ABSTRACT
In January 2006, USA Today reported that college freshmen are "uniquely vulnerable" to death, that "students away from home for the first time are more likely to die of accidents or illness" (Davis & DeBarros, 2006, p. 1). Current Events, a magazine geared for middle and high school readers, warned in a cover story: "Car Crashes Are Top Teen Killer," and noted that "about 10 American teens age 16-19 years die in teen-driven car accidents every day" (E. Johnson, 2005, p. 1). Newsweek in May 2004 reported that teenagers "are twice as likely to get hurt on the job as adults" and provided its readers a grim statistic: About 70 teens die each year "on the job, mostly in farm and retail work." Teenagers, by nature, bring considerable risk to the workplace, as the article explained: "A working teenager can be a perfect storm of eagerness and inexperience" (Scelfo & Springen, 2004, p. 61). In August 2005, People told its readers about an "extreme form of risk-taking among troubled youth" who play choking games intentionally to lose consciousness. The article focused on a 13 year old found hanging from her closet door, but noted her death was not particularly unusual. "The practice is responsible for the deaths of a number of children across the country. ... In fact, say child psychiatrists, many of the kids experimenting with suffocation are trouble-free youths unlikely to try illegal narcotics" (FieldsMeyer, Sheff-Cahan, Swertlow, Pera, & Egan, 2005, pp. 141-142).
