News Analysis
News: Youth
>> = Important Articles
** = Major Articles
Supplemental Articles in a separate file (click here to read)
>>Courting Danger Online—Teenagers and the Internet (Christian Post, 051201)
**Report: Sexual Activity Rises, Condom Use Declines Among High School Youth (Foxnews, 080605)
**Study: Christian Teens Confused About Heaven (zcp, 070525)
**Survey: High School Seniors ‘Graduating from God’ (Christian Post, 060810)
**The new youth craze: Self-mutilation (townhall.com, 050223)
==============================
As Janet Kornblum of USA Today remarks, America’s teenagers are growing up “with a mouse in one hand and a remote control in the other.” The generation Microsoft founder Bill Gates calls “Generation E” has never known a time when information was not instantly accessible on the internet, or when communication was not available at warp speed through instant-messaging, e-mail, and Internet websites.
Make no mistake—teenagers are wired and highly active online. According to the Teenage Life Online report released by The Pew Internet and American Life Project, over seventeen million teenagers use the Internet. According to the report, that represents 73% of all teenagers. “Teenagers’ use of the Internet plays a major role in their relationships with their friends, their families, and their schools,” the report explains.
All this leads to new opportunities, and to new dangers. One of the latest challenges faced by parents is the development of teenage blogging. Taking advantage of Internet websites such as MySpace, Facebook, and Xanga, many teenagers and college students are creating personal blogs, which are essentially online diaries accessible to the public. As Kornblum explains, these teenagers “now pour out their hearts, minds, and angst in personal online diaries.”
She also describes the problem this way: “And anyone with a connection—including would-be predators—can have a front-row view of this once-secretive teenage passion play.”
Kornblum is correct. Teenagers are using blogs in unprecedented numbers. What was once communicated through phone conversations is now handled by instant-messaging. The content once secreted in the pages of hand-written diaries is now out for public consumption, and often with intimate details and personal information.
Paul Saffo of the Institute for the Future in Menlo Park, California explains, “This is the new way kids interact. Fifty years ago, they borrowed their parents’ phones or made their own phones out of string and Dixie cups. Today they have their own cell phones, and they have their own computer accounts and Web pages, and they have their own blogs. It’s part of life in the cyber age.”
The Pew study estimates that at least four million teenagers now blog. These numbers do not even include pages found at some of the most popular Internet sites where young people are posting personal information and putting up personal Web pages.
Most observers agree that girls dominate blogging, even as in previous generations girls were far more likely than boys to keep personal diaries. Far too many parents are unaware of the dangers that lurk on the Internet.
Others are keeping a watchful eye on their children and their blogs. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that increasing numbers of parents have resorted to “spying” on their teenagers by visiting their blogs. Reporter Kevin J. Delaney took a look at this issue through the lens of one mother and her teenage daughter. This mother discovered that the daughter had lied about going to a high school football game with friends. By reading the girl’s blog, this mom discovered that her daughter had actually gotten into the car of a boy the mother did not even know and had gone to an ice-cream shop without permission.
Her daughter quickly figured out that her mother had traced her activities through her online diary and blog. Since then, this mom has attempted to use software programs to snoop on her daughter’s Internet use and the revelations of her personal life. According to Delaney, the mom spends approximately thirty minutes a day monitoring her daughter’s activities on and off the Internet.
“If my daughter had a diary in her room, I would not read it. But what she posts on the Internet is posted to the entire world,” the mother reported. Amazingly, some claim that teenagers’ blogs should be off-limits to parents. As Janet Kornblum reports, “Experts are divided about whether and how parents should treat the journals—especially when it comes to teens over 13.” Some argue that, since the material is published in public view, there should be no assumption of privacy. Others, Kornblum reports, “argue that reading journals is no different from eavesdropping on their kids.”
This debate tells us a great deal about how American culture has shifted authority from parents to teenagers. How can a concerned and loving parent not follow their teenagers’ online activities? No doubt, it’s a dangerous world out there. Furthermore, Christian parents should be very suspicious about any claims to “privacy” on the part of their teenage children.
The emergence of teenage blogs has created problems, not only for parents, but for high schools and colleges. Officials at North Carolina State University brought charges against several underage students when a residential advisor found on their Facebook blogs a picture of them drinking. “There is no reasonable expectation of privacy,” said Paul Cousins, director of the office of student conduct at the university. “So I have no concerns about any university becoming aware of an issue via Facebook and then following up on those concerns.”
In some cases, online blogging has led to real danger. Taylor Behl, a seventeen-year-old freshman at Virginia Commonwealth University was murdered this fall. Though officials are not certain whether her online activities had any direct relation to her death, Behl had used MySpace and similar sites and had posted intimate details and personal information. Pam Lepley, a spokeswoman for the university, told reporter Alorie Gilbert of News.com, “In the course of the investigation it became very apparent to university officials just how much information she had put out about herself online. She and thousands of other people her age put out these Web pages and may not know how vulnerable it could make them.” Lepley further explained, “In their own minds, they’re sitting in their dorm room or at home, and they have a sense of privacy—and they really don’t have it at all.”
Furthermore, parents are often shocked by what they find at their kids’ blogs. As one report summarizes: “Teens complain about parents and homework, using language that will make Tony Soprano blush. They share daily dramas, post songs from the latest bands, display pictures of themselves, sometimes wearing next to nothing or taking bong hits. They write angst-ridden poetry, detail supposed sexual exploits and complain about each other or offer support. But mostly they simply relay the details of their everyday lives.”
Some school officials have discovered further grounds for concern. Vauhini Vara of The Wall Street Journal reports that school principals now monitor many blogs. In this report, Vara told of one sixteen-year-old girl at Paramus High School in Paramus, New Jersey who was suspended after teasing a classmate during school and implying he was homosexual. At home, even during her suspension, she posted some comments on her blog, including a post in which she heaped further scorn upon the boy. The school considered these comments to constitute harassing behavior, and the girl was suspended for three more days. The girl’s parents have complained to school officials. “It’s inappropriate that they’re telling my daughter how to behave when she’s not at school,” said her father. “It was such a violation of the First Amendment.” Once again, this development indicates how the pattern of authority has been radically changed. Many parents now fight for their children’s “right” to harass fellow students, to criticize school officials, and to make virtually unrestricted comments online.
Christian parents must see the fallacy in this argument and the danger in forfeiting their parental responsibility. This generation of teenagers desperately needs parents who will reassert their authority and fulfill their responsibility to protect, monitor, and supervise their children.
Responsible Christian parents will establish clear boundaries and rules for their childrens’ use of the Internet. There should be absolutely no expectation of privacy when it comes to what their teenagers are doing and writing on the Internet. The stakes are simply too high.
A sixteen-year-old girl in Port Washington, New York was molested by a man who had tracked her down because she had listed personal information on her MySpace profile. Many teenagers claim to understand the danger. One seventeen-year-old girl retorted, “I watch Oprah. I know what happens.” Maybe so—but maybe not.
Parents would do well to limit all Internet access by teenagers. In general, teenagers are spending far too much time online and less time engaging in interaction with friends, parents, siblings, and other family members. To a great extent, the emergence of an online teen community means that teenagers now have a new and powerful mechanism for retreating into an adolescent-only world, cut off from adult contact and supervision.
This is neither healthy nor safe, and parents who neglect to protect their children online are putting their teens at risk. Teenagers with unrestricted access to the computer and the Internet are as vulnerable as adolescents who would be given an automobile with unrestricted access and virtually limitless speed. In reality, the situation is even worse, for there is no adequate police force on the Internet. It’s a dangerous world out there and America’s parents need to act before these dangers hit close to home.
_______________________________________________
R. Albert Mohler, Jr. is president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.
==============================
WASHINGTON, — Sexual activity is on the rise among U.S. teens while the use of contraceptives is sliding in the other direction, according to a study released by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.
Findings from the 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System show that approximately 48% of high school teens say they have had sex, representing 2% hike since 2005.
The same survey showed a 2% drop-off in the percentage of teens who said they used condoms while having sex.
The CDC questioned 14,041 students in grades nine through 12 in 39 states in the spring of 2007 on a range of risky behaviors, including sexual activity, and drug and alcohol use.
Sexual activity among teens has declined since the 1990’s.
In 1991, 54% of the high school students said they had ever had sexual intercourse, compared to 48% in 2007. In 1991, 19% said they had at least four sexual partners, compared to 15% last year, the survey showed.
For the students overall, just under half have had sex, 75% have tried alcohol and 20% smoke.
The study is given to high school students every two years. The new report noted that black and white students are reporting less sexual activity than in years past, but there was no decline among Hispanics.
However, whites reported the highest rates of smoking and heavy drinking, while blacks reported the highest rates of obesity and violence.
Hispanic students were more likely than either blacks or whites to attempt suicide, ride with a driver who had been drinking alcohol, or use cocaine, heroin or ecstasy.
The survey did not collect information on the parents’ income or education levels. Some experts say those factors also can be a strong indicator of a youth’s health behavior and academic achievement.
Adolescents cannot always be counted on to tell the truth about their sexual exploits, drug use, or other risky behaviors. But CDC officials say they take many steps to secure accurate responses: Participation is confidential, kids are spaced apart when answering the questions and teachers do not hover.
==============================
Approximately 28% of American teenagers trust only in Jesus Christ as their way to heaven. The rest are confused.
A new survey by LifeWay Research indicated that many American teenagers are confused about what it takes to get to heaven. Results showed 53% of teens strongly agree with the belief that they will go to heaven because Jesus Christ died for their sins. Another 16% somewhat agree.
Among those not holding that traditional Christian belief, 27% said they trust in their own kindness to others and 26% trust in their religiosity as their means to get to heaven.
The survey, however, further found that even those who believe in Jesus Christ have confused ideas on how to get to heaven.
Out of the 69% of teens who at least somewhat agree they will go to heaven through Jesus Christ’s death for their sins, 60% also said they will go because they are religious, and 60% also said they will go because they are kind to others.
“Why would teenagers feel the need to add anything to Jesus’ work on the cross?” posed Scott Stevens, director of youth ministries at LifeWay.
Stevens pointed to several possible reasons for the “Jesus +” belief in going to heaven.
“Maybe it’s because so many of them are fully engulfed in a performance-based existence where they are constantly striving to earn the favor and acceptance of those around them, especially those in positions of authority. How often do these teens experience unconditional love at home, school, or even in their church?
“How about the teenagers at your church?” Stevens asked. “Do they feel valued as long as they show up, keep quiet, and don’t break anything? When they have to earn the favor of others based on something they do, it’s not hard to understand how this theology of ‘Jesus + my good works = heaven’ could seep into their belief system, not to mention the accompanying spiritual doubt they experience when their behavior fails to meet the established standard.”
Raising further concern, the LifeWay study also found that 69% of teenagers believe heaven exists, which is a 6% drop since 2005.
“[I]t may be that living in an uncertain world—with the threats of war, terrorism, school violence, divorce of parents, economic uncertainty, broken friendships, etc.—has teens unsure of reaching heaven when they die,” said Stevens.
Those more likely to believe in heaven were African American teenagers (81%) and girls (73%). Sixty-six% of boys strongly agree heaven exists.
According to the latest study, 26% of teenagers don’t know if heaven is in their future and 25% of teens who agree they will go to heaven because Jesus Christ died for their sins are also uncertain.
Only 5% strongly agree that they do not believe heaven exists and 4% strongly agree with the statement: “I don’t care if I go to heaven.”
When measuring teens’ involvement in religious activities, the study found that in the last 30 days, 54% have attended a church or religious service; 23% indicated that they attended a church youth group social activity; 20% attended Sunday school (drop from 24% in 2005); 14% attended a small-group Bible study (drop from 18%); and 8% have been in a leadership role within their youth group.
Outside of the church, 39% of teenagers said they prayed regularly and 14% said they read the Bible regularly in the last 30 days.
Moreover, 24% of teens said they had told a friend about their religious beliefs in the last 30 days (drop from 30%) and 15% had invited someone to a church activity (drop from 19%).
The study revealed older teens (18 and 19 year-olds) are much less likely than 12-17 year-olds to attend youth group activities and Sunday school. Also, female teens were found to be more active religiously in personal and church activities than male teens. Females are more likely to pray and read the Bible regularly, participate in youth group social activities, small group Bible studies and leadership roles.
“With declining involvement in religious activities, perhaps it’s not surprising that fewer teenagers are discussing their religious beliefs with friends or inviting people to church,” said Stevens. “This would certainly align with the falling number of baptisms in this age group among Southern Baptist churches.”
Total baptisms in the Southern Baptist Convention dropped for the second consecutive year in 2006 from 371,850 to 364,826.
“Also, the percentages of participation in these activities are lowest among 18-19 year olds, which points to the continuing challenge of ministering effectively to students as they move from high school to college,” Stevens noted.
Simply put, Stevens warned the church, “Influence is being lost with the future of the church.
“At a time when there are growing numbers of teenagers in America and growing numbers of churches who are ministering specifically to teens, spiritual results with this age group are lacking. While resources for ministry to teenagers abound, it’s time for churches to focus on the spiritual development of students rather than providing more ‘stuff’ for student ministry, and to fully engage teens in the life and ministry of the church.”
LifeWay Research was launched by LifeWay Christian Resources, one of the world’s largest providers of Christian products and services, and its current president, Dr. Thom S. Rainer, for the purpose of assisting and equipping church leaders with insight and advice that will lead to greater levels of church health and effectiveness.
==============================
Thousands of Jesus-following students who graduated from high school this summer will be claiming independent lives as they enter the big college campus in the fall. A new research study, however, is indicating the majority of those students will also be “graduating from God” upon entering college.
Fuller Theological Seminary’s Center for Youth and Family Ministry launched a three-year longitudinal study, surveying Christian students and their life transition into college and what provides for a better transition especially when it comes to faith. The milestone study is set to confirm the large number of students that youth workers say are leaving the church.
Denominations and youth workers have estimated that between 65% and 94% of their high school students stop attending church after they graduate. But no broad, multi-denominational, research-based calculation has confirmed any number.
Research for the first pilot phase of the College Transition Project began in January 2005. Initial results revealed that 100% of the 234 students surveyed had engaged in risk behaviors including alcohol use. Those surveyed were students who had graduated from the youth ministry of a Presbyterian church within the last four years. The second most frequent engagement in risk behaviors was sexual encounters.
According to the study, the struggles students were found to have when making their shift into college were related to friendships or lack thereof. In addition to not having friends or a community, students also indicated being alone for the first time and having a desire to find a faith community or church as some of the most difficult elements of their transition.
Southern Baptist Convention President Dr. Frank Page expressed alarm over the high number of church drop outs and failures on the part of churches.
“It is a disturbing trend and part of it is that our churches have become one- or two-generation churches, and we’ve failed to learn how to reach out to this younger generation.”
Intergenerational relationships were found to be enormously beneficial to students, according to Kara Powell, executive director of the Center for Youth and Family Ministry. The College Transition study will be measuring components such as intergenerational community, parents, and youth groups that impact the move into college life.
Powell pointed out a significant finding from the initial study. “One of the most interesting findings from that pilot project was the importance of doubt in a student’s faith maturity. The more college students felt that they had the opportunity to express their doubt while they were in high school, the higher levels of faith maturity and spiritual maturity [they had].”
“Whether it was with the youth group overall or with a specific adult leader, students who had the opportunity to struggle with tough questions and pain during high school seemed to have a healthier transition into college life,” stated the study by Powell and Krista Kubiak, youth worker and graduate of the Marriage and Family program at Fuller.
And youth workers play a significant part in such conversations involving struggles and tough questions. But in the big picture, youth groups are leaving out any preparations to help students make a successful transition.
“A lot of youth pastors assume everything goes well with those kids [who graduate],” said Powell. “The reality is that the transition into college is a lot tougher.”
Ben Burns of Campus Crusade for Christ had mentioned that the “send-off” of high school seniors to college is not a part of the youth ministry cycle. And the pilot study revealed the consequences of that.
“Nicole” – a church’s common high school small group student – was an active member of her small group for four years. When she went off to college, however, she and the small group leader lost contact. Soon, she dropped out of the church scene. Three years later, the small group leader found Nicole with a nine-month-old son, unmarried and unchurched.
“We all have our students who walked the narrow path in high school but somehow made a U-turn and stumbled, or maybe even sprinted, in the opposite direction,” stated the study.
Thus, Powell joined a host of other youth ministry leaders and college campus groups to form the Guiding Coalition of the Youth Transition Network, which is just beginning to bud. The coalition is a national effort fostering an effective transition for students from high school.
Despite the lack of college preparation tools in youth groups, Powell commented, “We’re amazed at how many churches, denominations, and national ministry organizations are very concerned about how many students are not transitioning well. This project seems to hit a real need.”
The Fuller study was conceived by Dr. Cameron Lee, professor of Marriage and Family, and final results are expected in 2009. Findings will be published along the three-year track and can be found at http://cyfm.net/.
==============================
Michelle Malkin
Have you heard of “cutting”? If you’re a parent, you’d better read up. “Cutting” refers to self-mutilation — using knives, razor blades or even safety pins to deliberately harm one’s own body — and it’s spreading to a school near you.
Actresses Angelina Jolie and Christina Ricci did it. So did Courtney Love and the late Princess Diana. On the Internet, there are scores of websites (with titles such as “Blood Red,” “Razor Blade Kisses” and “The Cutting World”) featuring “famous self-injurers,” photos of teenagers’ self-inflicted wounds and descriptions of their techniques. The destructive practice has been depicted in films targeting young girls and teens (such as “Thirteen”). There is even a new genre of music — “emo” — associated with promoting the cutting culture.
In Britain, health care researchers estimate that one in 10 teenagers engages in addictive self injury. According to psychiatrist Gary Litovitz, medical director of Dominion Hospital in Falls Church, Va., the growing trend here in America has alarmed school guidance counselors around the country.
It’s not just delinquents and social misfits who are doing it. A concerned parent sent me the following letter recently:
I just found out this week that my 14-year-old daughter is a ‘cutter.’ She has a 4.0 average, 8th grade, goes to a good school, and is well-liked by all who know her. She is popular, has two homes (mine and her dad’s) with supportive, loving families in each. Her own friends cut, too: four of them that I know of now between the ages of 11 and 14 . . . [a]s do her two cousins, ages 11 and 15.
My daughter cuts herself with a safety pin. I found this out on her own personal website, which I discovered she had been hiding on a hidden account she used at another relative’s home. She had links to webrings about cutting, suicide and broken hearts as well as images and poetry. Her friends all feature cutting/suicide links, icons and song lyrics as well.
The counselor at her school told me this: At her middle school, ‘70% of the kids here cut or know someone who does. It’s cool, a trend, and acceptable. Boys do it as well but are more public about it. . . . you’re not even the first parent this week: you’re the third, and just today a girl received stitches in the hospital for cutting herself so bad.’
While many public schools deny the problem exists, public health advocacy groups are warning medical professionals of the cutting craze — and have even declared March 1st “Self Injury Awareness Day.”
This madness would not be as popular as it is among young people if not for the glamorizing endorsement of nitwit celebrities such as twentysomething actress Christina Ricci. Several of the websites I researched highlighted the same quotes from Ricci describing her experiences with self-injury:
In an Us magazine interview, for example, Ricci blabbed about various scars on her hands and arms: “I wanted to see if I can handle pain. It’s sort of an experiment to see if I can handle pain.” In another interview, she described putting cigarettes out on her arm and answered questions about whether it hurt: “No. You get this endorphin rush. You can actually faint from pain. It takes a second, a little sting, and then it’s like you really don’t feel anything. It’s calming actually.”
And in Rolling Stone, Ricci prattled about scratching her forearms with her nails and soda can tops: “It’s like having a drink. But it’s quicker. You know how your brain shuts down from pain? The pain would be so bad, it would force my body to slow down, and I wouldn’t be as anxious. It made me calm.”
It may be all fun and games for a Hollywood starlet like Ricci, but her mindless stunts have inspired countless young girls to carve themselves into a bloody stupor. Hollyweird strikes again.
==============================
Supplemental Articles in a separate file (click here to read)