DOI: 10.3886/icpsr02867.v3
title: CBS News/New York Times Teen Poll, October 1999
title: Version 3

description: This special topic poll, fielded October 11-14, 1999,
queried teen respondents on a variety of subjects. Respondents were
asked how growing up today compared to when their parents grew up and
what they felt was the biggest problem facing people their age
today. They were also asked about how much importance they placed on
community involvement, communicating their feelings, having a lot of
friends, getting good grades, being physically attractive, and
standing up for oneself. Those queried were asked who or what was
most important in helping them learn right from wrong, who they lived
with (parent, step-parent, guardian, etc.), whether they could talk to
their parents, whom they admired most other than their parents, and
how they felt about having and breaking parental rules regarding going
out, watching TV, whom they could be friends with, computer usage, and
what movies they could watch. A number of questions were
school-related, focusing on the type of school they attended (public,
private, parochial), how often an adult was home after school, what
the biggest problem was at their school, how much pressure they got
from parents to get good grades, and whether they expected to go to
work, into the armed services, or to college directly from high
school. Other questions queried respondents about whether their
schools had security guards, metal detectors, locker searches, or
security cameras, if these measures made the respondents feel safer,
and whether they felt safer this year as compared to last year. Their
opinions were also sought regarding the main reason for violence in
schools, whether they felt violence could happen at their school, how
many students at their school carried weapons, if they had ever been
made fun of, physically threatened, or assaulted, and if there were
any groups at their school prone to violence. Opinions were also
elicited about premarital and same-sex sexual relations, copying
someone else's test answers at school, telling a friend a lie, having
a party at home when parents are gone, and excluding classmates
because they are different. Respondents were asked if they had a
close family member, friend, or classmate who was gay or lesbian, if
gay or lesbian classmates were harassed at school, how often they
worried about being the victim of a crime, what type of crime they
might be the victim of, who might commit a crime against them, and if
they knew anyone who has been shot in the last five years. Additional
questions focused on whether and how much respondents smoked cigarettes,
drank alcohol, and smoked marijuana, whether they believed in God or
the devil, how important religion was in their lives, and how often
they attended religious services. Other items covered whether they
knew anyone their age who had attempted suicide, if anyone in their
household owned a handgun, if they had had sex with anybody, and if
they had done any volunteer work in the last 12 months. Those
respondents who regularly used a computer were asked if they
frequently accessed the Internet, had parental rules regarding
computer usage, ever broke those rules, and if they had their own
computer. All respondents were asked if they had their own telephone
number, beeper, or cell phone and if they had a television in their
room. Background information on respondents includes age, race, sex,
grade, religious preference, number of siblings in the household,
computer access, family financial situation, and parents' education,
employment, and marital status.
description: Datasets: 
DS1: CBS News/New York Times Teen Poll, October 1999
description: (1) This collection has not been processed by ICPSR
staff. ICPSR is distributing the data and documentation for this
collection in essentially the same form in which they were
received. When appropriate, hardcopy documentation has been converted
to machine-readable form and variables have been recoded to ensure
respondents' anonymity. (2) The codebook is provided as a Portable
Document Format (PDF) file. The PDF file format was developed by
Adobe Systems Incorporated and can be accessed using PDF reader
software, such as the Adobe Acrobat Reader. Information on how to
obtain a copy of the Acrobat Reader is provided through through the
ICPSR Website on the Internet.The ASCII data file may have been replaced if the previous version was formatted with multiple records per case. A frequency file, which contains the authoritative column locations, has been added to the collection.