{"id":11417,"date":"2018-02-24T05:17:57","date_gmt":"2018-02-24T05:17:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=11417"},"modified":"2018-02-25T05:21:16","modified_gmt":"2018-02-25T05:21:16","slug":"why-this-generation-of-teens-is-more-likely-to-care-about-gun-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/why-this-generation-of-teens-is-more-likely-to-care-about-gun-violence\/","title":{"rendered":"Why this generation of teens is more likely to care about gun violence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jean Twenge<\/a>, San Diego State University<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

When 17 people were killed<\/a> at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, it was just the latest in a tragic list of mass shootings, many of them at schools.<\/p>\n

Then something different happened: Teens began to speak out. The Stoneman Douglas students held a press conference appealing for gun control<\/a>. Teens in Washington, D.C., organized a protest in front of the White House<\/a>, with 17 lying on the ground to symbolize the lives lost. More protests organized by teens are planned for the coming months<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Teens weren\u2019t marching in the streets calling for gun control after the Columbine High School massacre in 1999. So why are today\u2019s teens and young adults \u2013 whom I\u2019ve dubbed \u201ciGen\u201d in my recent book on this generation<\/a> \u2013 speaking out and taking action? <\/p>\n

With mass shootings piling up one after another, this is a unique historical moment. But research shows that iGen is also a unique generation \u2013 one that may be especially sensitive to gun violence.<\/p>\n

Keep me safe<\/h2>\n

People usually don\u2019t think of teenagers as risk-averse. But for iGen, it\u2019s been a central tenant of their upbringing and outlook. <\/p>\n

During their childhoods, they experienced the rise of the helicopter parent, anti-bullying campaigns and, in some cases, being forced to ride in car seats until age 12<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Their behavior has followed suit. For my book, I conducted analyses of large, multi-decade surveys. I found that today\u2019s teens are less likely to get into physical fights and less likely to get into car accidents than teens just 10 years ago. They\u2019re less likely to say they like doing dangerous things and aren\u2019t as interested in taking risks. Meanwhile, since 2000, rates of teen binge drinking have fallen by half<\/a>. <\/p>\n

With the culture so focused on keeping children safe, many teens seem incredulous that extreme forms of violence against kids can still happen \u2013 and yet so many adults are unwilling to address the issue. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe call on our national and state legislatures to finally act responsibly and reduce the number of these tragic incidents,\u201d said Eleanor Nuechterlein and Whitney Bowen<\/a>, the teen organizers of the D.C. lie-in. \u201cIt\u2019s essential that we all feel safe in our classrooms.\u201d <\/p>\n

Treated with kid gloves<\/h2>\n

In a recent analysis<\/a> of survey data from 8 million teens since the 1970s, I also found that today\u2019s teens tend to delay a number of \u201cadult\u201d milestones. They\u2019re less likely<\/a> than their predecessors to have a driver\u2019s license, go out without their parents, date, have sex, and drink alcohol by age 18. <\/p>\n

This could mean that, compared to previous generations, they\u2019re more likely to think of themselves as children well into their teen years. <\/p>\n

As 17-year-old Stoneman Douglas High School student David Hogg put it<\/a>, \u201cWe\u2019re children. You guys are the adults. You need to take some action.\u201d<\/p>\n

Furthermore, as this generation has matured, they\u2019ve witnessed stricter age regulations for young people on everything from buying cigarettes (with the age minimum raised to 21<\/a> in several states) to driving (with graduated driving laws<\/a>). <\/p>\n

Politicians and parents have been eager to regulate what young people can and can\u2019t do. And that\u2019s one reason some of the survivors find it difficult to understand why gun purchases aren\u2019t as regulated. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf people can\u2019t purchase marijuana or alcohol at the age of 18, why should they be given access to guns?\u201d asked<\/a> Stoneman Douglas High School junior Lyliah Skinner. <\/p>\n

She has a point: The shooter, Nikolas Cruz, is 19. Under Florida\u2019s laws, he could legally possess a firearm at age 18<\/a>. But \u2013 because he\u2019s under 21 \u2013 he couldn\u2019t buy alcohol.<\/p>\n

Libertarianism \u2013 with limits<\/h2>\n

At the same time, iGen teens \u2013 like their millennial predecessors \u2013 are highly individualistic. They believe the rights of the individual should trump traditional social rules. For example, I found<\/a> that they\u2019re more supportive of same-sex marriage and legalized marijuana than previous generations were at the same age. <\/p>\n

Their political beliefs tend to lean toward libertarianism, a philosophy that favors individual rights over government regulations, including gun regulation. Sure enough, support for protecting gun rights increased<\/a> among millennials and iGen between 2007 and 2016. <\/p>\n

But even a libertarian ideologue would never argue that individual freedom extends to killing others. So perhaps today\u2019s teens are realizing that one person\u2019s loosely regulated gun rights can lead to another person\u2019s death \u2013 or the death of 17 of their teachers and classmates. <\/p>\n

The teens\u2019 demands<\/a> could be seen as walking this line: They\u2019re not asking for wholesale prohibitions on all guns. Instead, they\u2019re hoping for reforms supported by most Americans<\/a> such as restricting the sale of assault weapons and more stringent background checks.<\/p>\n

In the wake of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, the teens\u2019 approach to activism \u2013 peaceful protest, a focus on safety and calls for incremental gun regulation \u2013 are fitting for this generation. <\/p>\n

\"ThePerhaps iGen will lead the way to change.<\/p>\n

Jean Twenge<\/a>, Professor of Psychology, San Diego State University<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

This article was originally published on The Conversation<\/a>. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jean Twenge, San Diego State University When 17 people were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, it was just the latest in a tragic list of mass shootings, many of them at schools. Then something different happened: Teens began to speak out. The Stoneman Douglas students held a press conference appealing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":11414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[293],"tags":[2695,2419,1328,777,4067,3808,3134,4041],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11417"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11417"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11418,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11417\/revisions\/11418"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}