There are too many variables. Every time I see this subject come up, I see many resort to blaming the parents. This is true, but I believe there are many other factors.
Communication- As far as this generation's behavior is concerned, if the media was always this diverse in its depraving images given to the 'kids' of this generation, then this problem would have occurred much earlier. In my opinion, the era of electromagnetic telecommunication (more particularly the television) and declination of morals are contemporary. Humans are easily influenced, this is a fact. Although this is a small example on a very small and insignificant scale, how many of us adapted to Narutobase's lingo?
Visual messages are a powerful medium for influence, and a lot of us get our inspirations from the endeavors and dreams of those around us, and nothing expresses these tribulations more vivid than the television. The integrity and charisma of a speaker can be heart-moving and motivational, yes, maybe more so in person than on TV, but people who didn't attend such conventions can now witness it as well. The adaption of book to movie is one's imagination of events brought to life and projected at the world, with the aim being to 'awe' the viewers. This then works in the reverse as well, the writers are then greatly inspired from movies/tv; one mind adopting other ideas from another. Slowly but surely, a change will be noticed in the content, maybe even in the descriptions of events in both written and visual, as both try to depict that innovative moment they just seen. The fate of originality is to be borrowed and used, this is evident. Throwing something like TV into the world of communication and information will undoubtedly make a change, it took time, but the results are now being realized. This may be rather ironic using a cliche depicted on the big screen, but we all know those incidents where the guy takes a drug and it benefits him for a while (giving him special powers or something), then he later suffers from the side effects and is all like, "Oh, NO!". It was inevitable.
Then we have messages that are perceived the wrong way. A movie portraying the story of a boy who overcame his controlling parents and made it to be something big can actually have a negative influence on children. If the teen is already undergoing some type of dispute among his parents, then such a movie can be very encouraging.
I haven't even touched upon music, video games, and the internet. The parent's fault? They were as easily influenced as their children. Generations grow up in different times, the people learn to adapt to those times. As kids, we are an information vacuum, and information is now easily accessible. Furthermore, there may be nothing even a strict parent can do to get their child to 'open their eyes', at least not anything beyond something that would land him in jail or disowning the kid. Some kids become more unruly when given physical punishment, or any type of punishment. Don't get me wrong though, the parents are a factor as well.
Individuality- This is something not easily suppressed by humans. However, vision is limited. There are few that can see beyond all the 'swag', the 'hood', the 'gothic', the 'bourgeoisie' or any type of other labels that categorizes individuality. As a result, 'individuality' means nothing more than an association with other individuals. This is what we grow up to be, these different 'classes' of people become 'choices'. Personal preferences, environment, all of this would play a part in that decision. The entity that helps spread this individuality? You guessed it, the media. As I stated above, there's no doubt the modern age of communication impacted this greatly. One's individuality could now influence millions of us easily influenced humans. So now, all these groups start to emerge and becomes another item on the list of individuality for the generation to select. There will be more, we just have to wait for that one person to display his 'uniqueness' (some people just do it because it sells) through the media.
Scientist, Teachers, etc.- Yeah these may be good fields, but not everyone can pursuit them. Unless you don't care about having a McDonalds, a Supermarket, etc etc. It's funny, because in order for the system to work, there has to be 'low-class' people. Even if you start your own business, you will need people to work it for you if it really takes off. This, let's say....'balance' in the system also helps to engender all the alternatives. Things like selling drugs, theft, etc. Also, if one got a little too deep in one of these alternatives, some 'productive' careers will no longer be an option for that person should he really want to change his/her life around. Then there are the alternatives like the music industry, or sports. People use their 'talent' to escape the 'low-class' life, can't really blame them. However, because of the declination of morals over the past few generations, they are more free to express their 'individuality'. This individuality is going to already be in use by another 'group', or be something unique and start a completely new one. This ties into all I've been saying, and thus the cycle becomes more apparent.
This generation is obviously adopting to the environment around them. Information is a double-edged sword. I too sometimes thought 'Well, I'm sure the generations before us said the same". If I'm honest with myself ( I like to do introspection quite often to rid myself of certain emotions and think objectively), I know I only thought this because I too am apart of this 'dying' generation and may sometimes feel offended somewhere deep inside. Well, I use to anyways. But, if every generation said that about the next generation, isn't that an extremely bad thing if there's a chance that it's true?
I'm not even going to do an analysis on the impact of school, peer pressure, and the CPS. That much is probably obvious. I'll just say the first two reinforces the messages of the media by applying psychological pressure, and the last restricts certain methods of punishments by parents.
Well, this is my opinion on the matter. Just something to think about.
