Differences in Psychology From Generation To Generation

Anna Phillip
Psychology 270 Wed/Fri
October 18, 2013

Adolescents no matter what the generation will find a way to have their own deviance and be different than the previous. So this generation of adolescents is obviously different, but in what way? I think that adolescents today are more conservative than the previous yet we are more open and less private. I feel like with our generation of adolescents, it seems like we are worse and more deviant than a previous generation but I think that is because we put our business out there. Our parent’s generations or any other had no social networks and probably didn’t even have cell phones. So when we do something deviant, we put it on a social network or let others know about it then it could get around. I feel like because of that it makes us look worse but in reality, we are more conservative.
Parents and people from older generations sit back and tell us that our generation is messed up and very different than their own. My parents grew up in the 70’s generation which followed from the hippie generation where drugs and partying were a big deal yet they still criticize the teens today smoking pot when they smoked just as much, probably more. According to the University of Michigan Monitoring the Future survey, only about 6.6% of high school seniors are smoking pot frequently. In the 1980’s 9% of high school seniors were smoking marijuana frequently (The Kids Are More Than All Right).
Not only is smoking marijuana less frequent in this generation than previous ones, alcohol use, smoking cigarettes, and other illegal drugs has also declined from 1980. In 1980, the use of alcohol by seniors was about 72%, smoking cigarettes within one month by seniors was about one third, and about 43% of those seniors had tried an illegal drug (The Kids Are More Than All Right). In this generation, the amount of seniors in high school smoking is only one in five, alcohol consumption was 40% in 2011 and the amount of illegal drugs taken was just 25% in 2011.
Another thing that we could question is the sex adolescents are having today. However, I feel like the media makes shows that just show adolescents partying and having sex such as, Jersey Shore. Jersey Shore is all about going out all night drinking and having sex. Unfortunately this gives the wrong view of our adolescents today. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, proved that in 1988 half of the males from 15 to 17 had some kind of experience with sex and the females were at about 37%. In 2010 the number of boys engaging in sex was just 28% and the number of girls fell to 27% (The Kids Are More Than All Right).
No matter what someone says, research has shown that our generation of adolescents is a lot more conservative than previous ones. People will always have their opinions and will base those opinions on media or other people that they know in a situation, but the numbers don’t lie. You can’t base an opinion on somebody’s twitter or facebook you have to actually look at the statistics to know that we are not as bad as everyone makes us out to be.

Works Cited
"The Kids Are More Than All Right." Well The Kids Are More Than All Right Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2013.

Cited: "The Kids Are More Than All Right." Well The Kids Are More Than All Right Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2013.