2. Theorizing Youth

Question 1

What is the sociology of life-course and psychology of life-span?

Answer 1

Sociology of life-course: looks at individual life courses not as expressions of an unfolding personality but as regularities “produced” by institutions and structural opportunities

Psychology of life life-span: refers primarily to the internal development of individuals, namely psychological functioning and the development of psychological features of the individual

Question 2

Nature vs Nurture

Answer 2

Nature: refers to genetics and all the factors that are inherited

Nurture: refers to the variable of environment: the things you get from the world around you after you are born. Life experience.

Question 3

Agency is based on the assumption that…

Answer 3

Agency is based on the assumption that humans are not passive recipients of a predetermined life course but make decisions that determine the shape their lives

Question 4

True or False: life-span refers to the external environment while life-course is internal

Answer 4

False

Question 5

What does the psychology of life-span and sociology of life-course have in common? Are they fundamentally the same?

Answer 5

They have different approaches to studying the same object of scientific inquiry– the lives of people from life to death.

No, they are not the same and are, in fact, quite different. As of the 1970s, they stand farther apart than ever.

Question 6

What do sociologists focus on when looking at people’s life-courses?

Answer 6

Sociology looks at individual life courses not as expressions of an unfolding personality but as regularities “produced” by institutions and structural opportunities.

Looks at the sequence of participation in various life domains that
span from birth to death e.g.: school enrollment and the sequences of education and training activities; entry into the labor market, employment careers, and interruptions of labor force participation, and retirement;
growing up in families, leaving parental homes, partnership formation, marriages, and parenthood; and regional mobility.

Question 7

The life course is seen as the embedding of individual lives into social ______ and social ________.

Answer 7

structures and institutions

Question 8

What does the psychology of lifespan development focus on?

Answer 8

It deals with the study of individual development (ontogenesis) as life-long adaptive processes of acquisition, maintenance, transformations, and attrition in psychological structures and functionings.

Even when developmental psychologists look at life history events like the transition from school to work, their interests lie primarily in universal models of psychological functioning.

The element of “nurture” is considered but is not the primary focus.

Question 9

What is ontogenesis?

Answer 9

Individual development

Question 10

Who introduced the term “emerging adulthood”?

Answer 10

Jeffrey Jensen Arnett

Question 11

What are the stages of the life course, according to Erick Erickson (1950)?

Hint: there are 8

Answer 11

 Infancy (1-2 years )
 Toddlerhood (2-3 years)
 Preschool years ( 3-5 years)
 Early school years ( 6-11 years)
 Adolescence (12-18 years)
 Young adulthood (19-40 years)
 Late Middle adulthood (40-65 years)
 Adulthood (65-death)

Question 12

How do sociologists generally characterize adolescence?

Answer 12

Adolescence is a time of moving from the immaturity of childhood into the maturity of adulthood.

This passage is composed of a set of transitions, in which youths begin to separate themselves from their parents but still lack a clearly defined role in society.

Question 13

What type of changes do young people undergo as they journey through adolescence?

Hint: there are 4

Answer 13

Biological

Cognitive

Emotional

Social

Question 14

What are the ages between which one is considered to be a youth/teenager/adolescent/going through puberty?

Answer 14

The range is between 10 and 20 years old.

Question 15

Broadly speaking, what are the 3 stages that characterize this “period of transition”?

Answer 15

1. Early adolescents (12 to 14 years) –> a phase when the child is not yet mature but he is no longer a child. At this stage, physical changes are a constant source of irritation.
2. Middle adolescents (14 to 17 years) –> this phase is marked by emotion, cognitive maturity develops at an earlier age among girls compared to boys
3. Late adolescence (17 to 19 years) –> finally coming close enough to adulthood to have a firm identity and more stable interests

Question 16

What are the 3 most important markers of reaching adult status?
What are 3 other social markers associated with the transition into adulthood?

Answer 16

Accepting responsibility for oneself
Making independent decisions
Becoming financially independent

Marriage
Mortgage
Occupational identity

Question 17

What is Emerging Adulthood? What does it propose as a theory?

Answer 17

It proposes that a new life stage has arisen between adolescence and young
adulthood over the past half-century in industrialized soceties.

It is characterized by a liminal feeling of being neither here nor there.
Fewer social roles and obligations than children and adolescents.

It was proposed as a framework for recognizing that the transition to adulthood was now long enough that it constituted not merely a transition but a separate period of the life course.

Question 18

Roughly, what is the age range for emerging adulthood?

Answer 18

Late teens to at least the mid-20s

Question 19

List the five features that make emerging adulthood distinctive (according to Arnett)

Hint: B.I.I.I.S.

Answer 19

1. Broad possibilities for the future
2. Identity exploration
3. In-between (adolescence and adulthood)
4. Instability
5. Self-focus

Question 20

Why shouldn’t we just call it “transition to adulthood”? How is “emerging adulthood” better?

Answer 20

Calling it ‘transition to adulthood’ focuses attention on transition events that take place mainly at the beginning or end of the age range.

On the other hand, calling it ‘Emerging Adulthood’ broadens the scope of attention to the whole range of areas to include:

• cognitive development (internal)
• relationships (external)
• media use, etc.

Question 21

Why do we need the term “Emerging Adulthood”?

Answer 21

Because it is a new term describing a new phenomenon.

Question 22

Across industrialized societies in the past half century, common changes have taken place with respect to the lives of young people. What are they?

Hint: there are 3 (L.T.L.)

Answer 22

1. longer and more widespread Participation in postsecondary education and training
2. greater Tolerance of premarital sex and cohabitation
3. Later ages of entering marriage and parenthood

Question 23

What are some of the ways in which Emerging Adulthood is experienced negatively?

Answer 23

In American pop culture, the term “quarter-life crisis” has been coined to describe the alleged difficulties experienced by emerging adults as they try to find a place in the adult world.

Some experience serious mental health problems (major depression, substance abuse)

Some sociologists argue that growing up is harder than it was in the past, mainly due to the general age “delay” of marriage and parenthood.

Underlying theme of listlessness / feeling lost

Question 24

How is Emerging Adulthood experienced positively?

Answer 24

Numerous studies show that for most, well-being improves during the course of emerging adulthood, contributing to a decline in depressive symptoms and a rise in self-esteem.

Emerging adults enjoy their self-focused freedom from role obligations and restraints, and they take satisfaction in their progress toward self efficiency.

Benefit from growing social cognitive maturity, which enables them to understand themselves and others better than they did as adolescents.

Question 25

What are some of the criticisms people have of Emerging Adulthood and its larger impact on society?

Answer 25

Complaints that “they won’t grow up”

Concerns about their refusal to give up teenage pleasures and and take on adult responsibilities

Unequipped to take on the responsibilities that their parents always took care of for them

Question 26

How is Emerging Adulthood good for society?

Answer 26

Allows young people an extended period that can be used for postsecondary education and training that prepares them to contribute to the information and technology-based global economy.

The more people go through this period the more it ensures a society in which most people will be happier with their adult lives.

Peak age period for many behaviors most societies try to discourage, such as
binge drinking, illegal drug use, and risky sexual behavior.

Question 27

Another way of looking at the phenomenon of extended transition is in terms of ‘_____ _______’

Answer 27

capital accumulation

Question 28

How does human capital give way for capital accumulation in terms of career and education?

Answer 28

The human capital identified with educational achievement and gaining qualifications during compulsory schooling gives way in late modern society to capital accumulation through lifelong learning and occupational profile-building by gaining experience in a variety of occupational roles.

Question 29

What is identity capital and how does it relate to capital accumulation?

Answer 29

Identity capital is a type of social capital that adds in the psychological attributes of adaptability, creativity and teamwork that are essential for survival in the modern labor market.

Such capital accumulation becomes consolidated through the development of clear occupational career track, and more than anything through sustained partnerships and long-term commitment.