Issue 1, vol. 3 - March 2007

As part of our ongoing commitment to identifying and understanding the context and effects of all trends in the contemporary young North American sphere we at Youthography routinely monitor the value sets and psychographic make up of tweens, teens and young adults.

One of our core methodological devices is something we like to call the "valumeter". This meter involves a series of 50 diverse criteria that survey respondents in America and Canada are asked to quickly and decisively rate the importance of in their own life. We look at everything from the importance of "risking life and limb" or "getting drunk" to the importance of "planning for the future" or "going to church, synagogue or mosque". The ratings are based on the ultra-intuitive 1-5 point scale.

Since the inception of our company we have benchmarked and tracked results from this valumeter and incorporated this learning into most everything that we do. Context is always the most important aspect of any work we perform here for our clients.

So, what does any of this have to do with the imminent spring season and all the "twitterpating" (to quote the learned yet awkward owl character in Bambi) that is associated with this season of renewal? Well, we thought it would be interesting, and relatively timely, to take a peek at the young North American's views linked to love, marriage and, oh my, sex. So here we go…

Perhaps the most immediately striking finding revealed by this peek is that, contrary to popular belief or media-instilled convictions, the prospect of lifelong partnership and marriage is significantly more important to young North Americans than having sex.

Oh merciful heavens!

Of course, this doesn't mean they're not having sex or enjoying it. Instead we're seeing a lessening in the impact that sex, or the prospect of having sex, has on the young North American id.

For instance, in our latest national, regionally representative Ping™ survey of more than 1,600 Americans aged 14 to 29, 78% and 64% of respondents put top box importance (a rating of "4" or "5" on a scale from 1-5, "5" being "totally important") on "having a lifelong partner" and "getting married" respectively. In comparison, "having sex" received top box importance from less than half surveyed (46%).

Surprisingly, gender bias wasn't a wildly divisive factor; males were slightly less inclined (by 7%) to put personal importance on "having a lifelong partner" and "getting married" versus females. Similarly, only 12% more males than females put top box importance on "having sex".

The survey's results identify another clear trend; the gradual reinvention of traditional cultural touchstones (such as marriage) to suit today's attitudes. The results here show that more young Americans like the idea of "having a lifelong partner" than that of "getting married".

And there are other shifts along the same lines; where young Americans affirm belief in one key tenet of the culture (such as monogamy) they've invested the notion with their own contemporary perspective. Here we see that marriage continues to morph to suit today's era of diversity and acceptance; just under 4 in 10 young Americans (39%) believe that "the rights of gays and lesbians to marry should be legally protected." Interestingly, this attitude cuts across gender and regional divides with differences between males and females or, for example, Southern states and Northeast states, never going beyond 9%.

In Canada, we see similarly interesting trends with 75% and 58% giving aggregate topbox importance to "having a lifelong partner" and "getting married" respectively; indicating that young Canadians are slightly more inclined to redefine marriage in their own sociocultural image than their American counterparts. The importance of "having sex" to young Canadians is basically identical to the results from the American market with 47% giving this core social goal topbox importance.