Social Transitions| Ch.3

social transitions are a source of information…

who is this person…rights and responsibilities they begin to have

changes in social roles and social status

Social Redefinition and Psychosocial Development

def. the process of one’s position or status is redefined by society

  • new activities and opportunities prompt self-evaluation and introspection…through increases in responsibilities and freedom

    • increases in autonomy…self-esteem and self-concept

    • wider range of decisions that have longer-term consequences…should seek to create stability and a good, comfortable, and fulfilling life for themselves based on their interests

  • deciding how to handle new privileges, roles, and responsibilities they can and should make decisions about now

Changes in intimacy

  • more open to lightly dating

    • cannot get married until the age of majority (18 in US)

    • imo dating should happen gradually…goals and expectations match with where life is…be ok with the fact that it may not last forever…be careful with certain actions due to implications

  • Also affect sexual development

    • there are laws governing sexual behavior

    • concern: whether or not should be able to make independent choices about sexual matters such as abortion and contraception

    • teach abstinence but it is hard bc it is not too much of a legal issue, in a sense

Elongation of adolescence

attaining age of legal majority

starting a full time job

moving out of one’s parents’ home

adolescence begins in biology and ending in culture

  • can be confusing bc our society is so diverse

  • marriage is a bad marker imo…societal pressures talked about in family theories…definitions of family

    • age/stage in which they set up their independent households

    • when age of getting married goes back, age of all other adult responsibility occurrences, does, too.

    • menarche to marriage has gone from about 5 yrs to 15 yr period…change in values over time…should track other things to measure this instead

Adolescence as a Social Invention

  • inventionists

    def. argue that adolescence is a societal construct (Fasick, 1994)

    • see it as solely defined by societal distinctions, not exactly the biological and cognitive changes of the transition period

    • didn’t exist until industrial period, seen as adults in Ag world

      • learn roles they would feel later in life

      • distinction was if they owned land

      • responsibility wasn’t as black and white….same today and it is ok that it is an in between stage of life…followed parents occupational footsteps less

      • child protectionists became a thing

age of majority

def. the designated age that an individual is recognized as an adult

  • first became a practice in middle class families,

    • youth groups and time with peers became seen as more important

      • important to have your kid involved with stuff with high warmth and high expectations

      • shifted to a time of preparation, not participation

        • due to labor laws and changing economic needs…maybe this should change again….work and save it for college?

        • machines replacing workers…less jobs

        • was really age discrimination, crime also increased…beginning of seeing teens (also a new term) as less capable (needs to be fought)

        • adult supervision raised with orgs to protect youth such as boy scouts

  • Images surrounding teenage years is a lot to do with ads and consumerism to create a new marketing target

Emerging Adulthood

  • emerging adulthood became a new stage to categorize older adolescence….ends when begin to take on adult roles…I think this is a fair estimation….college kids should technically not be categorized with the kids they’ll be teaching.

categorized as:

  • exploration of possible identities before making enduring choices

  • instability in work, romantic relationships, and living arrangements

  • focus on oneself and trying to function as an independent person

  • feeling of being between adolescence and adulthood

  • sense that life holds many possibilities

  • kind of exists only in affluent countries:

    • US, Canada, australia, NZ

    • Japan and affluent Western European nations

  • has a great deal of variety for each person (based on economy)

    • based on values and priorities

Psychological well-being

  • indicators of stalling, success, or maintaining (resilient, less extreme expectations)

    • affluence, aspirations, and environment are huge indicators

  • troubled individuals that became exemplary could be from good aspirations, bad environment

  • success in work and relationships is linked to well-being (Galambos, Barker, & krahn, 2006).

Changes in status during adolescence

  • status offense

    • tardiness in HS vs. college (truancy)

  • increased expectations to self-management, personal responsibility, and social participation

“One issue that arises in cases in which a juvenile might be tried as an adult is whether the adolescent is competent to stand trial and make other legal decisions. In the United States, it is not permissible to try someone in a criminal proceeding if the individual does not understand the charges, does not understand the nature of the trial, or is unable to make reasoned decisions about the case (e.g., whether to take the stand in his or her own defense)” (137).

  • there needs to be a deeper investigation atp imo

  • school snap post was interesting (suggestion but that’s it unless it harms her abillity to learn and relationships with others)

  • I wouldn’t consider these things as inconsistencies…its like a workplace having policies…

The Process of Social Redefinition

  • privileges are seen as appropriate to come at different times

    • driving, drinking, renting a car, going to college

  • real or symbolic separation from parents

    • more freedom for sleepovers, camps, college

  • Emphasizing difference between men and women

    • different social roles and more or less contested expectations for either sex

  • Passing on of information from the Older Generation

    • cultural, social, practical information

    • teaching them how to do different things

      • financial stuff

    • helping them think at a higher level

    • history or rituals of family or culture

    • topics seen unfit for kids

Variations in Social Transitions

  • explicitness or clarity of the transition or continuity of the passage

  • not always super clear in some families

  • initiation ceremonies usually religious

  • greater clarity when a lot of new roles come at the same time

    • is not always the case

  • imo its not cloudy, it just isn’t distincitly qualified by age alone.

  • also depends on social environment at home

The Transition into Adulthood in Contemporary Society

three trends

  • place relatively less emphasis on attaining specific roles as defining characteristics of adulthood than they do in traditional societies

    • more on the development of various characteristics indicative of self-reliance

  • decline importance of family roles

  • is now basically the same for men and women

continuous vs. discontinuous

  • school is usually pretty continuous

    • changes in higher education

Discontinuous

  • parenting siblings

  • being able to vote

  • being able to smoke

The Influence of Neighborhood Conditions on Adolescent Development

Trends of influence

  • Chronic stress

    • economic hardship

    • social isolation

    • perceive inequality

    • negative stereotyping

  • Psychological Despair

    • hopelessness

    • drug addiction

    • depression

    • helplessness

  • Maladaptive socialization

    • live fast, die young

Neighborhood disorder —> lower estimated life expectancy —> Crime, drug use, risky sex

neighborhood conditions

  • community norms and collective efficacy

  • interpersonal relationships

  • economic and institutional resources

all of these things contribute to adolescent development

Impact of stress

  • poverty lead to neighborhood violence

  • family poverty and delinquency linked in poor neighborhoods

    • negligence increased

  • undermines relationships

  • worse for girls

Limited access to resources

  • quality of services in low in impoverished neighborhoods

  • fewer chances to engaged in

  • less involved in antisocial behaviors when in higher quality schools

    • good to have greater feelings of cohesion

      • find studies on this for JA

Everyone starts somewhere

pep rally

fair for clubs and then induction as mascot

at each table, explain why this thing is important to the school and explain why it adds to the student

can get local bakery or grocery store or fast food restaurant to donate a ton of desserts