As I get older, it seems that more and more of the conversations that I have begin with “these kids today” and go on into some diatribe about how today’s youth are so much worse than the youth of yesterday. They haven’t been raised right, they’re disrespectful, some people even call them a lost generation. It seems that for the most part, today’s teens are getting a pretty bad rap with those older than them.
But do they deserve it? Many of our ideas about the teens of the new generation aren’t grounded in fact. In reality, the teens of today aren’t doing so bad in a lot of ways, and in many ways may be doing better than a lot of the generations that preceded theirs. Here are a few things to think about before the next time you begin a sentence with “back in my day”...”.
Myth #1: Teen pregnancy is on the rise. To hear a lot of people tell it, “these kids today” are getting knocked up left and right, making pregnancy pacts, and trying to emulate the life they see on shows like Teen Mom.
Fact: Teen birth rates are at the lowest they’ve been since 1946. The rate of teens having babies is at historic lows for teens across all ethnic groups, 36 percent lower than the year with the highest teen births on record. What is that year you ask? 1970. That means that despite what they say, a lot of folks born in the 1950s were getting busy with a whole lot more than homework. And speaking of getting busy”...
Myth #2: Kids are having sex younger and younger. With all the sexual content they’re exposed to in the media and with things like sexting making headlines, it would seem that sex would be a requirement among today’s youth.
Fact: Nearly 70 percent of teens ages 15-17 report that they have never had sexual intercourse. More than half of boys and girls in the same age group have had no sexual contact of any kind. In fact, the number of sexually active teens has continued to fall steadily since 1988. Experts aren’t sure of all of the reasons for the decline but believe that a poor economy, well-rounded sex education programs, and teens being busier over all has led teens to be less interested in sex than previous generations. The internet, which all of us parents fear, may be also partially to blame. The technology obsession, especially among teen boys who are more likely to get hooked on video games, may be one reason that teens are spending less time face-to-face and getting involved in sexual activity. There may be a good reason to let your kids sign on to Facebook after all!
Myth #3: They’re lost: dying, killing each other, in jail, or doing nothing with their lives.
Fact: It is true that the leading cause of death for Black males 18-24 is homicide, a fact that cannot be ignored. But even if we were to combine all of the causes often cited as evidence of Black male genocide including murder and AIDS, the number of young Black men that will die of one of these causes in that age group is far less than one percent, and not cause to believe that we are losing an entire generation of young men.
Despite the often cited untrue stat that there are more Black men in prison than in college, African-American youth are interested in education. Black college enrollment increased from 44 percent in 1980 to 56 percent in 2007. Teens today are also much less interested experimenting with illegal drugs and alcohol today than in any generation before them.
Are they perfect? Absolutely not. But are the worst thing to happen in history because they wear tight, saggy pants and like Lil Wayne and Nikki Minaj? Well maybe you didn’t do the same. Maybe you had you had on baggy pants and liked LiL Kim and Biggie, or rocked a hi-top fade or wore an afro and bell bottoms and listened to Parliament. But whatever was going on when you were a teen, your generation was listening to music, wearing clothes and doing things that the older generation didn’t like or understand.
They definitely need our guidance. But much in the same way we have to highlight positive marriages despite all of the attention given to the negative, we have to pay a lot more attention to what our kids are doing right instead of only talking about them when they’re acting up so that we can say “Back in my day.” Back in my day kids were exactly what they are now. Kids. And if we grown-ups started treating them like it we may all be a lot better off.
Aja Dorsey Jackson is a freelance writer and public relations consultant in Baltimore, Maryland. Find out more about her at www.ajadorseyjackson.com or follow her on twitter@ajajackson.
Anonymous says
I wouldn’t go as far as calling them the “lost’ generation, but they are indeed a different breed of folk. As a teacher, I have come to the conclusion that it’s the adults in these teens lives that have failed them. Instead of adults demanding respect and exerting authority over them, they are too busy trying to be their friends and negotiating with them. This goes across the board from parents to teachers, to neighbors.
Ariel @ Turning Winds says
It’s never a question of whether or not these statistics or myths are true but the issue on how effective parents are when it comes to raising their children regardless of the generation we’re in.
The way our kids end up is all mainly up to us parents. We should be trusting and supporting them without being too lenient. Constantly reminding and educating them of the common dangers that most teenagers are possibly exposed to, so that they’d be aware of how to properly deal with the influences of the outside world.
TheMrs says
We also have to remember that these are nationwide statistics and not local. I live in Philadelphia and locally we have had decreases in some areas and increases in others, for example locally our teen pregnancy rate has decreased but we have an increase in the younger teens sexual activity and pregnancy rates. Our school crime rate has decreased but we also have stricter rules on some behaviors that would have in our day been a detention, weeding the offenders out of the regular schools and placing them in alternative education.
I personally am continuosly talking to my children about appropriate behaviors, leaving the door open for good communication and praying that they will be ok in the long run. I will say that overall alot of today’s youth are lacking respect for their elders, peers and themselves.
Adam says
Thank you. Finally, someone who knows what they are talking about. It is so annoying seeing people trash my generation every day when statistically, ours is better than theirs. I mean these people are complaining about what is wrong with society, and them doing that is hypocritical. Because they are what’s wrong with society. All they do is generalize and whine about some group of kids (or whatever it may be) that they don’t like. I mean these people go on and on about what’s wrong with kids these days and they probably haven’t even once looked it up to see what the statistics were. Morons.
J O says
I can confirm that this generation, indeed, is having less sex than any of the ones recently before it. Its not just that this generation is more ambitious, there are major anti-fling social pressures that are very subtle, but have been growing since 1970. Its simply not that fashionable anymore to be so sexually active. Its fashionable to travel the world, study for your career, start a band, write a poetry collection, read books, start a business, plan for the future, etc. blah but it is not exactly fashionable anymore – nor as easy as it once was – to get laid, or for that matter, have a good time for the sake of having a good time. Priorities have shifted for youngsters from present satisfaction to future satisfaction, with social rewards being given to those hip young people who can seem like they are going to have a cool and rewarding future (not necessarily loaded with money) – regardless of their actual chances for success. Its more fashionable to look like you have a plan than it is to look like your having a good time (at least in Seattle I know this is the case, hipsters). Sometimes I feel anxious that my generation has so few party-people in it. I am one of them, but I feel alone some nights.