Indicator: 76 - Perception of Youth as Community Assets

Why This Is Important

There is a common wisdom that adults view adolescents negatively. Such a negative perception may influence adults to be less supportive of youth's needs. Believing that young people are assets to a community is one way a community keeps children at the heart of decision-making.

Where We Stand

In 2001, a sample of Maine parents was asked whether they agreed or disagreed with the following statement: "Young people in my community are more of an asset to the community rather than a burden." Nearly three-quarters (72%) either "strongly agreed" or "agreed." The percentage making this judgment tended to be slightly higher for higher income households. The same question was also asked in a Maine survey the previous year of all adults in the sample; the percentage of those respondents who expressed the same positive opinion was even higher than for parents alone in 2001 (81%).

Data Sources and Context

Data for this indicator comes from the Maine Development Foundation 2000 and 2001 Surveys of Maine Citizens. The 2000 Survey was conducted in September 2000 by Market Decisions, Inc.; the 2001 Survey was done between August 20 and September 6, 2001, by Strategic Marketing Services. In both years a randomly selected statewide sample of 601 households was interviewed by telephone. Special effort was made to include an adequate number of parents with children living primarily at home (425 in 2001), so their responses are representative of all parents in Maine. However, because the number of parents in each of the income groups in the chart is comparatively small (especially for households with income below $15,000), those results are not necessarily representative of all parents in those income groups in Maine. Survey results are available on-line at http://www.mdf.org.