When facing identity questions, teens are turning to their parents for answers. Even better, teens who are active in the Christian faith are turning first to Jesus and the Bible nearly as often as turning to their parents, the Barna Group reports.
Sources of advice besides going to a mother (84%) or a father (78%) were friends (75%), teachers (67%), adult mentors (67%) and AI (35%). As the pressure to “answer the question of who they really are” pervades 7 in 10 teens, many are turning to Biblical sources. Over two-thirds say “they’re comfortable getting wisdom from Jesus (68%) and the Bible (66%).” About half of responders are turning to pastors or youth pastors. Online sources lagged behind, with YouTube standing at 39%, social media at 35%, and AI at 35%.
Faith-driven teens trust AI more than the average teen
What the study calls faith-activated teens, young adults aged 13-18 who scored high in incorporating spiritual practices such as evangelism, service and faith integration in their life, are primarily turning to their mothers (80%) as well as Jesus (78%), the Bible (78%) and youth pastors (71%).
Barna Group also reports that faith-activated teens are almost twice as likely compared to their peers to trust AI while only 29% of all teens strongly agree that they trust AI and technology to provide them with helpful information. About 45% of faith-activated teens reported that when they feel uncertain about something, they would rather ask a digital tool for answers instead of asking a person. But of all teens, 26% agreed.
Across a chart containing four measures of trust in AI, faith-activated teens’ trust levels were 14 to 20 points higher than all teens.
Read more.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Hannah Davis and originally published by Decision Magazine.
