Pubdate: Wed, 14 Jul 2004 Source: Times-Advocate (CN ON) Copyright: 2004 Exeter Times-Advocate Contact: http://www.southhuron.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2215 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) TEEN STUDY REVEALING A recent Health Canada study on teens shows most are not angry, reactionary and involved in questionable activity, contrary to what many of the older generation seem to think. The study revealed most teens are happy, healthy and well-adjusted, as we've long suspected. Most said they enjoy school, get along with their parents and don't often get depressed. Almost 60 per cent have part-time jobs. Most don't want to disappoint their parents, according to the study, which was conducted by GPC Research of Ottawa. And more than two-thirds said their parents or guardians take an interest in their school work. Not surprisingly, Canadian youth like to experiment. One third have tried marijuana, one in ten tried magic mushrooms. One in five drinks alcohol regularly. Cigarettes are seen as more harmful than marijuana, alcohol is thought to be the least harmful of all vices. That doesn't seem all too different than when many of us were teens; nor does a large percentage saying "I usually go along with my friends even if it doesn't feel quite right." Didn't we all, at some point? Some other stats do stand out as being particular to today's young people. Sixty-three per cent of teens say they worry a lot about their future. Did we? Teens of today spend a lot of time with the mass media; 63 per cent watched two or more hours of television daily and 13 per cent watched five or more hours daily. About a third of respondents said they surfed the Internet for an hour a day, 17 per cent said they surfed two hours, 15 per cent said three or four hours! Interestingly, more than half said they had a hard time concentrating . . . obviously concentration isn't a problem for them when sitting at the computer or in front of the TV. From the St. Marys Journal-Argus - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin