(ANS - Rome) - Friendship, love, free time and work, followed by health and self-fulfilment – these are the values that matter most to today’s Roman teenagers. They show little interest in social commitment (only 5.24% do voluntary work), politics (only 1.27% are interested), and they are abandoning the old religious groups: 3.12% are Scouts, 8.6% regularly attend the oratory.

These are the data that emerge from a survey done in Rome entitled "Teenagers. The challenge of transition to adulthood in a complex society". The survey was conducted by the Salesians in Rome in collaboration with the Toniolo Institute, the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan and the Salesian Pontifical University.  The survey involved 700 adolescents from the first three years of High School, Technical Colleges and Vocational Schools in the capital, both Italians (84%) and foreigners.

According to the survey, the family is of fundamental importance. The teenagers say they have a good level of communication with their father (especially boys) and mother (especially girls). “They go to school willingly enough (2.33 out of 4) and peer relationships are good, but less so among foreigners."

There is still a tendency to seek an artificial “high” especially among males and those attending Vocational Schools, less so for those in High School: 6.54% of males drink spirits daily. 14.2% admit to using marijuana or hash at least once a day and 5.91% use other mind-altering substances at least once a day. Gambling and betting are becoming increasingly widespread: only 48.13% of the males never gamble.

There are marked differences between boys and girls in their level of satisfaction with life. There is a widespread feeling among girls that they are still deprived of equality, democracy and rights. Girls also pay a high level of attention to the body and their image, and tend to take on very severe diets.

The web, the home and the street are the places where they make friends. Today's teenagers spend most of their leisure time in squares and parks, followed by private homes and a bit less in bars and pubs.

This situation weighs heavily on troubled children, especially the relatively few who lack the security that others find in family, relationships with teachers and other adults, and friends. But also, perhaps for this very reason, they tend to be more easily overlooked, both in reports and also in interventions at school and other institutions. As a result, the disadvantaged become ever more disadvantaged.

Published 16/10/2015