Survey: Children not spiritually prepared

VENTURA, Calif. — Less than 10 percent of Americans surveyed think children are being given good spiritual or moral preparation for life.

The Barna Group, a Ventura, Calif., marketing research firm, polled 1,011 adults nationwide about how well they think children under the age of 13 are being prepared for life, and asked about physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual and moral aspects of that preparation.

The lowest ratings were given in the areas of spiritual and moral preparation, with 8 percent of adults saying kids are “superbly” or “pretty well” prepared spiritually and an equal percentage applying the same terms to morality.

Seventy-five percent of adults said children are not well prepared morally and 71 percent said they are not prepared spiritually.

In comparison, 18 percent of adults polled said children are well prepared intellectually, while 50 percent said children have insufficient intellectual preparation. Sixteen percent said children are physically well prepared, while 54 percent said children have inadequate physical preparation. Twelve percent said children are well prepared emotionally, while 62 percent said children have insufficient emotional preparation.

The research has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.