I don't have to look at the studies. All I have to do is read the questions that pop up in here every day and that speak louder than words. This is a society of dysfunctional, inmoral, amoral and otherwise darenged inviduals who are cruising thru life only for themselves. They're self-righteous and misguided and will do whatever it takes to get their way and don't you dare disagree with them or they'll crush you

American politics and business is founded on a culture of cheating and deception, it always has been. Harking back to some ideal time when children were supposedly better behaved and everything was peachy is narrow-minded to say the least.

Hmmm..didn't we have a discussion about this during the recent campaign? End justifies means..telling half-truths..spreading rumors/innuendo/lies? I remember going through a period of about a month being depressed to discover that people prefer mediocrity over excellence..they'd far rather have a beer with an average guy then an invigorating discussion with someone who is very smart. ..and they'd prefer the average guy lead them..the smart guys scare them.Kids learn what they live at home..parents who cheat and lie beget kids who cheat and lie...no surprise there. I did not click on the link, Scott..Happy Monday to you! :)

Kids make mistakes and have always done so. Parents need to take responsibility for raising their children, if we have a generation of liars and cheats it is because we have made it so. Character still matters to me and i'd say most other people. And strong women fought for the right to vote, something that the white male has always taken for granted.

Could it be that america is not afraid to say they are imperfect?

I call it the Bil CLinton effect and it is his legacy he taught an entire generation that cheating on your wife is normal and having sex with a woman 1/2 or 1/3 your age is ok. I heard a preacher talking about kids having anal and or oral sex because they thought they were not sexaul acts. We are becoming France. .

I don't think America's youth are any more dishonest than the previous generations. They are just, ironically, more willing to admit their flaws. There has always been a tendency to claim the current generation is somehow more corrupt than the one preceding it. This tendency always seems to ignore the glaring sins of the past. Whenever I hear some old crotchety fart whine about "the good ole days", I have to wonder if they recall a lot of the messed up stuff from those times. For starters, women were not likely to admit much of anything in the past because the social stigma made it more advantageous to lie. Even being a divorced woman was a social stigma a few decades ago. It was only within the last couple decades that raping your wife became illegal in all states. If one looks at old journals and even records from old court cases, you find there has always been a lot of deviant behavior going on and the primary differences between then and now are that people talk more openly about it. I was shocked the first time I looked at writings from colonial times and found out how much fornication and adultery went on then despite all the "puritan" attitudes.

As a Brit (recently moved to the US), it has long been my perception that in America, it's only cheating if you get caught.

Every generation carries it's own, and all generations have them. Lying, cheating and stealing weren't invented in the 20th century. Perhaps there's more of it about now, but then exposure to the media is greater than before. Media = lies, politics = lies. Exposure to both in ever greater quantity is bound to have an effect. What surprises me is that anyone is surprised. Something else just occurred to me - what if the people who said they didn't lie/cheat/steal were lying?

Why would we be surprised? Christianity (our main religeon)says your sins were forgiven 2000 yrs ago. You don't need to be responsible at all.

I think we were always this bad. We're just more open about it now.