CULTURE AND
ADOLESCENCE
Culture
• The behavior patterns, beliefs, and all other
products of a particular group of people that are
passed on from generation to generation.
• Two important dimensions of culture in
adolescents’ lives:
– Socioeconomic status. A grouping of people with
similar occupational, educational, and economic
characteristics.
– Ethnicity. A dimension of culture based on cultural
heritage, nationality, race, religion, and language.
Culture
• Today we live in a great social melting pot. However, there are
challenges. According to (Brewer & Campbell, 1976), people have a
tendency to:
– Believe that their customs and values are natural and the culture of others is
unnatural
– Believe their cultural customs are universally valid and applicable to other
societies
– Behave in ways that favor their cultural group
– Feel proud of their cultural group
– Feel hostile toward other cultural groups
• Challenge: In our society we have people from all walks of
life and customs (Refugees, Immigrants, Ethnic groups).
Many refuse to conform to the values of this western society
and seek to express their unique customs in this society.
How do we create a society of free expression under
such diverse circumstances?
Ethnocentrism
• A tendency to favor one’s own group over other groups.
– Traditionally, when we study adolescent development, we study
it from a Eurocentric approach (unique to the values of US), but
what of adolescent development among diverse adolescents.
• Discuss Spencer and Mark-Amstrand study
• Dating rituals across cultures
Cross-Cultural Comparisons
• Cross-Cultural Studies. Studies that compare a culture
with one or more other cultures. Such studies provide
information about the degree to which adolescent
development is similar, or universal, across cultures or
about the degree to which it is culture specific.
• Margret Mead study of adolescents from Somoa. Thru
cultural studies like this one, we learn that adolescent
stress is not as universal as projected by G. Stanley Hall.
Achievement
• US adolescents are socialized to be achievement oriented and
independent to a greater degree than adolescents from other groups.
– Could Juvenile delinquency be a natural function of this socialization?
• Studies have shown that American parents socialize children to be
independent while other cultures focus on obedience and responsibility
(Kenya) and group solidarity (Asian, Hispanic).
• US adolescents tend to be more competitive, less cooperative, and to
discount the gains of adolescents from other cultural groups.
• Although Anglo-Americans are achievement oriented, they do not exceed
certain cultures (Japanese, Chinese, Asian).
– 86% of Asian-American & 64% of Caucasian American pursue post-High
School education.
• According to David Elkind, American children are too achievement
oriented and it has affected mental health among adolescents.
Adolescent Sexuality
• Some cultures consider the expression of sexuality to be healthy and
appropriate while others forbid it.
– Margaret Mead Study
– Wagner Study
– Ines Beag (Small Island in Ireland). Inhabitants are the most sexually
deprived in the world.
• No knowledge of French kissing or hand stimulation of the penis.
• Sex education doesn’t exist.
• They believe that, after marriage, nature will take its course.
• The men think that intercourse is bad for their health.
• Individuals in this culture detest nudity.
• Only babies are allowed to bathe nude and adults wash only the parts of their
body that extend beyond their clothing.
• Premarital sex is out of the question.
• After marriage, sexual partners keep their underwear on during intercourse.
• In contrast, Mangaian culture in the South Pacific.
– Boys learn about masturbation around age 6 and 7.
– Age 13, boys undergo a male ritual in which they
receive an incision on their penis.
– The male giving the incision provides instruction in how
to sexually please a woman.
– 2 weeks after incision, the male has sex with an
experienced woman who teaches him how to hold back
his ejaculation so that she can receive ejaculation.
– By the end of adolescence, he has sex every night with
a woman.
Models of Cultural Change
• Assimilation. Occurs when individuals relinquish their cultural
identity and move into the larger society. “The melting pot.”
• Acculturation. Cultural change that results from continuous,
firsthand contact between two distinctive cultural groups.
• Alternation model. This model assumes that it is possible for an
individual to know and understand two different cultures. It also
assumes that individuals can alter their behavior to fit a particular
social context.
• Multicultural model. This model promotes a pluralistic approach to
understanding two or more cultures. It argues that people can
maintain their distinctive identities while working with others from
different cultures to meet common national or economic needs.
Rites of Passage
• Ceremonies or rituals that mark an individual’s transition
from one status to another, especially into adulthood.
– Jewish Bar Mitzvah
– The Catholic confirmation
– Social Debuts
– African cultures has been a source of diverse “Rites of Passage”
however, with Western influence they are diminishing in many
areas.
Socio-Economic Status
• Distribution of socioeconomic status.
• Crime and socioeconomic statue. Adolescent outcomes.
– Discuss “Race to Incarcerate”
• Poverty
– Poverty in US is greater than in other industrialized nations.
– 17% of adolescents live below the poverty line.
– 40% of African-American and Latino-Americans live in poverty.
– Women are more likely to be in poverty than men
African American Youth
• African Americans make up the 2nd largest ethnic minority
group in the US.
• African American families stratify across the socioeconomic
statuses; however, there are disproportionately higher
families who fall in low socioeconomic status.
• The majority of youth stay in school, do not take drugs, do
not prematurely get married and become parents, and are
not involved in crime.
– Why does this seem to counter stereotypes?
– Discuss Methodologies
• Family and church bonds are extremely important in this
culture
Latino Adolescents
• Latino Americans represent 30 million people and
climbing (15% of the total US).
– 2/3rds trace their roots to Mexico.
• Latino adolescents on average have one of the
lowest educational levels of any ethnic minority
group in the US. However, those educated tend to
be highly advanced.
• Latino adolescents tend to be politically conscious.
• Family and church bonds are extremely important
in this culture (Many are Catholics)
Asian American Adolescents
• Fastest growing segments of adolescents.
• High success rates in school.
• High Achievement Orientation.
– Special emphasis on academics and success
in the early years of development.
Native American Adolescents
• There are approx. 100,000 Native
American adolescents in the US.
• Repercussions of long-term discrimination:
– Low standards of living
– High teen pregnancy rate
– High suicide rate
– Highest school dropout rate on any ethnic
group
Caucasian American Adolescents