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Moral code of the right young things
By Sarah Womack, Social Affairs Correspondent
(Filed: 11/03/2004)
Teenagers want to turn back the moral clock and are more reactionary than their parents, according to new research.
A survey of 5,000 young people, average age 15, found that most thought the Government should be tougher on under-age sex and abortion on demand as well as on bogus asylum seekers.
The survey, for Bliss magazine, also found most youngsters thought private education was super
or to state education (74 per cent) and had no faith in Tony Blair improving state-run schools (76 per cent).
Their views on abortion contrast sharply with those of their parents, the generation bor
r
n in the early 1960s whose views tend to be more liberal.
Two thi
rds of adults think abortion on demand is justified, for example, compared with just a third of youngsters, according to a recent British Social Attitudes Survey.
Young people are also less tolerant of asylum seekers than their parents, with 19 per cent of youngsters welcoming asylum seekers compared with 26 per cent of adults.
Today's poll of teenagers, one of the most comprehensive of its kind, paints a worrying picture about under-age sex and drugs, with many youngsters indulging in both while disapproving of Britain's laissez faire attitude to promiscuity.
Around 44 per cent said they had been offered drugs at school while nearly a quarter had taken them. A quarter had also had sex by their 15th birth
day, with an average of three partners.
Yet two thirds thought there were too many abortions, and of those who had had sex, four in 10 "regretted it" because they were "not ready&q
uot; or
"too young" (42 per cent), it was the "wrong person" (20 per cent), they were "drunk" (14 per ce
nt), or they did it "to stop their boy/girlfriend leaving them" (13 per cent).
The findings come after The Telegraph revealed that teenage pregnancies are rising despite a multi-million pound Government campaign to curb them.
The number of under-18s who became pregnant in England and Wales rose from 40,966 in 2001 to 41,868 in 2002. Around a quarter of these pregnancies end in abortion.
Official 2001 abortion figures, covering women of all ages, showed that the number of abortions funded by the NHS was the highest on record, with 186,274 in England and Wales.
These figures exclude "abortions" by emergency contraception such as t
he morning after pill.
At the same time, Sugar magazine, which has a target age range of 13 to 17, teamed up the health charity Marie Stopes this month to provide free condoms to readers.
Commenting
on the survey's findings, Blossom Young, the chairman of the British Youth Council, said: "The sexualisation of society is a concern to young people.
"Sex i
s everywhere, particularly in magazines, and there is increasing pressure on young people to have sex.
"Education is a real issue politically. Young people don't see a value in the education they receive and want improvement, and see private education as achieving that."
Helen Johnston, the editor of Bliss magazine which is read largely by schoolgirls, said: "It is of some concern that one in four teenagers has already had sex by the age of 15. We have got to get across the safe sex message. We live in a society that is highly sexualised."
The survey, conducted through a question
naire in Bliss and over websites of boys and girls' magazines published by Emap, found boys were more traditional than girls, with 79 per cent believing it was best for couples to be married
before they had child
ren, against 59 per cent of girls.
Boys were also more likely to believe in God (59 per cent, 51 per cent girls).
When it came to politics, eight out of 10 boys and girls thought bogus asylum seeke
rs should be "sent back to the country they come from" and seven in 10 thought ID cards should be introduced.
Eight out of 10 said they "did not trust Tony Blair".
Teenagers' biggest personal worries were failing (21 per cent), dying (15 per cent), exams (14 per cent), their body and looks (11 per cent), feeling unloved (eight per cent), and their family dying (four per cent).
The introduction of university tuition fees has also spread despondency.
Under-age drinking is a big problem. More than six out of 10 15-year-olds had been drunk
and 75 per cent drank an average of five drinks on an evening out. One in 10 young people thinks they have had their drink spiked.
Meanwhile, two-thirds (66 per cent) wanted to keep
the Royal Family rather than h
ave a presidential system, seven in 10 worry Britain will lose its identity if it goes "further down the European path" while 87 per cent say Britain must "keep the pound."
More than three quarters do not think Britain should have gone to w
ar with Iraq while 72 per cent worry about terrorist attacks in their home town.
Moral code of the right young things
By Sarah Womack, Social Affairs Correspondent
(Filed: 11/03/2004)
Teenagers want to turn back the moral clock and are more reactionary than their parents, according to new research.
A survey of 5,000 young people, average age 15, found that most thought the Government should be tougher on under-age sex and abortion on demand as well as on bogus asylum seekers.
The survey, for Bliss magazine, also found most youngsters thought private education was super
or to state education (74 per cent) and had no faith in Tony Blair improving state-run schools (76 per cent).
Their views on abortion contrast sharply with those of their parents, the generation bor
r
n in the early 1960s whose views tend to be more liberal.
Two thi
rds of adults think abortion on demand is justified, for example, compared with just a third of youngsters, according to a recent British Social Attitudes Survey.
Young people are also less tolerant of asylum seekers than their parents, with 19 per cent of youngsters welcoming asylum seekers compared with 26 per cent of adults.
Today's poll of teenagers, one of the most comprehensive of its kind, paints a worrying picture about under-age sex and drugs, with many youngsters indulging in both while disapproving of Britain's laissez faire attitude to promiscuity.
Around 44 per cent said they had been offered drugs at school while nearly a quarter had taken them. A quarter had also had sex by their 15th birth
day, with an average of three partners.
Yet two thirds thought there were too many abortions, and of those who had had sex, four in 10 "regretted it" because they were "not ready&q
uot; or
"too young" (42 per cent), it was the "wrong person" (20 per cent), they were "drunk" (14 per ce
nt), or they did it "to stop their boy/girlfriend leaving them" (13 per cent).
The findings come after The Telegraph revealed that teenage pregnancies are rising despite a multi-million pound Government campaign to curb them.
The number of under-18s who became pregnant in England and Wales rose from 40,966 in 2001 to 41,868 in 2002. Around a quarter of these pregnancies end in abortion.
Official 2001 abortion figures, covering women of all ages, showed that the number of abortions funded by the NHS was the highest on record, with 186,274 in England and Wales.
These figures exclude "abortions" by emergency contraception such as t
he morning after pill.
At the same time, Sugar magazine, which has a target age range of 13 to 17, teamed up the health charity Marie Stopes this month to provide free condoms to readers.
Commenting
on the survey's findings, Blossom Young, the chairman of the British Youth Council, said: "The sexualisation of society is a concern to young people.
"Sex i
s everywhere, particularly in magazines, and there is increasing pressure on young people to have sex.
"Education is a real issue politically. Young people don't see a value in the education they receive and want improvement, and see private education as achieving that."
Helen Johnston, the editor of Bliss magazine which is read largely by schoolgirls, said: "It is of some concern that one in four teenagers has already had sex by the age of 15. We have got to get across the safe sex message. We live in a society that is highly sexualised."
The survey, conducted through a question
naire in Bliss and over websites of boys and girls' magazines published by Emap, found boys were more traditional than girls, with 79 per cent believing it was best for couples to be married
before they had child
ren, against 59 per cent of girls.
Boys were also more likely to believe in God (59 per cent, 51 per cent girls).
When it came to politics, eight out of 10 boys and girls thought bogus asylum seeke
rs should be "sent back to the country they come from" and seven in 10 thought ID cards should be introduced.
Eight out of 10 said they "did not trust Tony Blair".
Teenagers' biggest personal worries were failing (21 per cent), dying (15 per cent), exams (14 per cent), their body and looks (11 per cent), feeling unloved (eight per cent), and their family dying (four per cent).
The introduction of university tuition fees has also spread despondency.
Under-age drinking is a big problem. More than six out of 10 15-year-olds had been drunk
and 75 per cent drank an average of five drinks on an evening out. One in 10 young people thinks they have had their drink spiked.
Meanwhile, two-thirds (66 per cent) wanted to keep
the Royal Family rather than h
ave a presidential system, seven in 10 worry Britain will lose its identity if it goes "further down the European path" while 87 per cent say Britain must "keep the pound."
More than three quarters do not think Britain should have gone to w
ar with Iraq while 72 per cent worry about terrorist attacks in their home town.