Tim is a normal 15 year old; he attends school most of the
time, only drinks when he is with friends, chews a little tobacco
here and there, will lie occasionally, steal only when he doesn’t
have the money, and has already lost his virginity. Wait, what?
How did this become the normal life of an American teenager?
30 years ago it was unacceptable to take part in any of these
actions without being whipped by a belt, and somehow now
this sort of behavior is the norm? This is all a severe side effect of
the moral decay that America is currently in. But what are
morals? A moral is an ethical motive based on ideas of right
and wrong. Recently, the clear line of right and wrong has been
blurred by society. Average citizens would not believe that 92
percent of teens lied to their parents at least once in the past
year. They also would not believe that 71 percent of teens
admitted that they cheated on at least one exam in the past
year as well (“The Ethics of American Youth: 2000”). Declining
morality in youth is a major problem in American society today
primarily due to influences peers, parents, and the media.
Influences from teenagers’ peers share some of the
blame in this moral collapse society has found itself in. In
fact, according to a study by the Kaiser Foundation, 50
percent of 12 to17 year-olds feel pressured into sex and
relationships (Martin, Heather). Having sex at 12 is immoral
and is directly related to peer pressure. But that is the least of
a teenager’s worries; stealing is becoming prominent in
America (especially with the economy taking a downturn).
40 percent of males and 30
percent of females said they
have stolen something from a
store in the past year (“The Ethics
of American Youth: 2000”).
Teenagers are especially sensitive
when self-appearance is at
hand. If a teenager wants
something that everyone else has
that he /she can’t afford, he/she
might just take it.
Finally, in a national survey conducted by the CDC, 36 percent
of high school students reported being in a physical fight during
the past 12 months (“Understanding Youth Violence”). Jay
Reeve, a psychologist at Bradley Hospital at Brown University in
Providence, notes that teens are more prone to impulsive,
violent behavior because they lack a “developed sense of right
and wrong” (“Peer Pressure, Media Fuel Youth Violence”). In
other words, kids fight because they do not know that it is
morally wrong. According to the data, when their friends are
chanting, “Fight! Fight!”, nearly 40% of teens do not have the
moral strength of character to walk away. Violence is their
solution to conflict, and this choice does
not bode well for the future of our society.
Who is to blame? Parents in America are the root of the moral
decay that plagues our society. One of the largest influences on teens is
single-parent households. The percentage of homes in which there is one
parent has risen roughly 17 percent from 1960 to 2008. As a result of these
parental inadequacies a moral paradigm shift has occurred in high
school seniors. From 1976 to 2004, the percentage of seniors admitting
that “having a child without being married is experimenting with
worthwhile lifestyle or not affecting anybody” has increased from an
average between boys and girls of 37.3 percent in 1976 to 55.9 percent in
2004 (Wilcox, Bradford, Ed.).
These two statistics show that
parents disregarding the traditional
un-written code of ethics (having a
good/any marriage before a
baby) is sending a message to the
next generation that having a child
without being married is okay.
However, single-parent households are only one of the
parental errors that have effected teens today. About 60 percent of
American children age’s four to eleven are exposed to secondhand
smoke at home (“Cigarette Smoking and Children”). Children learn
by example and what kind of example is smoking around them going
to present? Teenage sex; the number is staggering. 47.85% of
teenagers have had sex (“Health Risk Behaviors by Sex”). Essentially
half of the classroom has lost their virginity.
This is partly due to the parent not
caring about what their child does.
In a study of 750 teenagers age’s 13
and up, kids who were monitored
more by their parents tended to
delay sex for about a year
compared to those who received
less monitoring (Kim, Christine). This
study shows a clear relationship
between parental influence and
bad choices in immoral underage
sex.
Finally, the media is attacking the traditional morals that are
already decaying in American society. An average American child
today is bombarded with overt messages from the very object that
America adores so much. In fact, according to a study done by the
American Psychiatric Association, an average teenager by his/her
18th birthday will see 16,000 simulated murders and 200,000 acts of
violence in movies and on television. It is quite obvious that these
companies don’t realize that their programming is causing teen
violence. According to Leonard Eron, Senior Research Scientist at
the University of Michigan, television is responsible for ten percent of
teen violence, which is obviously immoral.
Also, a study of 2001-2002 television shows
revealed that 64 percent of shows had some
sort of sexual innuendo contained in them
while one in seven had an actual portrayal of
intercourse (“Facts and TV Statistics”). Kids
learn by example, and the example television
is setting for them with such sexual messages is
causing underage sex to flourish. Perhaps
even more shocking is that as reported by the
London School of Economics in a 2002 study,
90 percent of eight to 16 year olds have seen
pornographic material on the internet, mostly
by accident (“Statistics on Pornography,
Sexual Addiction and Online Perpetrators”).
This kind of solicitation is influencing children
as young as eight to believe it is okay to take
part in this sort of behavior when in actuality it
is ripping apart the moral fiber of America.
America is heading down a downhill slope ready to
collide with a tree if people aren’t willing to stand up
and accept that morality is a problem within society.
Parents need to become better role models to their
children and show an interest in their child’s actions.
Media must take greater steps to stop the spread of
immorality on the internet and television (however it still
is the parents’ responsibility to monitor their kid’s
activities). When these two influences begin to turn for
the better, then negative peer pressure may turn
positive. If society starts to take leaps to reverse this
downfall that has engulfed America, then crime rates,
teen pregnancy, drug abuse, divorce rates, and other
problems in society will no longer be such in America.
But if this trend continues, the traditional values that
were practiced by generations before this one will have
no place in society and chaos will ensue.
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<http://www.heritage.org/research/family/bg2194.cfm#_ftnref32>.
Martin, Heather. "The Subvertisement." University Writing Program (2009): n. pag. Web.
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<http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/YV-FactSheet-a.pdf>.
Wilcox, Bradford, Ed. "The State of Our Unions 2009." virginia.edu. Dec 2009. National
Marriage Project, Web. 22 Feb 2010.
<http://www.virginia.edu/marriageproject/pdfs/Union_11_25_09.pdf>.