THE ADOLESCENT IN
SOCIETY
Chapter 6
Introduction
Adolescents are people caught between
two worlds.
 They are no longer children, yet they are
not adults in the eyes of society.
 Adolescence is the period between the
normal onset of puberty and the
beginning of adulthood.

Introduction
Puberty is the physical maturing that
makes an individual capable of sexual
reproduction.
 Adolescence as a distinct life stage is the
creation of modern industrial society, it is
not a universal phenomenon.
 Adolescence simply does not exist as a
concept in many parts of the world

Introduction
In American society, adolescence is
generally considered to run from ages 12
to 19.
 Puberty and acceptance into the adult
world occur at different times for
different people.

The Concept of Adolescence


In many preindustrial societies, young
people go directly from childhood to
adulthood once they have taken part in
formal ceremonies known as puberty rites
around ages 13 or 14.
Common rites include;
 Demonstrations
 Filing
of strength or endurance
of teeth
 Tattooing or scarring of the skin
The Concept of Adolescence
In the U.S., the stage of adolescence did
not occur prior to the Civil War.
 The adolescent experience has become
an acknowledged stage of development
in industrialized countries in only the past
century.

The Concept of Adolescence
There are 3 factors that are important in the
development of adolescence as a distinct life
stage
 Education-State laws make education
mandatory up until age 16; most people stay
in school until 18.
 Most people who attend college stay in school
until their early 20s.

The Concept of Adolescence
Education extends adolescence because
many students depend on others for their
financial support.
 While in school, most students do not take
on the other roles of adulthood, such as
spouse, parent, and provider.

The Concept of Adolescence
The 2nd factor is exclusion of youth from
the workforce.
 In most states, child-labor laws prevent
people from working until age 16.
 When they do start working, most young
people lack the training to compete for
all but the most routine jobs.

The Concept of Adolescence
The third factor is the development of the
juvenile-justice system.
 By distinguishing between juvenile and
adult offenders, American society has
created a separate legal status for young
people.

Characteristics of Adolescence




The experiences of adolescence are not the same for
everyone.
Economic status, family composition, and place of
residence can affect life during adolescence.
Similarly, race, ethnicity, religion, and cultural
heritage can make a difference in the kinds of
adolescent experiences a person has.
There are, however, five characteristics that generally
apply to all adolescents.
Biological Growth and Development
Puberty is the one aspect of adolescence
that is found in every society.
 Puberty is universal because it is
biological rather than cultural in origin.
 The brain and the endocrine system
control biological development.

Biological Growth and Development
During adolescence, individuals often undergo
spurts of growth in height and weight as well
as body proportion.
 In addition, they experience the development
of primary and secondary sexual
characteristics.
 According to the AAD, almost all young people
develop some form of acne and 40% have it
so severe that they seek medical treatment

Undefined Status
Our society’s expectations for children are
quite clear. The expectations for adults are
also known.
 The adolescent expectations are often vague,
however
 Ex. Marriage at 16 w/consent and voting at
18
 While some adults treat adolescents as
children, others treat them as adults.

Undefined Status



It is often difficult for adolescents to define their
status.
Ex. Many U.S. states allow young people to marry
(age 16 with consent), however, you must be 18 to
legally vote.
Some adults have adopted some of the values and
styles of dress that are popular among teenagers
while others are critical of the way adolescents
dress, the music they listen to, and the way they
behave.
Increased Decision Making
Young children have most of their decisions
made for them by adults.
 When children reach adolescence, they must
make many of their own decisions.
 Some of these decisions are of little life-long
importance.
 Other decisions have far-reaching
consequences.

Increased Pressure
Adolescents are faced with pressure from
many sources. (ex. Parents want students
to have an active social life, but they
generally make the rules regarding
curfews.)
 Adolescents must strike a balance
between parental wishes and peer
pressures.

Increased Pressure
Perhaps the greatest pressures come from
peers.
 Teenagers want to be accepted by their peers
and to be part of the “in” group.
 Adolescents also face pressure to establish
relationships.
 Adolescents also face job-related pressures.

The Search for Self



Adolescents are mature enough to think about
themselves and about what they want out of life.
Most teens can sort through their values and
decide what things are really important to them.
When people know who they are, what they want
out of life, and which values serve them best, they
are in a better position to make the most of
adulthood.
The Search for Self
for future roles is one aspect of
finding oneself.
 Anticipatory socialization involves
learning the rights, and expectations of a
role to prepare for assuming that role in
the future (ex. Children playing house is a

Preparing
form of anticipatory socialization for adult
family roles).
The Search for Self
During adolescence, anticipatory
socialization becomes much more
important.
 A part-time job, club membership, and
dating are 3 forms of anticipatory
socialization during adolescence.

Dating



Dating, like adolescence, is not a universal
phenomenon.
Dating, or the meeting of people as a romantic
engagement, is most commonly found in societies
that allow individuals to choose their own marriage
partners.
In some societies marriages are arranged by
parents or a go-between who negotiates a formal
marriage contract between families.
Dating
Dating, although it may seem like it has been
around forever, is only a recent phenomenon.
 Dating did not emerge as a form of social
interaction between the sexes until just after
World War I.
 Only in the past 60 years have sociologists
taken an interest in dating as a topic of study.

Courtship and Dating
Prior to the rise of dating in the U.S.,
interaction between young unmarried men and
women was restricted to courtship.
 Courtship differs from dating in that courtship’s
express purpose is eventual marriage.
 Dating, may eventually lead to marriage.
 Its main purpose is entertainment and
amusement, at least in the early stages.

Courtship and Dating

Try to view dating on a continuum…
 Casual
dating
 Steady dating
 Engagement
 Marriage

As people move along the continuum, the
degree of commitment increases and
interaction may stop at any point.
Courtship and Dating
Courtship continuum- Think of courtship
being in between steady dating and
engagement.
 Courtship was not casual and had very
strictly defined roles.
 To court a woman, a man must ask her
parents’ permission, show honorable
intentions, and have marriage in mind.

Courtship and Dating
Courtship was usually conducted under close
supervision or in a social situation among many
people, rarely was a couple left alone.
 Young people did have fun during this time, but
the main purpose was to find a spouse.
 It is from this strict base that the modern-day
system of dating emerged.

The Emergence of Dating



The rise of industrialization in the U.S. greatly
contributed to the development of dating.
In agriculture America, the timing of marriage was
determined by the age at which the man acquired
the property necessary to support a family.
Because the father had to be willing to transfer a
portion of the land, parents were largely in
control over the marriage choices of their children.
The Emergence of Dating
As the Industrial Revolution moved
forward, people moved off of farms and
into cities.
 Young adults became less dependent of
their parents for economic security
because they could get their own jobs.
 This economic freedom reduced parental
control over courtship.

The Emergence of Dating
Free public secondary education also
helped pave the way for dating.
 Unlike most private schools, public schools
were coeducational.
 After World War I, more Americans
acquired telephones and automobiles, which
gave young Americans the freedom of
movement.

The Emergence of Dating
The 1920s was also a time of increased
freedom for women.
 Interaction between single men and
women increased due to more women
entering the workforce.

Willard Waller Study
Conducted a study in the 20s and 30s at Penn
St.
 Findings…

 Casual
dating had more to do with entertainment
and little to do with mate selection.
 Partners were selected because of popularity,
good looks, and nice clothes.
 Differed from courtship where dependability and
honesty were most important
Willard Waller Study
 Dating
was almost limited to members of fraternities
and sororities (people dated people of similar social
rank).
 Women ranked potential dates according to; fraternity
membership, looks, money, clothes, cars, and dancing
ability.


The object was to be seen with the “right” people.
To be seen with a person of lower status could
damage an individual’s social standing on campus.
The Emergence of Dating




Waller’s study has since been challenged.
Character and personality factors are also
important in selecting dating partners.
Similarities exist between the qualities that an
individual looks for in a casual date or marriage
partner.
Homogamy- The tendency of individuals to marry
people who have social characteristics similar to
their own.
Why Date?

Dating is a form of entertainment.
 Dating
allows young people to simply have
fun.

Dating is a mechanism for socialization.
 It
teaches individuals about members of the
opposite sex and how to behave in social
situations as well as role behaviors.
Why Date?

Dating fulfills certain basic psychological needs.


Conversation, companionship, and understanding.
Dating helps individuals attain status.
In societies where people choose their own partners, people
are judged in part by who they date.
 Dating someone who someone else wants to date can help
raise status.


As you get older, spousal selection becomes an
important issue.
Why Date?



All of these functions may not be present at each
stage of the dating continuum, or if they are
present, they may not carry the same weight.
Ex. In casual dating, entertainment and status
attainment may be important.
However, as the level of commitment increases,
socialization and companionship may be of primary
concern.
Dating Patterns
Dating patterns can also be viewed as a
continuum.
 On one end are traditional dating
patterns associated with behavior prior to
the 1960s.
 On the other end are informal patterns
that are characteristic of dating today.

Traditional Dating Patterns
These patterns can still be found in small
towns and rural areas of the country.
 They are most characteristic of dating
during the 1940s and 1950s.
 Under this pattern, responsibility for
arranging the date fell to the man.

 Contact
the intended date, suggest a time and
place, select the activity, and pay for expenses.
Traditional Dating Patterns

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WH
4NWbPABw&feature=related&safety_m
ode=true&safe=active&persist_safety_m
ode=1
Traditional Dating Patterns

Traditional dates were very ritualized.
 If
you didn’t call by Wednesday to set up a
Saturday date, you were rejected.
 Accepting a date later in the week was evidence
that the woman was not the man’s first choice.

Dating was so tied to social status that
people who did not have dates on prime
dating nights were known to hide in their
rooms in shame.
Traditional Dating Patterns
Dates in the early stages of a relationship
were set around activities (movies,
sporting events) so attention could be
focused elsewhere if the date wasn’t
going well.
 As casual dating progressed, the
relationship often developed into one of
steady dating.

Traditional Dating Patterns



Steady dating carried with it a formal set of
expectations and commitments.
A visible symbol of commitment was often given by
the man to the woman (class ring, varsity jacket, ID
bracelet, etc.).
Steady dating acted as anticipatory socialization
for marriage even though is wasn’t expected that
you had to get married.
Contemporary Dating Patterns

Dating patterns have changed since the
1960s.
 Greater
opportunity for young men and
women to interact with each other informally.
 No set stages of dating
 Men and women equally initiate dates.
 It is acceptable for either partner to pay (not
on first date men!)
Contemporary Dating Patterns
Relationships today are based much more
on friendship and group- than on the
couple.
 Men don’t need “lines” today to give off
a favorable, but sometimes false,
impression of themselves because most
adolescents known one another.

Introduction
The characteristics of adolescence that mark it
as a distinct life stage give rise to pressures
and problems not generally found in childhood.
 Teenagers face important developmental tasks;

 Carving
out identity
 planning for the future
 Becoming more independent
 Developing close relationships
Teenage Sexual Behavior
The norms governing sexual behavior vary
widely from society to society.
 In small preindustrial countries, adolescent
sexual activity is permitted and in some cases
encouraged (seen as prep for marriage).
 Traditional sexual values in the U.S. are an
outgrowth of Puritan and Victorian views of
sexual morality.

Teenage Sexual Behavior
According to these views, sexual activity
should be confined to marriage.
 Since the 1960s and 1970s, there has
been a “sexual revolution” due to;

 The
development of birth control
 Youth counterculture
 The feminist movement
Teenage Sexual Behavior
Teens can see sexual references in TV
shows, displays of intimacy in almost all
movies that are not rated “G”, and in
many advertisements that use sexuality to
sell their products.
 An unanticipated consequence of these
changing norms is the dramatic increase
of adolescent sexual behavior.

The Rate of Teenage Sexual Activity

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From the Center for Disease Control (CDC);
Sexual activity among unmarried 15-19 year old
girls 1970- 29%, 1995- 50%
Children born to unmarried teen females 1970- 22
births/1,000 1996- 43 births/1,000
The CDC preached abstinence and also birth control
during the 1990s.
Sexual activity declined, birth control increased,
and teen pregnancy decreased.
Influences on Early Sexual Activity
Social scientists have developed
explanations (mostly economic and
subcultural) for why adolescents engage
in sexual activity.
 In general, teens from higher-income twoparent families have lower rates of
sexual activity than teens from low-income
one-parent families.

Influences on Early Sexual Activity



Teens who actively practice their religion tend to
hold less-permissive attitudes and are less
experienced sexually than some nonreligious teens.
Generally, teens whose friends engage in
premarital sex are more likely to be sexually
active.
Early sexual behavior is also associated with other
risk-taking behaviors such as drug use and
delinquency.
Consequences of Early Sexual Activity
According to the CDC, less than 1/3 of
teen women who are sexually active use
birth-control methods on a regular basis.
 Negative consequences of teen
pregnancy (check handout and know for
test).
 4 million teens contract sexually
transmitted diseases each year.

Consequences of Early Sexual Activity

Ages 15-19 (in 2008) accounted for
 8%
of all syphilis cases
 28% of all gonorrhea cases
 And nearly 40% of all chlamydia cases
Teenage Suicide
The rate of suicide among young people in the
U.S. has more than doubled in the past three
decades.
 As of 1997, teen suicide happens “once every
2 hours in the U.S., 12 times a day, 84 times a
week…well over 4,000 times a year.”
 Suicide is 3rd only to accidents and homicide as
the leading cause of death among people
aged 15 to 24.

Teenage Suicide
Researchers argue that suicide rates among the
young would be much higher if certain
accidental drownings, drug overdoses, and
other similar deaths were taken into
consideration.
 In 1999, the CDC said 8% of students
questioned had attempted suicide and 20%
said they considered suicide.

Teenage Suicide
14% of these students even went as far
as to make a suicide plan.
 As startling as these findings are, it is
important to understand that the rate of
suicide for people aged 75-84 is almost
twice as high as it is among the young.

The Sociological View of Suicide
Sociologists acknowledge that suicide is
an act committed by individuals, but they
are more interested in the social factors
that affect suicide rates.
 According to the sociological perspective,
variations in suicide rates can be
understood by studying the structure of
society and the experiences of people.

The Sociological View of Suicide



Emile Durkheim’s classic study Suicide is still the most
comprehensive sociological analysis of suicide to
date.
Durkheim was interested in why some societies or
groups within a society have higher rates of suicide
than others.
Durkheim found that variations in suicide rates can
be explained by the level of social integration in a
group or society.
The Sociological View of Suicide



Social integration is the degree of attachment
people have to social groups or to society as a
whole.
Durkheim found that people who have high
integration of low levels of integration have a high
risk of suicide.
(ex. Inuit elders who walk into the snowy wild to die
when they become a burden to the group)
The Sociological View of Suicide
Low integration suicide occurs much more often
that high integration suicides.
 Low levels of integration occur in periods of
social disorganization, which result from many
factors;

 Rapid
social change
 Increased geographic mobility
 War or natural disasters
 Sudden changes in economic conditions
The Sociological View of Suicide



Suicide rates increase during periods of social
disorganization because the norms that govern
behavior weaken or become less clear.
The social bonds that give individuals a sense of
group solidarity- such as family ties and religiontend to weaken during periods of social
disorganization.
Deprived of clear behavioral guidelines and
adequate social support, some people turn to
suicide as a last resort.
Predictors of Teen Suicide





Alcohol or drug use
Triggering events- a specific event or anticipation of
a specific event triggers suicide attempt.
Age- The risk of suicide increases with age
Sex- Females are 3x more likely than males to
attempt, males are more likely to succeed.
Population density- Under-populated areas have a
higher rate of teen suicide
Predictors of Teen Suicide
Family relations-The weakening of social
bonds increases the likelihood of suicide.
 Cluster effect- A teenage suicide
sometimes results in other suicide attempt.
