A “substantial minority” of 15-year-olds have had sexual intercourse, according results of a survey of 33,943 adolescents from 24 European and North American countries. The percentages of 15-year-olds who said they had sexual intercourse varied by country ranging from 14.1 percent in Croatia to 37.6 percent in England. Boys were more apt than girls to report having had sexual intercourse.

About 3.1 million youth between the ages of 12 and 25 have used cough and cold medicine to get high, the government reports. The number of young people who abused over-the-counter cold medicines is comparable to their use of LSD and much greater than that for methamphetamines.

About 16 students are murdered in U.S. schools each year, which is lower than in the previous decade; 116 student deaths at elementary, middle, and high schools—on school-sponsored trips and while students were on their way to or from school from July 1999 through June 2006...

Well, at least more accepting than their parents, a shift that might be related to easy access to porn on the Internet, according to a new study. Most young women in the study said they personally did not use porn, but nearly half said viewing X-rated material was an acceptable way to express sexuality.

Once upon a time, 18- to 25-year-olds were considered adults. That’s a fairy tale now, say most parents of college students, and their kids agree in a new study that confirms “growing up” comes later.

More than four in 10 teenagers, or 43%, who instant message use it for things they wouldn’t say in person; 22% use IMs to ask people out on dates (or accept dates), and 13% use them to break up; one in 10 say they spend three hours or more a day IMing, about double the adult rate; nearly a fifth, or 17%, send more than 100 IMs daily, about triple the number for adults ...

Almost all American middle schoolers play video games, according to researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Mental Health. 

A survey of more than 1,500 teenagers and preteens found that:
* Cell phone usage jumps by more than an hour a day in the summer (i.e., to more than three hours and 45 minutes) compared to a normal school day.

The percentage of children covered by health insurance in 2005: 89% (down from 90% in 2004)