Hi, this is Dr. Chris. On this video, I am giving the lecture for social transitions and social transitions. Transitions during adolescence focuses a lot on social redefinition. What do I mean by social redefinition? For social redefinition is defined as a recognition that one's individual status has changed. Social redefinition is defined as the recognition that one's individual status has changed. And this and this happens throughout adolescence in part shaped through the different changes that occur within the body um both in terms of physical development, emotional development, behavioral development and terms of their development of their relationships with their uh family members and friends. But there are different ways that it can influence development. Um, first of all, it might shape our identity. Viewing yourself as an adult will influence the type of behaviors and goals that you pursue um and really on your overall identity. So, viewing yourself as an adult will influence the type of behaviors that you engage in and the goals that you set for yourself and um one's overall identity. It also shapes one's sense of autonomy which we'll talk about later on in the semester. The adolescent turned adult gains new privileges and also responsibilities. Social redefinition process als often brings changes in the types of interpersonal behaviors that are permitted and expected at this age. So becoming an adolescent, one is allowed to date and as one becomes an adult, one is allowed to get married and have serious relationships. Also, the redefinition process shapes one's sexuality during adolescence. Society has different rules regarding age and consent regarding sexual behavior. Um and that is tied again to this social redefinition process. Finally, social redefinition can shape our sense of achievement. Societies have different expectations regarding adolescent work and the transition to more adultlike jobs. Um so society will expect an adolescent to do have one type of job but then when they are an adult they have to support themselves and or a family they have different expectations. Okay. So let's talk about the elongation of adolescence. What I mean by that it is much longer than it used to be in previous eras. um it's starting earlier and it's also ending later. So when does it start? Most scientists argue that adolescence begins with puberty, the physical process, our bodies change. And as I mentioned in the uh chapter on biological transitions, puberty is starting much earlier than it did in previous centuries. So when does adolescence end, excuse me? For some it might be graduate from high school and for some might be getting married. But it's important to note that although in the past marriage, graduating from high school and getting married right after high school was sort of what happens in that transition to adulthood. More people are going off to college and delay marriage is probably have seen many figures the uh age of marriage is average age of marriage is increasing in the last 20 30 years. Also in recent decades um scientists have referred to an idea uh concept of emerging adulthood which we'll talk about later on. It's this transitional period between adolescence and adulthood. Well, and I'll talk about that in a couple minutes. So let's talk about the idea of adolescence as a social invention. Adolescence as we know it is a much more recent um phenomenon. Um there's one perspective that um in terms of its perspective on adolescence that takes more of a inventionist perspective. Um and this um inventionist or interventionist it takes I should say inventionist on the slide. I apologize for that. Adolescence is really what what is um because how society views it. Society is really how society views it. It's more of a social construct defined by the society. So based on this adolescence is a different stage because society sees it as such. terms of historical background on how this has changed. Adolescence as we really know it didn't really exist until the industrial revolution in the middle to late 1800s. Um adolescence were often seen as miniature adults like in this little uh painting here. Oops. Um the main distinction between children and adults had to do with whether or not one owned land. and that sort of determine adult status. But with industrialization came work and and then um uh for a variety of reasons and we'll talk about it later on this semester. Uh that led to people wanting there to be uh school just because it was important for children to be ready and for education but also so children did not interfere with adults for job work in factories. So what are the effects of this? because the society uh turned into more of a uh was not an agrarian society anymore. Mcgran means that people weren't living on farms, but they were living in towns. It wasn't always clear, you know, what children had to do and what they needed for adulthood. But again, as I mentioned before, with uh the industrial revolution and and the the desire for children to get education number one and desire for them not to take adult jobs, there was a push um for education and it started more in the middle class. But also, as I mentioned before, the shortage of jobs that led to schools because adults didn't want adolescence to take their jobs. So, it sort of sounds like it was, you know, this inventionist perspective is more of a um uh it's not a a these aren't kind people. A lot of them were just didn't want children to get uh compete for jobs. So, it's kind of a both a positive and negative aspect of its origins. Okay. There's another perspective. G. Stainley Hall who was one of the earlier researchers and scholars in um adolescent development argued that emphasized more of the biological perspective. It's defined based on puberty which is a biological process and because that happens during adolescence that's how we should define it. And a lot of different perspectives on adolescence came about from the theoretical orientation that was common during that day. So when you look at someone like G Stanley Hall and their perspective, you need to take into consideration the his when they were active and what the prevailing uh perspective was at that time. So the next perspective is more of a protectionist which I've sort of alluded to. This views uh emphasize a real desire of some adults to protect teens from the dangers of the new work in space. Um and so this led to both increases in schools, public education, but it also led to adult supervised youth clubs, especially in many large cities um because they felt that adolescence needed to be protected. They needed education, but they also needed the guidance of adults. um because it takes longer or adolescence has taken longer. They needed that kind of mentorship. Adolescence really didn't take a foothold until the late 1800s. Um and it really developed really a a perspective of adolescence as a lengthy period during which youth prepared for adulthood. Number two, youth are in need of guidance and supervision by adults. As I alluded to earlier, also youth remained economically dependent on adults because they didn't work. They depended on their adults for um funding. And it started more in the middle class and then it spread into much of society afterwards. Okay. Um, so I want to talk a little bit about changes in status and the change in status that happens during adolescence. Keep in mind that the change in status is often a two-sided alteration. Um, let's hold off on that first. On one hand, adolescence is given privileges and rights. They're typically associated with members of the adult society. So as adolescence get older, they begin to get more adult privileges and rights. On the other hand, when you become an adult, that also comes with it increased responsibilities and greater expectations. So changes in adult status from adolescence is a two-eded sword, a sword, so to speak, two-edged sword. You get privileges and rights, but it also comes with it increased responsibility and great expectations. Okay, does that make sense? Let's talk about different types of status. There's the change in interpersonal status. Those recognized as adults are often addressed with adult idols, Mr. um Miz or sir, ma'am. Um, but they also are expected to have different types of relationships with their parents and with the community, other same age people. As you get older and you're adult, you're expected to have adultlike relationships instead of childlike relationships. With the taming of adult status, young people are often permitted greater participation in decision-making. They're allowed to vote, but they also have more responsibility. They, for instance, might be called for a jury duty. So, political status, they're allowed to vote. It's the privilege responsibility that they may have jury duty. Economic status, having an adult job with more comes with the benefits of of of health benefits comes with it. better salary but also responsibilities. Now that you are adult with adult job you have to pay taxes although that sort of starts with adult with adolescent jobs as well. Finally, in most societies, not till adult uh status is attained is the young person permitted to participate in a variety of activities like drinking alcohol, um voting, um whatever it might be. But along with that uh come responsibilities. An adult is subject to certain laws and is treated differently by the legal institution. Now this is sort of varies a bit with the legal status because some adolescence can be tried as adults which I won't get into right now. Um but again with each of these statuses you come with privileges and rights but all of them also have responsibilities and expectations. Okay. So I want to talk about emerging adulthood. It's a area age that I've been focused on in my research. Um, emerging adulthood is a developmental period between the ages of 18 and 25. You often see uh delays in the onset, responsibilities, and privilege associated with adulthood. Now, I use the the age range 18 to 25. I've seen others that have taken it up to 18 to 29. I think 25 is probably I like 25 because it's when the prefrontal cortex is fully mature. So it's sort of that physical uh biological point in which you're no longer a child and you're more an adult or an adolescent you're more like an adult. Um if you ask emerging adults, are you an adult? They you don't get a yes or no. you just kind of get a well maybe especially if they're still in school. Um there are some emerging adults who don't go to college and they start they get married young and they get jobs young and they probably would be more likely to say yes I'm an adult. But if they're in college they probably wouldn't say yes. It's kind of yes and no. In some ways I am some ways I'm not. So there's five different features of emerging adulthood. you see that there's a continued exploration of their identity. Um, ask your friends you and some of them may have had different majors for instance those that are in school and by having extra time it gives them more time to explore things. Before you sort of had to get that in previous eras in your late adolescence to figure out what you want to do in life. Now you get more time to do that in part because a lot of them are taking classes and are getting exposed to different ideas, different possibilities. We also see instability in both their work um if they do work, their relationships and their living arrangements. I know when I was in college, I had multiple um uh apartments, lived in the dorms. I eventually had to get a PO box so I had a single address because I was moving around so much. But also relationships. It's a time when um emerging adults are experimenting with relationship. There's no need or desire to you know get in serious relationships and they just kind of explore things. Um some people take it more seriously obviously. Some people are in relationships with people that they end up marrying. But again, it's another time just like your identity to explore your relationships to try on different relationships, different types of relationships. Also, there's a growing focus of the self as an independent person. And again, um, part of this has to do with the fact, especially if you go off to school and you're away from the, uh, daily eyes of your parents or your caregivers, you're able to live on your own. You may have to have a budget. Um, you may decide when you want to go to bed, when you want to go to class, and when you have to do your laundry, things like that. And so, it's sort of semi-independence. It's not financial independence, but uh for for some it might be financial independence. I may go to school and be independent, but for most it's not. But it's sort of focusing yourself in more on independence because you have greater opportunities than you had when you were living with your family. Also, there is a feeling of being you're not quite an adolescent, but you're not quite an adult. um it's this period of transition um and you know you're you don't fall in the other category and I think that's why emerging adulthood sort of came about also you because you're exploring different possibilities different trajectories you you get a sense that life holds many possibilities you can do anything you want especially the way that we are socialized in the United States that you can be anything that you want to be um whatever fits your niche and exploring and that's what college is and you go to college with a major yes but most college students will change majors at least once or twice and so it's a time to explore things further exploring things than you had before and it's it's a different one because when you're at home with your family You're kind of limited by the types of people that you meet. But college, you meet a variety of people from a variety of different towns, states, countries. So you get exposed to different ideas, not just terms of the teachers, but also the people that you hang out with. So it allows you to explore these possibilities more so than when you're living with your family. So, is emerging adulthood a universal thing? Are all uh individuals between the ages of 18 and 25 considered emerging adults? The jury is still out on this. Um in other countries where they may not go to college for instance they where they start work it's a more of a traditional society they may not they may not have a period called emerging adulthood where their parents support them and it doesn't happen in all economic groups in the United States. there's some um you know uh more lowincome families who can't support their children to go to college, can't pay for college. Um and so because of that there's less of that continuation. There's a less of a of a need I don't want to say need to go to college. I think everyone should go to college but you know because low-income families may feel the need the kids from low-inccome families may feel the need to get a job and support themselves. They may not see college as an option because their parents may not be able to support them. Um in fact again they may low-income families may be more likely to go out and get a job. And I wanted to point out a couple other things. And all low-income families aren't the same. There's some low-income youth who go uh to college, but keep in mind that low-income uh youth are more likely to drop out of school. That means if they go to college, they have to get their GED. It takes a little bit longer. It's a longer process. They're more likely to be engaging in risky behavior, which decreases the chances that they would go to college. and they're almost likely to have children, either give birth to children or be father children, which increases their responsibility for their children. Now, this doesn't mean for all three of these cases that they can't go back to college. It just their timing for going to college might be a little bit later than compared to others. Okay. Okay. So in terms of his emerging adulthood universal I would say no not for all countries not for all cultures not for all economic groups. Let's talk about the process of social redefinition. First of all, it's best to think of this not as a single event that happens one summer, but as a series of events that occurs over time. In some um traditional society, you might see a um where am I? a ceremony where there might be this official period where you're no longer a child and you're more like an adult. Um, in United States and Western cultures, uh, kids sort of do this sometimes when they go to summer camps, extrusion, uh, has to deal with separation more in traditional societies where the, uh, adolescent goes through a a a ritual and they're separated from their family. they're no longer live with their family. But we also see in um there's an accentuation of both physical and social differences between males and females. So before I mean there's always sex differences in children adolescence but we see them accentuated which means that they're magnified uh the physical and social differences in adulthood and this is something that happens in many societies. Another thing that we see um in the process of redefinition is the passing on cultural, historical and practical information. We see this um you pass on information about your family history, where your family came from, but also practical information. And I'm hoping a lot of this comes about through adolescence. My parents would tell me things, you know, I remember when I voted for the first time, they told me what to do and importance of researching them and then importance, you know, when you go to college, they they gave me some heads up because they both went to college before I did. Um, but the point is is that one practice of this definition is that in healthy families, there's the passing on of this type of information. But again, like I said, it's not all families. Some families don't do that and that's what makes it hard for some families who uh individuals who aren't from healthy families. Okay. So I want to talk about variations um in uh social transitions and I'm going to talk about two terms clarity and continuity. We're going to talk about them separately. Clarity refers to the explicitness or clearness of the social transition process. Refers to the explicitness or clearness of the social transition process. Clarity is that clear? Is it clear what that process is or is it ambiguous? Is it unclear? In contrast, continuity refers to degree to which this process is a gradual and smooth process versus a sudden and rough process. Continuity refers to the degree to which this process of social transition is a gradual smooth process or whether it's a sudden and rough process. So clarity refers to whether or not it's clear what that transition is. Continuity refers to the process of whether it's a smooth gradual process or if it's a sudden one day you earn it out. Okay. So in different societies we see that there is variety in terms of clarity in contemporary societies. Um, oh, so I want to talk about var variations and clarity. First of all, let me give a a bit of a overview. In some sizes, there are certain things that happen at every age. Um, and it's clear that that's getting married at a certain age, but like in our society, like I mentioned before, people aren't getting married at a certain age. Um, and in western society, as we'll see, it's not always clear when you are an adult because there's discrepancies regarding that. Oops. So, let's talk about contemporary society. Contemporary societies. Um, so this would include western societies. In western societies, United States, we don't have a single ritual that separates different developmental errors with a few exceptions. In western societies and contemporary societies, we don't have a single ritual that separates the different developmental errors. In certain cultures we do um I was raised Catholic and we had confirmation but even that occurs at different ages in American culture in the Catholic American culture. graduate from high school sometimes is considered that. But it doesn't bring with with it all the necessary changes and responses and privileges it did in the past because a lot of Americans after high school, they go to college and they're still dependent on their parents. Um even if they don't pay for college, they may like my parents helped pay, you know, um financial support although I was on student loans, but they still helped throughout college. So attaining adult status essentially is an individual matter in contemporary or western society. And there really is an absent of a clearcut and universal marker of the passage which makes this you know confusing. And again in our society it's not graduate from high school. For some it might be it's not necessarily getting married but it might be but it's not the same. And that's why it's not clear in a western society because there's not a universal way of doing it. So more traditional cultures um unlike contemporary cultures or western cultures social redefinition is a clearly recognized and identified in traditional cultures. In traditional culture, social redefinition is clearly recognized and identified. Um the passage from adolescence to adults is usually marked by a formal operational uh or formal operation formal initiation ceremony. This passage to adulthood is typically in traditional cultures is marked by a formal initiation ceremony, whatever it might be. Um, and you might get a tattoo, you might get this, you might get that, and you go off and you come back and you're an adult. Bam. And it's clear you're an adult. Because it happens in these cultures the same for everyone. So it is clear in traditional cultures. What about in previous eras? The transition to adel may actually have been more disorderly and unclear in the early 1800s than it is today. And the reason for that is that people often move back and forth between school, which viewed as you're a child, and working as adult. So kids might be in school, they might take time off and work on the farm or help their parents with their business and but then go back to school when they're no longer needed. Also, the timetable for certain transitions varied much more and much more dependent on the needs of the family. As I mentioned before, sometimes you had to drop out of school to help your family with the farm. Also, when there was a need for public education or uh for education, the first types of education were more private schooling and the lowincome families could not afford to send their kids off to some boarding school. Um, and it really wasn't until later in which there was public education where it became more of a specific thing. So again in previous eras especially in the contemporary society it was probably less clear more disorderly because it all often depended on the whims of the family. I don't say whims on the needs of the family. Okay does that make sense? So again clarity has to do with whether or not it's a clear process. In temporary western societies it's not a clear process. It's much more clear in traditional cultures where there is a specific ritual. In previous eras, it was less clear because of the need to uh kids had to drop out of school to go with their parents or go back to school if the parents didn't need them anymore. And so it was more chaotic in previous eras in western societies. Let's talk about variations and continuity. And remember continuity has to do with whether it's a slow gradual process versus a sudden quick process. So continuous processes um reflect more of a gradual process in which the adolescent assumes the roles and statuses of an adult bit by bit. Kind of a gradual they do one thing and then they do another thing. They take on other responsibilities. A discontinuous transition is when it's not gradual smooth. These are more sudden. Suddenly you are an adult. The type in traditional cultures might be considered that to some degree. So what about v uh variations and continuity in contemporary society? And let's focus on three areas the worker, parent and citizen. In our society in general, youth get very little training and are often thrust abruptly into adult roles. Um, so it's much more discontinuous in the current contemporary western societies. Think about the different roles that we take on a worker. Most of our work is in restaurants, retails. I worked in restaurants and retails. I worked at Walgreens for six years throughout college. Um, people say, "Well, you can learn how to deal with money." But most adolescent workers don't contribute to the family finances. They work part-time for their own expenses to go to the movies, to go on dates. Also now because there are families born with fewer children, youth are receiving little parenting training, especially with small families. Um, now in my family, I had a little bit more experience because I was the youngest of five and I was an uncle when I was 10. And so I had experience changing diapers because I had to babysit. And so I learned about that and feeding and all the other things. But in many societies, you don't have a lot of children and you don't get that type of opportunity. What about citizens? We're not allowed in our society to vote until we're 18. And thus, unless especially your parents sits you down and explains it to you, it's not a gradual process. Maybe some schools might do a mock voting thing, but it's not real. What about continuity and traditional cultures? Now, Margaret me, I wanted to mention she was an anthropologist. I would look her up on YouTube and take a look at some of the videos, more specific thing that she talked about, but she looked a at these more traditional cultures, and that's a picture of her there. Um, tradition in traditional cultures was much more continuous. It's a much more gradual process. Youth get more hands-on experience both in terms of their work. They might follow along um with their father, their grandfather, their aunt, uncle on on some type of job and learn and and solely take on some responsibilities of that job. uh they might help making nets or whatever it might be and but it's a more of a gradual process bit by bit. They also especially for some of the females they might get more experienced with family activities. Some traditional societies for instance it's not uncommon for infants and children to be held by someone at all times. That might be an aunt, that might be, you know, a grandmother. But the point is is that you get more experience. And also because traditional cultures, they're more likely to have larger families, you're more likely to get experience at babysitting your younger siblings and caring for them um than you would in more contemporary societies, western societies. Let's talk about the continuity process in previous eras. Early in history in western societies, the transition to responsibilities began at an earlier age and proceeded a more gradual process. Terms of work, especially on farms, youth often had a lot of hands-on experience because the families barred them for help. they were taught how to do all the things. So when they became an adult and maybe took over the farm, they knew how to do everything. Um or uh in the past eras they left on apprentice ships. My um and they had somewhat semi-independence but they learned their job. My great-grandfather who was Pietro Pendola who was born in Sicily learned to be a stone cutter from his uncle Jerome and I think his his cousin Jerom and his uncle Salvatorei so he went and did that and I believe he went well it's a small town so they didn't go another town but you had more of the apprenticeships back then and so when he became an adult he had years experience at being a marble cutter and a stone cutter. Also, with parenting, because families back then had larger uh uh families and were spread out more, adolescence had greater opportunities for caring for younger siblings, both male and female. Um, you had to babysit more uh your younger siblings than you did before than you do now. And there are like nine-year difference between me and my brother. um one of my uh uh uh ancestors had 14 kids and there was a 20-year difference between the oldest and youngest children. So in those areas you got more experience. So again in contemporary society it's a more discontinuous more of a sudden process um with all of these uh uh just to give example you know I worked at Walgreens and Pizza Hut and that really didn't help me as much in terms of my job as a college professor. Now I will say that grad school is a way to make it more continuous process because I did teach I did do research and did everything I do now for the most part as a graduate student. But in traditional culture and generally in western cultures things are more of a discontinuous a sudden uh blunt uh change. traditional cultures was a more uh gradual process because you took on some of the work and family responsibilities early on. Some the work by Margaret me showed that and in previous errors it was more continuous and more of a gradual process than it is now. Okay. Okay. So that is the end of my lecture on uh for part one. Um, again, let me know if you have any questions and I'll see you in part two.