The Social Construction of Adolescence
1: ephebiphobia: a persistent, abnormal, and unwarranted fear of teenagers , despite the understanding by the phobic individual and reassurance by others that there is no danger.
Here is a brainstorming activity:
Make a timeline of the milestones throughout an average American's life - What are the milestones?
BIRTH ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 80
Your timeline might include a number of milestones including:
first steps
first words
riding a bike
first day of school
able to stay home alone
PG 13 movies
drivers permit
drivers license
no curfew
legal adult
gambling
voting
college
alcohol
first job
first home
living alone
marriage
kids
retirement
Small Group Discussion:
Which milestones are natural and which are social? How do these differ?
When is an American independent?
What are the most important events that mark adulthood/independence?
This exercise shows how society constructs our life course. This especially happens through social institutions of education, economy and criminal justice system. Americans enter the education system largely as a cohort by age. They then move through that system with their peers regardless of physical, academic or mental maturity. This segregation among peers creates generational cultures including shared language, trends, and values. Patricia Hersch calls this subculture A Tribe Apart in her book by the same name.
Besides school, the economy and criminal justice system add to the segregation of adolescents by regulating their legal rights and responsibilities.
Because adolescence is a social construction, it has been affected differently over time:
Education
- Highschool is taken for granted now, but it was not until the 1930s that a majority of youth enrolled.
- The idea of high school for all was not until after WWII.
- The first published use of the word “teenager" was not until a 1941 article in Popular Science.
- Newsweek cover story September 6, 1954; “Our teenagers are out of control.”
- 1955 film, Blackboard Jungle, claims teens are savage animals b/c gang leaders have replaced parents.
- Newsweek publishes a cover story in 1999 called The Secret life of Teens, setting off alarms about teens online creating their own subculture.
Labor
- for most of America’s history, teens were a vital part of the family economy.
- now, laws limit the hours and types of work that teens can perform.
Justice System
- Juvenile Justice System was founded as a product of progressivism (in Chicago 1899). It provided a mixed blessing; protecting youth (avoid prison and hardened criminals) while taking away rights (must give up right to counsel, trial by jury, rules of evidence, right to appeal).
- By 1974 Federal Law JJDPA discourages Juveniles in prison but demands that those incarcerate are not mixed with adults.
- 1980s-90s Tough on crime laws allow for lower ages of prosecution as an adult and automatic transfers to adult prison for violent crimes.
The Obfuscating Age of Independence
The timeline in the exercise at the start of this lesson is useful in examining the difficulty of defining when a person is an independent adult. The age of puberty has been getting lower and now begins on average at 10 for girls and 13 for boys. But legally you are not considered an adult until age 18. However, more than 60% of Americans will attend college after they turn 18. After college, most students are financially and emotionally still reliant on their families. For example, one third of grads will move back home after college graduation and even those who might have an apartment in the city, might have to share the rent and/or have parents help pay the rent, or pay for a car etc... So, some sociologists have said the age of real independence/adulthood is going up to the late 20s.
Practically from puberty, young people are bombarded with mixed signals about the scope of their rights and the depth of their responsibilities. And most of those mixed signals come from the laws of state and local governments. In most respects, people are considered adults at 18. That’s when they can vote and enter into legal contracts—including the purchase, if not rental, of a car. But a 20-year-old Marine, just back from patrolling the streets of Baghdad, would have to turn 21 before he could join a local police force in most cities in the United States. A 20-year-old college junior, more educated than the average American, cannot buy alcohol or enter a casino. In 10 states, a single 20-year-old cannot legally have sex with a 17-year old. But in nearly every state, a 16-year-old can marry—if they have their parents’ permission. (A handful of states allow girls to marry before boys.)
Despite legally allowing marriage by age 18, the Census illustrates the older age at which Americans are getting married:
Another glaring discrepancy between expectations and reality of independence/adulthood is the criminal justice system. A spike in juvenile violence two decades ago spurred state legislators to adopt the mantra “adult time for adult crimes.” Consequently, in most states, a 10-year-old charged with murder can be tried as an adult. The difficulty in determining the age of responsibility or adulthood is highlighted by a 2009 discussion on the radio program Talk of the Nation called When does responsibility begin? 16, 18 21?
For more on the difficulties of determining adulthood:
This 2004 article from Contexts magazine about research showing different routes to adulthood depending on one's race, social class and other factors.
This 2016 brief, called Grownups, from Contexts magazine highlights,
A new paper by Scott Eliason, Jeylan Mortimer, and Mike Vuolo in Social Psychology Quarterly that seeks to better understand individuals’ perceptions of having finally become grownups.
Growing Up is Harder to Do.2 - After the Great Recession (Contexts November 2016 is a nice follow-up, highlighting both how sociology explores the ways that inequality shows up in society and how society is dynamic so follow-up research is necessary.
Ruth Benedict and Discontinuous Society
Ruth Benedict, an early sociologist, explained the disconnect between childhood and adulthood by positing that American culture is discontinuous. Americans learn that as kids and teens, they are expected to be irresponsible, submissive and asexual and then as adults they are expected to be the opposite. Benedict wrote about continuous and discontinuous societies in her seminal work, Patterns of Culture. Benedict said that some societies are continuous citing her own studies of indigenous cultures and Margaret Mead's Coming of Age in Samoa. (The relationship and research of Mead and Benedict are detailed in this 2019 article in the Atlantic.)
In contrast to other cultures, Benedict argued that culture in the U.S. is discontinuous because culturally, children have such different/opposing expectations from adults, especially:
Children Adults
· irresponsible responsible
· asexual sexual
· submissive dominant
· dependent independent
Small group discussion: Think back to the timeline of milestones. What are the ways that Americans are viewed opposite from childhood to adulthood?
Thomas Hines and The 'Teen Mystique'
More recently, Thomas Hine's book, The Rise and Fall of the American Teenager (2000) examines how society has created teens and how it affects them. Hines calls the obfuscation of adolescence the "Teen Mystique."
You can hear the author discussing his ideas here.
According to Hine, society in the US has created a mystique around teenagers:
Our beliefs, about teenagers are deeply contradictory: They should be free to become themselves. They need many years of training and study. They know more about the future than adults do. They know hardly anything at all. They ought to know the value of a dollar. They should be protected from the world of work. They are frail, vulnerable creatures. They are children. They are sex fiends. They are the death of culture. They are the hope of us all.
Rolelessness
Another monograph about the difficulty affecting teens is by the sociologist Stephanie Coontz. In Putting Teen-Parent Conflicts Into Perspective, Coontz explains how society has constructed the idea of being a teenager as a roleless - not quite a child but also not allowed to be an independent adult. The idea of a teenager has only been around since the 1940s. Before that, individuals went more from childhood to adulthood very quickly and distinctly. Now, the process of childhood has a long, drawn-out middle period. This encompasses the "teenage years" but it also includes what sociologists call "young adulthood." Sociologists estimate the average age of independence in the United States to be 27. That is when (on average) individuals can be self-sustaining financially and emotionally and socially enough to have a family and residence of their own. So this leaves a long middle period between the age of puberty (10) and independence (27). And throughout that time, there are many mixed messages being given to young adults. This results in "rolelessness," or a feeling of not knowing what is expected of you during those years. One example was the lack of meaningful work. Teens generally have jobs that society deems as unworthy or meaningless. This can leave teens feeling like they don't matter.
Rise of Social Media, Digital Devices and Gen Z
The rise of social media and it's ubiquitous availability on personal devices has created new dynamics affecting the rolelessness of adolescence. Sources that might be useful:
- Jean M. Twenge – iGen (2017), "Why Today's Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy – and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood"
- One of the most widely cited works on Gen Z, it uses large-scale survey data to show how smartphones and digital life have shaped values, behavior, and mental health.
- Corey Seemiller & Meghan Grace – Generation Z Goes to College (2016) & Generation Z Leads (2018)
- Firsthand research on Gen Z’s expectations in higher ed, leadership, and civic engagement.
- Sherry Turkle – Reclaiming Conversation (2015) & Alone Together (2011)
- Turkle’s work isn't Gen Z-specific but powerfully explores how technology affects relationships and self-concept—key for understanding digital natives.
PEW and Gen Z
One way of understanding the next generation of adults is staying in tune with their beliefs and values. The PEW offers regular monitoring of their opinions on a wide range of topics. Here is a link to the PEW's site for Generations, Age and Politics:
Gen Z and Dating
Dating is being redefined: Young adults are stepping back from both traditional dating and casual hookups. Instead, they favor friendship-first connections and intentional intimacy, often without alcohol.
The Institute for Family Studies (IFS)Data-driven pieces on declining sexual activity among young adults:https://ifstudies.org/blog/why-are-young-adults-having-less-sex
CDC: Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS)
Tracks trends in teen and young adult sexual activity: https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/
American Psychological Association (APA)Articles on loneliness, hookup culture, and young adult relationships:https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2023
New York Post, July 2025“Gen Z singles giving up on dating” – based on recent surveys:https://nypost.com/2025/07/12/lifestyle/poll-finds-gen-z-singles-are-giving-up-on-dating
Sober/Health-focused lifestyles: Wellness and mental health are guiding behaviors. The sober-curious trend is real, with meaningful decline in drinking tied to seeking more present, purposeful experiences.
TIME Magazine (April 2024)“Why Gen Z is Drinking Less Alcohol” – survey-backed analysis:
Monitoring the Future Survey (University of Michigan, 2024)Longitudinal data on alcohol and drug use among young adults:
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)National trends in youth/young adult alcohol use:
Attest (2024 Gen Z Alcohol Trends Report)Consumer research on drinking behaviors and the “sober curious” movement:
Digital dependency: Socialization via apps/gaming reduces in-person mingling and bar scenes, reshaping how people connect and date.
McKinsey & Co. (2022–2024 Gen Z Research)
Reports on Gen Z’s values: mental health, wellness, and autonomy:
https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/our-insights/true-gen
Harvard Graduate School of Education (2023)
Study on social withdrawal and digital life among young adults:
https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/23/03/young-people-disconnect
Springtide Research Institute (Annual Reports)
Focuses on Gen Z spirituality, loneliness, and independence:
https://www.springtideresearch.org
Cigna Loneliness in America 2025
Includes data on young adult loneliness and independence:https://newsroom.thecignagroup.com/loneliness-in-america
