Teenagers in Norway today do better at school, spend more time with their parents and aren’t as caught up with drinking, drugs and crime, according to new research. Young people today are better adjusted than 1990s youths, or even their parents’ generation.
The youth section at the Norwegian Social Research institute (Norsk insitutt for forskning om opp vekst, velferd og aldring, NOVA) has surveyed young people over recent decades, reported newspaper Dagsavisen. “We saw that youth problems increased in the 9os,” said researcher Anders Bakken. “There was more drug use and more crime. Then there was a shift around the 2000s, where a good deal of these trends simply turned.”
“We saw that crime reduced, there were less drugs,” Bakken explained. “More were happy at school, and fewer dreaded going. They were better at doing homework, and in many ways met the demands of adult society.” He said 25 years ago more teens hung around on corners and in shopping centres, with higher rates of drug use, shoplifting and vandalism.
Bakken said the technological revolution has changed everyday life for today’s youth. Students interviewed by Dagsavisen also believed their parents had freer rein and were more rebellious than they are themselves.
newsinenglish.no staff
