Revelations
about America’s Youth
By Humair Hashmi
I am currently
spending my annual summer holidays in the small
town Jonesboro in Arkansas. Jonesboro is in the
heart of the American Midwest with a population
of less than a hundred thousand. The people here
are relaxed and friendly unlike those in big cities
like Chicago or New York. These days the weather
is hot with clear skies.
America hasn’t changed much except for an
increase in the prevalence of computer usage and
the number of television channels. There are a hundred
TV channels to choose from, including South Asian
channels. The whole world is available on the computer
via fast Internet connections.
Recently, while browsing the Internet, I came across
the results of a study undertaken by the Associated
Press and MTV about the nature of happiness among
America’s youth. The study involved a comprehensive
survey spanning over one hundred questions with
a sample of 1280 young men and women between the
ages of thirteen and twenty-four years.
Preconceptions about American youth would have one
believe that the results of the study would be replete
with drugs, sex, violence and disregard of parental
authority; adoration of wealth and money as the
main source of happiness; pre-marital sexual relations,
scorn for marriage; hero-worship of Batman, Spiderman
or other comic book characters; and a rejection
of spirituality and religion.
Surprisingly, the AP-MTV survey does not support
any of these suppositions and myths about American
youth. In fact, the survey presents a stark contrast
to these views. To begin with, seventy five percent
of the participants revealed that healthy relations
with their parents are the most important source
of satisfaction and happiness for them.
After parents and family, friends are considered
to be the other source of happiness. Spending time
with family, friends and significant others fares
very high among American youth. Also, money was
low on the priority list for most of the participants.
The American youth feel that their happiness is
fairly unrelated to the money they may have, though
the survey revealed that youth belonging to higher
income groups were generally happier than others.
A large majority of the surveyed youth who indulged
in premarital sex was found to be less happy than
others; hence happiness for American youth may be
negatively correlated to sex before marriage. This
is totally contrary to what the media would have
us believe about the American youth. The results
for marriage trends also negated preconceived notions
about the effects of co-habitation and the ‘live-in’
trend prevalent in the US. Ninety two percent of
those surveyed said they would like to get married
and settle down with their partners in the future.
It may be hypothesized that if a majority of children
feel that spending time with parents gives them
happiness, then those children whose parents are
divorced or separated would be less happy than those
whose parents live together. The results of the
survey supported this hypothesis: children of divorced
parents were found to be less happy than the children
whose parents were living together as a family unit.
The supposition that religion and/or spirituality
would be shunned in a developed society was also
disproved by the results of the survey. Over fifty
percent of American youth consider religion and
spirituality to be a very important part of their
lives.
The survey also revealed that sixty six percent
of the participants felt happy about not using drugs,
and only forty nine percent, less than half, reported
that they were happy with drug usage.
The results for happiness levels varied according
to racial differences. While seventy two percent
of white participants revealed high levels of happiness,
only fifty-six percent of black participants reported
to be happy, and only fifty one percent of Hispanics
reported to be happy. Given the results of the AP-MTV
survey, it is important to consider that widely
accepted assumptions about a society are quite likely
to be incorrect and should always be verified with
empirical research.
(Humair Hashmi is a consulting psychologist who
teaches at the Imperial College Lahore. Courtesy
Daily Times)
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