It’s Official: Teens Not So Bad

What’s a person to presume about the state of today’s youth when two studies come out during the same week saying drastically different things about teens?

They’re good! No, they’re bad! They’re good but they do bad things?

That’s the problem with making blanket assumptions based on surveys: The polls provide a glimpse into the lives of young adults, but can’t give the whole story.

Take, for example, the most recent figures released on drug use. Between 1995 and 1996, the percentage of high school sophomores who said they’d used drugs in the last year jumped from 33.3 percent to 37.5 percent. Eighth-graders’ use increased about 2 percent and seniors’ use increased about 1 percent.

Alcohol use rose slightly among the younger children and stayed high but level among the sophomores and seniors. Heroin use also jumped slightly.

What can you conclude from these statistics? Experts say the increases could be due to a drop in anti-drug messages from parents and schools. Meanwhile, pop culture has glamorized drug use, adding to its appeal.

So, we know more kids are using drugs, but we also know the number is lower than the high rates of the 1970s.

Before the alarm bells go off, consider this: A survey released earlier this month by Independent Sector showed volunteerism among teens rose by 7 percent between 1991 and 1995. That’s 13.3 million teens who volunteered 1.8 billion hours to church and civic organizations, and 600 million hours to helping friends and neighbors.

Almost 60 percent of the country’s youth volunteered their time compared to about 48 percent of adults.

Are these the same druggies painted by the broad stroke of the drug survey?

Who can tell? The important thing to draw from each of these surveys is that young people today endure increasing pressures to use drugs, be cool and “experiment.” On the other hand they’re concerned citizens who recognize need in their community and strive to contribute.

Adults can steer young people in the right direction by emphasizing the positive things teens do rather than stereotyping the entire generation as disrespectful, lazy and uninspired. With good examples and reinforcement, they’ll grow up to be the kind of citizens America needs.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Anne Windishar For the editorial board