2008 Woodie Awards
Teens Look Up to Parents, not Celebrities and Athletes as Role Models
Allexthea Carter, Howard University News Service
Issue date: 2/27/07 Section: News
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Among today's teenagers, celebrities are losing out to parents as role models. "The image of celebrities is false," says Ariel Grant, a 16-year-old student at Banneker High School. "The lives that they seem to have are not how they actually live."
Grant's role model is her mother, an electrical engineer in the DC Metro system. "She always gives me good advice. I look to her for a good example," she said. "She's really positive and makes me believe that I can do anything."
Grant's views of her mother and celebrities mirror those of 1,100 12 to 18 year olds surveyed in the Weekly Reader Research for the American Bible Society. The survey, released early last month, dispels conventional wisdom that celebrities, athletes and entertainers are the primary role models teenagers look to most.
Instead, the survey found that 67.7 percent of the teenagers said parents are the most influential role models in their lives. After parents, 40.6 percent said teachers and coaches followed by siblings at 40.4 percent. Religious leaders, athletes and celebrities did not fare too well at 18.7 percent, 18.3 percent and 16.5 percent, respectively.
When choosing role models, the teenagers surveyed said the most important qualities they look for include values such as honesty, integrity, loyalty and truthfulness. These responses are in contrast to the way teenagers responded to a 1988 University of Kentucky study of 384 teens and who influenced them most. In that study, 58% cited a
television personality as their role model and only 15% said they looked up to their parents and/or family members.
Several local teenagers also told The District Chronicles that celebrities are loosing their power to influence them, too. "Celebrities represent hard work, but they also represent shallowness," said Anaia Peddie, 17, another Banneker High School student. "They're just there to entertain me."
She, too, cites her mother and her mother's friends as her role models. "They have all taught me to be more than the labels that people put on you," she continued. "They make me want to strive to be as good as them or even better. They're all really successful, educated, and ambitious. They represent all the things that strong women are."
Grant's role model is her mother, an electrical engineer in the DC Metro system. "She always gives me good advice. I look to her for a good example," she said. "She's really positive and makes me believe that I can do anything."
Grant's views of her mother and celebrities mirror those of 1,100 12 to 18 year olds surveyed in the Weekly Reader Research for the American Bible Society. The survey, released early last month, dispels conventional wisdom that celebrities, athletes and entertainers are the primary role models teenagers look to most.
Instead, the survey found that 67.7 percent of the teenagers said parents are the most influential role models in their lives. After parents, 40.6 percent said teachers and coaches followed by siblings at 40.4 percent. Religious leaders, athletes and celebrities did not fare too well at 18.7 percent, 18.3 percent and 16.5 percent, respectively.
When choosing role models, the teenagers surveyed said the most important qualities they look for include values such as honesty, integrity, loyalty and truthfulness. These responses are in contrast to the way teenagers responded to a 1988 University of Kentucky study of 384 teens and who influenced them most. In that study, 58% cited a
television personality as their role model and only 15% said they looked up to their parents and/or family members.
Several local teenagers also told The District Chronicles that celebrities are loosing their power to influence them, too. "Celebrities represent hard work, but they also represent shallowness," said Anaia Peddie, 17, another Banneker High School student. "They're just there to entertain me."
She, too, cites her mother and her mother's friends as her role models. "They have all taught me to be more than the labels that people put on you," she continued. "They make me want to strive to be as good as them or even better. They're all really successful, educated, and ambitious. They represent all the things that strong women are."
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Diane
posted 3/08/07 @ 3:12 AM EST
I agree and it's great to have sites like this to remind us and confirm to us that others recognize which realities can make or break our esteem, abilities and perseverance. (Continued…)
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