July, 2007:

If teenage girls rely on their girly magazines as cherished confidants offering a resource of advice about their individual lives, being their close friend, their beauty and fashion advisor, their source of trendy vogue and their informant about boys, boys on the other hand have also their own set of magazines as their buddies. Most of the magazines for teenage boys have topics ranging from sports, music, cars, electronic gaming and other leisure.

These magazines for boys are more specific in coverage, unlike girl mags which comprise people, relationships, beauty, cosmetics and others all in one. Particular hobbies or activities are enclosed in one publication, such as GamePro, Under the Radar, Slam and Thrasher. Some teen boys read magazines already for men older than them, like ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Spin and Vibe. A slight percent of the entire readers of magazines like Maxim and Tuff Stuff are teenage boys.

Younger versions of women’s magazines like CosmoGirl!, Teen Vogue, Elle Girl, and Teen People have been successful with the female teenage market. But offshoots of men’s magazines for younger males have not demonstrated sensation like these women magazines’ spin-offs, including MH-18 as a youthful version of Men’s Health. Sports Illustrated for Kids on the other hand, has shown success with 8-15 year olds.

Other magazines of specific interest have also been very successful, attracting advertisers from key clothing brands and other merchandise. Magazines like these for teen boys include the hip-hop magazine The Source, Blaze as a spin-off of Vibe, and others like BMX Snap, TransWorld Snowboarding, and Freeze.

Boys’ Life, the magazine of Boy Scouts of America first printed in 1911, issues bimonthly editions. One edition is for 6- to 11-year-olds and the other is for teenagers aged 12 to 17. They have a sum paid subscription of 1.2 million and advertising profits of more than $5 million.

Teens happen to comprise the largest slice of the population especially in the ‘90s era. At that time there arose plenty of magazines especially for the adolescent public. Seventeen, Teen, and YM bragged the top spots for being the best teen magazines based on the number of readers. Then a couple of magazines sprouted in the scene and added to the crowd and competition, with such magazines coinciding early adulthood and adolescence which modified the equilibrium. There were CosmoGirl!, Teen Vogue, Elle Girl, and Teen People. Since the top three experienced the effect of the rise of these new teen magazines, they reformatted to target older teens 17 and up.

The new sprouts of magazines can be considered “little sister” beginners since they’re the little version of Cosmo, Vogue, Elle and People. CosmoGirl! aimed at the Cosmo reader’s younger sister. Elle Girl serves the innovative, street wise girl with a diverse cultural taste. Teen Vogue on the other hand targeted the young females with a taste in fashion and style.

Nevertheless, Seventeen, being the oldest teen magazine (it started circulating in 1944) still remains the most well-liked and famous teen magazine in readership at present. The magazine embarked on a comeback to Middle America ideals with a healthy and wholesome fashion statement, opposite to the sophisticated kind.

There are also teen magazines spotlighting predominantly famous personalities and the entertainment business. There are J-14, Twist, and M all catching the attention of young ten to twelve’s and teen girls absorbed in popular music, entertainment, celebrity gossip, and pull-out posters. The first of its kind of teen fan magazine is Tiger Beat, which was first published in 1965.

Right On! began to draw attention to the most recent news and information about Black Americans in show business. Black Beat and Word Up! soon went in, which concentrated on the city music scene. Substitutes to the conventional magazines focusing on celebrity, beauty and fashion, new magazines have also come out for adolescents. Girls’ Life, or GL, offers lasses aged ten to fifteen a balance of information about famous personalities, beauty and fashion, together with advice about friends, family, boys, school, self-esteem and confidence, and sketch of real girls confronting and coping up with challenges.

There’s no school for parenting, as they say. So parents tend to learn how to raise their kids by experience. But with this generation of technology and modernization, many instructional guides aid the parents in bringing up their children—from streaming videos over the net, TV programs, books and other printed media. In publications, one of which of course are the parenting magazines. There are plenty of parenting magazines in circulation, there are the Daughters Newsletter Magazine, Mothering Magazine, Parents Magazine and Prima Baby Magazine, among others.  

These magazines encourage and equip the parents with children particularly 12 and under, since beyond 12 enters a new phase for them—adolescence. This of course is a whole new section of parenting.

Parenting magazines offer a diverse set of topics for mommies and daddies. They provide parent’s guides like guide to summer camps, guide to spending quality time with your kids, guide in teaching manners and respect to your children, and many more. There are behavior basics explained by seasoned doctors, tips and ways to cope like for mothers who are breastfeeding and working at the same time, or for children who are in the middle of a husband-wife conflict.

These magazines also talks about current developments in medical cases in children and infants like the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome of SIDS, or developmental disabilities like autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or ADHD, and learning disabilities. They provide important details to bring awareness to parents about such cases. They also provide success stories of miracle children, true stories of coping and healing, and other inspirational tales of parents.

There are fun parts too! Like funny family stories, dads talking about their children, moms discussing their kids, shopping tips of different baby products, movie reviews for the whole family, and topics discussed in the children’s own point of view like the best pet they have, and other subjects through the eyes of a child.