A substantial proportion of high school students consume alcohol, with nearly a quarter of 12th grade students reporting binge drinking in the past two weeks. Drinking alcohol in adolescence is associated with a variety of other risky behaviors, as well as with an increased likelihood of long-term problems reaching into adulthood. This "Adolescent…

In the United States, 70.8% of all deaths among youth and young adults aged 10-24 years result from only four causes: motor-vehicle crashes (32.3%), other unintentional injuries (11.7%), homicide (15.1%), and suicide (11.7%). Substantial morbidity and social problems also result from the approximately 870,000 pregnancies that occur each year among…