11.6 Adolescent Development and Culture

The main NOBA text examines how puberty kicks off adolescence and how adolescents engage in more abstract and complex thinking but are also still prone to risky behavior because of a still-developing prefrontal cortex. In addition, adolescents begin spending more time with their peers than their parents, exploring their identities within cliques and crowds as well as intimate relationships. Adolescents’ experiences with demarcating puberty, applying their abilities, identity formation, and relationship building vary depending on their cultural, ethnic, racial, religious, and socioeconomic background (Arnett & Arnett Jensen, 2024).

Puberty

When it comes to entering adolescence, many cultures have traditions marked by ceremonies that serve to prepare adolescents for adulthood but also announce to the community that an adolescent has begun their journey into adulthood. These ceremonies are sometimes called puberty rites and may differ for girls and boys, depending on what sex roles are valued in a culture (Weisfeld, 1997). According to Weisfeld, in traditional cultures, these ceremonies may be the culmination of training for adolescents and where they are given the experience of separation from their parents and family, taught about the transition into adulthood, and then incorporated into adulthood. Adolescent girls in Mexican culture experience a quinceañera at the age of 15, during which they undergo a religious ceremony followed by a festive celebration, such as a ball, marking their transition into adulthood. In Jewish cultures, girls undergo a bat mitzvah, and boys undergo a bar mitzvah. These ceremonies require them to undergo religious training at age 13 and mark their readiness to partake in the public worship of Judaism. In eastern Ghana, Krobo adolescent girls undergo the Dipo puberty ceremony, during which they are secluded from their families for 10–12 days and learn new skills related to home management and caregiving from elderly women. This ceremony is meant to provide them with the support they need in their transition to womanhood and is found to have a positive effect on their psychological well-being (Abbey et al., 2021; Amugi Lartey, 2014). In addition, in some Native American cultures, the Sun Dance is used for both boys and girls to mark their transition into manhood and womanhood, respectively, during the summer solstice. Practiced by the Native American tribes from the Plains of North America, this ceremony includes praying, dancing, drumming, singing, and fasting.

Video 11.4. “The Navajo Coming of Age Ceremony…She Has All The Power of Changing Woman” by Navajo Traditional Teachings. 

Although adolescents celebrate puberty across different cultures, the onset or start of puberty has experienced a secular trend, such that today’s adolescents experience puberty earlier than adolescents generations ago. As mentioned in the main text, this early onset secular trend can be attributed to nutrition as well as to life stressors. A significant amount of research has linked the early onset of puberty to socioeconomic status (Sun et al., 2017).

Identity

The main text discusses Marcia’s (1966) four phases of identity formation, which vary across two dimensions: whether identity has been explored or not and whether one has committed to an identity or not. These four phases of identity formation include (1) identity achievement (explored and committed); (2) identity foreclosure (unexplored and committed); (3) identity moratorium (explored but uncommitted); and (4) identity diffusion (unexplored and uncommitted). Exploring one’s identity through peers, family, and popular culture, such as music, movies, and literature, is a process that many adolescents undergo. However, some adolescents do not have the luxury of exploring their identities and who they want to be. Adolescents from lower-income families who have to work to help their families are more likely to be in identity foreclosure (Kukkola et al., 2023). Additionally, adolescents living in cultures that prioritize interdependence and family expectations are more likely to experience identity foreclosure than cultures that prioritize individuality (Sirin et al., 2024).

Ethnic and racial identity development is also an important part of adolescents’ identity formation, especially as migration increases around the world. Phinney (1992) developed the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM) to measure adolescents’ sense of belonging and pride in their ethnic groups. Based on this measure, some adolescents, such as Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, Turkish Dutch, and Pakistani adolescents in Great Britain, experience a bicultural ethnic identity, which embraces both their ethnic-group identity and their majority-culture identity (Hutnik & Street, 2010; Marks et al., 2011; Verkuyten & Thjis, 2002). On average, African American adolescents experience separation, such that they are high on their racial identity but low on their majority-culture identity (Rivas-Drake et al., 2014). In contrast, Native American adolescents, on average, experience marginality in their ethnic identity and exhibit low identification with both their ethnic-group identity and their majority-culture identity. Ethnic/racial identity has implications for one’s overall well-being and academic achievement, showing that positive identification with one’s ethnic heritage is associated with better general well-being and academic performance (Rivas-Drake et al., 2014, Romero et al., 2014; Yasui & Dishion, 2007).

Stereotype Threat

Although positive identification with one’s ethnic or racial group is positively associated with academic performance, negative identification or awareness of negative stereotypes associated with one’s ethnic or racial group can have detrimental effects. For example, Aronson & Steele (2005) review the effects of stereotypes on ethnic and racial minority adolescents when taking tests, showing that if an individual’s race or ethnicity is negatively associated with an ability (e.g., math, science, writing, sports), then they will perform poorly in that area when their ethnic or racial identity is primed. Awareness of these stereotypes impacts adolescents’ academic self-concept (Evans, et al., 2011). The stress of experiencing discrimination also impacts students’ ability to engage in the classroom. Wang et al. (2023) also found that only ethnic minority adolescents with low levels of daily experiences of discrimination demonstrated the effects of executive functioning on school engagement. For instance, an adolescent with good memory and inhibitory control is more engaged in school only if they have little experience being discriminated against. This effect does not exist for adolescents who experience high levels of discrimination, suggesting that experiences with discrimination may weaken the effect of cognitive abilities on adolescents’ school performance. Teachers and parents can also perpetuate gender and racial stereotypes and influence adolescent academic self-concept. Black and White adolescents’ stereotype endorsement was strongly associated with their perceptions of adults’ endorsement of these stereotypes (Copping et al., 2013). However, sometimes having a group of supportive peers can buffer against the negative effects of stereotypes and discrimination (Benner & Wang, 2017).

Peer Groups

Cross-ethnic friendships have been shown to protect against one’s experience with discrimination. These relationships are not common during adolescence, but they are more probable when a cross-ethnic peer shares similar interests in activities or similar academic aspirations (Hamm et al., 2005). In the United States, crowds, such as “athletes” or “brains,” are common in early adolescence and help adolescents with their identity development. As schools become more ethnically heterogeneous, ethnicity-based crowds also form. However, only 13–16% of ethnic and racial minority adolescents self-affiliate as part of these crowds (Brown et al., 2008), and they do so because they identify positively with their ethnicity (for Asian and Latine adolescents) or because they seek safety from discrimination and stereotyping (for Latine adolescents). Crowds are common in high schools or secondary schools in North America and Europe. However, they are not commonly observed in other countries. Research involving Chinese adolescents indicates that their friendships are driven by similarity in academic achievement and that they seek to befriend those with higher academic achievement (Shen & French, 2023). This observation can be attributed to the high value placed on education, achievement, and academic competition that exists in China today, as well as to Confucian teachings around education (Yu & Suen, 2005).

Risky Behavior

Given the overwhelming finding that adolescents choose to be friends with others who are similar to them in values and behaviors, it is still unclear whether adolescents engage in behaviors similar to their friends’ behavior as a result of these friendship choices or because they are being influenced by their peers. However, one clear finding is that adolescents are more likely to engage in risky behaviors when they are with friends than when they are on their own (Chein et al., 2011). Compared to girls, boys, and more specifically boys from low socioeconomic backgrounds, are more heavily impacted by reward-seeking tendencies, but both genders living in neighborhoods with very high poverty levels are equally likely to engage in risky behavior, including violent activities (Zimmerman & Messner, 2010). Interestingly, adolescents in very affluent neighborhoods were also found to engage in high rates of risky behaviors (e.g., alcohol and drug consumption) and were at high risk for anxiety and depression due to facing high, and even unrealistic, expectations from parents who were not always available for support (Luthar et al., 2018). This research was mostly conducted using North American and European samples. More research is needed to understand the risky behaviors of adolescents in other cultures. For instance, research on adolescents’ sexual activity shows that cultural restrictiveness around sexual activity before marriage, as well as the availability of sex education in schools, informs adolescents’ engagement in risky sexual activities (e.g., engaging in sex without using contraceptives or participating in behaviors that promote sexually transmitted diseases). Adolescents in more permissive cultures (e.g., some South Pacific and Northern European cultures) that encourage or expect sexual activity from their adolescents are more likely to engage in premarital sex than adolescents in more restrictive cultures (e.g., some East African cultures, East Asian, South Asian, and West Asian cultures). Semi-restrictive cultures, such as the majority of U.S. culture, prohibit premarital sex but do not strongly enforce it (Arnett & Arnett Jensen, 2024). In many cultures, double standards exist regarding the acceptability of risky behavior in adolescence for boys and for girls (e.g., it is more acceptable for boys than for girls to engage in premarital sex). Discrepancies between expectation and actual practice also exist. Sometimes this can result in exaggeration or underreporting of the frequency of certain sexual behaviors. Therefore, caution should be taken when interpreting this research.