Despite an image of brash self-confidence, many Irish teenagers are crying out for support in some of the most fundamental areas of their lives, a study has found.
The Foroige Challenge 2000 report, which was launched in Dublin yesterday by the President, Mrs McAleese, finds that many young people lack self-confidence, want to be taken more seriously by adults, feel society is not "youth-friendly" and want real friendship and trust between themselves more than they want "fun".
Introducing the report, Mrs McAleese said young people were leading increasingly complex lives, "so far away from the stereotype". Describing parents and adult society as the "engravers" on the characters of young people, she said there were clumsy engravers and good engravers.
"A good engraver can take the rough stone and create the shining diamond that was always there . . . If we engrave well, we can transform the child into a shining, self-confident, giving adult."
It was vital, therefore, that adult society listened to the hopes, dreams and fears of the young, she said, to "ensure the potential of every young child is unlocked".
Some 1,150 young people were interviewed by Foroige for the report. Asked which ability they would like to develop, 44.2 per said they would like to improve their communication skills; 37.2 per cent said they would like more self-confidence.
Asked what they would like from relationships with other young people, 40.5 per cent said true friendship, with 38.1 per cent highlighting trust and 21.4 per cent highlighting fun.
In focus groups, young people said they wished they "were able to stand up to the cool gang", "not be laughed at" and "not to have to put on an act". With adults, 36.7per cent said they would like relationships based on mutual respect, where adults took the time to listen to what they were feeling.
Some 36.7 per cent said they would like to be able to confide in adults. Their hopes for the future were based around security, with 47.1 per cent saying they wanted to get a good job, 27.5 per cent wanting to get married, and 25.5 per cent wanting to pass exams. Their main fear was to fail exams (37.1 per cent), followed by dying young (34.3 per cent) and being unemployed (28.6 per cent).
