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Administration for Children and Families US Department of Health and Human Services
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Profile of America's Youth

Overall, it appears that most young people in America are faring better than their counterparts 10 years ago. They are achieving in school, participating in community service activities, and choosing healthier behaviors. Most interesting, many surveys show that young people today say that they want and need the guidance of their parents.

Excitement about the good news reflected in the statistics below must, of course, be tempered by the realization that too many of America's youth still live in disadvantaged circumstances. These young people typically do not have access to all they need to learn and grow into happy, healthy, and productive adults.

It remains incumbent on the Nation, therefore, to continue to develop strategies for providing all youth with the support and opportunities critical to their development. One method for doing so is the "youth development" approach. Designers of that approach looked at what made it possible for young people to do well and identified the following variables: a sense of competence, a sense of usefulness, a sense of belonging, and a sense of power.

In fact, the statistics below give us hope that, with the right support and guidance, young people tend to do well. Through the youth development approach, we can begin to devote the necessary resources to ensuring that all young people are able to build new skills, make a contribution, become part of a community, and feel in control over their future.

To find out more about the status of America's young people and the youth development approach, review the statistics below and then link to the references at the bottom of this listing.

How many teenagers are there in America? How many youth are female and how many are male?

  • According to the U.S. Census Bureau estimates for the year 2000, there are 19.9 million young people ages 10–14 and 19.8 million young people ages 15–19 in the United States, totaling 39.7 million youth ages 10–19.1

  • The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that in 2000, 49 percent of American youth ages 10–19 are female and 51 percent are male.1

How many youth are participating in positive activities that promote well-being?

  • In Teen Risk-Taking: A Statistical Portrait, the Urban Institute reported that 92 percent of youth engage in at least one positive behavior, such as earning good grades, participating in school sports or other activities, being involved with a religious institution, or spending time with parents.

The majority of young people reported receiving good grades (54 percent), participating in a school sport (58 percent), participating in other school activities (53 percent), being involved with a religious institution (60 percent), and spending time with family (76 percent)2

  • The Council of Economic Advisors reported in Teens and Their Parents in the 21st Century: An Examination of Trends in Teen Behavior and the Role of Parental Involvement that:

  • Nearly 80 percent of youth indicate that they have held a job at some point during high school.

  • At any given time, about one-third of high school students are employed in the labor market; today 3.3 million students are working.

  • Youth who participate in community service initiatives through community-based organizations achieve at higher educational levels and have higher expectations for their academic and professional careers.3

  • According to the 2000 edition of America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, in 1999, 55 percent of high school students participated in volunteer activities during the current school year.4

How does parental involvement affect youth behavior?

  • In Talking With Teens: The YMCA Parent and Teen Survey Final Report, 78 percent of youth indicated that they turn to their parents for advice and guidance in times of need.

The YMCA survey also found that not having enough time with their parents is the top concern of young people. Youth were three times as likely as their parents to indicate that family time is their biggest issue of concern. Parents reported outside threats such as drugs and alcohol as their top concerns.5

  • The article, Protecting Adolescents From Harm: Findings From the National Longitudinal Study on Adolescent Health, in the Journal of the American Medical Association, reported that parent and family connectedness help to protect adolescents from seven of the eight harmful behaviors examined.6

  • In Teens and Their Parents in the 21st Century: An Examination of Trends in Teen Behavior and the Role of Parental Involvement, the Council of Economic Advisors indicated that parental involvement is a major influence in helping youth avoid risky behaviors, such as drug use and early sexual activity. In addition, young people who have a close relationship with their parents are more likely to have higher grade point averages and to go to college.3

Are adolescents choosing healthy behaviors?

  • According to the Urban Institute’s Teen Risk-Taking: A Statistical Portrait, from 1991 to 1997 there was a steady overall decline in student health-risk behavior. This decline is equivalent to a 29 percent increase in the proportion of students choosing healthy behaviors.2

  • The 1999 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse reports that illicit drug use continues to decline among youth ages 12–17. The rate of use decreased from 11.4 percent in 1997 to 9.0 percent in 1999.7

  • The report Teens and Their Parents in the 21st Century: An Examination of Trends in Teen Behavior and the Role of Parental Involvement indicated that between 1991 and 1998 the overall birth rate of youth ages 15–19 declined by 18 percent. In addition, the birth rate for girls ages 15–17 was a record low in 1998, at 30 births for every 1,000 girls.3

  • In its 1999 edition of Trends in the Well-Being of America’s Children & Youth, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported that in 1997, more than half of students in grades 9–12 chose to abstain from sexual intercourse.8

How are American teenagers performing academically?

  • The Council of Economic Advisers reported in Teens and Their Parents in the 21st Century: An Examination of Trends in Teen Behavior and the Role of Parental Involvement that:

  • Young people today are taking more challenging courses in core academic subjects than did their counterparts in the 1980s.

  • Between 1990 and 1996, the percentage of 8th graders performing at or above basic proficiency in mathematics increased from 52 to 62 percent; for 12th graders the increase was from 58 to 69 percent.3

  • According to the 2000 edition of America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, in 1998, the overall high school completion rate, defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as the percentage of 18-24 year olds who have received a high school diploma or its equivalent, was 85 percent.4

What are the current trends in youth violence?

  • The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice, reported in Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1999 National Report that in 1997 serious juvenile violent crime declined to its lowest level in more than a decade.9

  • The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported in its 1999 edition of Trends in the Well-Being of America’s Children & Youth that the firearm homicide rate among youth decreased by more than one-third from 1993 to 1997.8

  • According to the 2000 Indicators of School Crime and Safety, a joint publication of the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice, nearly half of all schools reported no incidents of crime in the 1996–1997 school year and 90 percent of schools reported no serious violent crimes during that year.10

  • A report from the Surgeon General, released in 2000, suggests that youth violence is down since 1993, that the nation’s schools are relatively safe, and that the decline in homicide arrests since 1994 has primarily reflected the decline in the use of firearms.11

References

  1. U.S. Census Bureau, National Estimates, Annual Population Estimates by Age Group and Sex, Selected Years from 1990 to 2000. Available from the U.S. Census Bureau; www.census.gov/population/estimates/nation/intfile2-1.txt

  2. Teen Risk-Taking: A Statistical Portrait. Authors: L. Duberstein Lindberg, S. Boggess, L. Porter, S. Williams. 2000. Available from The Urban Institute, 2100 M Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037; (202) 261-5709, fax (202) 728-0232; www.urban.org/family/TeenRiskTaking.html.  

  3. Teens and Their Parents in the 21st Century: An Examination of Trends in Teen Behavior and the Role of Parental Involvement. Author: Council of Economic Advisers. 2000. Available from the Council of Economic Advisers; http://clinton4.nara.gov/media/pdf/CEAreport.pdf

  4. America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being 2000. Author: Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics. 2000. Available from the National Maternal Child Health Clearinghouse, 2070 Chain Bridge Road, Suite 450, Vienna, VA 22182; (703) 356-1964; http://childstats.gov/ac2000/ac00.asp

  5. Talking With Teens: The YMCA Parent and Teen Survey Final Report. Author: Global Strategy Group. 2000. Available from Global Strategy Group, Inc., 611 Broadway, Suite 206, New York, NY 10012; (212) 260-8813, fax (212) 260-9058; www.ymca.net/presrm/research/teensurvey.htm  

  6. Protecting Adolescents From Harm: Findings from the National Longitudinal Study on Adolescent Health. 1997. Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 278, No. 10. September 10, 1997. Available from the Journal of the American Medical Association, P.O. Box 10946, Chicago, IL 60610-0946; (800) 262-2350, fax (312) 464-5831.

  7. Summary of Findings from the 1999 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. Author: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. 2000. Available from the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information, P.O. Box 2345, Rockville, MD 20847-2345; (800)729-6686; www.samhsa.gov/oas/nhsda/2kdetailedtabs/Preface.htm#TopOfPage

  8. Trends in the Well-Being of America’s Children & Youth, 1999. Author: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. Available from Child Trends, Inc., 4301 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 100, Washington, D.C. 20008; (202) 362-5580, fax (202) 362-5533; http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/99trends/index.htm

  9. Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1999 National Report. Authors: H. Snyder and M. Sickmund, National Center for Juvenile Justice. Published by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Available from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, P.O. Box 6000, Rockville, MD 20849-6000; (301) 519-5500, (800) 851-3420, fax (301) 519-5212; http://www.ncjrs.org/html/ojjdp/nationalreport99/toc.html

  10. Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 2000. Authors: U.S. Departments of Education and Justice. Available from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, P.O. Box 6000, Rockville, MD 20849-6000; (301) 519-5500, (800) 851-3420, fax (301) 519-5212; http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2001/crime2000/

  11. Youth Violence: A Report of the Surgeon General. Author: Office of the Surgeon General. 2000. Available from Superintendent of Documents, P.O. Box 371954, Pittsburgh, PA 15250-7954; (202) 512-1800, fax (202) 512-2250; www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/youthviolence/default.htm.