Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- 1 New perspectives on adolescent risk behavior
- Part I A focus on development
- Part II A focus on problem behavior
- Part III A focus on sexual activity
- 8 New methods for new research on adolescent sexual behavior
- 9 Betwixt and between: Sexuality in the context of adolescent transitions
- Part IV A focus on psychopathology
- Part V A focus on social role performance
- Part VI Overview and integration
- Author index
- Subject index
9 - Betwixt and between: Sexuality in the context of adolescent transitions
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 July 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- 1 New perspectives on adolescent risk behavior
- Part I A focus on development
- Part II A focus on problem behavior
- Part III A focus on sexual activity
- 8 New methods for new research on adolescent sexual behavior
- 9 Betwixt and between: Sexuality in the context of adolescent transitions
- Part IV A focus on psychopathology
- Part V A focus on social role performance
- Part VI Overview and integration
- Author index
- Subject index
Summary
Research on adolescent development has focused largely on the transitions that define and shape the experiences of adolescents. Historically, the period of adolescence was referred to as the transition from childhood to adulthood, suggesting that the period itself was a single (albeit potentially long) transition period. Whereas the entrance into adolescence has been defined by both biological markers, specifically puberty, and by culturally defined transitional events such as the exit from elementary school and the entrance into middle school, the exit from adolescence has been more varied in its markers. The transition to adulthood has been influenced by the economy and the societal structure of each historical era (Modell & Goodman, 1990; Paige, 1983). For example, the most common markers for entry into adulthood have been those that define an aspect of the adult role, such as finishing one's fulltime education, entering the work force, living on one's own, marrying, and having a child. In the past, young adults did not move out of their parents' home until they married, and men did not marry until they had finished their education and had begun to establish themselves in a career (Modell & Goodman, 1990). Thus, many of these transitions were closely linked in their timing. In recent years, the time between living on one's own and marrying has greatly increased, as has the age of marriage for women.
The role of sexual behavior as a defining feature of adulthood has undergone historical change as well.
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- Information
- New Perspectives on Adolescent Risk Behavior , pp. 269 - 315Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1998
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