While adolescence is a time of tremendous growth and potential, it is a time tremendous risks during which social contexts exert powerful influences. Many adolescents face presure to use themselves at high risk for intentional and unintentional iunjurries, unintended ppregnancies, and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. Many also experience a wide range of adjustment and mental health problems. Behavior patterns that are established during this period such as the use or avoidance of drugs and taking or abstaining from sexual risk can have long-lasting negative and positive effects on future health and well-being. As a result, adults have unique opportunities to influence adolescents.

Adolescents are different both from young children and adults. Specifically, adolescents are not fully capable of understanfing complex concepts, or, the relationship between behavior and consequences, or the degree of control they have or can have over health decision-marking, including that related to sexul behaviors. Laws, customs, and practices may also affect adolescents differently when they are unnamed. In addition even when services do exist, provider attitudes about adolescents often pose a significant border to the use of those services,

Adolescents depend on their families, their communities schools, health services and their workplaces to learn a wide range of skills that can help them to cope with the pressures they fsce and make a successful transition from childhood to adulthood. Patent, members of the community, service providers, and social institutions have the responsibility to both promote adolescent development and adjustment and to intervene effective when problems arise.