KIDS COUNT RANKS STATE 13TH WORST IN TEEN DEATHS

Missouri teen-agers are among the most likely nationwide to be working or studying, yet also are more likely to die while youths, according to a children's advocacy group.

The annual survey of children's living conditions ranks Missouri as slightly worse than average -- 31st nationally -- with little change from the previous study.

"We've stayed pretty consistent over the whole course of this report," which dates to 1990, said Cande Iveson, a senior analyst with Jefferson City-based Citizens for Missouri's Children.

Tom Davisson, executive director of the Community Caring Council in Cape Girardeau, was surprised by the state's ranking.

"I would have guessed we'd do better," said Davisson. "I just think because we're such a progressive state in all those areas of children's initiatives and since we've had some real positive results, we would have appeared higher in the rankings."

The national Kids Count survey by the Baltimore-based Annie E. Casey Foundation is based on 1998 figures, the latest year for which statistics were available in all states in all categories.

The state-by-state rankings are based on 10 criteria, including rates for births and deaths, school dropouts and poverty. Missouri ranked 32nd in last year's report and has stayed in the 30 to 35 range, Iveson said.

Davisson said he rarely refers to the national survey. Instead, he uses a similar county-by-county comparison of data released each winter by Citizens for Missouri's Children.

"The greater benefit for us is we get to compare our own county to others in the state to see how we rate in those areas related to children's services," he said. "Luckily, we're usually in pretty good shape here, but that doesn't mean we don't have room for improvement."

Among Missouri's biggest improvements is the percentage of 16- to 19-year-olds considered idle because they are neither attending school nor working. Seven percent of teens fell into that category in 1998, an improvement from 9 percent in 1997 and 11 percent in 1990.

Since 1990, Missouri's ranking in idle teens improved from 34th nationally to the 13th best.

Part of the improvement may reflect a better emphasis on staying in school, but "part of it's the economy. ...There are jobs available for teens. They are taking the jobs that others will not take," Iveson said.

The death rate -- based on accidents, homicides and suicides -- was 70 out of every 100,000 youths ages 15-19 in 1998, according to the survey. That's the lowest rate in the nine-year survey in Missouri, but still makes the state the 13th worst in the nation.

Iveson said most of Missouri's teen deaths are attributable to traffic accidents.

"Part of it has to do with the fact that we may have more rural roads than some states, and sometimes those can be a little more dangerous, particularly for teens," she said.

Also, more and more public schools are dropping driver's education from their class options. Instead, some are making the classes available for a price.

It could be several years before the annual survey can gage the impact of a new law setting up driver's license restrictions for beginning drivers. That law went into effect in January.

Missouri ranked between 28th and 32nd nationally in its percentage of low birth-weight babies, teen-age births, children in poverty and deaths of infants and children ages 1-14.

Tamara Zellars Buck of the Southeast Missourian contributed to this report.