Posted on 08/10/2004 7:07:53 PM PDT by Lorianne
While nearly one-half of teenagers in the United States believe going to war in Iraq was the right decision, the country's youth grow increasingly pessimistic following the terrorist attacks of Sep. 11, 2001, according to a poll released Tuesday.
In May 2001, 78 percent of young people were "hopeful and optimistic" about the future. That number had dropped to 73 percent by May 2002, but in May 2003, possibly in light of a perceived military victory in Iraq, optimism rose to 75 percent.
However in the most recent of a series of polls, optimism sank to a low of 68 percent, according to 'State of Our Nation's Youth', a report conducted for the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, a non-profit body that provides need-based scholarships to college seniors.
"Teens aren't seeing benefits from the war (in Iraq). There are still car bombs, and still insurgents; it looks like a hopeless occupation," said Luis Leon, a 17-year-old student from Florida, who spoke as part of a panel discussion at the release of the 78-page report.
The May 2004 poll of 1,007 13-19-year-old high school students was conducted directly after the release of photos of U.S. soldiers abusing prisoners in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, possibly leading young people to feel less optimistic about the war in Iraq and the U.S.' image abroad, according to Peter D Hart, director of Peter D Hart Research Associates, which conducted the survey.
"Events in the world are now events in (young peoples') world," Hart added.
The report also concludes that young people are paying closer attention to November's presidential election than popularly believed, and that they are increasingly looking to family members as role models.
It found that 44 percent of young people thought the decision to go to war in Iraq was the right one, while 33 percent disagreed and 18 percent had no opinion.
Interestingly, 51 percent of Caucasian students agreed with the decision, in contrast to 25 percent of African America students polled and 29 percent of Hispanic students.
Fifty-three percent of boys agreed with the decision to invade Iraq versus 35 percent of girls, according to the report.
In a finding related to the U.S.-led war in Iraq, 55 percent of students said they expected that young Americans will be required to serve in the U.S. military at some point during their lifetime.
Seventy percent opposed a mandatory two-year service in the military, but only 57 percent were against a two-year "national service" requirement that could be fulfilled through community or military service.
The polls results show a surprising level of interest in the upcoming presidential elections, according to the report.
Although it found that 30 percent of students do not follow election news at all and 37 percent say they keep track just somewhat closely, 33-percent of high school students said they follow election news at least fairly closely and nine percent very closely.
"Most adults expect teenagers to fill their free time with music, television, sports and video games. The fact that even one-third of students are paying close attention to the upcoming election is encouraging news," said the report.
Boys, at 38 percent, were more likely to pay close attention than girls, (28 percent). Thirty-six percent of Caucasians said they pay close attention, while 27 percent of African Americans and 26 percent of Hispanics said they were paying close attention.
Sixty-two percent of teenagers believe the election will make a fairly large or very large difference in the country's future direction, concluded the report.
One-third (34 percent) of young people said that social issues, like gay marriage and abortion, would be one of the top two most important issues guiding their voting decision, while 29 percent said education and 29 percent said the war in Iraq.
Almost all (96 percent) of those surveyed had access to the Internet at home or school but that number dropped to 93 percent for African American and 95 percent for Hispanic respondents.
This disparity is reflected again in the report's findings that 67 percent of Caucasians have access at both home and school while only 51 percent of Hispanics and 54 percent of African Americans have such access.
Among the 96 percent who said they had Internet access, 93 percent used it to look for information to help with homework, 92 percent sent e-mail, and 87 percent used the Internet's instant messaging services.
Despite those numbers, 74 percent of students said they still prefer to discuss a serious problem in person with a friend or family member as opposed to on the telephone (19 percent) or via instant messaging (six percent).
In fact, the most surprising trend highlighted in the survey was a renewed focus on the family to provide both role models and confidants.
Ninety-two percent of those polled said they have at least one family member they can confide in and talk with about personal problems. Seventy-seven percent of teens get along "very well" or "extremely well" with their parents, and 51 percent identified a family member as a chosen role model.
Historically, teenagers have been more likely to choose their mother as a role model over their father, as illustrated by results in the 2001 survey, which showed that 40 percent of teens who had a family member as a role model chose their mother, compared to only 26 percent who identified their father.
But this year's findings shows the disparity has all but disappeared, with 33 percent identifying their mother and 32 percent citing their father as a role model.
The improved relationship with parents was reiterated by Maggie Erwin, a 16-year-old panellist. "When I look around, our parents are cool," she said.
They should watch less television.
It's all the liberal Democrap propaganda they see on TV, hear on the radio and read on the internet and newsrags.
Eh, 68% is a *very* good number. Today's youth (meaning those under age 25 or so) , definitely have their heads screwed on tight.
9/11 was a defining moment for them much as Watergate was for the hippy generation.
To be honest, it's the only thing that gives me hope these days. I'd guess we've got about another 10 years to endure of the socialist policies of the hippy generation.
The country is pretty much screwed until the the hippy generation starts to die off and disappear from their influence positions in adademia, govt, and the media.
I think we should pretty much resign ourselves to the hippies taking power for their last hurrah. Once they do that , and it ends in spectacular failure: like UN appeasement leading to a catastrophic nuke/chem/bio attack on a major US city, the current generation will seize upon a sizeable mandate and take power.
The hippy generation will be forgotten and discredited forever.
Every last one of them should be obligated for military service for three years.
Aside from the probability that many will serve in the military at some point, they should also be concerned with the economy's near total dependence on oil, natural gas, and coal, especially oil. Becoming independent of oil will not be cheap.
That might make them more pessimistic, but in a good way. Still a bad idea. They deserve their freedom while they're young, even if the little s**ts may not appear to deserve it.
And when the older generation, i.e. the baby boomers were young, they were all ideally young conservatives?
No. Some volunteered for service instead of being hippies. Most had to get jobs, get married, raise kids, and save their hard-earned dough in order to "get it". Drafting people into the armed forces isn't going to make anyone conservative. It's more likely to have the opposite effect.
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