On the Edge of Adulthood: Young people's school and out-of-school experiences at 16

12. Values, interests, experiences, and friendships

In this chapter, we describe the kinds of values, time use, out-of-school experiences, and friendships reported by the young people when they were aged 16, with comparisons back to ages 12 and 14, to see what changes and what remains as they move forward toward an adult identity.

Values

Do adolescents’ values change from age 12 to age 16? Some of the things that were most important to this group from the list of 13 items we asked them about were mentioned at much the same levels throughout this time of adolescence: being with family/whänau/fono, having a good sense of humour, doing well at an interest outside school, going to church, being good looking, or having the latest things.

Enjoying the things they did became increasingly important, as did doing well at school. Having money to spend was more important at age 16 than it was at ages 14 or 12. But as a group they were slightly less concerned at age 16 about wearing the right clothes or looking cool (perhaps because there were more ways of showing it); or having lots of friends. Doing well at sport dropped back markedly by age 16.

As we had when the young people were aged 14, we found three clusters of values. At age 16, 41 percent of the young people wanted a satisfying life; 37 percent wanted to stand out in some way, and 23 percent had aspirational values. These are much the same proportions as they were two years earlier. And, as two years earlier, we found that the values young people had were linked to their participation and engagement in school, their achievement, and their patterns of relationships with others.

A happy family life was consistently sought by around two-thirds of the sample as they traversed adolescence as something that would be most important to them as adults. Just under half also thought good health would matter. The closer they were to moving on from school, the more important an interesting job became (and the less important became getting a good education—as an adult, rather than a school student perhaps). Lots of money was increasingly valued, while having lots of friends was somewhat less important with time: both of these were nominated by around a quarter of the 16-year-olds. Influencing other people was now of interest to 10 percent, a marked increase from the 4 percent at age 12, though being creative or making something new was at this level at both ages.

We also asked the young people an open-ended question about what was the most satisfying thing they had achieved in or out of school over the past year. Academic achievement was mentioned by 45 percent of the current students, and 29 percent mentioned sports achievement (one of the values of sports being that it can provide recognition and opportunities to rise to challenges); 12 percent mentioned achievements in the arts, 8 percent in skills (e.g. passing a driving test), 6 percent their relationships with others, 5 percent their employment, 3 percent taking responsibility for something or being recognised by others, and a further 3 percent were satisfied that they had been able to take care of themselves. When we put together these categories, achievement (in and out of school) was the most important source of satisfaction for the young people (68 percent), followed by recognition from others (not linked to achievement per se), 16 percent, enjoyment (11 percent), and something that felt like a breakthrough, or a step on the way to the future (6 percent).

Conversely, when we asked them what was the least satisfying thing they had done over the past year, it was academic failure or difficulty that headed the list (30 percent), followed by failure or difficulty in the arts (8 percent), sport (6 percent), getting into trouble (7 percent), losing control or the balance of things in their life (6 percent), or having a relationship difficulty (6 percent). However, 34 percent of the students could not think of anything here.

Interests and time use

What were main interests of the study participants at age 16: the things they enjoyed most, that absorbed them the most? Table 89 records answers to an open-ended question that were mentioned by 5 percent or more. The patterns show a mix of opportunities for interaction and challenge: but there is a fair degree of recipient activities here (most of the young people did not themselves play organised sport).

How do these main interests translate into time use? The table below shows how often the young people reported a range of common activities. Activities with friends are frequent. Watching television may not be seen as a main interest, yet it is part of daily life for two-thirds of the young people. (Average hours per day were 2.4 hours for those who had left school, and 2.07 hours for those at school, slightly less for the latter than at ages 12 and 14.) Reading continues to decline as part of daily life, as does homework. Active participation in sport has also dropped back, though individual exercise continued to be a part of everyday life for just over a third of the young people. Forty-five percent of the 16-year-olds at school had paid work at least once a week. Frequency of computer use had not increased since age 14—and perhaps surprisingly, computer-based games took less time than they had two years before.

Notes:

+ more than at age 14; - less than at age 14; * % here is of students only

The average length of time spent using the computer each week was 7.92 hours (s.d. 7.6 hours) for those at school, and 5.22 hours (s.d. 3.98 hours) for those who had left school. Time spent on the computer has gradually increased: at age 12 the average was 3.8 hours, and at age 14, 6.5 hours a week.

Almost all the students had a cellphone, and their own source of music or radio; televisions that they could decide to use to watch when and what they wanted were less common. Perhaps surprisingly, few had their own computer, or access to the Internet (unless through their cellphone).

ICT use

The young people in this study are almost “digital natives”—two-thirds had computers in their homes by the time they were aged eight, and were using them. By age 16, 93 percent used a computer at home. How do young people who have almost grown up with computers in the same way that their parents grew up with televisions as a part of daily life use them? Are they a source of entertainment, or information? Are they a tool to do some things faster, or a way to do different things? For around half the young people, ICT was a tool they used at least once a week. It was a tool that supported a range of uses: particularly communication, gaining something for further use (music, pictures), gaining information (both purposefully and through browsing), entertainment, and as a way of doing some things faster. It was not in much use to support school-based or other communities, and some of the more recent and much heralded possibilities, e.g. digital stories or blogging sites, were rare.

Note: 

* Percentage is of school students only.

Experiences

We asked the young people to tell us how often they had had experience of a range of things and relationships over the past year. Their reports tell us something about the knowledge and encounters of 16-year-olds as they move into adulthood: some steadily, some with large lurches and experimentation.

We start by looking at their experiences of praise and achievement; then move to risky behaviour—the flexing of independence, and making decisions about what to take responsibility for. Next we look at rejection—experiences of pressure, of being taken to task for being different from someone else. Finally, we look at the incidence of adverse events, including health problems, family break-ups, death of a friend.

Praise and achievement

Almost all the young people had had positive experiences: praised at least once for something they had achieved, and making new friends. Around a third of the young people said they had quite often or lots of times supported a friend in trouble. It was rarer to take action on a situation that concerned them. Around one in five had never been selected for a team or event, or been included in a group they really wanted to be in. The overall picture was similar to what it had been when the young people were aged 14.

Risky behaviour

Here we see some marked changes from age 14. Almost half the young people had never drunk alcohol at age 14; now only 16 percent had not done so in the past year. Nine percent had had sex in the past year at age 14; now 34 percent had. Nineteen percent had done something they regretted while drunk two years earlier; now 51 percent had. A fifth had never got behind with school work at age 14; now only 7 percent had.

But the other behaviours we asked about, that can pose some risk in terms of keeping a focus on learning, or losing control, had not changed.

Rejection

Most of the young people did not experience being bullied or hassled; but around 10 percent did experience this as something that occurred sometimes or more often over the past year, more so in relation to their body shape or size. And around a third sometimes or more often felt left out of things. The picture is much the same as it was at age 14, with the exception of fewer 16-year-olds coping with changes to their body as they moved through adolescence.

Adverse events

Around half the young people  had a health problem or been injured over the past year, though few had  continuing problems from health or injury. Most of the young people did not experience any of the other adverse events we asked about. However, 17 percent had experienced family break-up, and 11 percent had had sex when they did not want to.

Other experiences

Some of the experiences we asked about did not come into these four factors. Their incidence is described in the table below. The young people did experience a range of feelings, and, sometimes, frustrations.

Most of the young people had been bored at least sometimes; around two-thirds also felt they had not had enough money at least sometimes, and around half, not enough freedom. Two-thirds had lost a friend (as they had also gained new ones); and half had fallen in love. Around two-thirds had lost their temper at least once, or fought with others at home.

Friendships

Friendship was very important in the young people’s lives. Some activities with friends were much the same across adolescence: simply hanging out together topped the list at each age. But there were some changes at age 16: a jump in going to parties or on holiday together, a steady rise in shopping together, and in watching TV or DVDs together; a continued decline in informal physical activity.

Support and trust is the most valued aspect of friendships at age 16: this has grown steadily in importance since age 12. Sharing interests is less important; the fact that a friendship is long-lasting has become more important for some.

Forty-one percent said there was nothing that was not so good about their friendships: much the same proportion as at ages 12 and 14. What was sometimes difficult in the friendships varied widely, from arguments (17 percent) and gossip or backstabbing (15 percent), to competition, judgements, being too demanding or close (5 percent each).

Since friendship is an important part of young people’s (and adults’) lives we asked the young people to state their level of agreement with a set of 22 items describing friendships, so that we could see what different patterns of friendship existed. Three factors were evident, as they had been at age 14: friendships that were “solid” (e.g. with high trust and respect); friendships that were “extending” (e.g. friends who pushed the young person to do well, introduced them to new things, listened to what they had to say); and “risky” friendships (e.g. friends who got into trouble, were drinking at parties, trying drugs).

Solid friendships

Around four-fifths of the young people enjoyed solid friendships, much as at age 14.

(r) Item scale reversed when the factor scale score was calculated.

Extending friendships

Around three-quarters of the young people also enjoyed friendships where they shared concerns, thoughts about the future, and were listened to; just over half also had friends who pushed them to do well, enjoyed learning new things, and introduced them to interesting activities. Most of the young people also thought that their parents liked their friends (although when we asked about their home life, around a third thought that their parents worried too much about what they did with their friends—perhaps not surprising given the increase in friends’ risky behaviour).

Friends with risky behaviour

The 16-year-olds were extending their experiences into alcohol, drugs, and sex. At age 14, 18 percent said their friends liked to drink alcohol at parties; now 57 percent said so. Six percent said their friends smoked marijuana; now 18 percent said so. Fourteen percent had friends who smoked cigarettes; now 27 percent had. However, the proportion who had friends who thought it was okay to have unsafe (unprotected) sex was low, 8 percent, and there was no increase in those who had friends who got into trouble.

Do friends carry more weight than parents?

Who carries more weight, friends or parents? Table 103 sets out the young people’s reactions to our question asking “If your parents told you not to do something and your friends really wanted you to do it, what would you do?” The steady rise in the importance of friendships—or the decline in the acceptance of parental judgement—is evident when we compare the two-thirds at age 12 who accepted their parents’ judgement, with the 53 percent who would do so at age 14. While quite a few would go ahead anyway, or see their actions as their own decision, quite a few thought that it was important to take the actual action and its context into account: a more nuanced view of how important things could be in different settings than they took at an earlier age.

In the next chapter, we look at how friendships, relations with parents, and values intersect, and the extent to which we can predict the patterns of a 16-year-old in these dimensions of life from what they were doing and saying two years earlier.