International Encyclopedia of Adolescence (2 volume set)

1214 Pages·2006·6.98 MB·English

by  Jeffrey Jensen Arnett

CONTENTS
Introduction vii
Associate Editors xi
Contributors xiii
Alphabetical List of Entries xix
Regional List of Entries xxi
Entries A to Z 1
Index I1
v

INTRODUCTION
Adolescence as a field of scholarship is widely in size from Belize (population 250,000) to China
viewed as having originated about a century ago (population 1.3 billion).
with the publication of G. Stanley Hall’s two- Some articles in the encyclopedia discuss
volumeAdolescencein1904.HallwasanAmerican, countries that rarely appear on the world’s stage,
and he drew primarily from American and Euro- such as Kyrgyzstan, Guinea, and Oman. The lives
pean sources in his description of adolescence. A of adolescents in these countries provide an espe-
century later, the study of adolescence remains a cially sharp contrast to the lives of adolescents in
predominantly American enterprise. The Society the West. For example, although in industrialized
for Research on Adolescence (SRA) is, to a large countries adolescence is typically associated with
extent, a society for research on American adoles- attending secondary school, the reader of this en-
cents. At SRA’s biennial conferences, over 90% of cyclopediamayreadaboutseveralcountrieswhere
thepresentationsarewrittenbyAmericanscholars attending school beyond the early teens is the ex-
on topics relating to American adolescents, and ceptionratherthantherule,especiallyforgirls.By
SRA’s Journal of Research on Adolescence pub- that age many adolescents in developing countries
lishes papers that are written almost entirely by haveleftschooltoassisttheirparentsonthefamily
American scholars, with an occasional European farm or to go to work in a factory in order to
author represented. The other major adolescent contribute to their family’s income.
journals are similarly dominated by American and Nevertheless, not all regions are equally repre-
European scholarship. sented. Finding authors for the Islamic countries
The dominance of Western scholarship in the of North Africa and the Middle East proved to
field of adolescence studies is not surprising, given be the most difficult challenge. Many of these
the abundant research resources in Western countries have a limited tradition of social science
countries and their relatively long scholarly tradi- research. Despite the limited research traditions,
tions. However, this dominance is oddly incongru- we were able to include ten articles from countries
ent with the realities of life as experienced by inthisregion,includingEgypt,Iran,Morocco,and
adolescents around the world. Of the world’s 6.5 Sudan.
billion people, fewer than 10% live in the West. Themorefamiliarcountriesareincludedaswell,
Furthermore, that proportion is shrinking daily. ofcourse,buttheinformationinthosearticlesmay
By the year 2050, the world’s population is pro- be unfamiliar. For example, readers may be sur-
jected to surpass nine billion, and virtually all of prised to learn that 65 to 70% ofCanadian adoles-
the growth will come from non-Western countries. cents reported gambling within the past year, or
The global scope of the International Encyclo- that in Japan until recently adolescents attended
pedia of Adolescence is unprecedented. Previous school six days a week.
encyclopediasofadolescencehavefocusedonado-
lescentsintheWest,mainlytheUnitedStates,with
Defining Adolescence
either cursory attention to the other 90+ % of the
world’s adolescents or no mention of them at all. ‘‘Adolescence’’ is widely recognized by scholars as
This encyclopedia covers adolescents throughout a socially- and culturally-constructed period of the
the world. It contains 88 articles in all, with 28 life course, so it is important in an international
from Africa (including North Africa and the Mid- encyclopedia of adolescence to be clear about how
dle East), 18 from Asia, 27 from Europe, and 15 we define it and why. In view of the vast range of
from the Americas. The countries covered range cultures to be included in the encyclopedia, we
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INTRODUCTION
wanted to be as inclusive as possible in how we Background Information: provides basic, general
defined adolescence, to accommodate the entire information on the country’s geography, history,
rangeofperspectiveslikelytoexistacrosscultures. demographics, economics, and political system.
Consequently, we asked authors to cover develop- PeriodofAdolescence:discusseswhether,andhow,
ment during the age range from 10 to 25. Scholars adolescence exists as a separate life stage in the
view adolescence as beginning with puberty, and country. If so, the ages at which adolescence is
age 10 is when the first outward signs of puberty generally considered to begin and end are pre-
occur for most girls in industrialized countries sented, while any adolescent rites of passage or
(boys usually begin about 2 years later). In recent initiation are also discussed.
decades this age has become typical in developing Beliefs: explores the primary religions practiced in
countriesaswell,asnutritionandaccesstomedical the country,howthosereligions aretransmitted to
care in these countries has improved. and practiced by adolescents, whether the culture
Settingtheupperageboundaryofadolescenceis of the country as a whole tends toward individual-
more difficult and more subject to cultural varia- ism or collectivism, and how this shapes the devel-
bility. Scholars generally view adolescence as end- opment of the adolescent.
ing when adulthood begins, which sounds simple Gender: examines gender-specific adult roles for
enough—until one tries to answer the question of which adolescents are prepared. Physical ideals as
when adulthood begins. If we use marriage as expressed by both maleand female adolescents are
the quintessential marker as anthropologists and presented, as are gender role expectations.
sociologists have in the past, then the end of ado- The Self: provides an overview of the development
lescence varies worldwide from the early teens of personal and cultural identity by adolescents.
for girls in places such as rural India and north- Special attention is paid to the formation of ethnic
ern Africa, to the early 30s for young people in identity among immigrants and minority groups.
northern Europe. Furthermore, it is highly ques- Family Relationships: examines the nature of rela-
tionable that marriage remains the quintessential tionshipsbetweenparentsandadolescents,common
marker of adulthood around the world, given re- parentingpractices,sourcesofparental–adolescent
searchshowing that youngpeople in industrialized conflict,andtheamountoftimeadolescentsspend
countries no longer regard it as such, preferring with various family members.
psychological markers such as accepting personal Friends and Peers/Youth Culture: examines the
responsibility and making independent decisions. amount of time adolescents spend with their peers
Age25waschosenastheupperboundarypartly compared to the time spent alone or with family.
forpracticalreasons.Manyinternationalorganiza- Youth culture, cliques, youth organizations, and
tions such as the United Nations and the World popular activities are also discussed, as they exist
Health Organization use age ranges up to 24 or 25 in the country in question. The impact of Western
years old for the information they collect on and American culture, as well as globalization in
‘‘youth’’ around the world. general, is also discussed, if applicable.
The question of the age boundaries of adoles- Love and Sexuality: explores dating, cohabitation,
cence is explicitly addressed in the encyclopedia. marriage, sexual experimentation, birth control,
Each article contains a Period of Adolescence sec- pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, parental
tion in which the authors indicate whether adoles- attitudes toward adolescent sexuality, sex educa-
cence is recognized as a distinct life stage in their tion, and homosexuality.
country and, if so, when it is considered to begin Health Risk Behavior: provides an overview of ad-
and end. olescent drug and alcohol use, crime activity, gang
involvement, and rates of suicide and depression.
Organization Any other factors that pose a threat to overall
adolescent health are also discussed.
EachcountryarticleintheInternationalEncyclope- Education: examines literacy rates, characteristics
dia of Adolescence is a composite made up of sev- of secondary schools, participation rates in sec-
eralsmalleressaysandfollowedbyreferences.This ondary schools, gender differences in access to
organizationallowsthereadereasilytofindspecif- education, performance on international tests of
ic information on a given topic within the article, achievement, and programs, if any, for gifted or
while also encouraging the comparison of data disabled adolescents.
among different countries. Work: presents an overview of what work, if
Each composite country article includes the fol- any, adolescents perform, and their incentives for
lowing sections: working (extra pocket money, contributing to the
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INTRODUCTION
overall family income, etc.). Apprenticeships and the author as well as additional sources that may
other job training programs are discussed, if they be of interest to the reader. A thorough, analytical
existinthecountry.Workingconditions(forexam- index that covers both volumes is provided at
ple, sweatshops, sexual exploitation, slavery) are the end of each volume to assist the reader. Each
also examined as applicable. volume also contains a list of country articles
Media: discusses rates of media use by adoles- organized by geographical region.
cents, including television, recorded music, com- A total of 144 authors and co-authors contribu-
puter games, the Internet, magazines, and movies. ted to the encyclopedia. As noted, nearly all of
Authors also consider such questions as to what them are indigenous to the country on which they
extent are media indigenous or imported, to wrote. Most of the authors are psychologists, but
what extent are media viewed as a positive or neg- contributors also include sociologists, educators,
ative influence on adolescents, and to what extent economists, and demographers.
are adolescents targeted by media advertisers. The five Regional Editors—Ramadan Ahmed
Politics and Military: exploreswhetheradolescents (North Africa/Middle East), Nancy Galambos
areinvolvedinpoliticsandhowtheyareinvolvedin (the Americas), Bame Nsamenang (Africa), T.S.
politics(votingage,Anti-WTOrallies),aswellasthe Saraswathi(Asia),andRainerSilbereisen(Europe)
extenttowhichtheyparticipateinmilitaryactivities —are all psychologists, and all are indigenous to
(compulsoryservice,armedcombat,militarytrain- their region. They are recognized in their regions
ingprograms,para-militaryorganizations). and around the world as outstanding scholars on
Unique Issues: examines issues pertaining to ado- adolescence. Together, the Regional Editors and
lescents that are especially important in the coun- the authors have provided an extraordinary pano-
try, but are not addressed in the other sections of rama of adolescent life that is compelling and
the composite article. engaging in its diversity.
Countries differ greatly in terms of how much
information is available on each of these general Acknowledgments
topics. In general, more information is available
on demographic topics than on psychological and Ihavemanypeopletothankfortheircontributions.
social topics. For example, nearly all countries re- Marie-Claire Antoine, Senior Editor at Routledge
cord information on rates of parental divorce, but Reference, first invited me to serve as editor of the
not all publish information on how adolescents encyclopedia, and advised me on the format and
respond to it. Nevertheless, the authors did an structure of the encyclopedia as I developed it.
admirable job of providing useful and relevant in- KristenHolt,DevelopmentalEditorfortheencyclo-
formation.Nearlyallauthorsofarticlesareindige- pedia,didawonderfuljobintheadministrationofit,
nous to the country on which they wrote, thus which included helping to find authors, mediating
enabling them to write as informed observers and communication between authors and editors, and
interpreters of the research evidence available. keepingthewholeprojectontracktocompletion.
The five Regional Editors were crucial to the
How to Use This Book success of the project. Each did an admirable job
of finding authors for the countries within their
The International Encyclopedia of Adolescence is a region and providing the first review of the com-
two-volumeworkcontaininginformationabout10 positearticles.Theirstatureasscholarswithintheir
to 25 year olds in every region of the world. The regions surely enhanced the appeal of the project
compositearticlesrangeinlengthfrom4,000words for the authors who were invited to participate.
toover15,000,butmost are6,000to11,000words Finally, I would like to thank each of the authors
inlength.Allcompositearticlesincludeeachofthe whocontributedtotheencyclopedia.Mostofthem
sections described above. Together the composite I have never met and perhaps never will, but I
articlesprovideaglobalportraitofwhatlifeislike admire the work they have done here. I thank
today for young people aged 10 to 25. them for what they have taught me about adoles-
ThecompositearticlesareorganizedinanAtoZ cence in their countries, and I am delighted for the
format across the two volumes, rather than geo- opportunity toshare their workwith other readers
graphically by region, which will allow the reader who are eager to learn more about how adoles-
tofindanarticleofspecialinterestquicklywithout cents around the world experience this dramatic,
havingtodeterminetheregionfirst.Eachcompos- fascinating, rapidly changing time of life.
ite article is followed by a References and Further
Reading section, which includes sources used by JEFFREY JENSEN ARNETT
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