Many researches, ranging from studies of industrial work groups to those of retirement communities, emphasize the importance of providing opportunities for social interaction for wellness. Although ,most disturbing emotional problems of the adolescent come through social contact, no other individual needs people more.
Changes In Social Behavior
Changes in social behavior and attitudes are related more to sexual maturation than to chronological age. It is to be expected that when boys reach sexual maturity, they will break away from the old gang and begin to enter into activities with girls. They show more interest in personal appearance and in competivve sports in which they can "look good."
In early adolescence social experimentation centers on organizing activities, selecting leaders, and creating on a small scale a society modeled after that of adults. Lounging around and talking occupy much time. In late adolescence three social worlds become important: family, school, and friendship groups. For some, a fourth world may come into being: the work group. In attitudes, by the time the adolescent reaches college, there is a trend toward liberalism as the individual acquires more information and becomes less provincial in his thinking. For some students such broadening experiences may be emotionally disturbing as well as stimulating.
Conformity
In terms of conforming to group norms the adolescent goes the much-maligned organization man one better. He or she conforms not nly to group 'dress and group behavior 'but also to group opinions Although the adolescent is becoming liberal and somewhat idealistic certain social attitudes, he or she is more conservative where age ates are concerned. They want to be different and to conform at the same time. This leads to the formation of "in groups" that are different from the outsiders. The gang wars in many of our large cities mhine the desire for togetherness with frustration and hatreds.
Whereas one adolescent may find a certain a..mount of security and ego satisfaction in a school situation, another ycuth, usually underprivileged by middle-class description, finds gangs. Frustrated people often identify readily with violence. In the gang, the adolescent can both be different and conform to gang conduct at the same time. It is important to remember, however, that numbers of adolescents are individualistic in many ways, despite their conforming behavior.
The desire to receive approval of the group sometimes leads the adolescent into trouble. With time, self-confidence increases and the urge for approval changes toward seeking recognition for effort expended. Until he feels accomplishment, reinforced by the recognition of others, the older male adolescent may switch his attentiongetting behavior from off-color jokes and clownishness to expressing radical points of view. It must be recognized that acceptance takes time. The female adolescent is a little more reserved in her social expression.
Social Perceptipns
Most children are lacking not only in social insight but also in self-insight. Hence, social perception is first noticed during adolescence. The perception of the status of others develops during the high school years; the perception of one's own status comes later. Freshmen college counselors report that one of the most bothersome problems at this age is, "Who am I?"
Perception of the class status to which one belongs is often confusing. The adolescent is part of a family that is a member of a socially ranked group. He or she is influenced both by social position and by pressures from this group and must often play socially approved roles not of his or her own choosing. The idealistic attitudes of adolescents predispose them to disappointment, disillusionment, and even cynicism.
The adolescent's self-evaluation is gradually determined by the perception of his or her relative position in two different kinds of groups. First, where does one stand in some peer group to which one belongs? Second, how would the person rate himself in a group to which he does not ~elong but wants to join? For example, the premedical student may evaluate his intelligence by comparing himself with his fellow college sfudents. Here he has more evidence on which to base his judgment than when he compares himself with "great doctors," a group to which he aspires to belong. And what about the female who also aspires to be a physician? Where will she find her identification?
Adolescents have a tendency to perceive themselves in comparison with the "ideal." Girls who try to rate their own physical attractiveness may feel badly when they use the movie star as a model. Boys often feel inferior when they fail to compete with adults. Gradually the adolescent . learns to perceive himself or herself iil relation to many social groups. Older college students are found to be more cynical that younger ones. This may be, in part, because there is sometimes a thin line between cynicism and wisdom.
Social Groupings
The group affiliations of late childhood gradually break up during the preadolescent period. The need for belonging to a group becomes more important during adolescence. The close parent-child relationship, which served as a source of security for the child, becomes strained during the transition to adolescence. The possibilities of groupings are many: kinships, friends, neighbors, classmates, and special-interest peer groups of various sorts.
Groups may be charted in three ways. First, groups are charac.erized by rules of behavior accepted by a majority of the group. This group norm spells out the attitudes and actions expected of members. Second, in voluntary groups cohesiveness is important. Here one sees :he group's policing power over its members. The greater the cohesiveness of a group, the greater is the amount of conformity to its norms. A nonvoluntary group (for example, an Army reserve unit), i.e., one which persons are forced to join, may have absolute power. Third, control over members involves a monitoring system, under which deviant behavior may be punished.
There are three characteristic::, of group membership: (l) the rank status in the group; (2) the degree to which the new member values membership in the group, membership being valued more highly when it is difficult to get into the group; (3) the influence of the perceived legitimacy of the group norm, Le., the impa~nhat norm will have upon a new member.
There are marked individual ditferences as to how people fit (or fail to fit) in a group.Many of the problems of the social behavior of adolescents can be understood by seeing where each person fits into a group. Peer group clusters have been studied extensively. In many respects investigation of groupings reveals the nature of adolescent social needs.
Peer Groups
The peer group, sometimes referred to as a clique if the members are closely knit, is usually a small, informal, and somewhat exclusive affiliation of individuals in a face-to-face group. It has been defined as a "social group approximately equal in age and status to one's own category, such as a group of college sophomores." It has a common set of values but no formal rules. Members of a clique satisfy their feelings for belongingness in ways that make them think and act alike. Sometimes loneliness helps force the individual to conform to the behavior of his group.
A special peer group or clique, a term long used by sociologists, mayor may not be associated with a geographic location. Cliques are, however, made up of individuals who are brought together daily in some practical way (e.g., car pools). Adolescents usually fall into school cliques, recreational cliques, and institutional cliques (e.g., Scouts, chp,:,ch groups). Cliques begin to form around the fourteenth year of age. Initially consisting exclusively of boys or girls, they develop later into mixed groups, with the sexes being equally represented.
The typical adolescent crowd is composed of several cliques that join together in some "gathering." Activities involving both sexes have more organizational complications than those organized on a single-sex basis. For example, cross-clique dating sometimes requires approval by members of the cliques to which the boy and girl belong. Girls cliques are more closely knit than are boys', with more resistance
to change. This makes it difficult for a new person coming into the school or neighborhood to gain acceptance.
Adolescent peer groups come into existence informally, with indi\'iduals simply getting together to do things. Congeniality based on interests or special aptitudes provides a basis for peer group formation. Studies show that cliques hold together well because their selection system makes sure that the individual will "fit." One researcher found that being together consumes 64 to 99 percent of young adolescents' leisure time.
Typically the adolescent peer group tries to avoid supervision of its activities by adults, engaging in such pastimes as gossiping, dancing. elating, going places. watching television, and eating. Influence of the peer group structure on adolescent attitudes and behavior is enormous for both good and bad.
On the positive side the clique offers its members:
- Opportunity for satisfying the need for belonging.
- Opportunity for release of emotional tensions in a friendly climate.
- Opportunity for development of social skills.
- Opportunity for reinforcement of one's own personal importance.
- A status power structure providing prestige in the eyes of his or her peers.
- Incentive to behave in mature ways.
- A source of protection in striving for independence.
- Trial-and-error experiences in developing humal1 relations skills.
On the negative side the clique:
- Restricts development of individuality of its members.
- Tends to encourage hostility of members of "out groups."
- Creates competition of "keeping up with the Joneses," or "down with the mob."
- Creates conflict of allegiance between parental authority and clique mores.
- Amplifies the development of class segregation.
- Sometimes disrupts organizational harmony of school or campus.
Minority Problems
Recent research on black children and adolescents and on other minority groups is opening up new understandings of early motivation and academic success. Three negative things have come to light. :rrst, minority group members in general have low expectancies for success, except where some special talent may be evidenced at an arly age. This low expectancy relates especially to ademie success. Second, minority children, when compared to bite children, find fewer academically successful racial models to follow. This is in marked contrast to professional sports wh2re ath· letes offer many outstanding models. Third, young minority persons often develop a syndrome of hopelessness as they see their handicaps increase and chances of achievement bog down.
On the positive side, some minority members find highachievement motivation once they make a distinction between lack of success due to discrimination and that due to person8.1 inadequacy. One theory holds that when discrimination is a root Cluse of lack of motivation, group efforts to remove discrimination increase motivation more than emphasis on self-betterment. The same social values and cultural motivators that are stimulating in the life-styles of one individual can actually be obstacles to another person. This is especially true if the values are not related to his or her cultural norm.
In writing on the changing educational climate related to the identity trauma of blacks, Doris Mosby makes several points. First, the national stereotype of the black is changing toward a more positive image. Second, the pride of blackness as a state of mind is being reinforced in the home. Ancient heritages and physical traits are being judged by new and different standards of merit. Third, the home is beginning to confront, challenge, and condemn the previous black cultural image.
