Competent Learners on the Edge of Adulthood: A summary of key findings from the Competent Learners @ 16 project

8. Out-of-school influences

By the age of 16, our participants were starting to have more adult experiences than they were at 14. They were now experimenting with sex and drugs, and embarking on romantic relationships. Half of the 16-year-olds had fallen in love in the previous year, and 34 percent had had sex, compared with just 9 percent at age 14.

They also drank more alcohol. Almost half our participants had never drunk alcohol at 14, but only 16 percent of the 16-year-olds had not done so in the previous year. And while only 19 percent of 14-year-olds had done something they regretted while drunk, that number had risen to just over 51 percent by the time they were 16.

Most participants said they had been bored at least sometimes. About two-thirds felt they did not have enough money at least sometimes, and around half thought they did not have enough freedom.

By 16, our participants were less likely to have broken a parental rule than they were at 14—but more likely to have been reprimanded if they did so. However, they continued to feel well-connected to their families, and to feel both loved and trusted by their parents.

Their leisure activities remained similar to those at age 14, but they read slightly less, watched slightly less television, played less sport and spent less time playing computer games than they did when they were younger.

On the other hand, 45 percent of them had paid work at least one day a week. That compares with the 34 percent who had some paid work—largely informal—at age 14.

LEISURE ACTIVITIES

We wanted to find out how our participants spend their leisure time, what they enjoy the most and what is most important to them. The five leisure activities they spent the most time doing were:

1. Text messaging
Text messaging was the most common leisure activity among 16-year-olds. Almost all of them had a cellphone, and 74 percent said they texted most days.

2. Watching television
Television continued to be a regular part of their daily lives, with 66 percent saying they watched television most days. By comparison, only 27 percent say they read most days—compared with 42 percent at age 14. Another 24 percent said they read one or two days a week.
Those who had left school watched slightly more television than those who were still at school—an average of 2.4 hours a day compared with 2.1 hours. Overall, the study participants watched slightly less television than they did when they were 12 and 14.

3. Hanging out with friends
Friends continued to be very important to their lives, with 53 percent describing friends as one of their main interests. However, the things they did with their friends had changed slightly since they were 14. They were more likely to hang out at a friend’s house, or to go to parties or on holiday with their friends than they were at 14.

4. Using the computer
The young people in our study are mostly ‘digital natives’. Two-thirds of them had computers in their homes from the age of 8. By age 16, 93 percent of them used a computer at home, 47 percent on most days.

They now used the computer more than they did when they were younger. At age 12, for example, they used a computer for an average of 3.8 hours a week. By 16, they were using a computer for an average of 7.2 hours a week.

The top five computer-related activities were:

• downloading music and pictures etc
• surfing the net for fun
• chatting online
• emailing friends
• getting information about jobs or education.
  

5. Exercise and sport
Active participation in sport had dropped back since the age of 14. Only 33 percent of 16-year-olds said they played sport for fun most days, compared with 50 percent at age 14. However, doing exercise and physical training continued to be a regular part of the lives of about two-thirds of our participants.

RISKY BEHAVIOUR AND DIFFICULT EXPERIENCES

Our participants were much more likely to engage in risky behaviour at 16 than they were at 14. They drank more alcohol and they were much more likely to have had sex. Almost a fifth said they had got into trouble with the police, and 30 percent said they had been involved in a physical fight. Half of our participants said they had got into trouble at school.

A quarter of the young people reported being hassled about their body shape and size, and 46 percent reported feeling left out at times. Almost a third of Māori and Pacific students said they had been hassled about their culture in the previous year, compared with just 13 percent of Pakeha and Asian students. Just under 5 percent said they had been hassled about their sexuality.

Relatively few students had experienced difficult events such as an ongoing health problem. However, 17 percent had experienced a family breakup, and 20 percent had experienced the death of a friend.

FRIENDSHIPS

As in the past, friends were an important part of our participants’ lives. However, there have been changes in what they most value in a friend. At age 12, it was having fun together. By age 16, they saw support and trust as being more important. Long-lasting friendships had also become more important than they used to be.

We found three different patterns of friendship:

1. ‘Solid’ friendships with a high level of trust and respect. Around 80 percent of our participants had this kind of friendship.
2. ‘Extending’ friendships, where their friends share their concerns and their thoughts about the future. About half had friends who pushed them to do well, introduced them to new things and listened to what they have to say.
   
3. ‘Risky’ friendships, where their friends are likely to drink, take drugs, smoke cigarettes and get into trouble. Around a fifth had these kinds of friendships.
   

We also found that 16-year-olds were more likely to listen to their friends, rather than their parents, than they were when they were younger. Only a third of 12-year-olds said they would disobey their parents to do something their friends wanted them to do. By the age of 16, more than half said they would disregard their parents in favour of their friends.

VALUES

By the age of 16, our participants saw enjoying what they do, and doing well at school, as being more important than when they were younger. They were also more concerned about having money to spend than they were at ages 12 and 14.

However, they were now less concerned about wearing the right clothes and looking cool, and they were also less concerned about having lots of friends. Success at sport had become less important than it used to be.

Looking ahead, they continued to see having a happy family life as being the most important aspect of adulthood. However, many more 16-year-olds than 12 and 14-year-olds saw having an interesting job as being important.

FAMILY LIFE

Most of our participants continued to have a warm and loving relationship with their parents, and to feel included in their families. They trusted their parents, and felt they could get help from them if they needed it—though fewer than half shared their problems and troubles with their parents.

Relatively few—less than 20 percent—felt pressured by their family, although about a third thought their family worried too much about what they did with their friends.

Almost all of the young people (92 percent) had family rules about drug use, and 85 percent had rules about alcohol use. Rules about language, doing housework, doing homework, and what time they have to go to bed were also common. But the 16-year-olds said their parents had fewer rules and expectations about their behaviour than they did when they were younger. However they were more likely to be told off or lectured if they did break a rule than they were at 14.

More than a third of the 16-year-olds came home to an empty house—up from 25 percent at age 14, and just 15 percent at age 12. However, 59 percent said that they were greeted by a parent when they get home.

A fifth of the young people spent at least some time living in two different houses, and half of them said the rules were different in each home.

Parents, too, generally felt happy with the relationship they had with their 16-year-olds. Most felt it had become more adult or closer than it was at 14. Parents said they were more likely to negotiate about things they disagreed about than they were in the past. However, 15 percent of parents said their relationship with their child had become more distant.

Just over half the parents had no concerns about their child, and a third had only low-level concerns. The thing that worried the largest number of parents (35 percent) was their child’s learning at school. On the other hand, 59 percent of parents were satisfied with their child’s progress at school.