Although there are some biological changes that have accelerated over the years, I think they're more nominal to the eye. All of this existed when I was a teen. Drugs, drinking, girls looking older and more sophisticated, boys trying to have sex with them. Boys having sex with them. I dated guys into their twenties when I was in high school. Yeah, my parents knew. It was all cool. And this was all WAY before 14 years ago!

The only difference I see now is that with a general increase in household wealth, everyone looks more polished and have better cars. But I'm sorry for your friend, Sarah. There is a movement to get the laws changed if the two are within a couple of years of each other, and one is a minor. Unfortunately, that law was mostly created to punish gay kids caught having sex so I don't see it changing given our current political climate.

Teens all look older today. I attribute this to different things. First off there are hormones in our food used simply to make animals grow for food production that were not used years ago. In effect everyone is on steroids. They will appear matured sooner than before. Then we have cosmetics. Everyone is using apperance altering cosmetics and there are so many more of them around today.
The bottom line is that a 12 year old doesn't look 12 anymore.

I don't think as much has changed as we perceive. When I was in my teens everyone was having sex and doing drugs. Heck at age 13 I was 6'5" 275 lbs with a beard (started smoking at 11 quit when I was 29) and was dating girls between 17-20 they all thought I was in my early 20s. I dated girls my ages also but they always thought I looked to old for the most part.

I don't see it. That seems to be a catch phrase as people get older and I see teens as teens. They don't look any diferent now as they did then.

In 1978 I was 13 years old.
My sister's friend thought I was old enough to go drinking with them. And invited me along. I was too shocked to laugh. I also realized I looked like I was 21. (sigh).

I had no desire to go drinking. I did not wear makeup or have anything but second hand clothes.

Some people are going to make the mistake of maturity no matter what.

There are plenty of kids from my HS who did all the drugs you're naming. Often with parents providing it.

Adults need to be smarter then enabling kids to do things that might not be good for them. If you're an adult you shouldn't be a drug source for a teen.

Also I pity your friend. If someone is going all out to fake a higher age - I don't know how you are supposed to know better?

It doesnt help with all the whoremoans "they" put in our foods and drinks and all the sexual inuendos put in tv movies and music we all listen to wnd watch with our kids and music videos are probably the worst thingbout there, disney nickleodeon and other kids channels arent any better for they are now depicting young girls and boys 6-7 years old talking about and ( in the shows) have biyfriends and or girlfriends then theres tje internet anything can be accessed by anyone its too easy to get to some things and kids know back doors we don't so even if we do block or monitor their activity they can get around it crazy shit but its out there and no one is doing a thing about it

Iagree 100%

It was his responsibility to make sure she was the age she said she was. Though what the teen did was wrong, she was a teen, and he was a grown ass man. He should have checked.

I also disagree that kids have changed. I think things are more the same than they are different. Kids will always try to push their boundaries and test the waters. Teens will always seek out adult things, since they are in between childhood and adulthood (but they are still kids). I agree with AGMT.

There is evidence that girls are reaching puberty earlier and earlier but, I have heard the same complaint from my grandparents generation on down, there has always been girls that are in a rush to growup early and dress and act far older than they really are. When I was about 20 I met a girl who claim and looked to be 18 it was only by chance that on our way out of the bar that on the way to my apartment that we ran into her older sister coming in the door. I found out she was 14 so, there I left her, so, sometimes the more things change the more they remain the same. As far as getting wasted well I grow up in the late sixties and early seventies so I think that says it all.

What's interesting is I don't think much has actually changed in terms of behavior. Some of the fashion has changed, and social media has encouraged people to be more open about things, but when I was a younger person I knew people who did all the same things. I think we just notice it more now, probably a perspective thing.

I'd also keep in mind our upbringing may have been more..boring? sheltered? I dunno the term. I just know my friends when I was 15-17 had very similar stories to the ones you described, including the statutory rape thing. And they were always talking drugs, haha. And that was almost 20 years ago.

Is it more of a change or more of just an openness about it? Hard to say. The terms have changed, and theres a lot more vaping than cigarettes but I think its based in the same rebellious-into-habit forming foundation.

I would say that there "may" be more of this class of teen now than in the past. And the knowledge of makeup proficiency has spread more widely among youth and adults. Online articles, tutorials etc. I can assure you there were a good many getting "blazed", "torched" and "twisted" 40 years ago, When I first tried Marijuana. Hallucinogens are not as "hardcore" as you may have been led to believe. They are definately potent experiences, and some serious risk to fragile personalities, But they have a tendency to be self limiting. After one has had a good long "trip", one is less inclined to immediately seek it again. There will always be fools among us that can't get enough in the way of a thrill. Age is a guard to many risks. But people will learn things as they have the power to pursue them.

I don't know... perhaps it is different in the US... When I was 13-14, my classmates were getting dead drunk, smoking weed and bragging about their sexual "adventures" on a daily basis - boys and girls alike (boys more active on the alcochol and weed discussion, girls on the sexual). Heavy makeups were also quite a daily thing. And there was no facebook then. But to me such things look pretty natural.
I remember like a year ago, a colleague of mine, a lady in her 60's, in one conversation casually stating "I started smoking at 12, was heavily onto it on 14 and dropped the habbit altogether at 16. Never had a desire to smoke since."

So on that matter I am like that - my kids will have the freedom to decide (essentially the same I had) what, when, with whom and etc to do on their own discretion. My duty is to teach them to do so responsibly.

At my age, everyone under forty looks the same anymore. But you're right, we didn't have girls in high school looking like they do today.

I agree, and it's kind of scary. I don't know what the future holds... I see so many young people (and people who are old enough to know better) making poor decisions that are affecting their lives now and will continue to in the future. A lot of self-destructive behavior nowadays.

Even people in their early twenties look like children to me.

It's not just make up and fashion. Social media, peer pressure are playing a role and I saw a show awhile back about how girls are reaching puberty earlier and are developing more physically (larger breasts) than their conterparts a generation ago.

When my daughter was 12, she passed for 18 with no effort on her part. I watched her closely because I saw the attention she was getting; when a man looked a little too long, I would tell him her age. Once she got a bit older, she liked that attention which is why there were a lot of rose bushes under her windows LOL

Now HER 11 year old daugher has body hair. And other things. The pediatrition asks if she is menstruating at every visit. I'm like, she is 11. Fortunately she is not tall like her mother was so it's still obvious she is young but yeah, girls are looking older these days.

I had a friend in college who ran into the same situation you describe. Only the teen's Mother wanted her to daughter to trap someone into marriage with the sexual assualt laws. (We won't call the police if you marry her).

It is truly reprehensible to lie about your age when someone's life can be ruined by it.

You don't think of checking ID when someone tells you they are your age!