ABSTRACT
If we look at just one factor, that of material wealth, then the average teenager is now better off than those in the past. However, we have had in the last fifteen years an increasing diversity in income. More people will be relatively worse off, using that term to describe those who earn less than half the national average. Furthermore, more teenagers are probably worse off in absolute terms, as changes in the social welfare system has reduced entitlement for those aged between sixteen and eighteen. The increased number of young people sleeping rough and begging in our cities testify to this effect. Therefore we have a situation in which many adolescents are able to wear designer clothes and can afford to go to discos and raves, and spend money on drugs, while others may well suffer from under nourishment.
