The reputation of 'The Teenager' was assessed this month in the latest issue of Arena magazine. Here are just some of their fascinating facts to note:

-According to Home Office statistics, crime by young people has not risen in the past five years. Between 1995 and 2001 the number of known young offenders in the UK actually fell by 14%. Yet according to surveys of public opinion in 2004 three quarters of people believed that the number of young offenders had risen.

-Teenage pregnancy has dropped for five years in succession, and is 10% lower than in 1998.

-Class-A drug use among 11 to 15-year-olds and 16 to 24-year-olds remains stable.

-A study of cable news in the US in 2001 showed that while only 3% of teenagers were involved in violent crime, 25% of stories about young people involved violence.

-The Russell Commission report on youth volunteering found that of the six million young people aged between 16 and 25 in the UK, 3.5 million were actively involved in 'some form of volunteering'.

-Between April 1999 and December 2004, 52% of ASBOs were given to adults.

-The UK imprisons four times the number of juveniles as France, and 100 times that of Finland.

-One in ten teenagers self harms, 24,000 are hospitalised annually and teen suicide rates have risen threefold since 1970.






Source: Youthwork Magazine