Teen trends tallied

This is not original reporting. All information was taken from The Washington Post

According to The Washington Post, a recent study has shown that children are safer but less healthy and successful in school than in past years. The study, led by researcher Kenneth C. Land, is the first of its kind, according to the Post.

Land and his team from Duke University and the Foundation of Child Development discovered that today's youth are less likely to become involved in or be the target of criminal activity and less likely to become teen parents than teenagers in 1975, the survey's base year. Additionally, high-school seniors are less likely to use tobacco, alcohol or drugs. However, youths are more likely to be obese, commit suicide or live in a single-parent home, according to the Post.

The team focused on seven different categories of well-being deemed the most important by social scientists (material well-being, health, safety, educational attainment, place in community, social relationships and emotional well-being) and compared the percentages to 1975. Safety, material well-being and place in community have all increased by at least ten percent since 1975, while educational attainment and emotional well-being have remained almost the same. Health and social relationships were the only categories that have decreased since 1975, according to the study.

Despite the general positive trends, Land remains wary. "We are in a no-growth, or slow-growth, era," he told the Post regarding the economy. "If that continues, we may be seeing another generation of parents raising families in an environment that will negatively impact child well-being."