CHAPTER 6 The Adolescent in Society

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CHAPTER 6The Adolescent in Society

• Section 1 Adolescence in Our Society
• Section 2 Teenagers and Dating
• Section 3 Challenges of Adolescence

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Objectives
Section 1 Adolescence in Our Society

• Explain how adolescence developed as a distinct
  stage of the life cycle in the United States.
• Identify the five general characteristics of
  adolescence.

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How Adolescence Developed as a Stage of the Life
Cycle
Section 1 Adolescence in Our Society

• Through Education children stay in school
  longer extended period of dependence
• Through Work laws restricted child labor, also
  increasing length of dependence
• Through Courts juvenile-justice system legally
  distinguished between youth and adults

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Five General Characteristics of Adolescence
Section 1 Adolescence in Our Society

• Biological Growth and Development various
  biological changes such as changes in body
  proportions and acne
• Undefined Status adolescent expectations are
  often vague
• Increased Decision Making must make some of
  their own decisions

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Five General Characteristics of Adolescence
Section 1 Adolescence in Our Society
(continued)

• Increased Pressure adolescents are faced with
  pressure from many sources
• The Search for Self deciding what is really
  important

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Objectives
Section 2 Teenagers and Dating

• Summarize how dating developed as a form of
  social interaction.
• Describe the functions that dating fulfills.

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Development of Dating
Section 2 Teenagers and Dating

• Industrial Revolution people moved from the
  farms to the cities where young adults could gain
  more economic freedom and their own home. As a
  result, parental control over young adults and
  courtship decreased.
• Public Education by the 1900s most secondary
  school students attended coeducational public
  schools which increased interaction between boys
  and girls

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Development of Dating
Section 2 Teenagers and Dating
(continued)

• Automobile young adults had more freedom of
  movement away from parents
• Telephone young adults could more easily talk
  to members of the opposite sex
• Equality of Women more women entered the
  workforce and took on more active community roles
  which increased the interaction between single
  adult men and women

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Functions of Dating
Section 2 Teenagers and Dating

• Serves as a form of entertainment
• Is a means of socialization that teaches people
  about the opposite sex
• Fills psychological needs such as companionship
• Helps individuals attain status as people are
  judged in part by whom they date
• Aids in spouse selection

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Objectives
Section 3 Challenges of Adolescence

• Identify some of the social problems facing
  contemporary teenagers.
• Trace the causes and consequences of these
  problems.

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Social Problems of Contemporary Teenagers
Section 3 Challenges of Adolescence

• Teenage Sexual Behavior
• Teenage Drug Use
• Teenage Suicide

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Causes and Consequences of Contemporary Problems
Sexual Behavior
Section 3 Challenges of Adolescence

• Cause loosening of norms concerning sexuality
  low-income, one-parent families
• Consequence teenage pregnancy exposure to or
  acquiring STDs such as syphilis or AIDS

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Causes and Consequences of Contemporary Problems
Drug Use
Section 3 Challenges of Adolescence

• Cause dropping out of school having friends
  who use drugs social and academic adjustment
  problems hostile and rejecting family setting
• Consequence increase in the use of some drugs
  among teens increase in drug-related violence

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Causes and Consequences of Contemporary Problems
Suicide
Section 3 Challenges of Adolescence

• Cause alcohol or drug use triggering events
  such as a family crisis or other trials of
  adolescence being female social isolation,
  living in an underpopulated area, bad family
  environment cluster effect from publicized
  suicides
• Consequence death possible cluster effects
  leading to other teenage suicides rise in U.S.
  teenage suicide rate teen suicide rate now
  exceeds that for adults