Broad Attack Urged To Meet Adolescents' Basic Needs

By Millicent Lawton

Washington

The nation has neglected the basic needs of its young adolescents, too often scrambling to fix one teenage problem at a time rather than working to prevent them, a report released here last week concludes.

Instead of creating more programs to deal with the problems of teenage pregnancy or drug use, the report commissioned by the Carnegie Corporation of New York argues, policymakers need to refocus on broader "generic" ways to prevent such problems...