Spirituality?

The findings of a seven-month study into happiness and young people - how happy they are, what makes them happy and what they're doing to ensure happiness - are being released this week by Viacom's MTV Network and The Associated Press, MarketingCharts reports.

Overall, the study shows that young people (13-24) today are generally happy, optimistic about the future and have goals in place to achieve a happier tomorrow.

However, happiness varies greatly along racial lines, with faith and family playing an important role in the pursuit of happiness. Also, younger sexually active respondents reported much lower levels of happiness.

The initial release of data offers an overview of the study's highlights, and subsequent releases will cover specific issues, including racial dynamics, financial views, spirituality and stress/fears.

Among the initial findings released:

General Happiness

• The study found that overall, most American young people (aged 13-24) report being happy with their lives and are optimistic about the future:
  • 65 percent of respondents say they are happy with the way things are going in their lives in general.
  • 62 percent think they will be happier in the future than they are now.
  • Only one out of five say they are unhappy.
• Young people who are non-Hispanic whites are happier than blacks and Hispanics by a wide margin: 72 percent of whites say they are happy with life in general, compared with just 56 percent of blacks and 51 percent of Hispanics.

Parents, Family and Relationships

• Parents are seen as an overwhelmingly positive influence in the lives of most young people: Nearly half of respondents mention at least one of their parents as a hero.

• When asked "What one thing in life makes you most happy?" 46 percent of respondents say spending time with friends, family and loved ones.
• 30 percent of blacks and Hispanics identified family as the one thing in life that brings them the most happiness, compared with 15 percent of whites.

Religion and Spirituality

• Religion and spirituality are an integral part of happiness for most American young people: 44 percent say that religion and spirituality are either a very important or the single most important thing in their lives, with more than one in ten reporting the latter.

• Those for whom religion and spirituality play a bigger role in life tend to be happier: 80 percent of those who say spirituality is the most important thing in life say they are happy with life in general, compared with 60 percent of those who say that spirituality is not an important part of life at all.

MarketingCharts offers a few more tidbits of data from the study.