ShareThisThe good news from a recent survey of American teenagers is that a majority of them (54 percent) look to their parents as role models for the kind of adults they hope to be.
That should reassure the typical Mom and Dad who worry that their children's friends enjoy the most influence over them for good or ill. In fact, only 13 percent of the kids themselves look first to their peers for values and behavior.
Sibling rivalry may explain why only 5 percent of teens look to their brothers and sisters as role models.
Surprisingly, teachers and coaches serve as role models for only 6 percent of adolescents.
Disappointing news for clergy from the Junior Achievement/Deloitte poll is the modest impact they have on the teens' development. Only 3 percent of youngsters admit looking to their pastor, priest, rabbi, or imam for guidance in their personal growth.
Even more troubling is that one of every 10 teens acknowledges lacking any role model whatsoever. It might be tempting to believe that these kids are simply more solid and self-reliant, but it's more likely that many of them are content to drift as they grow older.
Here's more to ponder from the poll:
Ethics: Four out of five teens insist they are prepared to make ethical business decisions when they join the workforce. But at the same time 38 percent believe they have to break the rules at school in order to succeed.
Violence: Some 27 percent of teens believe physical violence is acceptable. One in five of those polled reported that they were violent in the past year.
Truth telling: Nearly half believe lying to parents is acceptable behavior, and 61 percent have lied to them in the past year.
Accountability: Some 86 percent feel more accountable to themselves than to their parents, friends, or society.
Whistle-blowing: Just one in four teens predicted that he or she would be "very likely" to reveal knowledge of unethical behavior in the adult workplace to authorities.
David W. Miller, professor of business ethics at Princeton University, admits "a troubling incongruence between the degree to which teens feel ethically prepared to enter the workplace, and the unethical behaviors in which they engage" at present.
The poll's sponsors conclude that, "teens seem to be experiencing a sense of ethical confusion and relativism -- an endemic attitude of 'the ends justify the means.' Given that in a few years these same individuals will be performing our hospital lab tests, repairing our cars, teaching our children, and investing our money, the survey results raise concerns...."
Perhaps the fact that relatively few teens look to the clergy for role models may only reflect that most adolescents don't aspire to careers in ministry. But it is bound to give clergy pause as to why today's youth do not look up to them.
David Yount's latest book is "Celebrating the Single Life: Keys to Successful Living on Your Own"(Praeger). He answers readers at P.O. Box 2758, Woodbridge, VA 22195 and dyount31(at)verizon.net
AMAZING GRACE
