Teens' leisure time spent sleeping- survey

TNS-RMS Director of Research and Insights Geoffrey Kimani during a press conference after releasing an opinion poll on teenagers across three East African countries April 15, 2011. It showed that Kenyan teenagers spend most of their leisure time sleeping. TOM MARUKO

By AGGREY MUTAMBO, amutambo@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Friday, April 15 2011 at 13:58

Kenyan teenagers spend most of their leisure time sleeping, according to a new survey.

The study done by research firm TNS-RMS in three East African countries and released Friday reveals that Kenyans between 12-19 use close to seven hours of their free time sleeping.

It says that they spend a total of 410.7 minutes each day sleeping compared to Uganda’s 355.4 and Tanzania’s 396.9.

But Kenyans do chores for a longer time than any other East African country meaning teenagers here are the most active in East Africa, when at work. They also come second to Uganda in terms of time spent to study- 121 minutes against 142 per day.

Interestingly, Kenyan adolescents are the most patriotic compared to their counterparts in other East African countries. The report shows that six out of every ten Kenyan teenagers “would rather live in my country than any other place in the world".

Uganda is the worst of the three countries, according to the survey, with more than half of the same group would like to vacate the country even though they feel the world thinks positively about Uganda.

“There has been a change from the 90s when many young Kenyans were looking for an opportunity to relocate overseas,” said TNS-RMS Director of Research and Insights Geoffrey Kimani.

The findings further show that Kenyans teenagers love many things about their country ranging from politics to entertainment.

Politics is considered important to them because it helps them take part in issues that affect their lives. This could explain the rising youth participation in elective politics from sports administration to parliament. Later this month, the Ministry of Youth Affairs is expected to conduct the first ever elections for the representation of youth in the National Youth Council.

But the survey done on a national sample of 800 Kenyan teenagers portrays to them as a group whose lifestyle is full of paradoxes. For instance, 73 per cent of them prioritise religion in their lives and many of them loathe hard drugs such as heroin and steroids.

However, the rate of drinking alcohol and miraa (khat) chewing among Kenyans is still the highest of all in East Africa.

In Kenya, people aged between 12 and 19 are hardly expected to marry but, the report Teenage Research Unlimited Trends shows that 80 per cent of this group has already decided to delay their marriages. In Tanzania, the number is 70 per cent while Uganda it is 68.

“Marriage is still a priority but there is a delay in the expected marriage age as opposed to past generations,” it says.

Many of the teenagers would like to marry by the age of 28, the highest in East Africa. In addition, most marriage choices are influenced by their parents meaning that a close association with one’s parents could be a major determiner of whom to marry in future.

But while sticking to “other priorities”, the same group prefers to live an active sexual life with the opposite sex even before marriage.

The report further says that the principle of delaying sex till one is married is “unpopular” in Kenya compared to Uganda where it is considered important.

The report doesn’t show exactly how the young expect to achieve their ambitions in life but adds that “they comprise the first global generation making them the most transformative in recent years".