Washington, USA - It might surprise their parents, but in the age of graphic lyrics and violent video games, American children entering their teens remain very cautious about sex and dating and still trust their parents and church, according to a recent poll.
In a story on the lives and thinking of American 13-year-olds, Time magazine reports that sixty percent of the 500 surveyed by the magazine are against sex before marriage, and 63 percent believe they are too young to date at their age.
The 21-page cover feature characterizes kids at 13 as "backstage adults" in a particularly precarious formative period.
"It is the age of childhood leaning forward and adulthood holding back, when the world gets suddenly closer, the colors more vivid, the rules subject to never ending argument," writes Time editor Nancy Gibbs.
If anything is surprising in Time's feature, it is how normal and conservative -- in a day of provocative music videos, widespread Internet access, and lurid cable television shows -- today's 13 year olds are.
Nine out of ten of those polled on line by the magazine said their relationship with their parents is good or excellent, and only seven percent said their parents were too strict.
And 63 percent consider their religious faith at least somewhat important in their lives.
But today's early teens face new issues their parents, and even older siblings, never faced, like cyber-bullying, according to Time.
The magazine reports on a Clemson University survey showing that over one-fifth of children in eighth grade, those between 12 and 14, have been victims of on-line bullying, which includes receiving ugly text messages or being hurt by on-line rumors.