San Francisco Examiner

November 12, 1998

Prejudice among teens on the rise

By Carol Ness OF THE EXAMINER STAFF

A survey of thousands of America's highest achieving high school students shows that nearly half admit prejudice against gays and lesbians, an increase of 19 percentage points since last year. And 15 percent are biased against African Americans and Hispanics, double the proportion in a similar survey last year.

The rising intolerance is just one revelation among many in the poll of 3,123 16- to 18-year-olds listed in the latest "Who's Who Among High School Students." The figures, compiled by a Washington, D.C., public-relations firm, were made public Thursday. Those surveyed are a geographically balanced sampling of more than 700,000 teenagers listed in the 32nd annual compendium of the nation's high-performing students. Questionnaires were sent last spring to 7,500 "Who's Who" students, picked by their schools for their grades and activities. The survey results were compiled from those who responded.

The poll doesn't pretend to reflect the average U.S. student. Respondents were overwhelmingly white, female, affluent and living in two-parent homes. Only 11 percent live in cities.

Eye-popping results

Among many other eye-popping results:

One-fifth of the students said they know someone their age who has committed suicide.

Eighty percent admitted cheating, up slightly from 76 percent in last year's survey. More than half said they wanted good grades or didn't think it was a big deal.

Eighteen percent have had sexual intercourse, and four-fifths of those started at 16 or younger.

Among those who have abstained, a third said they wanted to wait for marriage, down from about half last year.

Half said they never drink alcohol, and a third said almost never. But 78 percent said there is a lot of alcohol use among students at their school, and 53 percent think some of their friends have drinking problems.

Eight percent admitted monthly drinking, and 7 percent weekly. More than half the drinking goes on at friends' homes when their parents are away.

"Declining social and moral values" was picked by 46 percent (up from 25 percent) as the biggest problem facing their generation, far outstripping crime/violence, lack of motivation, drugs and AIDS.

Relatively small numbers said they were prejudiced against Jews (5 percent) or Muslims (8 percent), the only religions surveyed.

Most dramatic was the rising intolerance of homosexuality.

Greater intolerance

Asked, "Are you prejudiced against homosexuals?" 15 percent said "very" and 33 percent said "somewhat." Last year, the total was 29 percent.

Males admitted greater intolerance, with 24 percent saying they were "very" prejudiced, compared with 11 percent of females.

Twenty-eight percent of students cited moral or religious convictions to explain their feelings, and 17 percent said they are uncomfortable around gays.

Still, large majorities think gays should be allowed to serve in the military, teach, coach youth sports and lead Scout troops. But almost half -- 49 percent -- don't want gays to be clergy.

Two-thirds found the depiction of gay relationships on television or in the movies offensive. Slightly fewer than two-thirds objected to explicit sex scenes or nudity. (In the same vein, 48 percent were offended by news coverage of President Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky.)

The surge in anti-gay prejudice is simple to explain, according to Jim Anderson, spokesman for the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, which works to make schools safer for gay students.

'Not a coincidence'

"It's not a coincidence that over the last year we've heard an unprecedented amount of anti-gay sentiment expressed by right-wing elected officials and sports figures," Anderson said.

He cited Green Bay Packers football star Reggie White, whose anti-gay views got broad media coverage, and Oklahoma Republican Rep. Steve Largent, the former standout Seattle Seahawks wide receiver now in the running for House majority leader. In addition, conservative religious groups ran anti-gay newspaper ads.

"I don't think we can be surprised that some students have taken the message to heart," Anderson said.

Racial or ethnic prejudice rose as well, especially against African Americans and Hispanics.

Fifteen percent of students said they were biased against both groups, up from 7 percent last year. The most-cited reason was, "I feel uncomfortable around them."

African Americans were the targets of the most prejudice -- from 18 percent of Asian American students (up from 10 percent last year), 16 percent of whites (up from 7 percent) and 15 percent of Hispanics (up from 8 percent.)

When it came to Hispanics, 23 percent of Asian Americans said they were biased (up from 8 percent last year), compared with 17 percent of whites (up from 7 percent) and only 6 percent of African Americans (up from 3 percent).

Prejudice against Asian Americans was lower, 8 percent of the total, and against whites, 4 percent.

In addition, almost half the students think affirmative action will make it harder to get good jobs or to get into the college they want.

[Carol Ness is online at ccness@examiner.com] P. O. Box 7260,San Francisco,CA,94120 (Fax 415-512-1264 ) (E-MAIL: letters@examiner.com ) ( http://www.examiner.com )