Alaska ranks first in the nation in the rate of women killed by men, according to a report released Wednesday by the Violence Policy Center, a national nonprofit educational foundation that conducts research on violence in America. The study, based on 2004 figures compiled from records of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, reports 62 percent of women victims were either wives or intimate acquaintances of their killers. The study shows Alaska had nine women homicides in 2004, giving it a rate of 2.83 homicides per 100,000 people.

• Teens who have infrequent family dinners (two or fewer per week) are twice as likely to smoke daily and get drunk monthly compared to Teens who have frequent family dinners (at least five per week), according to a new report from The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse.
• The report, The Importance of Family Dinners III, also reveals that, compared to teens who have five or more family dinners per week, those who have two or fewer are:
  • More than twice as likely to have tried cigarettes
  • One and a half times likelier to have tried alcohol
  • Twice as likely to have tried marijuana
  • More than twice as likely to say future drug use is very or somewhat likely

(Ventura, CA) – A new study by The Barna Group (Ventura, California) shows that despite strong levels of spiritual activity during the teen years, most twentysomethings disengage from active participation in the Christian faith during their young adult years – and often beyond that. In total, six out of ten twentysomethings were involved in a church during their teen years, but have failed to translate that into active spirituality during their early adulthood.

• Half of teens attend a church-related service or activity in a typical week.
• Three out of five teens attend at least one youth group meeting at a church during a typical three month period.
• There is also a substantial amount of unorthodox spiritual activity: three-quarters of America’s teenaged youths have engaged in at least one type of psychic or witchcraft-related activity during their teen years (not including reading horoscopes).
• Only one-fifth of twentysomethings (20%) have maintained a level of spiritual activity consistent with their high school experiences. Another one-fifth of teens (19%) were never significantly reached by a Christian community of faith during their teens and have remained disconnected from the Christian faith.
  
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