“The Great Recession” is technically over now, and some researchers are asking how that economic malaise impacted us. Recent studies suggest that teens and young adults may indeed have been changed by the recession, suggesting that today’s youth are more apt to conserve resources and show concern for others.
 According to the annual study “Monitoring the Future,” published by Social Psychological and Personality Science, about 36 percent of high school seniors in 2008-2010 would be more prone to consider transportation alternatives to driving, such as riding a bike or mass transit. That’s up from the 28 percent who said the same thing around 2004-06.

There were other indications of being more aware of the world around them, too. About 63 percent of 2008-10 high school seniors tried to save energy (compared to 44% in 2004-06) and 61 percent would change their diets if it meant helping people who were hungry (58% in 2004-06).

One analyst called the results a “silver lining” to the recession, but these rates of do-gooding still lag quite a bit behind teens who grew up in the late 1970s—another period of economic stagnation and of heightened environmental awareness. About 49 percent of high school seniors in 1976-78 said they’d consider other modes of transportation instead of driving, and 78 percent said they tried to conserve energy. (Associated Press)

Paul Asay has covered religion for The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Beliefnet.com and The (Colorado Springs) Gazette. He writes about culture for Plugged In and wrote the Batman book God on the Streets of Gotham (Tyndale). He lives in Colorado Springs with wife, Wendy, and two children. Follow him on Twitter.