Results roundup: What 218,350 teens said about freedom and rules.
Complete national survey results, plus look at the differences among several cities across the nation
Rules at school: 75% of teens would ban clothes with gang symbols at school. But, 83% oppose school uniforms.
New technology, from Internet access to the V-chip, poses dilemmas for kids and parents
Town curfews and mall limitations have gained popularity to fight crime. 50% of teens surveyed support nighttime community curfews for protection.
Tattoos taboo? 17% say tattoos on teens should be prohibited.
Results and comments from our Quick Poll about alchohol breath tests -- your rights vs. your safety.
Find out what battles over rights are being fought.
Roundtable: Teens talk to Tipper Gore about age limits and being allowed to make their own decisions.
Teen idols say they have limits and rules to follow, too

We have limits, too, stars say

Fame can't shield these teens from rules or pressures.

BY JENNIFER MENDELSOHN

"Being a celebrity, I realize the consequences if I'm seen with the wrong crowd, doing the wrong thing.'' - Actor Zachery Ty Bryan

He may be a celebrity, but like other teens 15-year-old Zachery Ty Bryan still has to follow rules. The high school freshman, known as eldest son Brad on ABC's hit sitcom Home Improvement, has a weekend curfew (12:30 or 1 a.m.), and always has to call his parents to tell them where he is -- weeknights, too. While Bryan generally feels he has enough freedom -- as do 37% of teens who took USA WEEKEND's survey on Teens & Freedom -- he still regrets the time his parents wouldn't let him attend a concert by rap artists Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. (His father was concerned Bryan might be photographed if anyone near him was using drugs.)

And like the vast majority of students surveyed who oppose public school uniforms, Bryan has mixed feelings about wearing a uniform at his private school in Los Angeles.

USA WEEKEND spoke with several famous teenagers who had a lot in common with the 218,350 young people who took this year's survey on Teens & Freedom. In the survey, for example, 7 in 10 say adults try to restrict teens too much. Off the ice, 16-year-old figure skater Michelle Kwan, the 1996 national and world champion, says her life is sometimes more restricted than she would like. Kwan has never driven her new Jeep without one of her parents in the car. "Even if I wanted to go pick up someone across the street, they'd be like, 'Let me go with you!' " Kwan says, laughing. And while she says she appreciates her parents' concern, like a typical teen she sometimes finds it a bit overblown. "I'm like, 'Don't worry. I'm not going to get killed, you know? I'll be fine!' "

For members of the hit R&B group Immature, one issue with their parents was old-fashioned ear piercing - not body piercing, which students in our survey nixed for teens under 16. Marques "Batman" Houston, 15, of Immature, who still has to do chores around the house, could pierce his ears only after talking it over with his parents. And bandmate Jerome "Romeo" Jones, 15, got in trouble for secretly piercing his ears when he was 11.

The young celebrities concede that stardom has its perks, such as being allowed into clubs usually off limits to those under 21. But many of these famous teens find their freedom even more restricted than do the young fans who took the survey, and in ways most kids would never even consider.

When young celebrities break the rules, it's not just angry parents they have to confront -- their indiscretions could make front-page news.

"People who are famous are role models, and they are expected to behave," explains skater Kwan. "If a camera catches you cussing and doing something bad, who's going to look up to you?"

Immature's Houston agrees: "All eyes are on you when you go out in public because you're a celebrity. You can't act the fool."

In ways different from most teens, personal safety is a major concern for famous teens. Kwan, for example, isn't allowed to cruise the mall by herself. "If I get noticed, my parents are afraid someone will kidnap me and take me for ransom." Members of Immature, fearful of being carjacked, often travel with a bodyguard.

There are other constrictions unique to celebrity, notes Kellie Martin, now 21, who acted in TV's Life Goes On between the ages of 13 and 17. "I had to be in bed by 11 because I had to get up at 5:30 to go to work! I had to make sure I got enough sleep because if I went to work with dark circles under my eyes, they would say, 'Oh, you were out last night.' I couldn't do that."

Martin, currently starring in NBC's Crisis Center, says that because she was tutored on the Life Goes On set, she was sheltered from a lot of normal teen experiences, such as being offered drugs at school or going to parties where there was sex or alcohol.

Martin found the transition to college -- the actress also is a sophomore at Yale University -- "traumatic." Like many famous teens, she had been constantly surrounded by a supporting cast of adults, from her parents to her publicist, who watched over her "like a hawk." But once she left for college, she says, "I had to learn to take care of myself, and all of a sudden I did have all this freedom. I had to be able to make my own decisions, and that's not something I was used to. I'm finally starting to understand how to do it ... but it's taken me longer than most kids."