Attitudes and Behaviors of American Youth - Family Life, Spending Habits, Junk Food, Dating, Sex, Marriage, And Children - GENERAL SATISFACTION

A few national studies periodically survey the attitudes, opinions, and behavior of American teenagers on a range of topics. For example, since 1979 the University of Michigan has conducted the annual study Monitoring the Future; the study's primary focus is monitoring drug- and alcohol-related behaviors among American secondary school students, college students, and other young adults. Market research firms can also be depended upon to conduct frequent surveys of teens, since teens have significant buying power.

What do teenagers think about? How do they feel about their parents and families, dating, the media, the government, social issues, their personal safety, and other issues? This chapter discusses some of the surveys.

GENERAL SATISFACTION

In Teens Today 2003, an annual survey compiled by the Liberty Mutual Group and Students Against Destructive Decisions/Students Against Drunk Driving (SADD), researchers reported that 61.3% of teens said they feel happy every day or almost every day. About half of the respondents felt stressed at least once a week, however, and older teens were more likely than younger teens to feel this way (58.8% compared to 28.2%).