Young people are more aware than ever of the serious issues afflicting the U.S. economy, and they're getting their information on the ongoing recession from at least one surprising source (newspapers!), according to the latest findings detailed in YouthBeat, the comprehensive syndicated research report on youths aged 6 through 18.

The new edition of the C&R Research, Inc. report shows that awareness has climbed by as much as 10 percent among kids (grade schoolers), tweens (middle schoolers) and teens (high schoolers), and the impact goes deeper than the fact that most of them received fewer gifts during the last Christmas holiday season. Many of YouthBeat's survey participants noted that their parents made a point of discussing the economy with them as its effects on the household became more evident.

"But even without that frank discussion, young people noticed changes around them as a result of the economy, some of them fairly large," said Brenda Hurley, senior vice president at C&R Research. "Specifically noted were an increase in the number of garage sales, fewer vacations taken, and cutting back on spending for clothes and electronics."

The YouthBeat report noted that children are also getting independent information on economic developments, depending on the Internet, television and - surprise - old-fashioned newspapers as key resources. Although newspaper readership generally falls off among teens (to about 40 percent of the respondents), the survey found a significant increase in girls' consumption of newspapers, up to 42 percent from 32 percent in YouthBeat's inaugural edition.

"This suggests that youths are open to more than TV and the Internet as information resources, especially for depth on something as serious as the ailing economy. It will be interesting to see if this trend continues as the economy improves," said Hurley.