Back to School Represents a Fresh Start for Many, YouthBeat® Finds

CHICAGO, Aug. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- As they get ready to return to their classrooms, America's kids, tweens and teens are looking forward to a fresh start in school, while also worrying about having enough free time and fitting in with others, according to the latest survey by the YouthBeat insight service of Chicago-based C&R Research.

"Getting a chance to start the year anew, with a clean slate, not only gives tweens and teens a chance to 'try again,' but also gives them a chance to reinvent themselves – a new style, a new group of friends and a new take on their own identities," said Amy Henry, Vice President of Youth Insights at C&R Research. "This desire to begin the school year fresh is a timeless need that we continue to see reflected in these results."

The findings from the July survey include:

• Over 80 percent of older tweens and teens (ages 11 to 13 and 14 to 17 respectively) are most looking forward to a "fresh start" – much more than kids (ages 6-10) at 39 percent.
• Homework (54 percent) and having less free time (34 percent) are the top concerns among all respondents, with high schoolers being most worried about greater limits on their freedom (43 percent) and increasing academic pressures (39 percent).
• Fitting in with other students was also a concern for 22 percent of kids, tweens and teens, while on the darker side of the social scene, being the target of gossip or being talked about (17 percent) and being bullied (15 percent) were concerns that were also reported by all age groups.
• Sentimentality reigns with kids 6 to 10 years old, with 80 percent of them most looking forward to seeing old friends at school and 33 percent excited about seeing old teachers. Tweens (74 percent) and teens (69 percent) also look forward to seeing old friends, but to a lesser degree since it's more likely that they have seen school friends over the summer.
• Despite media coverage that might imply that all youth are consumed with fear at school, serious school violence (shootings, for example) does not concern the vast majority of them – 95 percent of all kids, tweens and teens. However, African American youth are more concerned about this issue than their Caucasian and Hispanic counterparts, with 15 percent saying they were concerned about school violence, compared to just 8 percent of Caucasian youth and 5 percent of Hispanic youth.

Chicago-based C&R Research (www.crresearch.com) is one of the nation's largest, independent full-service research firms. Since 1959, it has provided custom-designed qualitative and quantitative research for a wide variety of business-to-business and business-to-consumer clients. YouthBeat® (www.youthbeat.com) is C&R Research's youth insight service, grounded in ongoing quantitative and qualitative research with kids, tweens, teens and their parents.

SOURCE C&R Research

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