SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
The adolescent’s social world is changing fast. The changes reflect the biological and cognitive developments summarized above, as well as new opportunities and the impact of other people’s expectations. Gender and sexual development During adolescence, gender becomes of much more central importance for most individuals. The biological changes discussed above make gender all the more salient – to the adolescent and to others. One consequence is that societies’ expectations about gender appropriate behaviour are brought home more powerfully than ever before. During childhood, cross-sex interests are tolerated to some extent in girls (although, as we have seen in chapter 9, this is less the case for boys). But in adolescence, parents and peers tend to provide stronger messages about acceptable and unacceptable behaviour – there is a narrowing of the gender ‘pathways’ as we move closer to our adult roles (figure 10.3; Archer, 1992). In some cultures, the sexes are increasingly segregated in adolescence, although n others (such as many Western societies) many adolescents are particularly keen to socialize with the opposite sex. In societies that do allow for mixed gender interactions in adolescence, a number of factors bear on young people’s sexual development. Increased hormonal levels are associated with heightened interest in sex in both boys and girls. For boys, this tends to lead to involvement in sexual activity (though much of this is solitary), while girls tend to be more influenced by social factors, such as parental attitudes and friends’ sexual behaviour (Crockett, Raffaelli & Moilanen, 2003; Katchadourian, 1990). Whatever the specific influences and motivations, the outcome is that a lot of adolescents have apparently experienced sexual relations. For example, in America, about two-thirds of 12th graders (16- to 17-year-olds) report having had sexual intercourse (Crockett et al., 2003) – although this figure may be somewhat inflated by peer pressure. The importance of peers There is no doubt that peers are ery important to adolescents. During this phase of the lifespan, people spend increasing amounts of time in the company of their peers (Brown & Klute, 2003; Collins & Laursen, 2000) and increasingly focus on peer relations as crucial to their sense of identity (Pugh & Hart, 1999). You are probably aware of strong popular assumptions about the effects of peers on adolescents. Peers are often regarded as a potentially harmful influence, leading impressionable teenagers into dangerous experimentation (e.g. with drugs and sex), dereliction of responsibilities (e.g. schoolwork) and hostility to adults and adult society. Peer values are often assumed to be the antithesis of parental values. But were these your own experiences? Certainly, friends’ behaviour does tend to be correlated with adolescents’ choices and actions in many areas (Durkin, 1995). But, correlation does not equal causation. In fact, we choose our friends – and adolescents tend to choose friends who have similar interests. If you are a smoker, you probably will not choose to hang out most of the time with the sports crowd. More generally, adolescents themselves report that, although they are subjected to peer pressures sometimes, they do not generally experience this as a major influence on their behaviour or as something that they find particularly difficult to handle (du Bois-Reymond & Ravesloot, 1994; Lightfoot, 1992). Furthermore, perceived peer influence tends to vary across different domains of life. It is quite strong with regard to appearance (e.g. hairstyle, clothing) and socializing (e.g. dating, finding out where it is cool to be seen), but peer pressure is less influential when it comes to moral values, antisocial behaviour and career decisions (Brown, 1999). And when they do try to exert influence, peers are not invariably aiming to promote bad habits: for example, peers often try actively to dissuade their friends from smoking (Paavola, Vartiainen & Puska, 2001). Rather than peers providing the antithesis of parental influences, research suggests that the relationship is more complex. In early adolescence, some patterns of adolescent behaviour (such as drug use) tend to show a greater association with parental than peer practices (Bush, Weinfurt & Iannotti, 1994). Parents are often the first models in terms of drug use (smoking, drinking and other substances) and often the first to offer the young person an opportunity to try (Bush et al., 1994; Engels et al., 1994). Older adolescents perceive peer influence in matters of drug use as greater than parental influence (Bush et al., 1994). But this perception may not take into account that, by this age, individuals tend to have already chosen their peers. Evidence suggests that an adolescent’s choice of peers is itself influenced by his parents (i.e. the parents encourage or discourage particular friendships) and that the impact of friends’ behaviour is moderated by parental guidance (Blanton, Gibbons, Gerrard et al., 1997; Mounts & Steinberg, 1995). So peers are important, but not omnipotent. The ‘peer pressure’ issue is not the only aspect of adolescent development about which there are strong folklore beliefs that are not actually borne out by the research evidence. These discrepancies remind us once again that ‘common sense’ does not always provide a reliable basis for psychological analysis.
The adolescent’s social world is changing fast. The changes reflect the biological and cognitive developments summarized above, as well as new opportunities and the impact of other people’s expectations. Gender and sexual development During adolescence, gender becomes of much more central importance for most individuals. The biological changes discussed above make gender all the more salient – to the adolescent and to others. One consequence is that societies’ expectations about gender appropriate behaviour are brought home more powerfully than ever before. During childhood, cross-sex interests are tolerated to some extent in girls (although, as we have seen in chapter 9, this is less the case for boys). But in adolescence, parents and peers tend to provide stronger messages about acceptable and unacceptable behaviour – there is a narrowing of the gender ‘pathways’ as we move closer to our adult roles (figure 10.3; Archer, 1992). In some cultures, the sexes are increasingly segregated in adolescence, although n others (such as many Western societies) many adolescents are particularly keen to socialize with the opposite sex. In societies that do allow for mixed gender interactions in adolescence, a number of factors bear on young people’s sexual development. Increased hormonal levels are associated with heightened interest in sex in both boys and girls. For boys, this tends to lead to involvement in sexual activity (though much of this is solitary), while girls tend to be more influenced by social factors, such as parental attitudes and friends’ sexual behaviour (Crockett, Raffaelli & Moilanen, 2003; Katchadourian, 1990). Whatever the specific influences and motivations, the outcome is that a lot of adolescents have apparently experienced sexual relations. For example, in America, about two-thirds of 12th graders (16- to 17-year-olds) report having had sexual intercourse (Crockett et al., 2003) – although this figure may be somewhat inflated by peer pressure. The importance of peers There is no doubt that peers are ery important to adolescents. During this phase of the lifespan, people spend increasing amounts of time in the company of their peers (Brown & Klute, 2003; Collins & Laursen, 2000) and increasingly focus on peer relations as crucial to their sense of identity (Pugh & Hart, 1999). You are probably aware of strong popular assumptions about the effects of peers on adolescents. Peers are often regarded as a potentially harmful influence, leading impressionable teenagers into dangerous experimentation (e.g. with drugs and sex), dereliction of responsibilities (e.g. schoolwork) and hostility to adults and adult society. Peer values are often assumed to be the antithesis of parental values. But were these your own experiences? Certainly, friends’ behaviour does tend to be correlated with adolescents’ choices and actions in many areas (Durkin, 1995). But, correlation does not equal causation. In fact, we choose our friends – and adolescents tend to choose friends who have similar interests. If you are a smoker, you probably will not choose to hang out most of the time with the sports crowd. More generally, adolescents themselves report that, although they are subjected to peer pressures sometimes, they do not generally experience this as a major influence on their behaviour or as something that they find particularly difficult to handle (du Bois-Reymond & Ravesloot, 1994; Lightfoot, 1992). Furthermore, perceived peer influence tends to vary across different domains of life. It is quite strong with regard to appearance (e.g. hairstyle, clothing) and socializing (e.g. dating, finding out where it is cool to be seen), but peer pressure is less influential when it comes to moral values, antisocial behaviour and career decisions (Brown, 1999). And when they do try to exert influence, peers are not invariably aiming to promote bad habits: for example, peers often try actively to dissuade their friends from smoking (Paavola, Vartiainen & Puska, 2001). Rather than peers providing the antithesis of parental influences, research suggests that the relationship is more complex. In early adolescence, some patterns of adolescent behaviour (such as drug use) tend to show a greater association with parental than peer practices (Bush, Weinfurt & Iannotti, 1994). Parents are often the first models in terms of drug use (smoking, drinking and other substances) and often the first to offer the young person an opportunity to try (Bush et al., 1994; Engels et al., 1994). Older adolescents perceive peer influence in matters of drug use as greater than parental influence (Bush et al., 1994). But this perception may not take into account that, by this age, individuals tend to have already chosen their peers. Evidence suggests that an adolescent’s choice of peers is itself influenced by his parents (i.e. the parents encourage or discourage particular friendships) and that the impact of friends’ behaviour is moderated by parental guidance (Blanton, Gibbons, Gerrard et al., 1997; Mounts & Steinberg, 1995). So peers are important, but not omnipotent. The ‘peer pressure’ issue is not the only aspect of adolescent development about which there are strong folklore beliefs that are not actually borne out by the research evidence. These discrepancies remind us once again that ‘common sense’ does not always provide a reliable basis for psychological analysis.
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