Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: Poll: Teens Get Along With Parents > NEW YORK (AP) -- Today's teen-agers get along with > their parents, believe in God and trust the government, > according to a nationwide poll published today by The > New York Times. > > The poll of 13- to 17-year-olds also showed strong > majorities who said they never drink alcohol and never > smoke cigarettes or marijuana, the Times reported, > without citing percentages. > > Teens' worries for the future could come straight from > a 1950s stereotype: a good job (28 percent), money (11 > percent) and being successful (9 percent). Three > percent worried about the environment. > > The New York Times/CBS News Poll of 1,048 U.S. > teen-agers was conducted by telephone from April 2 > through April 7 and had a margin of sampling error of > plus or minus 3 percentage points. > > Other responses: > > -- Six in 10 say distributing condoms in schools is a > good idea. > > -- Almost half say sex before marriage is ``always > wrong.'' > > -- Just 1 percent said that teens' biggest problem is > AIDS. Yet 18 percent said they personally knew someone > who had tested positive for HIV, had AIDS or had died > of AIDS. > > -- Ninety-four percent say they believe in God. > > -- Nearly four in 10 say a member of their household > owns a gun, and 15 percent say they themselves own one. > Thirty-one percent have had instruction in shooting. > And when asked what they considered the biggest problem > in their schools, 16 percent gave the most frequent > response: violence. The survey followed shootings > involving schoolchildren in Arkansas, Mississippi and > Kentucky. > > Many of the responses on behavior -- smoking, drinking > and sex, for example -- varied widely between younger > and older teens. Only 13 percent of 13- to 15-year-olds > said they had ever had sex, compared with 38 percent of > 16- and 17-year-olds. > > The poll showed that most teens do get along with their > parents: 51 percent said ``very well'' and 46 percent > said ``fairly well.'' > > On politics, however, teens' views diverged sharply > from those of their parents. Six in 10 teens said that > ``when there has been discrimination against blacks in > the past,'' blacks should be given preference in the > workplace and in college admissions. Only 35 percent of > adults held that view in a Times/CBS News Poll in > December. > > And 51 percent of teen-agers said you could trust the > government to do what is right always or most of the > time; only 26 percent of adults agreed with that in > January. -- Two rules in life: 1. Don't tell people everything you know. 2. Subscribe/Unsubscribe, email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the body of the message enter: subscribe/unsubscribe law-issues
