Parents can easily be confused about the real extent of teen drug use. Statistics are complex and can be conflicting. The Partnership for a Drug-Free America runs its own studies and monitors those of others. For the past three years, however, there has been a slow, steady decline. Howe and Strauss cite many hopeful statistics.
Polls show they see selfishness as the major cause of the nation's problems.
They accept authority. They see themselves as smart. They believe in the future and see themselves as its cutting edge. This optimism perhaps most sets them apart from Generation X and the teens in Traffic, according to other experts and some teens as well. I would say today's teens are realistic, not cynical.