When I was cleaning out my room yesterday I came across an old article I printed out from CBS. It's titled What Makes Young People Happy? Happiness and the mind has always been a fascinating topic for me. This very closely relates to the myths of childhood we discussed in Huck's Raft. Just a background on the survey, it was conducted by the Associated Press and MTV. They interviewed 1280 people ages 13-24, asking them over 100 questions.The article talks about the typical things parents expect bring kids happiness: sex, drugs, rock n roll, and money. But I think that is stereotypical. These parents were once kids, and they should remember what it was like. I've never heard of a girl being upset, finding a wad of cash, and it making her happy. This study shows what makes young adults really happy, and those things are almost identical to what I would imagine make adults happy. Things like family, love and marriage, religion, and safety are all factors in happiness.
Family
73% said their relationship with their parents makes them happy. On a typical day I might fight with my mom about something little, but for the most part my parents are my stability. According to the second childhood myth, the home is the haven and bastion of stability. But the truth is that many children live in broken homes. 64% of kids say they wake up happy, with only 47% who have divorced parents. We may or may not be our parents possessions, but they control our lives and apparently our happines.
Stress
One thing I personally believe in is that a childhood is anything but carefree. "Young people in this survey had a 10 percent higher stress rate than adults did in a 2006 Ap-Ipsos poll." This knocks out Stephen Mintz's childhood myth number one. I think children stress differently than adults. They may internalize it, and carry burdens that parents should be carrying. When a family is put under stress by something like money or sickness, the child receives just as much burden as all the other family members. Adults may have already paved a path for themselves, but kids are still making up their minds about major decesions in life.
One thing I personally believe in is that a childhood is anything but carefree. "Young people in this survey had a 10 percent higher stress rate than adults did in a 2006 Ap-Ipsos poll." This knocks out Stephen Mintz's childhood myth number one. I think children stress differently than adults. They may internalize it, and carry burdens that parents should be carrying. When a family is put under stress by something like money or sickness, the child receives just as much burden as all the other family members. Adults may have already paved a path for themselves, but kids are still making up their minds about major decesions in life.
Teenage Rebellion
"Alcohol users are slightly less happy than those who don't drink. The differences are more remarkable among 13-17 year olds; just 40 percent of those who drank in the last seven days reported being happy with life, versus 68 percent of those who didn't. And 49 percent of illegal drug users reported being happy with life, compared with 66 percent of those who didn't use drugs."
Why?
So what is happiness? Why do we crave it so much? And why is it so unattainable for some? I think people are too ready to blame others for unhappiness. Sure there are lots of things going on in all our lives that has the potential to make us unhappy, but only if we really let it. We need to take control of our own lives. We need to be responsible for our own emotions. We can do things that make us happy like listening to music, hanging out with friends, or watching a funny movie. Why do we let society dictate our feelings? Not everyone is happy, and the myth that everyone is does damage. Happiness should be a goal, not an expectation. After all, aren't these supposed to be the best years of our lives?
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