Hedonism no more
by Gillian Thomas
Young people are getting older sooner, according to the Henley centre. A recent survey from them showed old heads on young shoulders.
50% of the 16-24s surveyed feel at risk from losing a job, and around 30% are concerned about having either no money or no carers in their old age.
Are the young unable to live for the moment? How does this tally with the government concern with binge drinking and drug taking amongst the young?
Bobby Webster
This is a pretty sketchy set of statistics, though: were participants asked just to tick a box yes or no? Or to evaluate their strength of feeling?
I would actually be surprised that 50% of young people believe they have a job for life, even more so that 70% are entirely certain that they will have money AND carers when they retire. But are young people planning their lives with these concerns in mind? If you asked if they thought they might die one day, you're likely to get a 100% response - but I'm not sure that this is reflected in their everyday lives...
gillian gillian
Well, the methodology might have been dodgy, but heres corroborating bit of evidence on the guardian site.
http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/socialsciences/story/0,9846,718866,00.html
David Lee
Well... maybe they're all binge drinking in order to forget their impending job-less, pension-less, gloomy futures! Not to mention the fact that house prices are so high that they can't get on the property ladder... (ok you've got me started!)