About 400 study participants also wrote their own ideas about what makes them or people their age afraid, scared or fearful.

CNN: Terrorism, kidnapping among top fears for today's youth

And that, I think, is probably a bigger danger because at that point, when you're so afraid to make mistakes and you're so fearful, then it really drains from you any sense of purpose or passion as to why you wanted to serve in the first place, and you become much more concerned with just, you know, being in office than you are about making a difference.

NPR: Before Midterms, a Chat with Sen. Barack Obama