Teenagers' Top Needs

Youth Specialties surveyed 20,000 Christian kids attending a Missions-type camp to rank their "dying needs." Their answers are surprising and challenging- and worth a close look by parents and leaders alike.


Teenagers’ Top Needs
We asked Christian teenagers to scan a list of 20 “needs” in their life, then rank them from one to seven according to how strongly they’d like that need to be met. The lower the number, the higher the desire for the need to be met. We wanted them to differentiate between “dying” needs and “nice to have but not that important” needs. Here’s how the numbers added up….

Top Needs (Description)	Teenagers (Average)
1. I need help building a positive relationship with God	2.66
2. I need help building a positive relationship with my parents	3.47
3. I need help managing or dealing with the stresses in my life	3.65
4. I need someone to help me answer some of my big doubts about the Christian faith	3.79
5. I need help understanding the Christian faith better	3.82
6. I need help in knowing how to share my faith with friends and others	3.88
7. I need help with my academics	3.92
8. I need help figuring out my future choices (college, job, career, marriage, etc)	4.00
9. I need help dealing with depression	4.01
10. I need help with my overwhelming commitments	4.06
11. I need help dealing with the pain I feel in life	4.09
12. I need help developing more and better friendships	4.15
13. I need help ending my dependence on drugs or alcohol or tobacco	4.20
14. I need help with making better moral choices in my life	4.22
15. I need help in receiving forgiveness for things I’ve done	4.40
16. I need help with living a healthier lifestyle—eating better and exercising	4.44
17. I need help with time management and discipline in my life	4.51
18. I need help resolving conflicts	4.83
19. I need help sorting out sexual issues (sexual activity, gender issues, homosexuality, etc.)	4.91
20. I need help with girlfriend/boyfriend issues	5.18