They've been labelled asbos, yobs and hoodies. Now however, the teenagers of the West Midlands are hitting back at their negative stereotypes.
According to research by social networking website MySpace, young people in the West Midlands are among the most generous and charitable in the country.
The results found teenagers in the region donated £21.1 million to charity in the last year alone.
The research was published to coincide with the launch of MySpace's "Impact" channel - a new UK home for charities and social causes on MySpace.
The aim of the £2 million campaign, developed in partnership with media charity The Media Trust, is to "empower" MySpace's 10 million UK users to connect with issues and causes they support and to make a difference.
Labelling the teens a generation of "Robin Hoodies", the research said young people had worked hard to fight back against the Asbo generation stereotype, with 11 per cent of 16 to 24-year-olds in the West Midlands regularly donating cash to charities.
In total, it found 21 per cent had given up their spare time to support a charity or a charitable cause in the last year.
Birmingham teenager Tenneil Ameena Badley recently took part in a Media Trust-backed project.
Through the charity, the 17-year-old from Washwood Heath was involved in "Mediabox", a project which gave ten young people the chance to write, direct, and produce a short film about issues important to them.
Of the ten, three - including Tenneil's documentary about growing up in Birmingham, and her life as a black Muslim in a single parent family - will be broadcast on Channel 4 next year.
She said it was important for young people in Birmingham to get off the streets and engage in projects designed with teenagers in mind, while offering their services to charity.
"Through charity you can help people and change things in the long run by putting something back into the community," she said. "For Mediabox, I tried to get other people involved to volunteer to be in the film.
"If I hadn't got involved, I would have been bored during the summer holiday."
She said since making the film, she encouraged her friends to get involved in charity work in the city.
The MySpace research also revealed a new economy of giving among Britain's young people with 35 per cent of 16 to 24-year-olds preferring to give their time than money to charity.
In addition, 18 per cent of the age group volunteered for a charity project in the last year and a similar number took part in a sponsored activity.
Katie Simpson, The Media Trust's head of creative partnerships and youth, said social networking had "transformed the face of charitable campaigning in the UK".
"Media Trust will be helping charities get the most of the site. It's not enough just to create a profile, but organisations need to understand how to maximise its long term potential." she said.
