I saw this over on the Youth Cartel’s blog and thought it was fascinating. Interesting to see the changes, what’s the same, what’s better, what’s worse. The biggest surprises for me were marijuana use being lower today and even the changes in sexual behavior.
From: BestEducationDegrees.com
Matthew McNutt 
What's really amazing to me is that I first became a youth minister in 1981, so this is basically a picture of the changes of teenagers during my years as a youth minister. There are a couple of clarifications I would make. One reason for the increased diversity in ethnic backgrounds is simply the changes in reporting such. In 1982, the only choices available were pretty much white, black, or hispanic. Some of those lumped under those categories might shift in today's world. As far as safe sex goes, that term was virtually unknown in 1982. AIDS had only recently come on the scene in America. I only heard of it for the first time that year. But overall, teens are teens. Their music and their clothes may change, but not much else.
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