Parents Support Teens’ Pursuit of Entrepreneurship, Study Finds

Parents of teens overwhelmingly say they would back their kids’ aspirations to seek entrepreneurial pursuits in adulthood, a new study finds.

Nearly nine in 10 parents would be “extremely” or “very likely” to support their teen’s desire to open his or her own business as an adult, but only one in three of their kids showed the same enthusiasm, according to the survey, which was conducted on behalf of Junior Achievement and EY.

Teens cited risk and lack of money as among their concerns about starting their own business ventures, the survey, conducted by ORC International, found.

New business creation in the United States in 2016 reached a near 40-year low, according to reports citing U.S. Census data. New business starts have been lackluster since the start of the Great Recession in 2008.

The entrepreneurship survey, which polled about 1,000 parents of 13- to 17-year-olds and about 1,000 teens, was undertaken to coincide with Junior Achievement’s A Launch Lesson, a program that helps high school students gain first-hand knowledge of starting a business by interacting with entrepreneurs in their communities.