DR. WALLACE: I'm 18 and have graduated, with honors, from high school. My boyfriend is 19, a high school grad and has a good job making good money working in his father's business as a new car salesman. We are soul mates and very, very much in love. I live at home with my parents and two younger brothers.

My boyfriend and his older brother share an apartment.

I have been reading your teen column since I was in 7th grade and enjoy reading it even though I don't always agree with your advice. About a couple of months ago, you wrote that the number of unwed teens having pregnancies was on the rise and that the United States had the highest percentage of unwanted teen pregnancies in the world. Well, if my boyfriend impregnated me, we would be thrilled to become parents, yet we would be included in the statistic citing pregnant unwed teens. As you can see, sometimes figures don't lie, but liars figure. Where did you get those figures on unwed teen pregnancies? — Lupe, Houston, Tex.

LUPE: The United States, indeed, leads all industrial countries in the percentage of unwanted teen pregnancies, and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 19 in 20 teen pregnancies in the United States are unintended.

Since your boyfriend and you are in love, soul mates and he has a good job, maybe it might be wise to get married. That way, if you would become pregnant, it wouldn't make the unintended list.

TELL YOUR PARENTS IF YOUR BROTHER DOESN'T

DR. WALLACE: My 16-year-old brother and his best friend are going to the mall when it is a busy time, and they are stealing things. I found out because his friend's sister told me. These 2 guys then sell the stuff they steal to other friends.

I questioned my brother and he admitted to stealing at the mall. He begged me not to tell our parents and promised that he would stop stealing. Well, I found out that since he promised me that he would quit, he still had a stealing spree with his friend.

What should I do? Keep quiet, or break my promise and inform our parents what my brother is doing? — Nameless, Naperville, Ill.

NAMELESS: The loyalty you feel for your brother is less important than the trouble he is headed for. Talk with him and let him know you're aware that he's been shoplifting again. Tell him to discuss this with your parents. Give him one day. If he doesn't tell them, inform him that you will. Your parents should be made aware of your brother's unacceptable behavior — before they get a call from the police telling them he's been arrested!

Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. E-mail him at rwallace@galesburg.net. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.