"Kids are like that!" Community attitudes to young people

A report to the National Youth Affairs Research Scheme in 2003 by Natalie Bolzan

This report is the property of the National Youth Affairs Research Scheme.

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Contents of Report

Overall, the study found that, although there are a range of community attitudes towards young people, strong negative perceptions and stereotyping of young people exist in the broader community. Conversely, young people generally view themselves positively. Different factors were seen to influence these attitudes, but, overwhelmingly, adults who had close and personal contact with young people were more likely to report positive perceptions and contextualised negative perceptions. Adults with little or no personal contact with young people were more likely to be influenced by media reports, opinions of others, and what they thought was a discourse in public policy about the problematic nature of young people.

Suggestions for attitude change solicited from both young people and from the focus groups of adults presented a clear agenda for action by governments and other groups in supporting young people to achieve active and valued participation in the community. The suggestions involve both focused strategies aimed at changing and shaping community attitudes to young people and also broader social policy initiatives aimed at addressing social exclusion among individual young people and groups of young people.

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