February 1 - Obama and Jesus Ranked Equal as Teen Role Models

One is the president of the United States. The other, the Son of God. But to American teens, Barack Obama and Jesus Christ are equal when it comes to who they see as their role model, a new study shows.

 

A Barna Group study, released Monday, on teen role models found that while two out of three teens named someone they know personally as a person they looked up to, some did mention high-profile leaders on their list.

Teens in the study, aged 13 to 17, also mentioned teachers and coaches (11 percent), friends (9 percent), and pastors or other religious leaders they know personally (6 percent) as their personal role models. At least 6 percent of teens listed entertainers as their role model of choice compared to 1 percent who said they admired science or medical professionals. Other types of people mentioned were sports heroes (5 percent), political leaders (4 percent) and faith leaders (4 percent).

President Obama and Jesus Christ were commonly named as teen role models, each receiving 3 percent of the votes. Teenagers looked up to Obama for his hard work and self-confidence. Jesus resonated among teens because of his concern for others and being an example to follow.

Kinnaman observed that faith and religion played a small role in the choosing of teen role models.

“Even among young Christians, their role models are virtually no different than other teenagers,” he noted.