ADOLESCENTS & FAMILIES

ADOLESCENTS & FAMILIES Emerging Trends & Challenges

The statistical study of a population: • Time-based • Size of population • Composition of population • Distribution of population • Migration, immigration, and emigration rates • Groupings by age, sex, nationality/ethnicity, religion • Marital status and family type affiliation (census family) • Birth and death rates • Education, income, and occupation • Residence (housing) • Demography helps social scientists to understand changing values within a society, which in turn sheds light on underlying causes of change DEMOGRAPHY

Conducted every 5 years (last census year: 2011) • One member of every household in Canada is required to complete the census, either in hard copy or online, and return it by the specified date • You are legally required to respond truthfully, to the best of your ability, and in a timely manner, to the census questionnaire • Representation in the House of Commons, as well as provincial subsidies, are based on census information • Penalty: Fine of not more than $500, imprisonment for up to three months, or both (Statistics Act, 2005, Subsection 31) • The census is like the family photo album of a nation THE CANADIAN CENSUS

Family: the most basic unit of organization and affiliation among humans • How we define family reveals much about our beliefs and values • Gender roles, importance of propagation of species vs. self, etc. • If a society’s definition of family changes, it generally signals that the society’s beliefs and values have also changed • Culture also has tremendous influence on family structure • Expectations for yourself growing up here vs. elsewhere, typical house design in Brampton, suburban vs. urban vs. village design THE MEANING OF FAMILY

NUCLEAR FAMILY: mother, father, dependent child(ren) in one house • EXTENDED FAMILY: multiple generations all in one house • LONE-PARENT FAMILY: mother OR father, dependent child(ren) in one house • BLENDED FAMILY: man and woman, either or both previously divorced, now living together (married or common-law), with or without children from previous relationships, all in one house • SAME-SEX FAMILY: first recognized on the 2006 census; two men or two women, married or common-law, with or without dependent children, all in one house • MARRIED/COHABITING COUPLE: heterosexual, childfree couple in one house • Census family: all of the above family structure categories are recognized by the Canadian census CANADIAN FAMILY STRUCTURES

The results of the 2006 census revealed: • Dual-income families are the norm (67%); responsibilities and power shared roughly equally between the two earners • Only 25% of Canadian mothers with young children identified as homemakers (stay-at-home mothers): compare with 60% in 1976 • Homosexual couples are getting married at a higher rate than heterosexual couples: between 2001-2006, the number of same-sex couples in Canada rose by 33%, while the number of opposite-sex couples rose by 6%  gay marriage legalized July, 2005 • Common-law relationships are becoming more common (February, 2011: the Supreme Court awards common-law couples the same legal status as married couples) MODERN FAMILY TRENDS

Ado = adolescent (Fr.) • THE TWEEN • Boy or girl, 8-13 years old • Marketing and advertising are major contributors to its emergence as a distinct developmental stage • Tweens are influenced to act older than they are, at younger ages than ever before  adopt adult consumer behaviour • Increased importance of tweens in society • On average, couples and individuals are having fewer children • Predominance of the dual-income family structure • Older parents with a proclivity to indulge • Higher incidences of divorce • Children more aware of their rights • Children encouraged to express themselves at an earlier age • Remember what we learned about the prefrontal cortex? SOCIALIZATION TRENDS & CHALLENGES AMONG MODERN ADOS

SEXUALIZATION OF CHILDREN: • The fashion and health & beauty industries are targeting younger and younger audiences, but they are using the same lure as that used on adults: sexuality and sexual desirability • The industries are also attacking their audience’s self-esteem • Tweens are learning to value physical beauty above all else, all while being made to feel poorly about themselves • Rise of eating disorders, skewed body image, and narrowed definitions of beauty • Questions for the women: do you wear make-up? If so, why? How long have you been wearing make-up? What made you decide to do so? SOCIALIZATION TRENDS & CHALLENGES AMONG MODERN ADOS

DELAYED TRANSITIONS • Fledgling adults: adults still living in their parents’/guardians’ home (never left OR returned) • Pursuing more education  incurring greater debt • Experiencing less societal pressure to leave • Choosing to stay at home for financial reasons (difficulties finding suitable employment after graduation, increased cost of living) • Delaying marriage until later into their 20s or 30s • HELICOPTER PARENTING • Over-involvement in a child’s life • Desire to make the child’s life as easy as possible • Trend first came to attention of social scientists during the 1990s • Prevents the child from becoming independent SOCIALIZATION TRENDS & CHALLENGES AMONG MODERN ADOS

CONSUMERISM • Capitalist societies focus their efforts on economic growth • The only way to ensure economic growth is for consumers to buy more and more each year • Where does all of the “stuff” we buy come from? • How does the production of all of that “stuff” affect the rest of the world? • ETHICAL CONSUMPTION • An attempt to reduce the harmful impacts of consumerism on the rest of the world • Fair Trade SOCIALIZATION TRENDS & CHALLENGES AMONG MODERN ADOS

Conformity and social belonging are key needs in an adolescent’s life • Leon Festinger: Social Comparison Theory • People need to compare themselves against others in order to see if they “measure up” • Combine the two needs above  competitive emulation, or “keeping up with the Joneses” • Consumerism, conformity, and comparison: a vicious cycle • Other challenges to social relationships: • Abraham Maslow: hierarchy of needs • MuzaferSherif: in-group and out-group dynamic • Robert Merton: deviance and social strain typology CHALLENGES TO SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS

MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS • http://www.flickr.com/photos/betterworksinc/5854234616/ • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) • Theory (pub. 1943) to explain behavioural motivations • Needs at the bottom must be addressed before an individual can consider meeting needs that are higher up on the pyramid • Maslow estimated that 98% of people never reach the top level • The Social needs (3rd from the bottom) are what drive the adolescent need to conform and belong • What challenges to adolescent social relationships can you explain or identify using Maslow’s hierarchy of needs? MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

MuzaferSherif(1906-1988) • Researcher, group dynamics: how easily can individuals come together to form a group? • Theory, pt. 1: bring individuals together in a group, make them work toward a common goal, and they will create a group structure complete with a hierarchy and roles  in-group • Theory, pt. 2: form two in-groups, bring them together for the purpose of competition, and the two groups will become hostile toward one another  in-group vs. out-group • The two groups will oppose or attack each other as long as they think they are competing against each other • The only way to convince the two groups to work together: make the two groups think they are both facing an external threat • Conclusions: every group will develop a unique culture, language, modes of behaviour, and status structures; every in-group will find an out-group; “us vs. them” mentality invariably leads to conflict IN-GROUP vs. OUT-GROUP

Deviance: individual or group behaviours that violate popular social norms, and cultural and moral standards • Mainstream groups usually regard deviant behaviour negatively • Robert Merton: strain theory • Society causes deviance • Society pressures people to conform: individuals choose whether or not to “play by the rules” of society • Subculture: an alternative system of values and beliefs that opposes mainstream society’s cultural/moral/behavioural norms • Adolescence: time of heightened participation in subcultures as one tries to determine one’s place in the world DEVIANCE & SOCIAL STRAIN TYPOLOGY

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mertons_social_strain_theory.svghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mertons_social_strain_theory.svg MERTON’S DEVIANCE TYPOLOGY

What motivates a person to accept and follow societal expectations regarding goals and the behaviours necessary to achieve those goals? • Deviance: assessment of means and ends • CONFORMISTS: accept society’s cultural goals, and the means by which to attain those goals; rule followers; doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc. • RITUALISTS: accept society’s means but not its goals; non-profit lawyer, independent bookshop owner, etc. • INNOVATORS: accept society’s goals but not the means; visionaries; Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg • RETREATISTS: reject society’s goals and means; they feel alienated from and/or disenfranchised by society, and so prefer to isolate themselves from it; hippies, gangs • REBELS: reject society’s goals and means; rather than removing themselves from society, they seek to change it; Occupy protesters, Arab Spring MERTON’S DEVIANCE TYPOLOGY

Social networking • Why do you think communicating via technology is so important to an adolescent? Connect your answer to one of the theories about which you have just learned. • Cyberbullying and sexting • Why do you think adolescents engage in these behaviours? Connect your answers to at least two of the theories about which you have just learned. • How and why are adolescents more negatively affected by these activities? Connect your answers to at least two of the theories about which you have just learned. ADOLESCENTS & TECHNOLOGY

Melvin Seeman: social alienation • Powerlessness: individual believes s/he is incapable of achieving a desired outcome – lack of required skills/means • Meaninglessness: individual cannot see the point of his/her actions • Normlessness: individual no longer feels any connection to societal values/rules • Social isolation: individual withdraws from society, usually due to feelings of normlessness • Self-estrangement: individual denies/negates personal interests and chooses impersonal, external activities to meet needs SOCIAL CHALLENGES FOR ADOLESCENTS

Gabor Maté: peer orientation and its role in increasing suicide rates • Children are forming attachment relationships with their peers instead of their parents • Children look to their peers instead of their parents for guidance and a sense of identity • If children rely mainly on their peers for socialization, and if they are then rejected by the group, the greater will be their feelings of alienation • Suicide becomes an option if one feels rejected by one’s “whole world” SOCIAL CHALLENGES FOR ADOLESCENTS

Emile Durkheim on suicide: • Imagine someone whose friends are very important to her. The friends have great influence over her decisions and actions. Now imagine that the friends break up with her. For that girl, suicide may seem preferable to having no friends. • Three types of suicide according to Durkheim: • ALTRUISTIC: individual believes s/he is dying for the greater good (his/her death will benefit the group somehow) • EGOISTIC: individual believes that s/he is alone and powerless, usually feeling guilty about something s/he thinks is wrong with him/her • ANOMIC: individual does not respond well to sudden change; feels lost and starts to see life as meaningless (usually triggered by death of someone close to the individual) SOCIAL CHALLENGES FOR ADOLESCENTS

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ADOLESCENTS & FAMILIES