America's lying, cheating teenagers

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Is America raising a generation of teenagers who lie, cheat and steal?

The short answer - if you believe it - seems to be yes. A new Josephson Institute of Ethics survey of 30,000 high school students finds alarming trends.

Over the past year, 83 percent of the kids say they lied to a parent about something significant. 30 percent said they stole from a store. 64 percent admit to cheating on a test, the girls just as much as the guys.

Teenagers are five times more likely than adults to condone cheating. Teens who follow these behavior patterns are much more likely to behave similarly as adults.

At the UT Red McComb School of Business a great emphasis is placed on ethics. Marketing Chair Eli Cox sadly says: "I think our country is in moral decline. I think there is too much focus on "me" and not enough focus on the community. We also see a loss of civility."

In the strangest number in the survey, a whopping 93 percent of teens say they are perfectly satisfied with their personal ethics and character.