Section 20.2 Adolescence and Responsibility Objectives Identify the responsibilities that adolescents have to themselves and others.

Quick Quiz See how many of these questions you can answer “yes” to. Do you do what is best for you even if friends urge you to do otherwise? Are your decisions consistent with your values? Do you think about how your behavior impacts others? Do you accept responsibility for your actions? In a paragraph, describe some steps teens can take to be able to answer “yes” to all the questions. Switch to QuickTake version of the quiz.

Responsibilities to Yourself With adolescence comes increased privileges. You are treated more like an adult, and you make decisions that direct your life. The flip side of privilege is responsibility. Your pathway to adulthood will be marked by a growing responsibility for your own decisions and actions.

Making Everyday Decisions During adolescence you become responsible for taking care of yourself. It’s up to you to eat nutritious meals, exercise, and visit the dentist. If you pay for some or all of your clothes and other personal items, you also become responsible for managing a budget.

Resisting Negative Influences Many decisions you will face can affect your health and safety. You make these decisions on your own and take responsibility for the results.

Thinking About Your Future During these years, you make many decisions that can affect your future career opportunities. There is plenty of time to figure out what you want to do, or to change your mind. Making responsible decisions now can help keep your options open.

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Responsibilities to Others Your responsibilities to your family, friends, and community increase greatly during adolescence. At the same time that you are gaining more independence, others may be relying more on you for help.

Your Role in the Family In many families, the family unit and family rules are valued more highly than a teenager’s autonomy, or independence. This may lead to friction between generations.

Responsibility to Family With increased independence at home comes increased responsibilities. Helping Out You may now be responsible for more of the physical work needed to maintain your household. Giving Back You are now mature enough to offer understanding and support to other family members. Playing by the Rules You follow your family guidelines about clothing, curfews, and other activities.

Living on a Budget Materials employment ad section of newspaper apartment ad section of newspaper sample utility bills supermarket circulars

Living on a Budget Try This Look through the employment ads and find a job for which you think you are qualified. Calculate an average monthly salary. Subtract 30 percent for taxes and other deductions—this amount is your spendable monthly income.

Living on a Budget Try This Use the apartment ads to find out how much it costs to rent a one-bedroom apartment. Use sample utility bills to estimate the monthly costs of electricity, gas, heat, and telephone. Use supermarket circulars to estimate your total food costs for a month.

Living on a Budget Try This Estimate how much it costs to operate a car for a week, and multiply by four. Include gas, insurance, and repairs. Alternatively, calculate the cost of public transportation. Estimate how often you like to go out for entertainment, such as movies and restaurants, and how much these would cost for a month. Calculate how much you spend on clothing during a month.

Living on a Budget Think and Discuss Total the monthly amounts in items 2 through 7. Is it more or less than your monthly spendable income? If your expenses are more than your income, what could you do to either increase your monthly income or to decrease your monthly expenses? What did you learn by doing this activity?

Responsibility to Friends You should be willing to take time away from your activities to help out a friend to be a good listener to offer comfort and encouragement when needed When you have a concern about a friend’s health, safety, or well-being, you have a responsibility to try to help. You can use peer pressure to influence your friends in positive directions and to provide a network of support in times of stress or crisis.

Responsibility to Community You become responsible for knowing the laws of your community and for obeying them. You are expected to think about the effect that your actions will have, not only on yourself and your friends but on the community as a whole. You may even want to go further in helping to improve your community.

Vocabulary autonomy An individual’s independence from parents and family that strengthens during adolescence.

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End of Section 20.2 Click on this slide to end this presentation.