It's common to assume that adolescence represents the transition from childhood to adulthood for every person, and that this period generally lasts from age 12 to 19/20. But is this really the case? Today, things seem very different; let's try to see why.
Adolescents are typically seen as problematic creatures, subject to periods of rebellion and turbulent, often negative, moods. The long series of physical changes a child undergoes as a result of biological maturation is undeniable. Many Western scholars, in fact, speak of an "adolescent crisis." Adolescents often experience "the desire to be simultaneously like everyone else and like no one else" (Fabietti, 2011). For this reason, they experience a process that leads them to internalize and learn a sense of self, combined with the concomitant construction of an individual personality.
The peer group
One of the most significant socializing agents during this period is the peer group . This group is generally made up of people who share the same interests, age, background, or social status as the adolescent. During adolescence, the family (which generally represents the first and most decisive socializing agent in a person's life) is gradually replaced by the peer group , which almost becomes a "surrogate." The power of the peer group is expressed through its "pressure" function and its ability to influence the adolescent, who does not yet have a clear vision of himself. This power can be considered a double-edged sword because it can be used negatively or positively (e.g., smoking, drinking, encouraging study).
Are these difficulties due to being adolescents? Or rather, to being adolescents in a particular place/context?
A well-known researcher/anthropologist named Margaret Mead (2008) sought to answer this question with a study on adolescent girls that became quite famous in the sociological/anthropological scene. This study soon turned into a book entitled "The Adolescent in a Primitive Society." This work helps us understand how the culture of a complex society and a primitive one influences the lives of boys and girls differently.
Margaret Mead and “Coming of age in Samoa”.
Margaret Mead 's main thesis can be summed up in the statement, "Adolescent distress is learned, originating from cultural, not biological, factors." For her, claiming that the terms " adolescence " and " inner conflict " were complementary was an extreme simplification that needed to be debunked once and for all.
In 20s America, the socially deviant effects (alcoholism, social marginalization, increased delinquency, economic problems) and the resulting ambiguous state of adolescents were more evident than in European civilization. Bookstores were flooded with treatises on adolescence attempting to address this widespread unease. Yet, the arguments that the symptoms of anxiety were characteristic of that stage of development seemed to gain increasing traction. Partly because no alternative answer could be found, partly because this viewpoint influenced the education system itself.
On the island of Ta'u
The young researcher's studies began in the early 20s. They focused primarily on observing and participating in the daily lives of Samoan adolescent girls on the island of Ta'u . What emerged from the research was the failure to identify "adolescent conflict." Young Samoan girls perceive this particular phase of life as not necessarily traumatic for a few specific reasons:
- the lack of competing messages and early adaptation to the most diverse life situations. There is no particular ceremony or event that marks adolescence. Menstruation, for example, is considered a more than natural eventFrom a young age, children are accustomed to witnessing events that might be considered traumatic in Western society. Being present at childbirth, an abortion, or the dissection of cadavers are occasions that are an integral part of a child's experience in this society. While a Western adolescent is overwhelmingly influenced by her biological family from birth, a Samoan adolescent is taught never to become attached to any one person in particular. Furthermore, she is taught to be loving towards the community at large.
- the one-dimensional nature of young Samoan women's choicesWestern girls experience considerable pressure when it comes to making choices about their future, which today is more uncertain than ever before. Young Samoan women, on the other hand, don't experience feelings of distress because the choices they make aren't irreversible. Life is lived more casually, and conflicts are few due to the simplicity of "primitive" civilization. This model cannot be exported to the West, but knowing it makes one aware of different points of view on the world without falling into ethnocentric thinking.
Living day by day
The situation of adolescents today is well expressed by the words of Savonardo (2011). He states that the changes that determine the future of the new generations lead to a path marked by insecurity and doubts. The future tends to almost disappear while the experience of the present time , the hic et nunc, "living day by day" becomes central. Finally, it is necessary to remember that it is precisely this ambiguity and lack of certainties that leads young people to react more positively than their predecessors of other generations and to find real-time answers in the most unpredictable situations. Adolescents are born as " children of uncertainty " but it is precisely they who become the promoters of the greatest social and cultural transformations.
Bibliography:
Fabietti U., History of Anthropology, Zanichelli, Bologna, 2011;
Mead M., Adolescence in Samoa, Giunti Editore, Florence, 2007;
Savonardo L., Children of Uncertainty: Young People in Naples and the Province, Carocci Editore, Rome, 2008;
Diana French
