Contemporary Adolescence Chapter 10: Adolescent society, culture and subculture

Adolescents would rather talk to:

Family and friends Adolescents generally select friends with similar values Depend more on friends than family Often feel that friends understand them better than their family Friends feelings often mirror each other Friends can also be a source of anger, frustration, sadness, and anxiety

Peer pressure Rises in early adolescence, peaks in mid- adolescence, and decreases in late adolescence Risk behaviors ▫Correlation between friends and risk behaviors ▫Selective association  Adolescents are similar in risk behaviors before they become friends ▫Peer pressure can also steer adolescents away from risk behaviors

Peer pressure Support and nurturance ▫Informational: ▫Instrumental: ▫Companionship: ▫Esteem:

Adolescent societies Formal societies ▫Which school they attend, student organizations Informal societies ▫Get together socially, but don’t participate in a formally structured social relationship Division by grade Social class and status

Cliques and crowds Cliques: small group of friends who spend a considerable amount of time together Crowd: groups of cliques that get together

Cliques Sarcasm and ridicule seem to play a role in cliques ▫Sarcasm within the clique ▫Sarcasm directed outside the clique Relational aggression ▫Includes gossiping, spreading rumors, and excluding others ▫Tends to be more common with girls

Development of crowds Dweebs Trendies Grades 6-8 Trendies Normals Headbangers Punks Grits Grades 9-10 Trendies Normals Head- bangers Grits Grit- headbangers Skaters Punks Hippies1994 *Crowds define social status less around grade 11 *Self identification plays a role in viewing crowds *There is also a difference between peers assigning a group and self assigning

Popularity and unpopularity Social skills ▫ Rejected adolescents ▫ Neglected adolescents ▫ Popular children tend to be popular as adolescents

Interventions for nonPopularity Rejected adolescents Stop, calm down, think Say or write feelings Set +goal for outcome Think of how to get to outcome Anticipate consequences Choose best solution Neglected adolescents Teach social skills: How to enter group How to listen How to attract + attention

Bullying Aggression Repetition Power imbalance

Youth subcultures Skateboarders ▫Work under an negative image, although that is not always true ▫Early on adopted a punk look and listened to punk music, but that’s changed somewhat ▫Baggy jeans, oversized shirts, but a newer style (“hesh”) has tighter clothing ▫Work hard to improve their performance

Youth Subcultures Hip-Hop ▫Listening and dancing to rap music ▫Dancing began with breakdancing ▫Wear baggy, overzied clothing

Youth subcultures Goth ▫Tend to wear black ▫Favor pale complexions, black nail polish and lipstick ▫Interested in questions about good and evil  Some fascinated by macabre and funereal. ▫Most goths are not violent

Youth subcultures Indie ▫Skinny jeans, v-neck t-shirts for boys, oversized shirts for girls ▫Long, messy hair ▫Listen to indie music

Youth subcultures Emo ▫Represents sadness, guild, despair ▫Heavy makeup and sporty clothing ▫Hair is black, short, unisex, and covers half the face ▫Variety of piercings ▫May be “cutters” or attempt suicide

Material concerns of adolescents Clothing Automobiles Cell phones Computers and internet

Non-materials concerns Slang Music Entertainment