Reality Gap paints an alarming portrait of a modern-day adolescence filled with potentially deadly behaviors carefully hidden from the view of parents and other adults. But it is also a book about hope and inspiration, pointing to the incredibly powerful role that parents and other mentors can play in the lives of young people and highlighting the tremendous contributions that many teens are making to their families, schools, and communities.
Combining stories from today’s teens with original, groundbreaking research conducted by SADD and Liberty Mutual Insurance, Reality Gap offers an intriguing analysis of the adolescent decision-making process and shares important conclusions.
Most critically, the book shares common-sense solutions and practical steps for parents and other important adults, such as teachers, coaches, counselors, and health care providers, to use in their relationships with teens.
Reality Gap reveals:
- When certain behaviors are most likely to peak
- What factors most influence good and bad choices
- The role of development on decision-making
- The influence of parental expectations and modeling on teen behaviors
- How positive risk-taking can make negative risk-taking less likely
- Recognition of important life transitions as a way to reduce destructive behaviors
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Reality Gap: Alcohol, Drugs, and Sex … What Parents Don’t Know and Teens Aren’t Telling
Publisher: Union Square Press
Published: August 2008
336 pages
ISBN: 1-4027-5304-7
ISBN13: 9781402753046
$19.95 US
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