Disgruntled Youth? Survey by AP and MTV Finds Them Generally Happy -- With Favorable View of Parents

By: E&P Staff A new poll, the result of a partnership betweenThe Associated Press and MTV, seems to dispel the popular notion of the perpetually unhappy or rebelious youth.

This unique survey of Americans 13 to 24 finds, surprisingly, that a vast majority say that they are very or somewhat "happy" overall and in many specific areas of their lives -- 64% say they "wake up happy." Almost half consider a mother or father a "hero" in their lives.

Fully two-thirds say they are happy with the way their lives are going right now (with whites at 72% and blacks and Hispanic breaking 50%). Just one in five admit they are unhappy. Parents, by and large, are viewed favorably by about 7 in 10.

Better than 4 in 10 say school makes them happy, and only 13% claim "unhappy." Most are happy with their grades. Believe it or not, nearly 6 in 10 say that their personal appearance makes them happy.

Only 13% said they "could live without" newspapers. This badly trailed such things as computers, the Internet and TV, each of which about half feel they need to survive. That same number, 13%, said they liked to keep up with the news "a lot." The easy winner as source of news, surprisingly, was television, picked by 48%.

Only one in five said they read a daily paper the day before -- nearly all them said they read a print copy, hardly read it "online."

Contrary to some other polls, 40% say they seldom or never attend church.

Two out of three say that new forms of technology, such as cell phones and the Internet, make them happy and claim they would be more stressed without them. Nearly half say they never turn off their cells.

Asked if doing drugs made them happy, 79% claimed this "did not apply." Asked about drinking, 55% chose that same answer. Nearly 3 in 4 said they had not had sex in the past week. More than 9 in http://cms.vnuemedia.com/iw-cc/command/iw.group.formspub.save_valid_form10 claimed they had not sampled illegal drugs in the same period.

Some 85% say that getting married will make them happy -- and 61% think they will stay with that person the rest of their lives.

Few emphasize the importance of money -- beyond saying it is something they fear they may not have enough of. But 70%, when probed, say they would like to be rich, and 29% add, "famous."

There are revealing details, for example that those sexually active at a younger age report a lower levels of happiness. Nearly half said that there is big difference in what makes girls and boys happy.

For the survey, MTV directed field research and discussion groups. The survey was conducted by Knowledge Networks, Inc. on behalf of MTV and the AP, with 1,280 young people aged 13 to 24 interviewed in late April of this year. The margin of error for the poll is +/- 2.7 percent.