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About
A Bit of Background
The Teenage Pride Foundation (TPF) is a civil society organization promoted and managed by teenagers for teenagers. The idea to set up the Foundation came into reality during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown when teenagers worldwide faced several challenges, with some unfortunately attracted to engage in different social vices because they were no longer going to school or going about their normal activities. TPF engages in campaigns and initiatives.
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THE TPF RATIONALE FOR ACTION
1. Research over the years shows that during the adolescence age of teenagers worldwide, they do face big social and emotional changes in their lives. Also, the teenage years come with many challenges and opportunities for all teenagers irrespective of their race, social class, country of origin, or residence.
2. Some of these challenges the TPF focus on are: teenage drug use and abuse, teenage pregnancy, teenage depression, academic problems, peer pressure, sexual harassment, early marriages, etc. On the opportunities side, the teenage years offer numerous opportunities to teenagers for self-development and advancement, opportunities for developing their abilities, capabilities, potentials, and talents, and the chance to grow into responsible and productive adults and useful members of their respective societies.
3. Furthermore, there is now a consensus that the Internet and social media are also playing a major role in shaping and influencing the lives of teenagers, as is the case of adults. There is much evidence now pointing to the fact that the Internet and social media can positively and negatively influence what teenagers across all cultures do or don’t do in their lives as they interact with the wider society. These technologies and media, which are increasingly becoming an integral part of the lives of teenagers in most parts of the world, are serving as the triggers and the facilitators of some of the challenges and opportunities of the teenage years.
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The Mission of TPF is to initiate and execute global initiatives, activities, and campaigns specifically focused on raising awareness and assisting teenagers in confronting, addressing, and overcoming challenges of their teenage years and avail of the opportunities that their adolescent years offer them for self-development and advancement.
Vincent van Gogh
Teenage pregnancy is a situation where a female between the ages of 13 is to 19 gets pregnant. In the view of the World Health Organisation (WHO), this phenomenon is regarded as a serious public health issue worldwide, and research work published in the 2019 edition of the International Journal of Africa Nursing Sciences noted that adolescent pregnancy is linked to several social and economic consequences.
According to the United Nations Population Fund, about 21 million adolescent girls aged 15–19 years in low and middle-income countries are estimated to get pregnant, and about 16 million give birth annually. Other researchers noted that teenage pregnancy is caused by peer pressure, broken homes, curiosity, lack of parental care and control, poverty, etc. In addition, teenage pregnancy can lead to school dropout, streetism, and others.
The TPF Campaign Against Teenage Pregnancy aims to raise awareness against teenage pregnancy in all its forms and educate. The campaign also educates and assists pregnant teenagers in various ways during and after their pregnancy.
The most difficult part of being a teenager is understanding your feelings and who you are as a person. Depression is a mental disorder characterized by prolonged unhappiness or irritability accompanied by symptoms such as fatigue, apathy, etc.
Experts on Teenage Depression believe that the teenage years can be tough, and it’s perfectly normal to feel sad or irritable now and then. But if these feelings don’t go away or become so intense that you feel overwhelmingly hopeless and helpless, you may be suffering from depression. Research by Debra Fulghum Bruce, an award-winning medical writer, and health literacy expert, shows that teenage depression is caused by abuse (mental, physical, emotional, sexual), sickness, rejection, etc.
Research shows that depression has become increasingly common among teenagers – especially teen girls, who are now almost three times as likely as teen boys to have had recent experiences with depression. In 2017, 13% of U.S. teens ages 12 to 17 (or 3.2 million) said they had experienced at least one major depressive episode in the past year, up from 8% (or 2 million) in 2007, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of data from the 2017 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
Experts say teens seem to feel more hopeless than in previous years in an article in the Portland Press Herald by Laura Bauer and Mara Rose Williams. Tony Jurich, a professor of family studies and human services at Kansas State University, told the newspaper, “Teens think they are invincible, so when they feel psychological pain, they are more apt to feel overwhelmed by hopelessness and the belief that they have no control over their lives.” Jurich calls these feelings of hopelessness and helplessness “the Molotov cocktail that triggers teen suicide.”
The TPF initiative on Teenage Depression focuses on education and raising awareness on how to prevent teenage depression and possible triggers, signs, and symptoms of teen depression. We also assist teenagers suffering from depression to get professional help and support using various avenues, including online support networks
Peers play a large role in the social and emotional development of teenagers. Adolescents often give in to peer pressure to fit in. They want to be liked and worry that they may be left out or made fun of if they don’t go along with the group, making them go astray from their moral values. Experts noted that negative peer pressure, among other things, affects a teen’s social development.
According to Gurinder Dabhia, MD, a pediatrician at Scripps Clinic Rancho Bernardo, positive peer pressure can help teens develop the coping skills necessary for adulthood and might, for example, encourage teens to become more active in athletics or to avoid risky behaviors, which can be especially helpful during tough times.
On the other hand, negative peer pressure can lead teens in bad directions, including possibly leading them to try alcohol or drugs, skip school, or engage in other poor behaviors that could put their health at risk and work against their self-development and advancement.
The TPF activities in this area focus on educating teenagers on how to spot evidence and signs of negative peer pressure influence and how to tackle and avoid them. The primary focus here is on awareness creation and using teenagers to assist other teenagers with negative peer pressure avoidance and mitigation.
The teenage years are a time for going to school and as such, doing well academically at school is essential for teenagers’advancement. However, some teenagers do face problems, and if not handled well, it can lead them to have some academic performance problems at school. Research shows that most teenagers do not do well academically, not because they are not academically good.
Research by Paradigm treatment shows that conditions that can cause academic problems in teenagers include learning disabilities, autism, mental health issues, and others. In addition, teenagers might be eligible for special plans at school to help them succeed.
The TPF links teenagers having academic problems to support groups and professional counselors and motivators, including a network of their colleague teenagers to assist them in various ways. We also operate a mentorship program with a network of mentors to assist teenagers who need help and mentoring in these areas.
Sexual abuse is mainly used to describe behavior toward children and teenagers, not adults. Sexual abuse can include many different things, from sexually touching a victim to forcing a victim to touch the perpetrator in a sexual way to making a victim look at sexual body parts or watch sexual activity. Sexual abuse of a child is a criminal act. The more common form of sexual harassment against teenagers includes unwanted sexual attention: unwanted touching, hugging, stroking, kissing, relentless pressure for dates, or sexual behavior. Perpetrators of sexual abuse or sexual harassment of teenagers can be adults and other teenagers. Research evidence shows that eighteen percent(18%) of teenage girls and three percent (3%) of teenage boys have been sexually harassed.
Research evidence shows that: 18% of teenage girls and 3%of teenage boys have been sexually harassed; 1 in 9 girls and 1 in 53 boys under the age of 18 experienced sexual abuse or assault at the hands of an adult; 82% of all victims under 18 are female; females ages 16-19 are four times more likely than the general population to be victims of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault.
The TPF has a zero-tolerance stance on teenage sexual harassment by adults and fellow teenagers. We campaign strongly against it and put efforts into educating and raising awareness about the practice. We also partner with a network of professional counselors to assist victims of teenage sexual harassment in all its forms.
Experts noted that youth drug abuse is a high-profile public health concern, with at least 1-in-8 teenagers abusing an illicit substance in the last year. Drug abuse can be described as the intake of hard drugs to make one lose self-control. Research evidence shows that teenage drug abuse correlates with substance abuse problems later in life.
The most significant increases in destructive behavior occur among older teens and young adults. Drug abuse is caused by peer pressure, genetic factors, availability, access to drugs, etc. Among teenagers, drug abuse, including alcohol, may lead to health problems, violence, deaths, physical dependence, etc.
The TPF has a zero-tolerance policy on teenage drug abuse. Our campaign against drug abuse focused on education and raising awareness on the dangers of drug abuse and prevention of drug abuse among teenagers. TPF also assists teenagers who need help to quit and abstain from harmful drug abuse by linking them to professional counseling services and other recovery resources and mentors
About seventy percent of how one’s life will end up depends on the individual’s teenage life. Therefore, teenage self-advancement and development are very important in every teenager’s life to help gain a better life in the future. Research shows that teenagers can improve their self-development and advancement by increasing self-awareness, life planning, goal setting, among others. Mentorship can also play a role in orienting teenagers towards setting and achieving self-development and advancement goals. Positive peer pressure can also motivate a teenager to self-development and accomplishments.
The TPF initiative on promoting Teenage Self-Advancement is targeted at using the entire membership of the TPF network to serve a positive peer pressure network to motivate, encourage and support members to set and pursue self-development and advancement goals during their teenage years. Another of activities, resources, and avenues are used to promote this group-based initiative.
The Teenage Pride Network (TPN) is a global initiative of TPF that serves as a forum to network teenagers and teenager organizations globally to collaborate and campaign on global issues of concern to teenagers worldwide. The TPN also provides and network for teenagers and teenage organizations to embark on exchange visits to learn about the cultures and lives of teenagers in other parts of the world. The TPN also provides a network and platform for teenagers and teenage organizations to collaborate and work with each other on other issues to find of interest to them now and then
The following TPN’s are now running
• TPN on the Environment and Climatic Change
• TPN Social Media for Teenagers
• TPN for Virtual Cultural and Social Exchange