Study Reveals American Parents’ Biggest Concerns and Hopes for Children
By Movieguide® Contributor
A new study from the Pew Research Center revealed trends among parents in America, including their biggest concerns and hopes for their children.
According to Pew’s research, the largest concern for parents in America is their children’s mental health. Forty percent of parents said that they are extremely or very worried about their child struggling with anxiety or depression. A similar number of parents (39%) feel the same level of concern about their child being bullied.
These major concerns are followed by 28 percent of parents who worry about their child being kidnapped or abducted, 25 percent of parents who worry about their child being beaten up or attacked and 23 percent who worry about problems with drugs or alcohol.
Mothers tend to worry about each of these categories more than fathers, and there are differences by income, race and ethnicity as well.
As for aspirations after childhood, the most important goals for parents are that their children are financially independent and have a career they enjoy, both of which are extremely or very important to 88 percent of parents.
Meanwhile, 41 percent of parents are very concerned with their children getting a college degree, and roughly two-in-ten parents want their children to get married (21%) and have children of their own (20%).
Similar to parents’ concerns, the importance of different aspirations varies by income level, race and ethnicity.
When thinking about themselves, American parents tend to believe they are doing a very good job raising their kids. Sixty-four percent of parents believe they are doing an excellent or very good job as a parent and another 32 percent say they are doing a good job. Only four percent of parents admit to a fair or poor job as a parent.
This, however, does mean that parenting is easy. Sixty-two percent of parents have found it at least somewhat harder to raise kids than they imagined, with 26 percent saying the job has been a lot harder than they expected. This sentiment is more common among mothers, 30 percent of which agreed compared to only 20 percent of fathers.
Movieguide® previously reported on research into families:
According to a Pew Research Center survey, many Americans view spending time with their family as the most important thing in their lives.
Pew Research Center conducted their analysis using 5,079 adults. Of those adults, 73% said that spending time with their family is the most important priority in their life, regardless of how much time they spend together.
In fact, nine-in-ten adults said they viewed spending time with family as either the most important thing or as very important.
Andy Cerda of the Pew Research Center wrote, “No more than a third of Americans rate any of the other eight items on the survey as among the most important to them. Clear majorities say being physically active (74%), being outdoors and experiencing nature (72%) and being successful in their career (66%) are at least very important to them.”
- Content: +1Share:
- Content: +3