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Teens aren’t always the best at communicating, so we’re left to wonder what matters most to them, but new research is offering us some insight.
The Pew Research Center is sharing the results of a new survey on teen experiences and their plans for the future. They polled nearly 14-hundred U.S. kids between 13 and 17 and found:
- Nearly 90% prioritize having a fulfilling career more than anything, with 88% ranking “having a job or career you enjoy” as their top priority.
- Of those, 45% say it’s “very important,” 41% call it “extremely important, and just 3 respondents say it’s not of much importance.
- The second most important thing to teens’ futures is “having close friends,” which 28% rate as “extremely important” and 41% say is “very important.”
- “Having a lot of money” is a close third on the list, with 20% considering it “extremely important” and 38% rate as “very important.”
- Teen girls are much more likely than teen boys to say they plan to go to a four-year college after graduating from high school (60% versus 46%.)
- Teen boys are more likely to say they’ll go to vocational school (11% compared to 7% of girls), work full time (9% versus 3%) or join the military (5% compared to 1% of girls) after high school.
- But nearly a fifth of all respondents admit they’re not sure what their post-high school plans will be yet.
- One thing very few teens seem interested in doing in their adult lives? Getting married or having kids, as only 14% consider marriage “extremely important” and just 10% say the same about having kids.
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