|
| |
Challenges Facing our Youth
As school and community leaders digest the results of the recently completed Minnesota Student Surveys, it seems appropriate to pause, and consider, some of the emerging issues and changing conditions affecting today’s youth. The “Forum for Youth Investment” monitors trends affecting youth on a national level.
Positive trends:
- Children are healthier than ever before.
- Teen pregnancy rates are at the lowest levels since 1969.
- School dropout rates are down.
- Youth and school violence rates are down and continue to drop.
- Number of youth arrested for serious crimes continues to decrease.
- Teen use of alcohol, drugs and tobacco continues to decrease slightly each year.
Some cautions:
- Poverty rates for families with children dropped to just 15% in 2000, but have since climbed to 38%. Over 50% of these households have at least one person working full time.
- Teen employment rates dropped to a 56 year low.
- Nationally, only 75% of public school students graduate from high school.
- 62.7% of Minnesota 12th graders report alcohol consumption within the past year.
- 26.6% of Minnesota 12th graders smoked cigarettes during the previous 30 days.
- 27% of Minnesota 12th graders used marijuana in the past year and 5% used methamphetamines.
- One in 10 children are diagnosed as having mental illnesses severe enough to impair development. Seventy per cent of incarcerated youth have documented mental disorders.
Emerging concerns:
- Unhealthy eating, physical inactivity and increased use of TV/video games contribute to a 15% increase in obesity among youth.
- Compulsive youth gambling is rapidly increasing.
- Negative body images are reinforced by popular “makeover” shows.
- Young people consume unprecedented amount of commercially driven media.
According to Karen Pittman with the “Forum,” two overarching trends also underlie the challenges facing today’s youth. For the first time in the history of the United States, no clear racial ethnic majority exists in the under 25 years old population. The increasing diversity of US youth will affect interpersonal relationships over the coming years.
The second overarching trend is the increasing disparity between the wealthiest and poorest ten percents of the country. As polarization increases, “those who have lots of problems and limited skills churn at the bottom and those who have high skills, unless they have serious problems, rise to the top.” In an increasingly complex world, high skills are obtained through post secondary education, which is becoming more difficult for poorer families to access.
Social analyst Juliet Schor expresses concern about the “media diet” of today’s teens. Media exposure physically connects kids to the consumer culture, brands and materialist values or “the idea that you are what you have.” Teens who buy into these values are much more likely to be involved in traditional risky behaviors (early unprotected sex, drug and alcohol use), be depressed and display low self-esteem.
For today’s teens to succeed, they continue to need safe, stable homes; basic care and services; healthy relationships and expectations; positive role models, resources and networks; opportunities to participate and contribute; and high quality instruction and training. The YSB engages youth and parents as problem solvers to prepare for the future; to fix current problems, prevent future ones, and promote positive engagement in community life.
Resources:
The Forum for Youth Investment (2005, January, February), “Revisiting Risk in the 21st Century.” Forum Focus, 3(1), Washington, DC. [www.forumforyouthinvestiment.org]
Pittman, Karen, “Youth Trends, Service Challenges: An Advocate’s Glimpse into the Future.” (September, 2001), The Forum for Youth Investment, Washington, DC
National Center for Children in Poverty, (2004), “Basic Facts About Low-Income Children in the United States,” Columbia University. www.nccp.org
Health Teacher, ”Youth Gambling: the Odds Are Against Them,” (202 data), Health Strategies, Hendersonville, TN
Minnesota Department of Education, “Minnesota Student Surveys Initial Trends” and “Washington County Tables”Learn more about youth Navigating a Changing World | |
