Generation Z by Corey Seemiller & Meghan Grace

Author:Corey Seemiller & Meghan Grace
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor and Francis

13

Risky behaviors

Thinking back to nearly every teen movie over the last 50 years, it seems as though simply being a teenager means engaging in risky behavior. Scenes of drugs, smoking, drinking, and sexual promiscuity seem to take center stage. Even Sandra Dee from Grease had to have a makeover by the Pink Ladies to adopt the edginess it would take to win over Danny.1 But, do today’s Generation Z teens and young adults engage in these same kinds of risky behaviors? According to a number of research studies, for the most part, the answer is “no.”

According to psychology professor, Jean Twenge, youth today are less risky than the youth of the past.2 For example, only 3 percent of teens disagree or strongly disagree that they follow the rules at their school.3 Their rule-following nature has likely contributed to the decline in a number of risky behaviors commonly associated with teens and young adults. For example, both weapon pos session on high school campuses and juvenile crime rates have declined in the last two decades. Between 1993 and 2015, the rate of high schoolers bringing a weapon to school has linearly decreased from nearly 12 percent to just above 4 percent.4 And, in 2015, juvenile crime rates had decreased 68 percent since 1996.5 Taking a look at a number of traditionally risky behaviors, research points to decreases in nearly all for those in Generation Z.

“We are constantly told that we are greedy, selfish, lazy, and generally made out to be horrible and demonized, despite being one of the best generations to date based on statistics like college attendance, drug use, and teen pregnancy.”

– Member of Generation Z

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