Gallop Major Issues and Trends
10 total works
Over the past few decades, landmark legal cases, medical discoveries, and movies and television shows have helped increase acceptance of homosexuality in American culture. Young peoples opinions have played an important part in this growing tolerance. Studies show that more than 60 percent of young adults consider homosexuality acceptable. This volume will examine teen attitudes toward homosexuality, issues such as gay marriage and civil unions, and the experiences of gay teens.
Statistics show that 3,200 couples file for divorce every day in the United States, which clearly has an impact on the strength of families. Young people feel the painthe Gallup Organization has found that 75 percent of teenagers between 13 and 17 believe divorce is too easy to get. This volume examines the influences parents and families play in the lives of young people in the United States.
Suicide is the third-leading cause of death among adolescents in the United States; in a recent study by the Gallup Youth Survey, 47 percent of teenagers between the ages of 13 and 17 said they know someone who has tried to take their own lives. This volume examines the cause of teenage suicide and explores such issues as teens and guns as well as suicide rates among minorities.
No issue seems to divide Americans as much as race. Nearly five decades after the adoption of federal civil rights laws, Americans are still wrestling with such issues as interracial marriage and affirmative action. Statistics show that teenagers are just as unsure of where they stand on such issues as adults. The role of race in the lives of young people is explored in this book.
Many young adults dream of getting a good education and finding a job they love. Teenagers recognize that higher education is an important key to finding a fulfilling job, although many young people are worried both about the rising cost of higher education and their future job possibilities given the current economic situation. This volume examines the choices that teens make when it comes to education and finding a career.
Most young people in the United States today are willing to give something back to their communities. A recent report showed that each year an estimated 13 million teenagers donate more than 2.4 billion hours of their time to charitable causes, and the Gallup Youth Survey has found that roughly one-third of all teens participate in volunteer work. This volume examines the opportunities young people have for volunteering, and explores the issue of school-mandated community service.
The teenage pregnancy rate has dropped in recent years, yet each year more than 320,000 teen girls in the United States give birth. This volume examines the changing attitudes of teenagers toward contraception, abstinence, sexually transmitted diseases, media influences, and other issues involving young people and sex.
Experts say that in recent years there has been an epidemic of cheating among young people in the United States. Cheating is more than just students sneaking the answers to school tests; broadly defined, it is breaking the rules to get ahead. Examples of cheating today range from illegally downloading music from the internet, which cheats the artists out of royalties, to using performance-enhancing drugs to gain an athletic advantage. This book explores the ways teens cheat, examines their reasons for doing so, and discusses efforts to teach ethics to young people.
Teenagers have always been interested in the supernatural and paranormal. This book notes that fascination with the world of fantasy is nothing new, and examines modern groups like Wiccans and Goths. Discussion of the supernatural and the paranormal is interspersed with scientific explanations. Many other topics are covered, including angels and the End Times. The book also explores reasons why teens are fascinated with the unseen world of magic and mystery.