Chapter 3 Discussion

CHAPTER 3 Notes Social Transitions

I. SOCIAL REDEFINITION AND PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

A. In all societies, adolescence is a time of change in individuals’ social roles and status. The social redefinition of individuals during adolescence has important implications for their behavior and psychosocial development. This time of transition to more adult roles may prompt self-evaluation and redefinition of the adolescent’s self-image. As adolescents reach the age of majority (legal age for adult status), they begin to act and see themselves in different ways and are treated differently by others. For example, adolescents experience changes in identity, autonomy, responsibility, intimacy, sexuality, and achievement.

II. THE ELONGATION OF ADOLESCENCE

A. Adolescence is longer today than it has ever been before. Youth start puberty earlier and enter into adult roles of work and family later. In the middle of the 19th century, adolescence lasted around 5 years—that’s how long it took girls to go from menarche to marriage. By 2010, it took 15 years for the average girl to go from menarche to marriage. For more than a decade, adolescents are caught between the world of childhood and the world of adulthood. This extended time period has led to a more vague and disorderly transition to adulthood, especially for youth growing up in poverty. It also has important implications for how adolescents see themselves, relate to others, and develop psychologically. Today’s adolescents are probably no less emotionally mature than the adolescents of 100 years ago, but young people today are economically “immature” because so much formal education is needed to assume adult roles.

III. ADOLESCENCE AS A SOCIAL INVENTION

A. Inventionists have argued that adolescence is more a social invention than a biological or cognitive phenomenon. Many of these theorists view the behaviors and problems characteristic of adolescence in contemporary society as a consequence of the particular way that adolescence is defined and young people are treated rather than the result of biological or cognitive factors.

B. The “Invention” of Adolescence: According to inventionists, adolescence as a distinct developmental period did not exist until the Industrial Revolution. Before the 19th century, children were treated as miniature adults, a source of labor for their families (or to whomever they were apprenticed), and nurtured in the roles they would be expected to fill in later life. The primary distinction between children and adults was based on property ownership rather than age or ability.

C. The Impact of Industrialization: Industrialization of the workplace led to dramatic shifts in job opportunities, patterns of work, and family life. Changes in the economy led to a shortage of jobs, competition for unskilled jobs between adults and adolescents, and an increase in crime. As a result, child protectionists, as well as adults concerned about their own employment, removed adolescents from the labor force and placed them in formal schooling.

D. The Origins of Adolescence as We Know It Today: It was not until the late 19th century that adolescence came to be seen as a lengthy period of preparation for adulthood, in which young people remain economically dependent on their elders. With these changes came the rise of new terminology and ideas. Adolescents were now considered “teenagers,” a term popularized about 75 years ago to connote a more frivolous and lighthearted image. An important social change that led to the development of the concept of teenager was the increased affluence and economic freedom enjoyed by American adolescents. Advertisers recognized that teenagers represented an important consumer group and began targeting ad campaigns toward the lucrative adolescent market. A second term, “youth,” once used to refer to individuals between the ages of 12 and 24, is now a term generally used to refer to individuals between the ages of 18 and 22. The need for highly trained individuals in the workplace has lengthened the period of formal schooling into college-level training and graduate school in preparation to enter adult work and family roles.

E. Emerging Adulthood: A New Stage of Life or a Luxury of the Middle Class? This delay of transition to adulthood is so prevalent in many industrialized societies that some theorists have proposed a new life stage—“emerging adulthood”—which may last for some individuals until their mid-20s. The main proponent of this idea, psychologist Jeffrey Arnett, contends that the period between ages 18 and 25 is a unique developmental period, characterized by five main features: (1) the exploration of possible identities before making enduring choices; (2) instability in work, romantic relationships, and living arrangements; (3) a focus on oneself, specifically on functioning as an independent person; (4) the feeling of being between adolescence and adulthood; and (5) the sense that life holds many possibilities.

F. Is Emerging Adulthood Universal? Research has shown that emerging adulthood exists in few countries: the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and the wealthier nations of Western Europe. It is more often seen among affluent adolescents who can “afford” to explore than among more working-class youths. Even in wealthy nations, there is a great deal of variability among people in their mid-20s in terms of emerging adulthood. Emerging adulthood relates to values and priorities as well as economics. Some emerging adults live the way they do because they want to take some time before assuming adult responsibilities.

G. Psychological Well-Being in Emerging Adulthood: There is limited research on psychological development during emerging adulthood. The research that does exist suggests that, for those who experience emerging adulthood, this is a time of increasing well-being and positive mental health. At the same time, however, the period between

18 and 25 is a time during which a substantial number of people report serious mental health problems such as depression or substance abuse. Some researchers classify people from 18 to 26 as “succeeding,” “maintaining,” or “stalling” based on their responses to questions about peer involvement, education, work, substance abuse, romantic involvement, social conscience or political awareness, and financial autonomy.

IV. CHANGES IN STATUS DURING ADOLESCENCE

A. Changes in social definition at adolescence typically involve a two-sided modification in the individual’s status. Adolescents are granted some privileges and rights that are typically reserved for the society’s adult members, but this increased power and freedom is generally accompanied by increased expectations for self-management, personal responsibility, and social participation.

B. Drawing a Legal Boundary: The attainment of adult status is one example of the double shift in social status. In contemporary America, attaining the age of majority brings new freedoms (e.g., the right to vote, the right to purchase and view X-rated films) as well as new obligations (e.g., the expectation to serve their communities in cases of emergency or need). Additionally, once an adolescent is designated as an adult, she or he is also subject to a new set of laws and will be treated differently by the society’s legal institutions than a child would be. Adolescents who engage in behaviors that are considered illegal for their age but not for adults are said to be committing status offenses (e.g., curfew, truancy). In addition, a separate juvenile justice system has been created to handle adolescent crime and delinquency whereas adults are tried in the criminal justice system. In general, sanctions are usually less severe in juvenile court; however, this is not always the case. Several issues surrounding the legal status of adolescents remain vague and confusing. Development in the adolescent years is so rapid and variable that establishing a chronological age at which a defendant should be prosecuted as an adult is often difficult. This problem is complicated by the fact that we draw the adult/child boundary at different places for different purposes (e.g., driving at 16, voting at 18, buying alcohol at 21).

C. Adolescents as Criminal Defendants: The greatest disagreement among those wrestling with this contentious issue of where to “draw the line” arises from the question of how society should view and adjudicate young people who commit serious violent offenses. There has been a trend to try more juveniles as adults in criminal court. As a result, the issue of whether an adolescent is competent to stand trial has emerged. In a study of 11- to 24-year-olds, one-third of those aged 13 and younger and one-fifth of the 14- and 15-year-olds were as impaired in their abilities to serve as a defendant as were mentally ill adults who had been found not competent to stand trial. Research also indicates that juveniles, compared to adults, are more likely to confess to a crime than remain silent, less likely to understand their rights when being questioned by the police, and less likely to discuss disagreements with their attorneys.

D. Inconsistencies in Adolescents’ Legal Status: In general, the law tends to restrict the behavior of adolescents when the behavior is viewed as potentially dangerous (e.g., buying cigarettes) but has supported adolescent autonomy when the behavior is viewed as having potential benefit (e.g., using contraceptives).

V. THE PROCESS OF SOCIAL REDEFINITION

A. Social redefinition is more like a process than a single, isolated event. The process of social redefinition typically begins, in the United States, at 15 or 16 years of age and continues well into the adult years. Some societies mark the transition to adulthood with an elaborate initiation ceremony. Initiation ceremonies, or rites of passage, typically mark the beginning of a long period of training and preparation for adulthood rather than the adolescent’s final passage into adult status. In many societies, the social redefinition of young people occurs in groups of peers of approximately the same age— cohorts—that move through a series of status transitions together. These cohorts can develop strong bonds, as in the case of class spirit in U.S. high schools and adolescent Latinas celebrating their quinceañeras.

B. Common Practices in the Process of Social Redefinition: Although there is a good deal of cross-cultural variability in specific practices, three general themes are usually found: the real (e.g., outplacing or apprenticeship) or symbolic separation of the young person from his or her parents, the accentuation of physical and social differences between males and females, and the passing on of cultural, historical, and practical information from the older generation. The segregation of male and female adolescents in traditional societies may preclude many life course trajectories. This is especially true for women, to whom formal schooling, dress choice, and even freedom of movement may be denied. Contemporary societies have few formal ceremonies marking the transition from childhood into adolescence. However, some contemporary ceremonies are still practiced, such as the quinceañera and the Bar or Bas Mitzvah. The third aspect of social redefinition, the passing on of information from the older generation, may involve (1) matters thought to be important to adults but of limited use to children, (2) matters thought to be necessary for adults but unfit for children, or (3) matters concerning the history or rituals of the family or community. In some parts of the world, initiation ceremonies also may include scarification, the intentional creation of scars on some parts of the body that provide tangible proof of a transition to adulthood. Although this may seem odd and alien at first glance, there are some parallels in Western culture, including the body rituals of tattooing, piercing, and shaving.

VI. VARIATIONS IN SOCIAL TRANSITIONS

A. Two important dimensions along which societies differ in the process of social redefinition are in the clarity (or explicitness) and continuity (or smoothness) of the adolescent’s passage into adulthood.

B. Variations in Clarity: There are few universal markers in our contemporary society to delineate adulthood. Different schedules and life course trajectories may also blur the lines of where the transition to adulthood occurs. More traditional cultures in other parts of the world typically have more clearly defined social redefinition of adolescents marked by ceremonies or initiations. Our contemporary culture often lacks discrete markers of social redefinition at the onset of adulthood.

C. The Clarity of Social Redefinition in Contemporary Society: School graduation ceremonies have become one of our most universal rites of passage in contemporary society, yet this transition does not provide any clear indication of what adult responsibilities or privileges a youth may have. In fact, we have different age boundaries for different activities (e.g., driving a car, drinking alcohol, voting) and sometimes adolescents can be treated differently in different contexts (e.g., treated like an adult at work but like a child at home).

D. Adolescents’ Views of Themselves: As there are no consistent markers as to when adolescence ends and young adulthood begins, adolescents living in the same society can have varying beliefs about age-appropriate behavior and their own social status. Studies of how people define adulthood in contemporary society indicate three interesting trends. First, adolescents from industrialized societies place less emphasis on the attainment of specific roles (e.g., spouse, parent, worker) and more emphasis on character traits related to self-reliance as indicators of adult attainment than do adolescents from nonindustrialized cultures. Parents in modern industrialized societies emphasize psychosocial maturity as the defining feature of reaching adulthood. Second, over time, there has been a striking decline in the importance of family roles as defining features of the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Finally, the defining criteria of adulthood have become more or less the same for males and females in contemporary industrialized society, unlike the case in traditional societies or during previous eras.

E. The Clarity of Social Redefinition in Traditional Cultures: In traditional cultures, the transition from adolescence to adulthood is often marked by a formal initiation ceremony. Unlike the case in contemporary society where it is often difficult to distinguish between initiated and uninitiated young people, in most traditional societies, the differences between children and adults are clear. For example, in traditional cultures, new types of clothing may be worn following initiation, or some sort of surgical operation or scarification may be performed to create a permanent means of marking the individual’s adult status.

F. The Circumcision Controversy: One practice involving the physical transformation of the adolescent that has generated a great deal of controversy is circumcision. Male circumcision during infancy is very common in the United States and has been related to a decrease in health risks. There is no evidence that circumcision harms men emotionally. On the other hand, female circumcision (female genital mutilation)—which is rarely practiced outside of North Africa—carries no health benefits and is very risky for young women (e.g., infection and chronic pain during urination, menstruation, and

sexual intercourse). After circumcision, it is virtually impossible for a woman to achieve an orgasm during sex. Many international groups consider female genital mutilation to be a human rights violation that should end worldwide.

G. The Clarity of Social Redefinition in Previous Eras: Compared to the 1960s, the transition to adulthood appears much later. For example, the average age of marriage in the 1960s was 20 years for women and 22 years for men. Today, the average age of marriage is 27 years for women and 29 years for men. In 1960, fewer than 10 percent of young adults between the ages of 25 and 34 lived with their parents; in 2014, close to 15 percent of this same age group lived with parents. In 1960, a high proportion of adolescents went directly from high school into full-time employment or the military (with only one-third of American high school graduates going directly to college); today, about two-thirds of high school graduates go directly to college. In sum, three key elements of the transition to adulthood—getting married, moving out of the parents’ home, and completing one’s education—all occurred relatively earlier than they do today. However, if we are to look back to the late 19th century, age of marriage for males was roughly the same (26 in the late 19th century and 29 today). Also, the proportion of 25- to 34-year-olds living at home was much higher early in the 20th century than it was during the 1950s (in 1940, nearly 30 percent of this age group lived with parents or grandparents). As such, even though the term may be new, “emerging adulthood” is not a new phenomenon.

H. Variations in Continuity: In addition to the clarity of the adolescent passage, societies vary in the extent to which the transition into adulthood is gradual or abrupt. In a continuous transition, characteristic of more traditional societies, the adolescent assumes the roles and status of adulthood bit by bit, with a good deal of preparation and training along the way. In a discontinuous transition, characteristic of contemporary societies, the adolescent is thrust into adulthood abruptly, with little prior preparation.

I. The Continuity of the Adolescent Passage in Contemporary Society: Although adolescents are expected to attain adult roles, we provide little training for these responsibilities. For example, adolescents tend to be segregated from the workforce and receive little training in school for the types of jobs they will hold as adults. As such, the transition into adult work roles is fairly discontinuous for most young people in industrialized society. In addition, adolescents have very little experience with adult family roles such as being a parent. Adolescents also have little experience with decision making and citizenship roles and, at the age of 18 when they are permitted to vote, have received little preparation on how to participate. It is interesting that adolescents are segregated from these adult activities for most of their childhood and youth; however, they are expected to suddenly assume these roles on reaching the age of majority.

J. The Continuity of the Adolescent Passage in Traditional Cultures: Societies in which hunting, fishing, and farming are the primary work activities tend to exhibit a more continuous transition between adolescence and adulthood. Children are typically not isolated in separate educational institutions, and they accompany the adult members of

their community in daily activities. However, with modernization and globalization, this continuous passage is dissolving.

K. The Continuity of the Adolescent Passage in Previous Eras: The transition from adolescence to adulthood was more continuous during the 18th and 19th centuries than it is today. For example, many families were engaged in farming, and adolescents were expected to carry on the family trade, whereas other youths left home to work as apprentices so that they could learn skills in preparation for adulthood work roles. In addition, adolescents were more likely to assist with family responsibilities such as caring for infants and monitoring younger siblings, which helped prepare them for more domestic responsibilities.

L. Current Trends in Home Leaving: Individuals are living with their parents longer today than in recent years due to the cost of housing and transportation. Although in the 1960s, living at home was deemed to be less independent and more immature, today it is viewed as the norm. For the first time in more than 100 years, most 18- to 34-year- olds in the United States live with their parents. People of this age who live with parents do not have as steep a rise in the use of alcohol and drugs as those who go off to college. Historic events such as the Great Recession in the first decade of this century and natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina may have temporarily altered the nature of the adolescent passage.

VII. THE TRANSITION INTO ADULTHOOD IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY

A. We don’t know whether the prolonged and discontinuous passage into adulthood has improved or worsened adolescents’ psychosocial development. It much probably depends on access to resources. Many social commentators describe three transitions to adulthood in the United States today: one for the “haves,” one for the “have nots,” and one for those who are in between. Two specific societal trends are reshaping the nature of the transition from adolescence to adulthood: (1) the length of the transitional period is increasing and (2) as success in the labor force increasingly depends on formal education, the division between those who have access to resources (e.g., money, schools, information technology) and those who do not (e.g., those who are poor, less educated) will continue to amplify. Also, as emerging adults continue to delay assumption of adult roles and as the age of puberty continues to drop, the length of adolescence will keep increasing. In China, India, and other developing countries, economic improvements have led to more schooling, which in turn leads to greater inequality within each country.

B. Special Transitional Problems of Poor and Minority Youth: Black, Hispanic, and American Indian youth have more trouble negotiating the transition into adulthood than do their White and Asian counterparts (which could be due to poverty, discrimination, segregation, and disproportionate involvement with the justice system). Youngsters from minority backgrounds make up a substantial and growing portion of the adolescent population in America. Research suggests that, in general, foreign-born adolescent

immigrants have better mental health, exhibit less problem behavior, and perform better in school than adolescents from the same ethnic group who are native-born Americans. It appears that “Americanization” makes immigrant adolescents worse, not better.

C. The Effects of Poverty on the Transition Into Adulthood: Poverty inhibits the smooth transition from adolescence to adulthood. The effects of poverty on the transition into adulthood include increased likelihood of failure in school, unemployment, delinquency, out-of-wedlock pregnancy, and teen pregnancy. Minority youth are more likely to grow up poor. Because minority youngsters are more likely to grow up poor, they are more likely to have transitional problems in middle to late adolescence. Black and Native American youth are more likely to be exposed to violence.

D. What Can Be Done to Ease the Transition? As a means of making the transition into adulthood smoother, a number of commissions have recommended that we reexamine the structure of schools and expand work and service opportunities (both military and nonmilitary) for young people—especially for those young people who are not college bound. Others have pointed out that adolescents cannot come of age successfully without the help of adults and that programs are needed to strengthen families and communities and to bring adolescents into contact with adult mentors.

E. Mentoring: Mentoring programs have had a small yet positive effect on youth development. Adolescents who have been mentored are less likely to have problems in school and at home, less likely to use drugs and alcohol, and less likely to get into trouble with the law. However, mentoring alone is not enough to meet the needs of at- risk youth. Most experts agree that a comprehensive approach to the problem is needed and that such an approach must simultaneously address adolescents’ educational, employment, interpersonal, and health needs.

VIII. THE INFLUENCE OF NEIGHBORHOOD CONDITIONS ON ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT

A. Poverty in the United States has become much more concentrated in the past four decades. Because of growing numbers of poor families in economically and racially segregated communities, researchers have begun to explore whether neighborhood poverty, in addition to family poverty, is predictive of adolescents’ transition difficulties. Different studies have found positive, neutral, or negative effects when families move to more advantaged neighborhoods. It is possible that adolescents who move to wealthier neighborhoods experience more discrimination than those who do not. Some evidence shows that parents in poor neighborhoods monitor their children more closely, and adolescents who are closely monitored tend to have fewer problems.

B. The Price of Privilege: Although poverty has a wide range of adverse consequences for adolescents’ development, there is accumulating evidence that growing up in an extremely affluent neighborhood may carry its own risks. Compared to teenagers in

middle-class communities, adolescents in wealthy neighborhoods report higher levels of delinquency, substance abuse, anxiety, and depression. Pressure to excel in school and in extracurricular activities may be a factor in these problems.

C. Impact of Poverty on Adolescent Development: Adolescents growing up in impoverished communities are more likely than their peers from equally poor households, but better neighborhoods, to be sexually active at an earlier age, to achieve less in (or even drop out of) high school, to be involved in criminal activity, and to become pregnant. Furthermore, these effects of poor neighborhood on adolescent behavior, achievement, and mental health are above and beyond effects attributable to growing up in a poor family or attending a poor school. The absence of affluent neighbors, rather than the presence of poor neighbors, seems to place adolescents in impoverished communities at greatest risk.

D. Processes of Neighborhood Influences: Three mechanisms have been suggested to explain how neighborhood conditions might affect the behavior and development of adolescents: collective efficacy, the impact of stress, and limited access to resources.

E. Collective Efficacy: This term means the extent to which neighbors trust one another, have similar values, and count on each other to monitor youth activities. Poverty in neighborhoods breeds social isolation and social disorganization. As a consequence, it is easier for deviant peer groups to form and to influence the behavior of adolescents in these communities.

F. The Impact of Stress: The stress associated with poverty undermines the quality of people’s relationships with one another and interferes with parents’ ability to be effective at parenting. Furthermore, adolescents who are exposed to violence, which is pervasive in poor neighborhoods, are more likely to engage in violent behavior, to think about killing themselves, and to report symptoms of depression, PTSD, hopelessness, and substance abuse. One study reported that adolescents who witness gun violence are twice as likely to commit violence in the future. Growing up in violent neighborhoods may even affect brain development by interfering with self-control, delay of gratification, and empathy. Not all adolescents exposed to neighborhood stressors are affected equally.

G. Limited Access to Resources: Adolescents who grow up in poor neighborhoods have access to fewer resources than do those who grow up in more advantaged communities (e.g., lower quality of schools, health care, transportation, and fewer employment opportunities and recreational services). Where there are high-quality institutional resources, there are often positive social relationships as well.