Threats Teenage girls, particularly in the 14 to 17 year old age group, consistently report higher exposure to health and safety threats than do younger teens or boys in the same age group. They also report special problems related to violence and sexuality. . These questions were not asked of 11-13 year olds. Fifteen percent of 14-17 year old girls report that someone they were dating tried to force them to have sex when they did not want to. Thirty-nine percent in this same age group reported they or their friends had been threatened with a weapon.
More teens believe their peers join gangs to achieve a sense of belonging than to cause trouble.
Youth Wish for Help Talking to young people early, when they are more receptive, may help avoid problems later. Young people are unlikely to turn to their fathers for help on these tough issues. While virtually no young people in female-headed households talk to their fathers first about these tough issues, even in families where both parents are present, fathers come in a distant third, after mothers and friends. As children get older and as they are threatened with increasingly serious health and safety threats, their reliance on their mothers drops and they turn to their young peers for help. Support from fathers, while never high, drops even further as children grow up.