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Nickelodeon/TIME Magazine Poll Finds Disconnect Between Parents, Kids and Teachers Over Time Spent With Children
Study Finds One in Four Kids Say They Get
No Help From Parents on Homework
92% of Parents Say They Are Very Interested in What Their Child Is Doing In School, But Only 75% of Kids Agree
NEW YORK, June 25 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the second Nickelodeon/TIME magazine study on the state of kids today, there is a disconnect between parents, kids and teachers over the amount of time being spent with children. One third of kids said they want to spend more time with their moms and nearly half said they want more time with their dads. Kids also said they want more involvement from their parents with schoolwork, with a quarter saying their parents currently give them no help with homework.
Additionally, middle school teachers surveyed said that parents should be very much involved with their kids' schoolwork, but in reality are not. Only three percent of middle school teachers say parents are extremely involved with their child's schoolwork. The study was based on interviews with nearly 1,350 kids aged 6 to 14, 400 parents and more than 100 middle school teachers.
"For the second year in a row we have mounted a unique and comprehensive effort to talk to kids around the country and take the pulse of 'kid-dom' today," said Herb Scannell, President, Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite and TV Land. "Once again, the overall news is very good. We have found that children are happy with nearly all aspects of their lives, but they did raise issues about getting more time from parents overall, and specifically more help from parents with schoolwork."
More Time With Mom and Dad, and More Help With Homework
The study also found that a significant number of kids want to spend more time with their parents. While 36 percent of kids want more time with mom, fully 45 percent want more time with dad, and they want to use this time doing fun things they like to do, like shopping, playing games, watching movies, sports or other activities. Survey results found that even when kids today get to spend time with their parents, they feel that roughly half of that time is spent doing things the parents need or want to do.
The survey detected a homework gap among students. While a majority of kids (76 percent) say their parents spend time helping them with schoolwork, almost a quarter of all kids, 24 percent, say their parents do not provide this help. And among those kids who do homework with their parents, a third say their parents are just checking the homework over and 22 percent of parents acknowledge that. About a fifth of kids and a quarter of parents acknowledge they need to spend more time doing homework. A quarter of kids also say their parents show little to no interest in what they are doing in school and a third say parents show little to no interest in their kids' after school activities. Meanwhile, illustrating an apparent disconnect with their kids, over 90 percent of parents believe they do show interest in these areas.
Middle school teachers, who have a very different perspective than either parents or kids, feel that parents should be very much involved with their kids' school work, but in reality they are not. Two-thirds say parents should be extremely involved in their child's school, in general, and a third should be extremely involved in their homework. However, only 3 percent of middle school teachers say parents are extremely involved in their child's school work.
Middle Schools
The survey also probed the impact of middle schools on kids' development and the possibility that having kids start middle school a year earlier than traditional junior high may be forcing them to grow up sooner than they want. Fifth graders about to enter middle school are far more likely to be worried about the physical and emotional impacts of being in school with older kids than sixth graders set to move into a traditional junior high school environment.
Nearly half (48 percent) of all fifth graders about to enter middle school say they worry "a lot" about being in school with older kids, while just 31 percent of sixth graders about to enter junior high feel this way. And while an alarming 43 percent of fifth graders headed for middle school say they worry about being hurt or robbed at school by other students, just 25 percent of sixth graders moving into junior high share these concerns.
Students who move up earlier are also much more likely to be worried about being pressured by older students. This kind of peer pressure worried 40 percent of fifth graders, but just 29 percent of sixth graders.
Materialism on the Rise
The results also showed a growing sense of materialism among kids. When asked whether they would rather be poor and happy or rich and unhappy, 23 percent said rich and unhappy, vs. 14 percent last year. Asked whether they would rather be president of a major company, like Bill Gates, or president of the United States, 56 percent chose to be a company president, to only 40 percent who would choose to be leader of the free world. Last year's poll produced a much more even split, with 50 percent opting to be a company president and 47 percent US President.
In addition, 39 percent of kids this year said they would rather have a job in which they made a lot of money than one that allowed them to help people, up from 33 percent who made this choice last year. The percentage of kids who would choose a job in which they helped people, instead of making a lot of money, fell slightly from 57 percent in last year's study to 56 percent this year.
Fifty-seven percent of kids say it is "very important" to have a job where you make a lot of money, while 32 percent say this is "sort of important" and just 10 percent say it's not important. At the same time, 66 percent of kids say it is very important to have a job where you help people, and 26 percent say this is "sort of important."
Talking to Parents
The survey results show there is a wide range of conversations occurring in homes today, with parents and kids talking about everything from belief in God to using drugs, love marriage, sex and race. An overwhelming majority of kids said they had discussed many of these topics with their parents, and most were very comfortable with the subject matter.
The only notable exceptions were in the areas of sex and puberty. Fully 71 percent of kids said they had discussed the way their bodies will change as they grow older with their parents, but only 45 percent felt comfortable doing so. There was a similar drop-off when the topic was sex, as 57 percent of kids said this had been a topic of conversation with their parents, but only 32 percent said they felt comfortable with the subject matter.
Following is the executive summary of the Second Nickelodeon/Time Magazine "Kids State of the Union" study. The study was conducted by the research firm of Penn, Schoen and Berland and fielded from May 23-June 15, 2000. Interviews took place in 30 malls across the country and through random phone surveys, and the sample was weighted to reflect U.S. census figures for race, income and region for households with children in the sample age groups. The margin of error of the study is +/- 2.67 percent.
A story about the TIME/Nickelodeon poll will be featured in the July 3, 2000 issue of TIME (on newsstands June 26).
THE KIDS STATE OF THE UNION 2000
Key Findings from the Nickelodeon/TIME Kids Survey
The Nickelodeon/TIME Kids Survey is a vehicle through which kids can express their feelings and ideas about their lives. This is the second year that Nickelodeon and Time have conducted the survey. According to the results, kids are overwhelmingly happy, are comfortable making friends and are close with their parents, although a disturbing number of kids say their parents are not helping them with schoolwork (which is at variance with what parents themselves say). At the same time, kids say they worry far more about getting good grades and keeping up with work than with social pressures like fitting in and acting older. More than a third of kids want to spend more time with their parents, but find that their parents are struggling to find the time to spend with them.
Education
24% of kids say their parents do not help them with homework. (This compares to just 7% of parents who say they don't help their kids with homework). These results are fairly consistent across racial lines.
83% of middle school teachers said parents should be very involved with their children's homework, but 94% said parents were only moderately involved or not involved at all. Only 3% of teachers said parents were extremely involved with kids' homework.
Of the kids who say their parents help with homework, only 61% say their parents do schoolwork with them to help them learn more, while 32% say their parents just check their work over. Among parents, however, 77% say they help with homework to help their kids learn, vs. 22% who say they just check it over.
24% of kids say their parents show little or no interest in how they're doing in school, while 75% say their parents are very interested. This compares with 92% of parents who say they are very interested in how their kids are doing in school, vs. only 7% who say they have little or no interest.
63% of kids ages 9-14 say their teachers challenge them to learn a lot, while 35% say their teachers challenge them a little or not much at all.
73% of children say their teachers make them feel smart, while 16% say their teachers make them feel not so smart.
Younger Students in Middle School
Fifth graders starting middle school next year are significantly more likely to be concerned about being in school with older kids than 6th graders who are starting junior high school next year. 48% of 5th graders say they worry a lot about being in school with older kids, compared with 31% of 6th graders.
Both 5th and 6th graders are concerned about schoolwork, with about half of the students in each class saying they worry about getting too much homework in middle school.
50% of 6th graders entering middle school say they worry a lot about making new friends, compared with 31% of 5th graders.
Fifth graders entering middle school say the biggest pressures on them are the pressure to kiss someone they like; followed by the pressure to tease other students.
Sixth graders entering middle school say the biggest pressures on them are the pressure to tease other students and the pressure to act rude to teachers.
Peer Pressure & Vices
69% of students 9-14 years old say they know someone who has cheated on tests or schoolwork and nearly half (48%) say they feel pressure to do it too.
50% of kids ages 12-14 say they know someone who has smoked pot, and 36% say they feel pressure to smoke.
45% of kids ages 12-14 say they know someone who has had sex, and 40% say they feel pressure to do it too.
About 3 in 10 parents say they know of someone their child's age who has stolen from a store, cheated on a test or smoked cigarettes. 2 in 10 say they know of someone their child's age who has had sex or drank alcohol. 14% say they know of someone who has smoked pot.
Parents say they think the most likely vice their child will partake in is alcohol. 34% of parents with children ages 9-14 say they think their child will drink alcohol. About 20% think their child will cheat on a test or smoke cigarettes. Only 13% say they think their child will smoke pot.
Grades vs. Popularity
70% of kids say they worry a lot about getting good grades, but only 42% say they worry a lot about fitting in with other kids. 37% say they worry a lot about being popular.
The pressure to get good grades spans all age groups, although it increases slightly as kids get older. 67% of kids ages 6-8 say they worry about getting good grades, compared with 71% of kids ages 9-11 and 73% of kids ages 12-14.
The pressure to be popular remains consistent, with 38% of 6-8 year olds and 38% of 12-14 year olds saying they worry about it. 34% of 9-11 year olds say they worry about being popular.
By contrast, teachers say the biggest pressures on new middle school students are social. 86% of teachers say there's a lot of pressure to fit in and 78% say there's a lot of pressure to be popular.
75% of teachers say there's a lot of pressure on new middle school students to perform well, but only 46% say there's a lot of pressure to be the best student.
Relating to Parents
88% of parents say they have a lot of respect for their kids, but only 74% of kids ages 9-14 years old say their parents have a lot of respect for them.
79% of parents say they listen to what their kids have to say most of the time, but only 68% of kids agree.
36% of kids say they wish they could spend more time with their mother, and 45% say they wish they could spend more time with their father.
The main reasons children say they don't spend enough time with their mothers are because their mothers work a lot and have too much housework to do.
47% of kids say when they spend time with their parents, most of it is spent doing things their parents need to do or want to do. When asked what activities they would like to spend more time doing with their parents, children say they want to go shopping, play games, watch movies or play sports.
An overwhelming majority of kids between the ages of 9 and 14 say they've discussed a variety of topics ranging from drugs and alcohol to belief in God with their parents.
More than 75% of parents say they've discussed the use of drugs, alcohol or cigarettes with their kids, and 57% say they've discussed sex.
More than 60% of kids say they're comfortable discussing drugs, alcohol or cigarettes with their parents, but only 32% of kids say they're comfortable talking to their parents about sex.
Being Kids
An overwhelming majority of children of all races say they are pretty happy or very happy.
97% of white kids described themselves as very happy, compared with 94% of blacks and 97% of Latinos.
41% of kids feel that life is easier for them than it was for their parents when they were the same age. However, 74% of their parents say life is harder today than it was when they were kids.
87% of kids find it very easy or pretty easy to make friends.
Guns and Safety
11% of kids say they have seen a gun at school and 29% say they have seen a gun at home.
65% of kids say the worry at least a little about getting hurt or robbed by other people at school. 39% say they worry about it a lot.
School safety is a bigger issue among younger children. 42% of kids ages 6-8 say they worry a lot about getting hurt or robbed by other people at school, compared with 40% of kids ages 9-11 and 35% of kids ages 12-14.
Money & Careers
56% of children ages 9-14 say they would rather be CEO of a major company than the president of the United States. (That's a jump from last year, when kids were divided nearly 50-50).
Kids were split on the question of helping people versus making money. 56% of kids said they'd rather have a job where they helped people than a job where they made a lot of money, but 57% of kids said it was very important to have a job that pays a lot of money.
As children get older, the importance of helping people declines. 72% of kids between the ages of 6 and 8 said it is very important to have a job where you help people, while 61% of kids ages 12-14 said helping people is very important.
65% of kids ages 9-14 years old said they'd rather be poor and happy than rich and unhappy. However, the percentage of kids who would rather be rich and unhappy jumped to 23% this year from 14% last year.
Entertainment & Technology
77% of children between the ages of 9 and 14 watch TV at least four days a week. 51% of them say they watch TV every day.
42% of children ages 9-14 years old use a computer at least four days a week, and 19% use one every day.
*** These findings are based on 1,346 interviews with children between the ages of 6 and 14, as well as 400 parents and 103 middle school teachers. Interviews were conducted in 30 different malls across the U.S. The margin of error is +/- 2.67% and is greater for sub-groups. The survey was conducted by Penn, Schoen & Berland.
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