“Why can’t they be like we are; Perfect in every way. What’s the matter with kids today?”
These lyrics from the 1963 musical “Bye, Bye Birdie” reflect the attitude of many older folks that the young generation just isn’t as stalwart as we were when we walked five miles to school each day, through the snow, and uphill both ways.
Each year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) release their survey of “Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance” [June 4 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report Vol. 59, SS-5 available at the CDC website as Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance—United States, 2009.] It should be no surprise that today’s kids face a different set of risks and fears than we did. Nationwide data show:
“During the 12 months before the survey, 31.5% of high school students had been in a physical fight and 6.3% had attempted suicide.”
“9.7% rarely or never wore a seat belt when riding in a car driven by someone else.”
During the 30 days before the survey, 28.3% of high school students rode in a car or other vehicle driven by someone who had been drinking alcohol, 17.5% had carried a weapon, and 41.8% had drunk alcohol, and 20.8% had used marijuana.”
“34.2% were currently sexually active.”
“38.9% of currently sexually active students had not used a condom during their last sexual intercourse.”
2.1% of students had injected an illegal drug at some time in their life.
“19.5% of high school students smoked cigarettes during the 30 days before the survey.”
“81.6% were not physically active for at least 60 minutes per day on all 7 days. One-third of high school students attended physical education classes daily....”
“7.4% of students had ever been physically forced to have sexual intercourse when they did not want to....” [higher among female (10.5%) than male (4.5%) students]
“5.6% of students had carried a weapon (e.g., a gun, knife, or club) on school property on at least one day during the 30 days before the survey.... Overall, the prevalence of having carried a weapon on school property was higher among male (8.0%) than female (2.9%) students.”
“7.7% of students nationwide had been threatened or injured with a weapon (e.g., a gun, knife, or club) on school property one or more times.”
“Nationwide, 5.0% of students had not gone to school on at least 1 day during the 30 days before the survey because they felt they would be unsafe at school or on their way to or from school.”
“Nationwide, 12.0% of students were obese....[calculated from height vs weight tables] Overall, the prevalence of obesity was higher among male (15.3%) than female (8.3%) students.”
“15.8% of students were overweight... [calculated from height vs weight tables]”
“44.4% of students were trying to lose weight.”
“Nationwide, 10.6% of students did not eat for 24 or more hours to lose weight or to keep from gaining weight during the 30 days before the survey.”
“During 2003–2009, a significant linear increase occurred in the percentage of students who used computers 3 or more hours per day (22.1%–24.9%).”
“The percentage of students who vomited or took laxatives to lose weight or to keep from gaining weight did not change significantly during 1995–2003 (4.8%–6.0%) and then decreased during 2003–2009 (6.0%–4.0%).”
This may partly answer “What’s the matter with kids today?” But a similar survey from our youth would find we were not “perfect in every way.”
