The strength of our youth

This is going to seem like a digression from the current series, but I am confident it will end up fitting in.

A few months ago I was reading a conference talk that quoted a survey saying LDS youth lead the pack in all measurable ways. I immediately questioned it.

That wasn't so much due to my general negativity (which probably looks worse than it is) as it was due to two specific things. One is a memory of a person in a Gospel Doctrine class saying that our youth are so naturally good it's like they don't even have to try (questionable in its accuracy, not a good policy anyway) but also my knowledge that more missionaries are coming home early, encountering difficulties with completing their service.

(Perhaps add in that the missionaries I am encountering seem remarkably shallow and naive, though it is not affecting their ability to stay in the field.)

Anyway, I looked up the reference for the quoted survey and found that it was from a book with a 2005 publication date, based on a survey that had happened mostly in 2002. (The survey was part of a larger research project.)

The talk may have been as old as 2014, but the data was still older. You'd hope that the positive results still hold true, but it may be past time for bragging rights.

Obviously I had to read the book.

Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers; by Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton; Osford University Press, USA 2005.

From the first chapter the praise seemed like an exaggeration. Yes, LDS youth ranked highly in many fields, but Black Protestant youth were often pretty comparable, followed by conservative (as opposed to mainline) Protestant youth. The conference speaker left that out!

I did eventually find a quote that backed the speaker up: "...it is Mormon teenagers who are sociologically faring the best." (p. 261)

That is missing some context, but okay, the book did technically say we were doing the best, at least thirteen years ago, so bragging rights are there. Hurray for us!

If we are going to add context, some of the measures they looked at were risk factors for teen well-being, like drinking, smoking, and experimentation with drugs. Many churches may not want their youth to smoke or drink, but do not have specific proscriptions, and have adults who do them. It is not surprising that the church that completely forbids those substances - even for adults - would have more teens abstaining. (And it is a wonderful thing, no question.)

What I found more interesting in terms of where our youth do better is in understanding doctrine and being able to articulate their own beliefs. With Sunday school, seminary, Family Home Evening, testimony meetings, and that continual emphasis on being able to get answers, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, yes, we should be doing well there. That is something precious.

Here's another interesting tidbit, in terms of what the book found. A lot of adults had expressed concerns that new religions were tempting kids away. Evidence indicated that it was the reverse. Bluntly, parents that are Buddhist or Wiccan are far more likely to have their children become Christian than vice versa. Actually, a key point from the book is that children pretty consistently follow their parents. Whether that is encouraging or discouraging depends on you.

I think I had actually heard of this survey before. I remember some study coming out that was indicating that while parents thought that the friends of their children had more influence, the parents had a strong influence on the child's friendships. We may not always know which influences are working, but the parental influence is strong. That is good, but if you are kind of lukewarm in your faith, there is a downside.

We have very good things about our church that work, and they should, but that is not just a matter of "We're true, you're false, neiner-neiner." It is good to understand what we are doing well, and it is critical to understand what we are not doing well, including understanding that there are things that we are not doing well.

Is it possible that we are sheltering children too much? Are some getting so protected from the world that they don't know how to function in it when they get out there? Or do they have such a poor understanding of it that they can only spout the shallowest of platitudes when people are confronted with real problems? Perhaps even after successfully completing the mission?

Here was another interesting thing: a lot of adults feared a more tumultuous outside world, remembering the sexual revolution and campus discord and things like that, which did not really apply to their children. The youth of that survey were living in more of a "whatever" time, where the more likely pitfall was apathy. Parents were trying to solve the wrong problems.

As always, we can do better. Still as always, it's going to take more than relying on old patterns and habits, but on asking and seeking so we can be finding. It will take scrupulous honesty, especially when it is uncomfortable.

One final thing that I liked: as the book was concluding it pointed out that many teen issues are also adult issues. Many adults think of the youth as scary and incomprehensible; they are like us. Some listening should make that clear very quickly.

As we get back to exploring gender roles, let's remember how many men find women mysterious and unknowable, and see if we might not detect some patterns.