Most American adults already know they have the power to influence children into becoming healthy, responsible, and mature adults. However, according to a recent study, most adults don't try.

Research has confirmed that the more involved adults are in kids' lives, the less likely the kids will engage in self-destructive behavior. Peter Benson, president of the Search Institute, says: "Relationships are the oxygen of human development. This study is another attempt to get into the ether of America the notion of the importance of connectedness, the power that real people have but which most of us are not using."

Complimenting a kid on good behavior, or telling his parents about it, is obviously meaningful to any child, but only twenty percent of adults do it. While 75 percent of adults are all for advising kids about money, only 36 percent actually do it. Nathan Dungan, vice president of Lutheran Brotherhood, says: "There are 190 million adults in this country. If just five percent of them jumped up and did something, it would have an enormous impact on kids."