Youth Culture Watch
Author: Compiled by Jim Liebelt
Timely information helping parents stay current with the ebb and flow of today’s youth culture. The following information is provided to help parents gain a better understanding of today’s youth culture.
The following articles, interpretations of research, surveys and the host websites are not specifically endorsed by HomeWord. Readers should use discretion when accessing hyperlinks and advertisements embedded within the online article pages listed below.
• Single-adult Households Displaced Two-Parent Homes as Most Common Family. The U.S. Census Bureau recently reported the change in its new report, “Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000”. The change demonstrates “the growing complexity” of American households. Nuclear-family households — two married parents and a child – were the most common as recently as 1990, when there were 25 million such households. But by 2000, nuclear-family households fell to second place, both because there were almost a half-million fewer of these type of homes and because the number of single-adult households surged past 27 million. Married households without children remained the third most common, with 20 million in 1990 and 22 million in 2000. Source: The Washington Times. To read more, click here.
• Time Magazine Publishes Issue Focusing on “Being Thirteen”. The August 8 issue of Time Magazine investigated what being 13 in our country looks like. Time polled 501 teens online. Some of the findings were:
• 67 % think being a teenager is harder to day than it was when their parents were teens.
• 46% believe the U.S. will be a worse place to live by the time they reach their parents age.
• 53% characterize their relationship with their parents as “excellent.”
• 53% say their parents are “very involved” in their lives.
• 68% reported that their parents have the “right amount” of involvement in their lives.
• 85% think their parents are either not too strict or just a little too strict.
• 72% say they have not started dating yet.
• 62% reported that their parents think they should be 16-years-old or older to date.
• 60% believe people should wait until marriage to have sex.
Source: Time Magazine.
• Now is Actually a Good Time to be Thirteen… According to Time Magazine’s “Being 13” issue, Today’s 13-year-olds are less likely to smoke, drink, do drugs, get pregnant, commit a crime or drop out of school then those of their parents’ generation of the 1970’s. Source: Time Magazine.
• More Info on Cyberbullying. According to researchers at Clemson University, cyberbullying has been experienced by 18% of 3,700 middle schoolers they surveyed. “Our statistics are conservative,” said Clemson psychologist Robin Kowalski. For every incident reported, many more go unreported. Researchers reported that kids who are victimized “seem to be heavily involved in bullying others.” The reason? While intimidation often prevents kids who have been physically bullied from retaliating physically, cyberbullying eliminates the intimidation factor. As a result, girls rule the cyberbullying world. Guys still rule the bullying world on playgrounds and school hallways. Source: Time Magazine, 8/8/05
• UK School Allows Teens to Use “F-Word” Up to Five Times Per Class Without Penalty. A school in the town of Wellingborough is allowing pupils to swear at teachers, providing they only do so no more than five times in a class. A tally of how many times the f-word is used will be kept and if the class exceeds the limit, they will be “spoken” to, the newspaper reported. The school believes the policy will improve behavior, but parents and parliamentary members have condemned the rule and warned it would backfire. Let’s hope this doesn’t turn into a trend that jumps the pond! Source: MSNBC. To read more, click here.
• Top 10 Lycos Searches for the Week Ending, 8/27/05.
1) Paris Hilton;
2) Poker;
3) Pamela Anderson;
4) Britney Spears;
5) Dragonball;
6) Neopets;
7) NFL;
8) Pokemon;
9) Mariah Carey;
10) Hillary Duff. To View the Lycos Top 50 Searches, click here.
• Google’s Top 10 “Gaining” Searches for Week Ending, 8/29/05.
1) hurricane katrina;
2) katrina;
3) hurricane;
4) National Hurricane Center;
5) noaa;
6) New Orleans;
7) Hurricane Katrina;
8) weather channel;
9) Lance Armstrong;
10) Pat Robertson. To view other Google search statistics, click here.
• iTunes – Top 10 Downloaded Songs, 8/30/05.
1) Sugar, We’re Going Down – Fall Out Boy;
2) Wake Me Up When September Ends – Green Day;
3) Lose Control – Missy Elliott & Fat Man Scoop;
4) Don’t Lie – Black Eyed Peas;
5) Feel Good Inc. – Gorillaz;
6 ) Pon de Replay – Rihanna;
7) Don’t Cha – The Pussycat Dolls and Busta Rhymes;
8) Just the Girl – The Click Five;
9) Helena – My Chemical Romance;
10) You and Me – Lifehouse. To view more top downloaded iTunes songs, click here.
• Top 10 TV Shows in Prime Time – Week ending 8/28/05
1) CSI;
2) 60 Minutes;
3) Two and a Half Men (9:30 p.m.);
4) Cold Case;
5) CSI: Miami;
6) Without a Trace;
7) Two and a Half Men (9:00 p.m.);
8) NFL: Dallas @ Seattle;
9) Movie: ‘Stone Cold’;
10) NCIS. Source: Nielsen Media Research.
• Top 10 Game Rentals – Week ending 9/3/05
1) PS2: Madden NFL 2006;
2) XBOX: Madden NFL 2006;
3) PS2: NCAA Football 2006;
4) PS2: Delta Force: Black Hawk Down;
5) PS2: Midnight Club 3: DUB edition;
6) XBOX: Delta Force: Black Hawk Down;
7) PS2: Destroy All Humans;
8) PS2: FlatOut;
9) XBOX: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas;
10) PS2: Fantastic 4. Source: Billboard.
