Facebook use plunges among US teens: survey

US teens have left Facebook in droves over the past seven years, preferring to spend time at video-sharing venues YouTube and TikTok, according to a Pew Research Center survey data out Wednesday. 

TikTok has "emerged as a top social media platform for US teens" while Google-run YouTube "stands out as the most common platform used by teens," the report's authors wrote.

Pew's data comes as Facebook-owner Meta is in a battle with TikTok for social media primacy, trying to keep the maximum number of users as part of its multi-billion dollar ad-driven business.

The report said some 95 percent of the teens surveyed said they use YouTube, compared with 67 percent saying they are TikTok users.

Just 32 percent of teens surveyed said they log on to Facebook -- a big drop from the 71 percent who reported being users during a similar survey some seven years ago.

Once the place to be online, Facebook has become seen as a venue for older folks with young drawn to social networks where people express themselves with pictures and video snippets.

About 62 percent of the teens said they use Instagram, owned by Facebook-parent Meta, while 59 percent said they used Snapchat, researchers stated.

"A quarter of teens who use Snapchat or TikTok say they use these apps almost constantly, and a fifth of teen YouTube users say the same," the report said.

In a bit of good news for Meta's business, its photo and video sharing service Instagram was more popular with US teens than it was in the 2014-2015 survey.

Meanwhile, less than a quarter of the teens surveyed said they ever use Twitter, the report said.

The study also confirmed what casual observers may have suspected, 95 percent of US teens say they have smartphones, while nearly as many of them have desktop or laptop computers.

And the share of teens who say they are online almost constantly has nearly doubled to 46 percent when compared to survey results from seven years ago, researchers noted.

The report was based on a survey of 1,316 US teens, ranging in age from 13 years old to 17 years old, conducted from mid-April to early May of this year, according to Pew.

Agence France-Presse

Facebook whistleblower reveals identity ahead of US Senate hearing

A former Facebook Inc employee revealed herself on Sunday as the whistleblower who leaked a trove of internal company research that served as the basis of a Wall Street Journal investigative series.

The leak led to a Senate hearing and a new wave of criticism over the negative impact of the social media giant's apps.

Frances Haugen appeared on Sunday on the television program "60 Minutes." She will testify before a Senate subcommittee on Tuesday in a hearing titled "Protecting Kids Online," about the company's research into Instagram's effect on the mental health of young users.

Last week, a Facebook executive testified to US senators and disputed the Journal's characterization of the research, pointing out other findings that she said showed the app's positive impact on teens.

Haugen was a product manager at Facebook for more than two years, according to her LinkedIn profile. She also worked as a product manager at Google, Pinterest and Yelp.

Haugen said she'd seen problems at other social media companies, but "it was substantially worse at Facebook than anything I'd seen before." 

-reuters-

Under 20s around half as susceptible to COVID-19, study finds

LONDON - People under 20 are around half as susceptible to COVID-19 as people aged 20 or above, according to research published on Tuesday, and clinical symptoms of the pandemic disease appear in only about a fifth of infections in children and teens.

The research, a modelling study using data from 32 locations China, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Canada and South Korea, found that by contrast, COVID-19 symptoms appear in 69 percent of infections in people aged 70 or older.

The findings suggest that school closures - introduced in many countries as part of lockdowns aimed at controlling the coronavirus pandemic - are likely to have a limited impact on transmission of the disease, the researchers said.

Published in the journal Nature Medicine, the study compared the effect school closures on simulated outbreaks of flu - which is known to spread swiftly in children - and of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.

"For COVID-19, there was much less of an effect of school closures," said Rosalind Eggo, an infectious disease modeller at The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine who co-led the study.

She added, however, that the findings come from simulated outbreaks and need to be reinforced with real-world research.

Using demographic data from the 6 countries, as well as from 6 studies on estimated COVID-19 infection rates and symptom severity across different age groups, the model showed that people under 20 are about half as susceptible to COVID-19 as people over 20, and that among 10 to 19 year-olds, only 21 percent of those infected had clinical symptoms.

The researchers also simulated COVID-19 epidemics in 146 capital cities around the world and found that the total expected number of clinical cases varied with median age.

"The age structure of a population can have a significant impact," said Nicholas Davies, who co-led the work. "Countries with more young people may experience a lower burden of COVID-19."

-reuters-

Teen cannabis use linked to higher risk of adolescent depression

LONDON - Teenagers who use cannabis have a higher risk of developing depression and suicidal thoughts as young adults and should be made aware of those risks by parents and doctors, scientists said on Wednesday.

About 7 percent of cases of adolescent depression could be averted if cannabis use was eliminated, according to an analysis of data on mental illness among young people in the United States, Britain and Canada who used cannabis in their teens.

“Although the size of the negative effects of cannabis can vary ... and it is not possible to predict the exact risk for each teenager, the widespread use of cannabis among the young generations makes it an important public health issue,” said Andrea Cipriani, a professor of psychiatry at Britain’s Oxford University who co-led the work.

Cannabis is the most commonly used recreational drug by teenagers worldwide. In Canada, more than 20 percent of teens aged 15 to 19 years say they have used it in the past year. In England, for those aged 11 to 15, about 4 percent say they used cannabis in the last month.

The researchers said the results suggested that, if cannabis use were eliminated, there would be an estimated 400,000 fewer cases of depression in 18 to 34 year olds in the United States, 25,000 fewer in Canada and about 60,000 fewer in the Britain.

“It’s a big public health and mental health problem,” Cipriani told reporters at a briefing in London. “Adolescents should be made aware of the risk.”

The study, published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry and co-led by Cipriani and researchers at McGill University in Canada, was a systematic analysis pooling the best available evidence.

Teva slides on forecast, drags other generic drugmakers. It included 23,317 people from 11 international studies and looked at depression, anxiety and having suicidal thoughts in young adults.

Independent specialists asked to comment on the study said its findings were robust and important.

“Among young adults worldwide, depression is the leading cause of disability, and suicide is the most common cause of death,” said Joseph Firth, a specialist at Australia’s Western Sydney University.

By showing cannabis as a contributing factor to both, he said, the study showed the importance of seeking ways to reduce teenage cannabis use.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Less-cool Facebook losing youth at fast pace: survey

WASHINGTON - With mom, dad and grandma signing up in increasing numbers, Facebook is losing younger users in the United States at a faster pace than previously estimated, researchers said Monday.

A report by eMarketer said Snapchat is drawing youths away from Facebook at a quicker clip than Facebook-owned Instagram.

Facebook is still growing in the US market, according to research firm, mainly due to increases in usage by older age groups.

The report is the latest to highlight Facebook's problem with attracting and keeping young people, who have long been a core user base for the world's biggest social network.

The research firm said it expected the first-ever decline in the 18-24 age group in the US, a drop of 5.8 percent this year.

It also said that for the first time since its research began, less than half of the 12-17 age group in the United States would be on Facebook, with a 5.6 percent drop in that segment. 

The under-12 age group meanwhile will see a decline of 9.3 percent this year, eMarketer said.

The same trend is expected to continue into 2019 and 2020, with declines in all segments of US users under 25, the report added.

Facebook will lose an estimated two million users under 25 this year, with Snapchat and Instagram the main beneficiaries.

The report said Snapchat will add 1.9 million users under 25 in 2018 and Instagram will add 1.6 million.

Snapchat, which is known for its disappearing messages, will continue to have more users aged 12 to 24 than Instagram, the researchers said.

But Snapchat could end up facing a similar problem as it seeks to increase its user base and reach all ages.

"Snapchat could eventually experience more growth in older age groups, since it's redesigning its platform to be easier to use," eMarketer analyst Debra Aho Williamson said. 

"The question will be whether younger users will still find Snapchat cool if more of their parents and grandparents are on it. That's the predicament Facebook is in."

Facebook remains the most popular social network in the US market with an estimated 169.5 million users this year, according to eMarketer.

But faster-growing Instagram will be used by 104.7 million Americans and Snapchat will reach 86.5 million users, according to the forecast.

Last year, eMarketer predicted Facebook would see declines among some youths for the first time in its history.

A report last year by investment firm Piper Jaffray showed Snapchat is the preferred social network for US teens, with 47 percent using the platform.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Bullied teens twice as likely to bring weapons to school

One in five teens are victims of bullying, and these adolescents are about twice as likely to bring guns and knives to school than peers who aren’t bullied, a U.S. study suggests.

Researchers examined how high school students answered three survey questions: how often they skipped school because they felt unsafe; how often they got in physical fights at school; and how many times they were threatened with a weapon at school.

“High school students who reported being bullied on school property within the past 12 months were not at increased risk for carrying a weapon to school if they answered ‘no’ to all three of these questions,” said senior study author Dr. Andrew Adesman, a researcher at Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New York in Lake Success.

“Importantly, students who said yes to all three of these physical safety/injury questions were at the greatest risk for carrying a weapon to school,” Adesman said by email.

For the study, researchers analyzed survey responses from a nationally representative sample of more than 15,000 students in grades 9 to 12.

Overall, about 20% of participants reported being victims of bullying at least once in the past year, and about 4% said they had brought a weapon to school in the past month, researchers report online November 27 in Pediatrics.

Only 2.5% of the teens who were not bullied brought weapons to school, the study found.

But about 46% of bullying victims who also reported skipping school, getting in fights and getting threatened by somebody else with a weapon said they had brought a weapon of their own to school.

Victims of bullying were more than four times as likely to skip school as students who weren’t bullied. When bullying victims did skip school, they were about three times more likely to bring weapons to school than teens who weren’t bullied.

Bullying victims were more than twice as likely to get in fights at school, and when they did get in fights they were about five times more likely to carry weapons, the study also found.

Teens who were bullied were more than five times more likely to be threatened with weapons, and when this happened they were almost six times more likely to bring guns or knives to school.

The study wasn’t a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how being bullied might influence the odds that students would bring weapons to school.

Another limitation is that researchers relied on teens to truthfully report on their experiences with bullying and weapons, and some youth may have been reluctant to admit they carried weapons, the authors note.

It’s also possible that other factors beyond bullying might have influenced teens’ decisions about carrying weapons to school, said Melissa Holt, author of an accompanying commentary and a researcher at the Boston University School of Education.

“Findings from this study do not directly address motivations for weapon carrying,” Holt said by email.

“They do suggest that bullying victimization alone is not necessarily associated with increased risk of weapon carrying, but rather other individual (e.g. peer aggression experiences) and contextual factors should be taken into account,” Holt added.

Still, those three questions about skipping school, fighting or being threatened might be a useful screening tool for finding kids at risk of carrying weapons, Adesman said.

“The three simple screening questions can help us better identify which students are most likely to carry a weapon to school,” Adesman said. “School personnel, parents and healthcare providers need to be attentive to why some students may be reluctant to attend school and we need to evaluate circumstances whenever a child gets into a fight or is threatened or injured at school.”

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Experts fear e-cigarettes fuel teen addiction

E-cigarettes can be an effective tool for smokers aiming to kick their tobacco habit, but officials fear the devices are also creating nicotine addiction among adolescents
.
"E-cigarettes show tremendous promise as a tool for helping smokers who don't respond to other approaches for quitting smoking," Wilson Compton, deputy director of the US National Institute on Drug Abuse, said Friday, during a presentation with other health officials.

 "What concerns us is very recent data from the US showing surprising high rates of e-cigarette use by teenagers," he said, speaking at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in California.

A recent annual survey of more than 40,000 US high school students showed that in the last month, 8.7 percent of 14-year-olds had used the battery-operated devices that deliver vaporized nicotine into an aerosol inhaled by the user.

And the number only increased with age: 16.2 percent of 16-year-olds and 17.1 percent of 18-year-olds had done the same.

"That's a concern because this may be a unique and new pathway to nicotine exposure," Compton said.

In recent months, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that use of e-cigarettes by young non-smokers had tripled from 2011 to 2013, and warned that nicotine can affect brain development in teenagers.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in April proposed restrictions on the country's $2-billion e-cigarette industry, such as requiring sellers to enforce a minimum age.

- 'Far less dangerous' -

"Nicotine can be harmful to the growing brain, so it's best if young people avoid it," said Deborah Arnott, head of Britain-based nonprofit Action on Smoking and Health (ASH).

"But if they're going to experiment, it's better to use e-cigarettes, as vaping is far less dangerous than smoking and much less addictive," she said.

"So far in the UK and the US, smoking rates are going down more than e-cigarette use is growing. This would not be the case if vaping really were a gateway into smoking," Arnott added.

In the study of 40,000 US teenagers, only four percent of 14-year-olds, seven percent of 16-year-olds and 14 percent of 18-year-olds had smoked real cigarettes in the last month.

E-cigarettes play an important role in helping users quit or reduce smoking, according to the latest research published in December by the Cochrane Collaboration, an independent, international organization that evaluates medical research.

The group conducted two studies showing that around nine percent of those using e-cigarettes were able to stop smoking for at least a year, while only four percent of those who used placebo e-cigarettes were able to.

Among those who were unable to quit smoking, 36 percent of those using e-cigarettes were able to cut their tobacco consumption by half, compared to 28 percent in the placebo group.

"There are likely public health benefits from e-cigarettes if they provide a pathway for smokers to give up tobacco use," said Roy Harrison, professor of environmental health at Britain's University of Birmingham.

"There is evidence that this can happen, and little doubt that e-cigarettes are much less harmful to the smoker than tobacco," he said.

"However, if adolescents who have never used tobacco take up e-cigarette use, this is a matter of profound concern as they are deliberately exposing themselves to a highly addictive substance."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

414,000 Home Sales Won’t Happen This Year Thanks to Student Loan Debt

There’s been a lot of recent buzz about teens and Millennials being extremely bullish on homeownership. And with that comes hope of a stronger housing recovery and even higher home prices in the future.

But it’s one thing to say you’re going to buy a home (or want to buy a home), and another thing to actually do it.

While ambition doesn’t seem to be lacking, the question remains whether many of these young prospective home buyers will actually qualify for mortgages.

A recent report from John Burns Real Estate Consulting noted that 414,000 home purchases would not occur this year thanks to pesky student loan debt.



Using a typical purchase price of $200,000, that equates to nearly $83 billion in lost volume for the real estate industry.

And with 5.26 million new and existing home sales expected this year, that represents about an eight percent loss in transactions thanks to costly student loans.

 Nearly Six Million Pay More Than $250 a Month on Student Loans

There are a reported 5.9 million households under the age of 40 paying over $250 per month on student loans.

That represents 35% of such households and is up from 22% back in 2005. For these households, qualifying for a mortgage gets a lot more difficult thanks to restrictive debt-to-income limits.

It’s compounded by the new Qualified Mortgage rules that limit DTIs to 43%, coupled with the fact that home prices have risen dramatically. The only thing offsetting this is the fact that mortgage rates remain historically low.

For those who can still purchase a home, it reduces their purchasing power by $44,000. So you basically need to look at a smaller home, or a home in a less desirable area.

This can get pretty tricky if the recent grad has accepted a job in a certain locale and doesn’t want to spend half their day commuting.

The prevalence of households with student loan debt also mean it’s more difficult to save for a down payment. And with the FHA becoming a lot less viable for many prospective buyers, more money is needed to get the job done.


Record Number of First-Timers Are Using Gifts to Buy Homes


Perhaps this is why 27% of first-time home buyers received a gift from relatives or a friend last year, per the National Association of Realtors.

That’s up from 24% in 2012 and matches the highest level since NAR beginning tracking in 2009. It’s apparently even higher this year.

The Realtor group also revealed that 54% of first-time home purchases were delayed in 2013 because student loan debt hurt their ability to save for a down payment.

Simply put, college students are spending a lot more money on tuition but salaries don’t seem to be rising.

In fact, incomes appear to be dropping, with college graduates aged 18 to 34 years old working full time experiencing a $3,300 drop in average annual earnings from 2007 to 2012 (adjusted for inflation), per Census Bureau data.

Factor in all the competition in the housing market that demands either a larger down payment or a higher bid and you’ve got a recipe for renting.

Perhaps the home builders will take note of this trend and start constructing more affordable housing.

Tip: There’s nothing wrong with accepting a gift from a parent or relative because a low down payment can raise your mortgage payment three different ways, which could cost you a lot more long-term.

source: thetruthaboutmortgage.com

Calling girls 'fat' may result in weight gain

NEW YORK - Young girls who have been called “too fat” are more likely to be obese as young adults, according to a new research letter.

The early stigma of being labeled that way may worsen the problem rather than encouraging girls to become healthier, but more research is needed to be sure, the study authors say.

“This study is one step closer to being able to draw that conclusion, but of course we can't definitively say that calling a girl "too fat" will make her obese,” said senior author A. Janet Tomiyama of the University of California, Los Angeles.

“This study recruited girls when they were age 10 and followed them over nine years, so we know it's more than just a one-time connection, which makes me believe that it's an important question to continue researching,” Tomiyama told Reuters Health in an email.

She and her coauthor examined data from an existing study that followed girls through their teen years. At age 10, the girls answered the question, “have any of these people told you that you were too fat: father, mother, brother, sister, best girlfriend, boy you like best, any other girl, any other boy, or teacher?”

Out of just over 2,000 girls, a total of 1,188 answered “yes” to any of the choices.

Those girls were more likely to have a body mass index (BMI) – a measure of weight relative to height - in the obese range ten years later than girls who answered “no,” according to the results in JAMA Pediatrics.

“We know from considerable evidence that youth who feel stigmatized or shamed about their weight are vulnerable to a range of negative psychological and physical health consequences,” said Rebecca Puhl, deputy director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.

“This study suggests that negative weight labels may contribute to these experiences and have a lasting and potentially damaging impact for girls,” said Puhl, who was not part of the study.

Girls who had been labeled “fat” were still at higher risk of obesity even when researchers accounted for their BMIs at age 10, household income, race and parental education level.

The effect seemed to be strongest when the labels came from family members, which increased the risk of obesity later by 60 percent, compared to 40 percent when the comments came from friends or teachers. But it’s not wise to make too much out of the difference between those numbers, since this was only an exploratory study, Tomiyama said.

She was not at all surprised that over half of girls had been labeled “fat.”

“The pressure to be thin in our society is intense, and other research shows that people label both themselves and others as 'overweight' even if their objective body mass index is in the 'normal weight' range,” she said.

Females are exposed to weight stigma more often, but the connection may be present for boys as well, she noted.

There are ways for parents to address weight and health issues with their children that don’t involve labeling, Tomiyama said.

“There's no need to say the ‘f’ word at all if you want to improve your child's health,” she said.

Parents could instead focus on the health of the family as a whole, said Angelina Sutin, who was not involved in the new study.

Sutin studies psychological wellbeing and health disparities at Florida State University College Of Medicine in Tallahassee.

“The best approach would be to start kids early on a path toward healthy living by eating healthy food and being physically active,” Sutin told Reuters Health in an email.

“This applies equally to parents as it does to kids – children model their parents’ behavior, so if kids see their parents making healthy choices, they are more likely to also make healthy choices,” she said.

Parents could identify activities the child enjoys and work on ways to do more of them, she added.

“I think the focus of the conversation needs to change,” Tomiyama said. “Right now, we have a laser focus on weight instead of health, but many studies show that weight is a really imprecise indicator of actual health.”

“Parents can talk to their child about adopting healthy behaviors without once mentioning weight,” she said.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

5 Things Today's Teens Don't Know About Money

You know your teens can be illogical, unreasonable, and occasionally malodorous, but isn't it at least reasonable to assume they know the basics about money?

Apparently not. Surveys show that teens are failing at financial literacy. And while financial institutions like PricewaterhouseCoopers are investing significant resources in changing that, the problem is persisting.

From those in a position to know best -- personal finance and business education teachers -- here are some of the most gaping holes in teens' money knowledge.

1. Bank account basics

"My students had no idea how to figure out online banking," said Keith Newman, a personal finance teacher at Bodine High School for International Affairs in Philadelphia. Part of the problem, he said, is that there are no high-quality, up-to-date teaching tools to help students learn about bank accounts, so he is hoping to take his students to a bank to open accounts and learn banking nuts and bolts.

2. Budgeting

Students' "parents just hand them money, and they just burn through it," said Newman. His students are far from wealthy, but he says many of their parents are wary of financial institutions and prefer to do everything with cash. "I have students who have fathers who take care of their daughters very well, giving them $15 or $20 every day."

Kim Zocco, a business education teacher at Archbishop Edward A. McCarthy HIgh School in Southwest Ranches, Fla., has many students from families at the other end of the economic spectrum, but says that just creates another problem. "Their parents take care of everything for them. They are oblivious because they can just have and get," she said.

3. The power of compounding

Maggie Wohltmann, a business education teacher at Teaneck High School in New Jersey, likes to explain to her students that they all have the potential to be millionaires someday -- but the odds of reaching that goal increase sharply if they save early. She demonstrates what can happen if someone puts away a reasonable amount every month. Her goal, she said, is "getting across that it's the 22-to-32 age range, before you have the house or the family, that's when it's key to really invest the money."

4. Keeping credit reports clean

Many teens are stunned to learn that financial behavior over an extended period will affect their ability to borrow money or even obtain a credit card. "It's really eye opening," said Wohltmann. "Ten years is a long time to these students."

5. Rainy day savings

Whether teens come from affluent households or more modest ones, the idea of putting money away in case something happens if often novel, teachers say. "Savings shock them," said Newman.

Zocco and Wohltmann drive home the importance of a financial cushion with a role-playing exercise. They pair up their students, have them form "households," and assign them real world jobs. The students have to live within their means and deal with financial setbacks the teachers dole out: Their car may break down, they may suddenly have twins, and so on.

"In the end, they're pretty shocked at what they're left with" after taxes, and "what they need to save," said Zocco.

There is another life lesson as well. The teens see first hand that money issues can be really, really stressful. "The students bicker in their households like couples do -- and these are pretend things," said Wohltmann.

source: dailyfinance.com

Bullying eases for lesbian, gay teens as they age: study

It does get better for lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) youth, with bullying in their early teens fading away as they grow older, according to a study of the name calling, threats and violence faced by teens in England.

Researchers, whose results appeared in Pediatrics, found that while more than half of non-heterosexual teens reported getting bullied at ages 13 and 14, fewer than one in ten was still being victimized six years later.

"This study provides strong empirical support for the idea that it does get better," said lead researcher Joseph Robinson, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

"Even though you're bullied in high school, chances are you won't be bullied in young adulthood."

But not all the news was good. Gay and bisexual men, in particular, reported that they were still bullied much more often than heterosexual men when surveyed at age 19 to 20. And bullied LGB youth said those experiences contributed to their feelings of depression and worthlessness years later as young adults

The new data are based on a study of 4,135 teens in England who were surveyed every year between 2004 and 2010. Of those, 187, or 4.5%, identified as lesbian, gay or bisexual.

At the start of the study period, when the youths were 13 and 14 years old, 52% of gay and bisexual boys and 57% of lesbian and bisexual girls said they were called names or experienced threats or violence.

Six years later, 9% of non-heterosexual men and 6% of women were bullied.

By then, heterosexual and non-heterosexual women had a similar chance of being bullied, but gay and bisexual men were four times more likely to be victimized than their straight peers.

"Prior studies suggest that the general public has stronger negative feelings toward gay and bisexual males than toward lesbian and bisexual females," Robinson told Reuters Health.

Other experts noted that while the findings supported the idea that teens grow more tolerant as they age, discrimination still existed at aged 18 and 19, especially for boys.

Even when the name-calling and threats of violence had stopped, many LGB teens in the study continued to feel emotional distress, in part related to past bullying.

"There's a lingering effect into early adulthood... from what has happened earlier in life," said Anthony D'Augelli, who studies LGB youth at The Pennsylvania State University in University Park.

"Despite what would appear to be a decrease (in bullying), we should not assume that all is well in the lives of these young people," added D'Augelli, who was not part of the study.

Andrea Roberts, who studies trauma and health at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, said that bullying trends have a lot to do with local culture and acceptance of LGB people, so it's hard to know whether the findings would apply elsewhere.

"It would be really beneficial to have this study done in the United States," she said.

source: abs-cbnnews.com

How to Get Cheap Auto Insurance for Young Drivers

Students, teenagers, and first-time drivers typically pay a premium price for auto insurance because car insurance companies put these drivers under the “high risk” category. Shopping around for the best price usually isn’t enough to get the lowest rates. Young, inexperienced drivers need to prove that they are responsible and won’t be prone to serious accidents and injuries when they’re on the road. While it may take some time to negotiate the best rates with the car insurance provider, it is possible for young drivers to reduce their insurance premiums.



Here are some tips for getting cheap auto insurance for young drivers.

Choose the Right Car

Economy cars and even newer cars are deemed “safer” in the eyes of the insurance company than luxury cars and flashy sports cars. If the student is in the market for a car, do some research to find out what average insurance rates are for that particular make and model. You’ll be surprised how much this amount varies by car manufacturer. A younger driver insuring a Honda Civic will be paying much less than one insuring a BMW Z3. (See also: Drive the Old Car or Buy a New Car?)

Share the Report Card

Some insurance companies extend a “good student” discount to high school and even college students. These drivers need to provide a copy of their report card and make sure the insurance company stays updated on their latest GPA. Above-average and honors students can get some of the best rates available, because the insurance company feels that these drivers are being responsible with their academic life and therefore may be more responsible on the road as well. A “good student” usually needs to maintain at least a B average to qualify for this discount.

Buy Only Necessary Coverage

As long as the student isn’t driving a brand new car, a financed vehicle, or a car purchased with a loan, they don’t have to get comprehensive and collision insurance coverage. Find out what the basic state insurance coverage requirements are and choose a plan that meets the student’s basic needs. For example, electing for only liability insurance when the student only uses the car to drive to and from school may be a wise financial decision.

Inform the Insurance Carrier About All Safety Features

If the car has advanced locking systems, anti-theft devices, or aftermarket safety features that make the vehicle less likely to be stolen or vandalized, make sure the insurance company knows about them. Most insurance providers do offer a safety discount because they feel that the car will be less likely to be broken into or stolen — which, in turn, means a lower likelihood of a claim.

Take a Driver Safety Course

Driver safety courses, or remedial courses, are often court-ordered when a driver is close to losing his or her license or has several traffic tickets. Younger drivers who are trying to build up a good driving history can also take these courses. Just make sure the insurance company has a copy of the certificate or a signed letter stating the driver has successfully completed the course. Plus, training programs improve a driver’s skills overall, so parents can have more confidence that their teens or college students are safer on the road.

Ask About Family Discounts

If the teenager or even college student is still living with his or her parents, you may be able to get their insurance through a family policy. Most insurance companies offer family packages that insure multiple drivers under a single policy. The younger driver’s rate may end up being much lower through this type of insurance plan.

source: wisebread.com