Lecture 1: adolescence across cultures
What is adolescence?
Adolescence is the transition from childhood into adulthood.
Erikson:
- Intermediate period of moratorium -> delay.
- Peer groups are important.
- Independent adult roles emerge (e.g., choosing one’s sexual partners).
These definitions were developed in western contexts, but how about other parts of the
world?
What do adolescents and young adults have in common across cultural/social contexts?
Adolescence seems to be recognized as a distinct life phase across cultures:
- Can be defined by a word or expressed through visual signs (e.g., dress).
- Usually starts with puberty (i.e., reproductive maturation).
- Sudden transition from childhood to new roles and responsibility.
- Courtship (almost always ends with marriage but is not necessary for everyone)
- Peer groups are particularly important.
Some examples of Kate Fox:
- A system of social status and methods of indicating it.
- Courtship practices.
- Psychoses and neuroses.
- Homicide and suicide.
- Dancing.
- Myths and legends.
More similarities are social sanctions for deviations from social norms are perceived as
appropriate (e.g., by confrontation, social ostracism, and gossip).
What are differences between adolescents and young adults across cultures?
Dasen describes controversy about whether adolescence as distinct social phase exists
across cultures.
- Time for moratorium to try out different roles and identities only in context with
extended schooling and wealth – groups that can afford not to have young people
take on adult roles fast -> (too western definition of adolescence?)
- Distinct stage or progression in roles and responsibilities?
Adolescence as period of conflict -> not in majority of 286 nonindustrial societies. Problems
may mostly arise in western societies:
- Long period of adolescence and youth.
- Absence of clear rituals of what to do.
- Little involvement in adult duties and responsibilities.
But even in western societies: less turbulent than stereotypes suggest.
Adolescence as a period of preparation for independence from parents:
, - Only in societies where adulthood implies being independent from parent.
- In non-industrial societies:
o No need because married couples also live close to their families.
o Family unit provides financial and social support, livelihood, and status.
- Similar for more family-oriented cultures.
- (Necessity to become independent from parents also implies stronger necessity to
rebel against parents -> adolescence as period of conflict.)
Becoming financially independent is important in American and European countries.
Becoming financially independent to care for parents is important in Asian countries.
Time with peers
It seemed that adolescents in most societies rather spent most of their time with adults
of the same gender. Only quite limited time spent with peers.
- Gender differences:
o Male adolescents: more time with peer groups than female adolescents.
o Peer groups of females are usually smaller, and less significant than for their
male counterparts.
But isn’t that a cross-cultural similarity -> depending on how you characterize the context.
Boys and girls are socialized differently – the ideas (norms, beliefs, values) that they are
steered by different.
Whether physical confrontation, social ostracism, or gossip are perceived as more
appropriate as sanctions for deviations from social norms varies.
Emerging adulthood (late teen years to mid-twenties)
Characterized by:
- Identity explorations (relevant choices in love, partnership, and work).
- Instability (changes of jobs, romantic partners, living arrangements).
- Self-focus (few outside obligations, much space for independent decision making).
- Feeling in-between (not adolescent anymore but not really adult yet).
- Felt possibilities (optimistic outlook on life as adult).
Emerging adulthood has mostly developed in the last decades, with:
- Widespread education and training beyond secondary school.
- Relatively late entry into marriage and parenthood.
Is characteristic of more developed countries, but not developing countries.
- Less education.
- Earlier entry into work force.
- Earlier marriage and parenthood.
Possibly based on specific cultural ideas:
- Being personally independent and self-sufficient before taking on adult
commitments.
- Marriage needs to be based in romantic love.
- Choice of work is based on personal identity.
, - Between late adolescence and mid 20s, life should be devoted to enjoyment and
leisure.
Why is too much WEIRDness bad for social psychology?
A lot of studies are from the US. 96% is from Western industrialized countries. 99% of the
authors of authors at universities in Western countries. A lot of participants of the studies
are undergraduate students.
W: Western
E: Educated
I: Industrialized
R: Rich
D: Democratic
The WEIRD bias also exists in other sciences.
Theoretical implications of a WEIRD culture:
- Lack of generalizability: findings may be different in different cultural contexts.
- Wrong conclusions if we assume that all people are like participants in our research.
- Interventions may not work or even be counterproductive if we try to apply them in
cultural contexts where they have not been tested.
Scientific and medical norms form WEIRD contexts are imposed on other contexts (scientific
colonialism). We may incorrectly categorize or diagnose people based on standards derived
from WEIRD cultures.
Our cultural background influences what we find, how we interpret our findings and what
we conclude. -> scientific colonialism.
Social and personal values, beliefs, norms determine what we research and how we research
it.
- Which research do we fund? Which research do we define as relevant to examine?
- Which outcome variables do we examine?
- What do we define as desirable outcomes?
- How do we measure abstract concepts?
Possibly incomplete theorizing and empirical findings if we study social scientific
phenomena from one cultural perspective only.
Positionality and reflexivity
Positionality: all the characteristics making up who you are and how you view the world, e.g.,
sociodemographic characteristics, beliefs, values and experiences.
Reflexivity: the influence of one’s positionality on the research process and interpretations
of research outcomes;
- On choice of topics.
- On what is considered a desirable outcome.
- On interpretation of study results.
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