ch 10

Adolescent Culture and Society

Definitions and Distinctions: * Adolescent Society: This refers to the organized network of relationships among adolescents. It is the structural framework of their social interactions. * Adolescent Culture: Refers to the sum of the ways adolescents behave. It includes the body of norms, values, attitudes, and practices shared by members of the adolescent society. While society is the network of relationships within social systems, culture describes how they think, act, and live. * Structure: Adolescent culture is not a single, monolithic structure. Variations exist across age groups, socioeconomic levels, and ethnic or national backgrounds. However, some researchers believe a uniform global teenage culture is forming due to the Internet and satellite television. * Stability: Adolescent society is loosely structured, lacking formal written codification or long-standing traditions. It is unstable because individuals move in and out of the cohort within a few years.
The Subculture Debate: * Distinct Subculture View: Proponents argue adolescents are a uniform group with ethics contrary to adult ethics. They are set apart in schools, segregated from the adult world, and develop their own language, fads, and value systems to meet peer approval. * Reflection of Adult Culture View: Opposing researchers claim the subculture is a myth. Studies show adolescents turn to parents for advice more than friends regarding life decisions. Conflict usually centers on mundane issues (noisiness, punctuality) rather than fundamental values (honesty). * Garner’s Summary (2006): Adolescent culture values athletic prowess, physical attractiveness, status possessions, and social skills; it revolves around school interactions; it has a strong status hierarchy; and it superficially separates from adults while reflecting their underlying norms. * Shared Values: Overlap exists because adolescents choose friends with similar backgrounds (social, economic, religious). Parents influence financial, educational, and career plans, while peers influence style, music, and dating.
Areas of Disagreement: * Substance Use and Sexual Behavior: These are notable areas of adolescent-adult friction. For instance, modern teens are less likely to view oral sex as ‘having sex’ compared to adults. * Parental Buffer: Regular church attendance and clear communication about relationships reduce the likelihood of early sexual intercourse.

Adolescent Societies: Formal and Informal

Types of Groups: * Formal Adolescent Societies: Primarily school-based groups (academic, student organizations, sports) or supervised out-of-school groups like the Boy Scouts. * Informal Adolescent Societies: Loosely structured groups of youths who meet socially without adult supervision, usually on weekends or evenings.
The Formal Academic Subsystem: * Shaped by administration, faculty, curriculum, and grade levels. * Status Indicators: Grade level is the most important identifier; a twelfth-grader always outranks a tenth-grader. * Academic Achievement: Its impact on popularity is complex. It can decrease popularity among vocational students but enhance it among college-bound high schoolers with high social skills. There is little evidence that Black students lose popularity for ‘acting White’ by excelling.
The Activities Subsystem: * Includes sponsored organizations like athletics, drama, music, and departmental clubs. * Prestige: Each group has a ranking; the captain of the football team outranks a benchwarmer; the lead in a play outranks the stage crew. * Participation: Approximately $75\%$ of middle schoolers and a large majority of high schoolers participate. Girls are more likely to participate in all activities except athletics.
Benefits of After-School Activities: * Participating students do better in school, have higher self-esteem, are more resilient, and are less likely to drop out or use drugs. * Mechanisms of Benefit: Success builds self-confidence; development of time management; access to adult mentors; and association with high-quality, academically focused peers. * Social Class Divide: Since the $1970$ , a divide has grown. Wealthier parents invest in music camps and private lessons, while many schools have switched to ‘pay to play’ programs, disadvantaging working-class students.
Athletic Participation: * Positive correlation generally exists between sports and academic achievement. However, data is mixed: athletes may be more likely to drink heavily or engage in risky sexual behavior. * College Level: Athletes at large Division I schools often drink more frequently and heavily than non-athletes and may exhibit pathological gambling behavior due to stress and a sense of entitlement.

Informal Friendship Subsystems

Organization: * Cliques: Relatively small, tight-knit groups ( $3$ to $10$ friends) who spend exclusive time together. They are often homogeneous in age, gender, race, and academic achievement. They have definite hierarchies and use ridicule to maintain boundaries. Membership changes frequently; about $\frac{1}{3}$ change cliques within a year. * Liaisons: Individuals who have friends in different cliques but do not belong to one central group. They often do well socially. * Crowds: Larger, reputational collectives (e.g., Jocks, Preppies, Goths, Skaters, Dirts). * Jocks and Preppies: Usually rule the school. * Techno-nerds, Skaters, Goths: Mid-tier. * Dirts: Drug users, lower tier. * Loners: The lowest tier with no crowd affiliation. * Impact: Being in a lower-status crowd takes a toll on self-esteem. Ethnic diversity can foster a less hierarchical, more pluralistic structure.

Bullying and Cyberbullying

Bullying Dynamics: * Defined as unprovoked, repeated aggressive behavior intended to hurt another where a power difference exists. * Prevalence: $20\%$ of high schoolers reported being bullied in the previous year. * Victims: Often insecure, shy, physically weak, unattractive, or from different ethnic groups/sexual orientations. Creative individuals who ‘walk to a different drummer’ are targets. * Effects: Short-term loss of friends, school avoidance, somatic complaints (headaches). Long-term risks include depression and being $2$ to $3$ times as likely to have an anxiety disorder as an adult. * Reporting: Many fail to report due to shame, fear of overreaction, or feeling that nothing will stop it.
Cyberbullying: * Harassment using digital communication. Includes sending threatening messages, posting ridiculing photos, or spreading rumors online. * Statistics: Roughly $15\%$ of adolescents have been cyberbullied. Males are more likely to cyberbully than females. * Distinctions: Cyberbullying is often anonymous, extremely vicious, can strike any time (no safe haven), and can go viral to a global audience. * Outcomes: Victims are $2$ times more likely to abuse drugs and $3$ times more likely to attempt suicide.
Intervention: Effective programs (like the Olweus program) involve all students, teachers, and parents, and have reduced rates by $50\%$ to $75\%$ .

Understanding Friendships and Loneliness

Developmental Changes: * Childhood: Dependence on friends is shallow; focus is on shared play. Emotional needs are met by parents. * Adolescence: Friends become the primary source of emotional support and self-disclosure. Conformity increases to maximize acceptance. * Gender Patterns: Girls report same-sex friendships are closer and more intense, involving more emotional support. Boys are often inhibited by masculine stereotypes from expressing feelings.
Loneliness: * Described as emptiness, isolation, and boredom. * Causes: Social anxiety, poor self-image, victimization history, or lack of parental support. * The Cycle: Loneliness leads to depression, which hinders the establishment of new relationships. * Youth Culture Paradox: The culture emphasizes being alone on a weekend makes one miserable, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. * Solitude: Differs from loneliness; it is literal physical separation and can be used for reflection and identity search.

Popularity and Social Acceptance

Types of Popularity: * Sociometric Popularity: Being well-liked, nice, friendly, and trustworthy. * Perceived Popularity: Social dominance and status. These leaders may not be well-liked and are often seen as ‘stuck up’ or ‘mean.’ They are physically attractive, fashionable, and socially manipulative.
Aggression Tactics: * Reputational Aggression: Spreading lies or rumors to damage social standing. * Relational Aggression: Using friends to snub or exclude a target.
Routes to Acceptance: * Achievement: Sports (high status) vs. Academics (mixed status). * Participation: In school activities. * Physical Attractiveness. * Material Possessions. * Deviance: Friendships among deviant youths are often close, and they influence each other through modeling.

Psychosocial and Heterosocial Development

Stages of Development: 1. Autosociality: Early childhood focus on self. 2. Homosociality: Middle/late childhood preference for same-sex peers. 3. Heterosociality: Adolescence focus on both sexes.
Cross-Sex Friendships: Provide insights into the other sex and boost self-esteem. Girls benefit from learning how boys think; boys benefit from the opportunity to disclose feelings.
Adolescent Love: * More than $50\%$ of $12$ to $18$ year olds have been in a romantic relationship recently. * Gender findings: Boys fall in love at a younger age, more quickly, and more often than girls, often basing it on physical attractiveness. * Loss of Love: Breakups are major crises often underestimated by adults. They are leading causes of depression, suicide, and externalizing behaviors. Adults should normalize the grief and encourage expressions of feelings.

Adolescent Dating and Marriage

Dating Progression: * Begins with mixed-sex group activities (movies, games) which reduces pressure and rejection risk. * Middle adolescence involves brief casual dating or group dating. * Late adolescence features exclusive, intense, long-lasting relationships.
Dating Violence: Approximately $1$ in $6$ high schoolers reports physical dating violence. Girls are at higher risk for injury and sexual assault. Male victims often have histories of violence (fights), while female victims are linked to binge drinking or drug use.
Nonmarital Cohabitation: * Prevalence: In $2014$ , $2.8\text{ million}$ Americans aged $18$ - $24$ were cohabitating ( $11\%$ of young women, $8\%$ of young men). More than $\frac{1}{2}$ of young adults live together before marriage. * Reasons: Spending time together, trial run for marriage, financial advantages (sharing expenses). * Impact on Marriage: Premarital cohabitation does not improve marital quality. Historically, it was linked to higher divorce, but new data suggests this only applies to those who cohabit multiple times with different partners.
Adolescent Marriage: * Statistics: Median age at marriage is now $29.0$ for men and $26.6$ for women. Teenage marriage is declining. * Profile: Often from low-SES backgrounds, poor academic performers, or driven by pregnancy. * Problems: Immaturity leads to fluid personalities that ‘grow away’ from each other; financial worry; and discord with in-laws.

Material Concerns of Adolescent Culture

Spending Power: American teens reached over $200\text{ billion}$ in spending power by $2010$ . This is greater than the GDP of Russia. * Sources: Parents ( $20$ - $100$ dollars per month allowance), employment, and foraging (collecting spare change average $14$ dollars per month). * Allocation: $30\%$ clothing, $21\%$ entertainment, $18\%$ food, $8\%$ cars, $8\%$ electronics.
Credit Card Debt: $83\%$ of college students have at least one card. Average debt upon leaving college is over $3,000$ dollars. The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act (2009) forbids cards to those under $21$ without a co-signer.
Technology: * Cell Phones: $78\%$ ownership. Texting is the main communication method ( $180$ texts/day average). Parents use phones as a ‘safety tether,’ granting more freedom but reducing true autonomy. * Sexting: $7\%$ report sending sexually explicit photos; linked to risky sexual behavior. * Internet: $95\%$ access. Teens use it for social media (Facebook, Instagram, Google+), identity experimentation, and news. * Risks: Exposure to unwanted sexual materials ( $1/3$ of teens) and chat room influence for harmful activities (self-mutilation).

Nonmaterial Aspects: Slang and Music

Slang: Shorthand language that fosters cohesion and provides privacy from adults. Identifies group membership (e.g., ‘psychedelic’ in the $60s$ ).
Music Functions: Diversion, background, memory evocation, mood regulation, and forging social bonds. Teens listen for almost $6\text{ hours}$ each day.
Genres: * Rock: Originally and still a medium for rebellion. Subreddits like Grunge (Nirvana, Alice in Chains) and New Metal (Linkin Park, Avenged Sevenfold) follow provocation traditions. * Rap: Invented in New York City by Afrika Bambaata and Kool Herc. Most popular genre with Black, White, and Latino teens. Gangsta rap has been criticized for being violent and sexist.
Antisocial Music Effects: * Correlation exists between heavy metal/rap and alienation/externalizing behavior. However, few studies prove a direct causal link. Music often serves a purgative function (releasing anger) rather than causing it. High sensation-seekers are attracted to both reckless behavior and antisocial music.
Music Videos: Content is often more violent and sexual than conventional TV. Watching videos can lead to desensitization to violence and increased sexual permissiveness in females. Parental absence and family dissatisfaction moderate these effects; at-risk youth are more susceptible.