CHAPTER 6

1. CHAPTER 6 THE ADOLESCENT IN SOCEITY

2. ADOLESCENCE IN OUR SOCIETY SECTION 1

3. ADOLESCENCE IN OUR SOCIETY • Caught between two worlds • No longer children • Not yet adults • Adolescence: the period between the normal onset of puberty and the beginning of adulthood • Puberty: maturing that makes an individual capable of sexual reproduction

4. ADOLESCENCE IN OUR SOCIETY • Adolescence is not a universal phenomenon • Only recognized in much of the industrial world • American society: 12-19 years old • Puberty and acceptance into the adult world occur at different times for different people • Beginning and ending dates of adolescence are somewhat blurred

5. ADOLESCENCE IN OUR SOCIETY The concept of Adolescence • Preindustrial societies- many young people go from childhood directly to adulthood once they have taken part in formal ceremonies known as puberty rites • Rites take place around 13 or 14 and differ from society to society • Include strength and endurance, filing of teeth, and tattooing

6. ADOLESCENCE IN OUR SOCIETY • Those who complete these rites successfully are immediately accepted as adult members of society • Many are still in their early teens • No concept of adolescence • Adolescence is a relative new phenomenon • Didn’t exist prior to Civil War in the U.S. • Treated simply as small adults

7. ADOLESCENCE IN OUR SOCIETY • Acknowledge in industrialized countries in the last century • Three factors in development of adolescence: • Education-mandatory to go to school until 16; most stay until 18 and then attend college; dependant on parents until after college • Exclusion of the labor force- can not work until 16 in most states; not full-time jobs • Juvenile-justice system-separate legal system

8. ADOLESCENCE IN OUR SOCIETY Characteristics of adolescence • Adolescence not the same for everyone • Five characteristics generally apply to everyone: • Biological growth and development: puberty, spurts of growth in height and weight; development of primary and secondary sexual characteristics; acne; many have embarrassment and anxiety during this phase • Undefined status: expectations are vague; some treated as adults and others treated as children; some have different attitudes: more youthful in dress and music and some are more adult-like

9. ADOLESCENCE IN OUR SOCIETY • Increased decision making: must make many of their own decisions; seems to be on end to the decisions that must be made; classes, clubs, sports, college, career etc? some have no long-term effect and some have far-reaching consequences • Increased pressure: restricted by parents, but encouraged to be social and active; balance between parent wishes and peer pressure; pressures at school; pressure from each other- be part of the “in” group; latest fads and fashion; establish relationships; job-related pressures

10. ADOLESCENCE IN OUR SOCIETY • The search for self: what do you want out of life? Constantly thinking about it….many sort through their values and decide what is really important; establish personal norms that guide their behavior; set priorities for their lives.. Prepare for adulthood; anticipatory socialization- learning rights, obligations, and expectations of a role to prepare for assuming that role in the future • These characteristics are quite general • Individual experiences may vary • A persons race, religion, social and economic status, and place of residence all play a factor in a person’s adolescent experience

11. TEENAGERS AND DATING SECTION 2

12. TEENAGERS AND DATING • Dating is a social behavior that is familiar to the vast majority of Americans- particularly teenagers • Dating is not a universal phenomenon • Dating- the meeting of people as a romantic engagement, is most commonly found in societies that allow individuals to choose their own marriage partners • Some societies marriages are arranged by parents or a go-between who negotiates a formal marriage contract between families

13. TEENAGERS AND DATING • Spouses may never have seen each other until the marriage day • Dating is very widespread in America • Relatively new phenomenon in America; emerge just after World War 1

14. TEENAGERS AND DATING Courtship and Dating • Prior to dating in the U.S. interaction between men and women was restricted to courtship • Courtship differs from dating in that courtship’s express purpose is eventual marriage • Dating may lead to marriage • Main purpose is entertainment and amusement in the casual stages • Dating is the means in which most individuals eventually select their marriage mate

15. TEENAGERS AND DATING • Process is a continuum: • Casual dating – steady dating – engagement – marriage • As you move along the continuum, the degree of commitment to the relationship increases • Interaction may stop at any point on the continuum • Some stages may be bypassed • Very flexible system • Courtship was not flexible: somewhere between steady dating and engagement • Courtship was not casual, roles were very defined

16. TEENAGERS AND DATING • Men: • First meet the women's parents • Ask permission • Intentions honorable, and above all, marriage minded • Conducted in the parlor of the woman’ s home under close supervision or in a social situation among a group of people • Rarely left alone • Marriage was expected if courtship continues over a long period of time

17. TEENAGERS AND DATING • Did not have fun together, main purpose to find a spouse • Dating emerges from this strict structure

18. TEENAGERS AND DATING The Emergence of Dating • Rise of industrialization contributed greatly to the development of dating in the U.S. • People began leaving the family farms and moving to the cities • Young adults become less dependant on their parents for economic security • Seeked employment away from the family farms and started their own households

19. TEENAGERS AND DATING • Parental control was reduced and courtship soon emerges into dating • Free public secondary education was another factor • Many public schools coed unlike the private schools • Post WW I- more Americans acquired telephones and cars • Gives young people more freedom • 1920’s- increased social and political equality for women • More women enter the workforce and take active roles in the communities

20. TEENAGERS AND DATING • Willard Waller: • Conducted one of the earliest sociological analyses of American dating patterns • Study the habits of students at Penn State in lat 20’s and early 30’s • Concluded that casual dating was a form of entertainment that had little to do with mate selection • Status attainment and excitement were at the center of the dating process • Partners selected on the basis of status characteristics, like, good looks, nice clothes, and popularity

21. TEENAGERS AND DATING • Found that dating was almost limited to the fraternities and sororities • Individuals dated people of similar rank: “best” fraternities dated “best” sororities • Object was to be seen with the “right” people • Later research challenges Waller’s “rating and dating” game • Character and personality factors are also important • Similarities exist between casual dating partners and marriage partners

22. TEENAGERS AND DATING • Homogeny- the tendency of individuals to marry people who have social characteristics similar to their own

23. TEENAGERS AND DATING Why Date? • Dating serves several important factors: • Entertainment: simply get together and have fun • Mechanism for socialization: teaches about the opposite sex and how to behave in social situations • Fulfills basic psychological needs: conversation, companionship, and understanding • Attain status: people value those we date • Spouse selection

24. TEENAGERS AND DATING Dating Patterns • Viewed as continuum • Traditional: patterns prior to the 1960’s • Contemporary: characteristics of today's dating patterns • Traditional: found in small towns and rural areas • Responsibility for arranging a date fell with the man • Very ritualized-both parties knew what was expected of them because rules of conduct were well defined • Behavior that was not accepted met with sharp disapproval

25. TEENAGERS AND DATING • Accepting dates late in the week were viewed as second choices for men • If did not have a date on intended date night, hid in your room in shame • Early stages revolved around set activates such as the movies or sporting events • Developed into steady dating; give the girl a class ring. Id bracelet, or letter jacket

26. TEENAGERS AND DATING • Contemporary Dating: Post-1960s dating pattern • No stages of dating • More equality in dating; both sexes initiate dates • Either or each partner pays for the date • Based more on friendship and the group; no “line” needed

27. Challenges of Adolescence Section 3

28. Challenges of Adolescence Teenage Sexual Behavior • Norms governing sexual behavior vary widely from society to society • Some preindustrial societies permit adolescents to engage in sexual behavior before marriage • Viewed as preparation for marriage • Western countries, traditional sexual values include strict norms against premarital sexuality • Traditional sexual values of the U.S. are an outgrowth of Puritan and Victorian views of sexual morality

29. Challenges of Adolescence • According to these views, sexual activity should be confined to marriage • Until 1960s’ traditional sexual values had the support of the vast majority of Americans- at least in principle, if not always in practice • Development of birth control in the 1960s and the 1970s, youth counterculture, and the feminist movement led to the “sexual movement” • Norms began to change • Became an open topic for discussion

30. Challenges of Adolescence • Sexual references are common in the programs in seen in 98 percent of American household TV sets • Vary degrees of physical intimacy is found in all movies except “G” • Advertisers use sex to sell their products • Led to an increase in teenage sexual behavior

31. Challenges of Adolescence Rate of Teenage Sexual Activity • 1970: 29% of unmarried American females between the ages of 15 and 19 were sexually active • 1995: 50% were sexually active • 1970: 22 births per 1,000 unmarried teenage females • 1996: 43 births per 1,000 unmarried teenage females • Numbers have dropped since the early 1990s

32. Challenges of Adolescence • Many young people engage in sexual risk behaviors that can result in unintended health outcomes. For example, among U.S. high school students surveyed in 20091 • 46% had ever had sexual intercourse • 34% had had sexual intercourse during the previous 3 months, and, of these • 39% did not use a condom the last time they had sex • 77% did not use birth control pills or Depo-Provera to prevent pregnancy the last time they had sex • 14% had had sex with four or more people during their life

33. Sexual risk behaviors place adolescents at risk for HIV infection, other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and unintended pregnancy: An estimated 8,300 young people aged 13–24 years in the 40 states reporting to CDC had HIV infection in 2009 Nearly half of the 19 million new STDs each year are among young people aged 15–24 years More than 400,000 teen girls aged 15–19 years gave birth in 2009

34. Challenges of Adolescence • A majority of both girls and boys who are sexually active wish they had waited. Of those who have had sex, more than one half of teen boys (55%) and the majority of teen girls (70%) said they wish they had waited longer to have sex. • Nineteen (19) million new STD infections occur each year, almost half of them among young people ages 15 to 24. • One in two sexually active youth will contract an STD by age 25

35. Challenges of Adolescence • Forty percent (40%) of older adolescents surveyed by the Kaiser Family Foundation incorrectly believe that the contraceptive “pill” and “shot” protect against STDs and HIV. • Some young people, including those who had abstinence education, consider oral and anal sex to be abstinent behaviors and do not realize these behaviors present risks of STD transmission • In 2004, an estimated 4,883 people ages 13-24 received a diagnosis of HIV infection or AIDS, representing about 13% of the people given a diagnosis that year.

36. Challenges of Adolescence Influences on Early Sexual Activity • Family-income Level: higher-income= lower rate • Parents’ marital status: two-parent families= lower rate • Religious participation= actively practice their religion= lower rate • Teenagers that have friends that engage in premarital sex are more likely to be sexually active • Drug-use and delinquency are other risk factors that lead to premarital sex

37. Challenges of Adolescence Consequences of Early Sexual Activity • Most consequences for teenagers are negative • Babies born to teenage mothers have lower birth weights and are more likely to die within the first year of life than are babies born to women older than 20 • Teenagers who become mothers and fathers are less likely to finish high school and college than teenagers who do not become parents. Particularly true for teenager mothers • Due in large part to lower levels of education, individuals who become parents during adolescence have lower lifetime earnings • Children of teenage parents are more likely to experience learning difficulties than children of older parents • Children of teenage parents have an increased risk of becoming teenage parents themselves • Teenage mothers often face significant emotional stress

38. Challenges of Adolescence • Two main focuses: 1. health 2. social • On average about one million teenage women become pregnant each year • Exposed to STD’s such as syphilis, gonorrhea, Chlamydia, and HIV/AIDS • 4 million teens acquire an STD each year

39. Challenges of Adolescence Teenage Drug Use • Drug-any substance that changes mood, behavior, or consciousness • Exists in many forms: medicine, alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, cocaine and heroin • Long history- • Greeks smoked opium 3,000 years ago • Aztecs used hallucinogens • United States- heroin and cocaine were used for non medical purposes until early 1900s

40. Challenges of Adolescence Drug Violence • Public has become very concerned over the rise in violence related to drugs • Saw its height in the mid-1980s through the 1990s • Violence is a result of turf-wars of drug trafficking • Criminal gangs control the drug trade in the U.S. • Crack cocaine is believed to have been the principal cause of the dramatic rise in drug-related violence • With its introduction in the mid 1980s, drug-related juvenile arrests skyrocketed

41. Challenges of Adolescence Rate of Teenage Drug Use • Marijuana usage has declined over the years, but still remains the most used drug among high school students • Cocaine has followed a similar pattern • LSD peaked in the mid 1990’s • MDMA OR ecstasy increased in the 1990s and into the 2000s • Cigarette smoking has dropped very slightly (19% of all high school seniors smoke daily)

42. Challenges of Adolescence • Alcohol has declined over the years but still remains a widespread problem • 73% of high school seniors surveyed admitted to have used alcohol • United States has the highest rate of drug use among adolescents in the industrialized world

43. Challenges of Adolescence Influences on Teenage Drug Use Why do teenagers use drugs? Chief Factors: • Having friends that regularly use drugs • Having social and academic adjustment problems • Living in a hostile and rejecting family setting

44. Challenges of Adolescence • Factors that appear to effect teenage suicide: • Alcohol and drug use: users of high levels of alcohol and drugs have a low levels of self control; more likely to act on impulse; method of suicide • Triggering events: specific event or anticipation of event; fear of punishment, loss or rejection, unwanted pregnancy, family crisis, poor school performance, or fight with family or friend • Age: older teenagers and young adults • Sex: females 3 times more likely; males much more likely to succeed- use weapons • Population density: under populated areas have higher rates; social isolation, access to fewer services • Family relations: weakening of social bonds; families of violence, intense marital conflict, or the recent loss of a parent through death or divorce; hostility or rejection towards children • Cluster effect

45. Challenges of Adolescence • Population density: under popualted areas have higher rates; social isolation, access to fewer services • Family relations: weakening of social bonds; families of violence, intense marital conflict, or the recent loss of a parent through death or divorce; hostility or rejection towards children • Cluster effect: result in other attempts in a community; trigger a “copycat”