Another interesting tidbit from the Pew study:
Teens living in households earning less than $50,000 per year are considerably more likely to blog than those living in higher-income households; fully 35% of online teens whose parents fall in the lower income brackets have created an online journal or blog, while just 24% of those in the higher income brackets have done so.
An even more pronounced contrast is evident when looking at teens who live with single parents vs. those who live with married parents. Online teens living in single-parent homes are far more likely to have shared their writing through a blog; 42% of these teens keep a blog compared with 25% of teens living with married parents.
Anyone care to venture a guess as to the reasons behind this? Teens from single-parent homes have a greater need to build outside relationships or to vent their feelings? Kids from higher income households spend more of their time out shopping and playing lacrosse? A two-parent household means there are twice as many adults pestering kids to do something besides stare at a computer screen all night? Or is it more a case where kids from lower-income families are less likely to have a home computer and be online at all unless they are really into the web and so more inclined to blog?
--Michelle Cottle