This testimony, prepared for presentation to the Crisis Intervention Task Force of the House Select Committee on Children Youth, and Families, begins with an overview of statistics on education, employment, and marriage among adolescents. Subsequently, it reviews data on indicators of youth crises: pregnancy, sexuality, substance abuse, smoking, juvenile crime, suicide, and runaways. Reflection indicates that (1) when taken as a whole, data do not present a picture of escalating problems, though, when disaggregated, they do suggest areas of distress; (2) statistical overviews rarely portray strengths of an age group; (3) adolescents are not only victimizers but victims; (4) the direction of most negative social indicators among adolescents is either horizontal or declining; and (5) during impending economic reversals, funding of health services and social supports for children should be continued to maintain downward trends. It is further pointed out that, whereas a statistical profile indicates areas of crisis, a developmental profile is needed to explain the special vulnerability of adolescents. Subsequent material offers a synopsis of biological, sociocultural, and psychological aspects of adolescence; discusses statistical trends and developmental characteristics in the context of one-parent families; and, in conclusion, emphasizes the need for after-school and nutrition programs for both young and older adolescents.(RH)