George Gallup Jr. is the Chairman of the George H. Gallup International Institute and is recognized internationally for his research and study on youth, health, religion and urban problems. In 1977, Gallup, his father (George Gallup Sr.) and his brother, Alec, founded the Gallup Youth Survey (GYS) -- a quarterly survey of teens aged 13 to 17. The GYS began as a partnership with the Associated Press Syndicate, and one of the original reasons for founding the GYS was to combat the drop-off in teen readership of newspapers. GYS data served as source material for reports on all aspects of teen life, which were sent to newspaper subscribers on a weekly basis.
To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the GYS, Tuesday Briefing staff interviewed George Gallup Jr. about GYS findings over the past 25 years and his opinions on what those findings tell us about today's youth. The first in this series of interview excerpts focuses on teens and the media.
Q. How has teen TV viewing changed over the past 20 to 25 years?
A. Some things rarely change. If you're looking for a teen, check the TV room. Nine in 10 teens in our latest survey on the subject watch TV on a daily basis. This percentage has basically not budged over the last nearly two decades. In 1984, the figure was 89%.
Q. What kind of influence does TV have on the lives of teens?
A.It is estimated that the average youth spends more time watching television in a year [1,023 hours] than he or she spends in school [900 hours]. Certainly TV can have a positive impact on youth in some respects, but it also can have a pernicious effect. Teens share their parents' view that violence on TV begets violence in real life.
In addition, TV viewing robs teens of sleep. The "fatigue syndrome" among teens is recognized as a serious threat to their health, and their schoolwork suffers as a result.
However, teens do feel some guilt about their TV-watching. One GYS study showed that seven in 10 teens say they watch too much TV. But it doesn't seem likely that teen TV viewing habits will change much in the near future. Some experts point out that TV viewing can be addictive.
Q. What have you found out about teen use of other media?
A. Radio vies with television for the attention of teens. Nine of 10 teens today say they listen to the radio on a daily basis.
Q. What are they listening to?
A. During their waking hours, teens live in a world of music and sound -- on the radio, through Walkmans or boom boxes, music videos on TV, and in other ways. A full nine in 10 teen-agers say they listen to music on a daily basis. Music is clearly an integral part of the world of teens, and with modern technology, they can carry it around with them full time.
So today's teens live in an environment of music, which is why many parents are particularly troubled by harmful influences in music. "Gangsta rap" is an obvious example -- many teens themselves are quite negative about the impact it can have on people their age, believing that it encourages violence.
Q. How do the media influence the people who teens select as their heroes or role models?
A. This is a difficult thing to assess, but GYS results do show that young people are being increasingly drawn to "superstar" status rather than character considerations when choosing their heroes. The GYS' annual top 10 "most admired man" and "most admired woman" lists are dominated more and more by actors and actresses, singers and sports figures. Some of the celebrities who teens have identified as their "most admired man" or "woman" in recent years include Jean-Claude Van Damme, Sylvester Stallone, Cindy Crawford and Pamela Anderson. Earlier lists from the 1970s and 1980s included more statesmen and leading political figures.
While many of the celebrities who dominate today's lists may certainly be worthy choices, I personally believe that the media today contribute to this elevation of celebrity over character. The notion of a "thoroughly good person" tends to be ridiculed, while the dark side of human nature is featured, all in the hopes of building a bigger audience.