ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, July 8, 1996 TAG: 9607090003
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURA SESSIONS STEPP THE WASHINGTON POST
WHEN the sun rises on any school day on any continent, the middle-class teen-age routine begins. The U.S. teen-ager pulls on his blue jeans and the Chilean paws through her T-shirts, looking for the right slogan. In Taiwan the teen-ager laces up his athletic shoes and in Hungary, she slings a backpack across her shoulders on the way out the door.
International similarities go beyond a love of Levi's and Nikes, however, according to one of the largest surveys of teen-agers ever conducted. The BrainWaves Group, a consumer research firm in New York City, questioned 25,000 middle-class teen-agers on five continents and reported recently that youths ages 15-18 share not only tastes but beliefs, values and goals, many of which defy age-related and cultural stereotypes.
The study, administered in high schools during the 1995-96 school year, shows that many of the world's middle-class teen-agers have grave doubts about the future of the world. They reject old ways of doing things, and embrace the idea of making something of themselves.
The teen-agers' responses do differ in some ways; in the more industrialized countries, for example, they are less concerned about crime and the environment than students in the less developed world. The survey also shows that teen-agers can live in the same part of the world and diverge noticeably on certain matters.
Generally, however, the world's teen-agers emerge from this survey as being more same than different, shaped by Western movies, television, music and higher levels of education, which has moved them away from their families and into a peer culture. The teen-age population in most countries now is ``not homogeneous, but it is linked,'' says Elissa Moses, BrainWaves' managing director.
Alice Schlegel, an anthropologist and one of several social scientists consulted by The Post about the survey, says this ``globalization of adolescent culture'' is occurring rather rapidly. ``This is not to say all cultures are going to become like ours, but there is a convergence,'' she says.
One trait the world's middle-class teen-agers share is a respect for achievement. Eight out of 10 told BrainWaves that ``accomplishing as much as I possibly can'' was important.
Says Schlegel: ``A lot depends on what they do as teen-agers: the person they will be able to marry, the chances they will have in life, whether they will be mentored for success. It's a myth only Western societies are competitive.''
The proportion of would-be achievers is high in countries one might not expect, such as Nigeria and Mexico, according to Moses. It is highest among Chinese youths, lowest among Japanese youths, with U.S. kids in between. Harold Stevenson, a University of Michigan psychologist who also has done cross-cultural comparisons, says he is not surprised by the differences in Asia. In Japan, loyalty to the group takes precedence over individual success, he says. In China, ``it's boom-boom time and an entrepreneurial spirit is encouraged.''
Nine out of 10 teen-agers in the survey said they were responsible for getting good grades in school, four out of five said they expected to complete their education, succeed in a career and find someone to love. They aren't anticipating many handouts: Almost 9 out of 10 agreed with the statement ``It's up to me to get what I want out of life.''
This trend toward self-reliance is evident even in some countries, such as India, where adult roles are prescribed. And these teen-agers see the world as their market: Almost half said they expect to leave the country of their birth.
The teen-agers also share a respect for family, despite the social and economic changes that have swept across many of their countries. Eight of every 10 tapped the family as an important ``guiding principle'' of their lives; one out of two, including U.S. kids, singled out the family relationship as the most important principle of their lives - more significant than their ``relationship with friends,'' ``having fun'' or ``making the world a better place.''
The teen-agers also expressed concern for their parents' health; in response to a question about worries, mom's and dad's well-being placed second after ``getting a good job.''
Anthropologists have documented that most adolescents not only appreciate their families but are also useful to them. The BrainWaves survey demonstrates this. Nine out of 10 youths in the United Kingdom, for example, said they clean house. Eight out of 10 Nigerian youths care for their brothers and sisters. Six out of 10 Ukrainians said they shop for groceries. Six out of 10 U.S. youths do the laundry.
This interest in the family has appeared in other, more selective polls as well. Chinese youths, for example, have demonstrated an increasing affection for family over the last few years, according to psychologist Stevenson, who has spent two decades comparing U.S. and Asian youths. Ten years ago, when Stevenson asked high school students in China their top wishes, family-related items were nowhere to be found. This year, Chinese kids rated such items second, after education, Stevenson says.
While the BrainWaves youths cherish their families, fewer than half place any importance on ``upholding time-honored customs, traditions and values.'' European youths fall into this category in particular, but so do kids in the more tradition-bound countries of Latin America and Asia. Overall, only 1 out of 10 said traditions were of ``highest importance.''
``Remember, these are kids,'' says Schlegel. ``They chafe at restrictions. Even kids in tribal societies would rather be playing with friends, flirting with girls than going to another ceremony. Ask them in another 10 years.''
As rebels, these kids are predictably unconcerned about taking drugs, smoking or drinking too much. Only one out of 10 said they worry about any of these risky behaviors. The percentages of those who said they smoke ranged widely, from 2 percent in Vietnam to 44 percent in France, with U.S. kids in the middle at 23 percent.
While sharing several key values and attitudes, the BrainWaves teen-agers showed distinct differences when it came to their worries and concerns. Teen-agers in advanced industrialized countries such as the United States, Belgium and Japan worry less than teen-agers in poorer nations about getting a job, the environment, racism or being a victim of crime. One exception: Kids in the West worry just as much about AIDS as kids in the developing countries.
Western teen-agers are far more pessimistic about the future in general. In the United States, Canada, western Europe, Greece and Japan, fewer than 1 out of 5 agreed that the world would improve in their lifetime. In developing countries such as Vietnam, Korea and Nigeria the proportion was closer to one out of two. Those teen-agers may believe ``they have no place to go but up,'' Schlegel says.
U.S. youths vary from their peers most strikingly in how busy they are. Almost three out of five reported having a paying job, three times the global average. European countries forbid many teen-agers from working, according to Schlegel; in other countries, teen-agers are needed at home.
Other, more limited surveys have turned up similar findings. Two Swiss psychologists, analyzing how teen-agers in the U.S., Europe and Russia use their time each day, reported last year that U.S. youths spend as much as six times more time at a job each day than their counterparts.
U.S. kids also date more frequently than kids in most other countries - twice the global average, according to the BrainWaves survey. Schlegel notes that in most countries, while it is recognized that young people will have crushes, dating is not considered appropriate until courtship age, usually after high school.
U.S. kids surveyed by BrainWaves also were more likely to say they clean the house, care for a sibling, do yard work and laundry than kids in most of the other countries. This combination of work, dating, chores and outside activities may help explain why, according to the BrainWaves survey and several others, U.S. teen-agers read less often than those in other countries. Only one-third of the U.S. kids surveyed by BrainWaves chose reading books as one of the activities they enjoy, compared to two-thirds of the kids in countries such as China, Nigeria and Poland.
There may be another downside to the whirlwind lives of many U.S. teen-agers. According to Stevenson, they report more stress and academic anxiety than their Asian peers, even though they spend less time on schoolwork.
Asian teen-agers know they are expected to do well in school, period, Stevenson says. But U.S. teen-agers, particularly high achievers, ``feel obliged not only to do well in school, but also to have many friends, be good at sports, date and be employed in some part-time job.''
Moses echoes Stevenson: ``As adults we complain of not having enough time. It seems that our teens are more booked than we are.''
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