Project Teen Canada 2008 is the latest in a series of historic national surveys being carried out under the direction of Dr. Reginald W. Bibby. The surveys, known as the Project Canada Survey Series, consist of seven adult surveys conducted every five years from 1975 through 2005, and four youth surveys carried out in 1984, 1992, 2000, and 2008.
Dr. Bibby holds the Board of Governors Research Chair in Sociology at the University of Lethbridge where he has taught for over three decades. Born and raised in Edmonton, he holds degrees in sociology from the University of Alberta, the University of Calgary, and Washington State University. His life-long effort to monitor social trends has been matched by his effort to make his work widely available to people with an interest in the material. He is the author of eleven best-selling books, and is further well-known through the extensive media attention given to his work, along with his personal appearances in a large and varied number of settings. In 2006, the Governor-General acknowledged his contribution to the country by appointing him an Officer of the Order of Canada.
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| Reginald Bibby |
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The first two youth surveys in 1984 and 1992 were designed in collaboration with Don Posterski, a well-known author and youth culture expert. Don co-authored with Reg the first two books that summarized and analyzed the survey findings, The Emerging Generation (1985) and Teen Trends (1992). He also wrote a best-selling book on the implications of the findings for youth workers — Friendship: A Window on Minstry to Youth (1985).
In 2000, James Penner worked as a research associate on the national survey. He is a youth consultant and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Lethbridge. James drew on the 2000 survey findings to write a spin-off book with Dave Overholt that focused on the implications of the research for adults relating to youth, entitled, Soul Searching the Millennial Generation. James served as the Associate Director of Project Teen Canada 2008.
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| James Penner |
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SOME NOTES ABOUT
PROJECT TEEN CANADA 2008
This survey is the fourth in a unique series of national, bilingual research projects examining the values, attitudes, beliefs, behaviour, and expectations of Canadian teenagers, once again involving approximately 200 randomly selected classes and 4,000 15 to 19-year-olds across the country.
The first survey was carried out in 1984, and resulted in pioneering information on young people, published in the best-selling book, The Emerging Generation: An Inside Look At Canada’s Teenagers (Toronto: Irwin, 1985). The book was also published in French as La Nouvelle Generation (Montreal: Fides, 1986).
The second and third surveys were completed in 1992 and 2000 and provided the country with unique trend information concerning changes and continuities characterizing Canada’s youth through the 1980s and 90s. The findings were summarized in two books, Teen Trends: A Nation in Motion (Toronto: Stoddart, 1992) and Canada's Teens: Today, Yesterday, and Tomorrow (Toronto: Stoddart, 2001). In addition, summaries of the key research findings were produced in French. These three surveys have provided the most widely-read research on teenagers ever produced in Canada.
This fourth survey, completed in 2008, makes it possible to compare today's Canadian young people with those of the early 1980s, 1990s, and 2000.
A new book, The Emerging Millennials, that presents and interprets the findings of the new survey, has just been released. In addition, findings and topical releases will be available via the survey website – ptc08.com.
√ Copies of the book are being given to all participating schools.
√ Findings are again being made available to TV and radio outlets, leadings newspapers
and magazines, web outlets, and a wide range of government departments, groups,
and individuals.
√ Project Teen Canada personnel will continue to present the project's findings and
implications to educators, youth workers, organizations, parents, and teenagers
across the country.
Canada's youth are once more being heard as we reflect together
on the kind of society we want in this new century.
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