Students List Fears: AIDS, Future

More than half of the nation’s brightest high school students worry that they will fare worse than their parents while three quarters fear getting AIDS more than they did a year ago, according to a survey released Wednesday.

The annual Survey of High Achievers also found that nearly a third of the students had considered suicide and more than 40% experienced violence in schools.

The findings portray a “generation that is sexually aware, politically indifferent, personally depressed, economically anxious and fearing for their safety,” said Paul Krouse, publisher of “Who’s Who Among American High School Students,” which conducted the survey. But educators said much of this response could be attributed to typical anxieties of adolescence combined with heavy attention to economic and domestic woes in an election year.

Krouse said there was a strong fear of “downward mobility”--faring worst economically than their parents. Of those surveyed, 54% said they expected that they would have more difficulty than their parents in starting a career.