12. Culture

Question 1

Why should increased attention be paid to the role of culture and ethnicity in the study of adolescence today?

Answer 1

Increased global interdependence. Extensive contact between people from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds is rapidly becoming the norm. Current research is too eurocentric.

Question 2

Why do we conduct cross-cultural studies?

Answer 2

Provide information about other cultures, and see to what extent is development universal or cultural specific.

Question 3

What characterizes individualistic cultures?

Answer 3

• priority to personal rather than group goals

- emphasizes self-serving goals (eg. feeling good, personal achievement, independence, competition and power)

Question 4

What characterizes collectivistic cultures?

Answer 4

• emphasizes values that serve the group by subordinating personal goals to preserve group integrity, interdependence of members, and harmonious relationships
• cooperative and obedience to authority
• modest and humble
• save others and own’s face

Question 5

How do self-conceptions differ for individualistic and collectivistic cultures?

Answer 5

individualistic – describe personal traits (“I am assertive”)
collectivistic – describe group affiliations (“I am chinese”) but recently the Chinese are increasingly including more individualistic characteristics in their descriptions.

Question 6

What do individualistic culture parents emphasize in teaching their child?

Answer 6

1) personal choice
2) intrinsic motivation
3) self-esteem
4) self-maximization (achieving one’s full potential)

Question 7

What do collectivistic culture parents emphasize in teaching their child?

Answer 7

1) connectedness to family and other close relationships
2) orientation to larger group (school, society)
3) respect and obedience

Question 8

What are some critics of the individualistic and collectivistic dichotomy?

Answer 8

• too broad and simplistic, especially with increase in globalisation
• regardless of cultural background, people need to have a positive sense of self and connectedness to others to develop effectively.
• most families tend to emphasize both values, not juts one

Question 9

What are the downsides of having too much unstructured time?

Answer 9

Adolescents usually end up engaging in non-challenging activities like hanging out and watching TV.

Question 10

What can be done to reduce amount of unstructured time?

Answer 10

Have more structured voluntary activities, especially if adults give responsibility to adolescents, challenge them, and provide competent guidance in these activities.

Question 11

Why is attainment of adult status so ambiguous as compared to in the past (primitive cultures)?

Answer 11

• absence of clear-cut rites of passage

Question 12

What are some characteristics of high SES adolescents in Singapore? (5)

Answer 12

• parents have a lot of money and work in prestigious occupations (doctor, banker, businessmen)
• live in attractive houses and neighbourhoods
• regularly enjoy vacations abroad
• attend schools where mix of students is primarily from similar SES as them
• parents tend to be more authoritative (more conversational and democratic, use less physical punishment)

Question 13

What are some characteristis of low SES adolescents? (5)

Answer 13

• parents do not have much money and work in less prestigious occupations. parents work long hours and can’t spend time with them. little parental monitoring. conflict over money and chaos at home.
• live in smaller HDBs and poorer housing estates. No table to study, need to share space with siblings, cramped house
• rarely go on vacations. lack learning opportunities.
• attend schools where mix of students is mainly form similar low SES backgrounds
• parents (use more physical punishment, more directive and less conversational, authoritarian)
• at risk for low achievement and emotional problems, and occupational attainment

Question 14

What are some difficulties faced by the poor? (4)

Answer 14

• often powerless. rarely the decision makers in the workplace. rules are handed down to them in an authoritarian manner. so at home, they similarly hand rules down to kids like that, and don’t allow verbal give and take
• vulnerable to disaster. no financial resources to fall back on when problems arise
• limited range of alternatives. limited job choice, little knowledge of alternatives, and not prepared to make a wise decision.
• little education and inability to read well. cannot teach children.

Question 15

What do 2-generation interventions in antipoverty programs do?

Answer 15

• provide services for both children and parents.
  children: education and after school programmes
  parents: adult education, literacy training, job skills training, parenting skills

Question 16

What are the kind of stressors immigrants face?

Answer 16

1) language barriers
2) dual struggles to preserve identity and acculturate (first generation immigrant adolescents had more internalizing problems than second gen)
3) changes in SES. poverty
4) parent-child conflict over cultural values
5) prejudice and discrimination

Question 17

What is cultural brokering?

Answer 17

When children and adolescents serve as mediators (cultural and linguistic) for their immigrant parents.

Question 18

What can we do to integrate ethnic minority communities into society?

Answer 18

Recognizing and respecting these differences is essential to getting along with others in a diverse multicultural world. Increase empathy and understanding.

Question 19

In what aspects of life does prejudice and discrimination pervade?

Answer 19

jobs, media, interpersonal interactions, daily conversations.

Question 20

What is media multitasking?

Answer 20

A recent trend whereby one engages in different types of media usage simultaneously. (eg. text messaging while listening to music)

Question 21

How does media multitasking impair learning?

Answer 21

More susceptible to interference from irrelevant information.

Question 22

What are some negative influences of screen time?

Answer 22

• makes adolescents passive learners. reduce creativity
• distract them from homework
• reinforces stereotypes
• provide them with violent models of aggression
• present them with unrealistic views of the world
• less time interacting with peers
• decreased physical activity. obesity
• poorer sleep habits
• lower academic achievement
• more permissive attitudes about premarital and recreational sex

Question 23

What are some positive influences of watching TV? (2)

Answer 23

• motivating educational programs

- increase children’s and adolescents’ awareness of the world beyond their immediate environment

Question 24

What are some negative impacts of video gaming?

Answer 24

• desensitisation to violence –> more aggressive and more likely to engage in delinquent acts
• reduced empathic concern

Question 25

What are some positive impacts of videogaming?

Answer 25

• improve visuospatial skills
• playing action video games improved attentional control
• weight loss (wii sports, requires gross motor skills)

Question 26

Why does more time spent watching TV lower adolescents’ school achievement? (3)

Answer 26

1) Interference – distract adolescents while they are doing cognitive tasks
2) Displacement – take time and attention away from engaging in achievement-related tasks
3) Self-defeating tastes and preferences – attract children to entertainment activities which capture their interest more than school achievements.

Question 27

What are some concerns about adolescence increasing internet use around the world?

Answer 27

1) largely unregulated access to information – eg. can access adult sexual material, instructions for making bombs etc.
2) health – inadequate sleep, elevated blood pressure, lower self-esteem
3) cyber bullying and harassment

Question 28

Which gender tends to use more social networking sites?

Answer 28

Females

Question 29

What is the most common activity that adolescents engage in on their smartphones?

Answer 29

daily text messaging

Question 30

What is sexting?

Answer 30

Sexualised text communication. Sending word messages or sexually explicit/suggestive photographs via text messaging….

Question 31

What is the difference between students who use facebook to maintain social ties and to seek new relationships?

Answer 31

students who use facebook to maintain existing relationships had better social adjustment and were less lonely
students who use facebook to pursue new relationships, had poorer adjustment and were more lonely

Question 32

Boys are more likely to self-disclose better online than in person. What might this suggest?

Answer 32

Suggest that boys may benefit more from online communication

Question 33

What is higher degree of parental monitoring of adolescent’s internet usage associated with?

Answer 33

Positive outcomes (more sleep, better school performance, less aggressive behavior, more prosocial behavior)

Question 34

What can problematic mother-adolescent relationships lead to in terms of child’s online usage?

Answer 34

Possibly lead to adolescents’ preference for online communication and forming a relationship with someone met online, yet poorer quality online relationships.

Question 35

What are some social policy recommendations regarding media usage? (4)

Answer 35

1) encourage responsible programming of content. producers of media content need to provide more positive images to youth. Make media more adolescent friendly.
2) Encourage media literacy programmes as part of school curricula
3) Use of media to promote health and wellbeing
4) Expand opportunities for adolescents’ views to appear in the media