Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- 1 The Kaleidoscope of Adolescence: Experiences of the World's Youth at the Beginning of the 21st Century
- 2 Demographic Trends Affecting Youth Around the World
- 3 Adolescence in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Image Constructed from Africa's Triple Inheritance
- 4 Adolescence in India: Street Urchins or Silicon Valley Millionaires?
- 5 Adolescence in China and Japan: Adapting to a Changing Environment
- 6 Youth in Southeast Asia: Living Within the Continuity of Tradition and the Turbulence of Change
- 7 Arab Adolescents Facing the Future: Enduring Ideals and Pressures to Change
- 8 Adolescents in Russia: Surviving the Turmoil and Creating a Brighter Future
- 9 Adolescents in Latin America: Facing the Future with Skepticism
- 10 Adolescents in Western Countries in the 21st Century: Vast Opportunities – for All?
- 11 Adolescence in Global Perspective: An Agenda for Social Policy
- Index
- References
10 - Adolescents in Western Countries in the 21st Century: Vast Opportunities – for All?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- 1 The Kaleidoscope of Adolescence: Experiences of the World's Youth at the Beginning of the 21st Century
- 2 Demographic Trends Affecting Youth Around the World
- 3 Adolescence in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Image Constructed from Africa's Triple Inheritance
- 4 Adolescence in India: Street Urchins or Silicon Valley Millionaires?
- 5 Adolescence in China and Japan: Adapting to a Changing Environment
- 6 Youth in Southeast Asia: Living Within the Continuity of Tradition and the Turbulence of Change
- 7 Arab Adolescents Facing the Future: Enduring Ideals and Pressures to Change
- 8 Adolescents in Russia: Surviving the Turmoil and Creating a Brighter Future
- 9 Adolescents in Latin America: Facing the Future with Skepticism
- 10 Adolescents in Western Countries in the 21st Century: Vast Opportunities – for All?
- 11 Adolescence in Global Perspective: An Agenda for Social Policy
- Index
- References
Summary
Introduction: Who Are Today's Western Adolescents?
Which image best represents the adolescents of the West at the outset of the 21st century? Is it the 17-year-old boy sitting in a public place with a group of friends, smoking cigarettes and listening to loud music, interested mainly in the pursuit of pleasure? Is it the 18-year-old girl rushing from school to soccer practice, followed by several hours of homework or community service? Is it the minority adolescent, brutalized by poverty and discrimination, being led off to jail? Or is it the minority adolescent entering a college classroom as the first member of the family ever to obtain university education?
In truth, no single adolescent could serve as an adequate representative of all the adolescents of the West today, because one of their defining characteristics is their remarkable diversity. More than any generation of young people in history, this generation of Western young people has unprecedented freedom to choose from many different possible identities and many different possible life courses in love and work. Young women, especially, have opportunities for educational and occupational choices barely dreamed of by any previous generation of young women, not just in the West but anywhere in the world. Yet many young people face daunting problems; a wide range of problems, from substance use to criminal activity to experiencing parents divorcing, became more prevalent for the young people of the West in the second half of the 20th century (Rutter & Smith 1995).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The World's YouthAdolescence in Eight Regions of the Globe, pp. 307 - 343Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2002
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