I guess my boys and their friends are luckier. None of them has been arrested, though they have been stopped by police several times- for offences like "walking around downtown while young and male", and "driving around on Prom night while young and male".<p>Helps that they are mostly Eagle Scouts, tops of their classes in school, half are planning to enlist, the other half going straight to Univeristy.<p>One was even accosted by an off-duty policeman when he was in a bar with a friend. He was only 18 but wasn't drinking, just having a good time before he shipped out to Iraq. When the policeman learned this, he bought him a drink! Then the officer called a buddy to drive him home when the night was over. Imagine his folks' surprise when a squad car pulled up and let their son out!<p>Anyway, the young people I know who have at least one parent that tried hard and kept them involved, haven't had any experiences like the study suggests. The stats are probably more a testament to the economy that keeps both parents working, than any statement about youth today.
This seems implausible to me, and I've known a number of kids (of my own generation and the next) that pushed the limits fairly hard. Now, if one simply takes the age cohort and divides it by the number of arrests, then maybe I could see the number as plausible.<p>To be sure, my sample doesn't extend much below the middle class (my day) and upper middle class now.