Lifelong health behaviors and habits are being established during the adolescent years, ages 10-19.  While teens are generally healthy, the adolescent years do present a variety of health challenges mostly   due to risk-taking behaviors of teens related to tobacco, alcohol, and drug use, sex, violence, bullying, suicide and motor vehicle use.

Mental health or other chronic health conditions such as asthma, obesity and diabetes may also emerge during the teen years.  In our increasingly complex and social media-focused society, giving teens the skills needed to navigate these challenges is critically important. Think, Act, Grow (TAG) is a national initiative focusing attention on making the health, safety and development of teens a high priority. Teens need opportunities to make healthy choices and to have supportive relationships and safe places to go.  With these opportunities, teens will have the skills and experience needed to become healthy, productive adults.

Adolescent Health staff work to improve health, promote healthy youth development and reduce risky behaviors in teens, ages 10-19.  We invest in our youth population to ensure NJ adolescents thrive and become healthy, productive adults.  Adolescent Health administers two grant projects: School Health NJ and Teen Pregnancy Prevention. 

The New Jersey Adolescent and Young Adult (AYAH) Collaborative Improvement and Innovative Network (CoIIN) is a state team whose work is aimed at increasing preventive well care visits for adolescents as well as improving the quality of those visits.  This project is sponsored by the National Resource Center (NRC) and the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP). 

Using 2013-2015 data from a NJ Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) report, a greater than 50% disparity was identified for adolescent preventive well care visits at FQHCs (averaging about 45%) as compared to private physician offices (averaging about 97%).  The goal of the NJ AYAH CoIIN is to increase the FQHC adolescent visit rate to achieve the Healthy People 2020 goal of 75.6%.  State Team members will be participating in nationally-sponsored collaborative learning activities including, but not limited to: webinars, facilitated conference calls and regularly scheduled meetings.

• The Center for Leadership Education in Maternal and Child Public Health has a quick-guide for adolescent-related national health observances.
  
  
• The Center for Parent and Teen Communication provides resources for parents, caring adults and teens looking to build and strengthen their relationships.

• Konopka Institute for Best Practices in Adolescent Health promotes resources, practices, policies and systems with the greatest promise of supporting healthy youth development.
  
  
• The National Adolescent and Young Adult Health Information Center  has data and research on adolescent health topics and federal policy updates.
  
  
• The National Institute of Mental Health has published The Teen Brain: Still Under Construction which provides an understanding of teens’ behavior based on their brain development.