Coming of Age in Samoa

In “Denaturalizing Adolescence,” Nancy Lesko uses rhetorical and historical readings to examine the truth about adolescents by challenging the universal characterizations that they are “coming of age.” When describing adolescence, Lesko states: “The knowledge about adolescents is

Over time adolescence has been a major topic of discussion between people, but most people aren’t really interested so much in what adolescence is as they are in the consequences that come out of that stage of life. In the short stories “Araby” by James Joyce and “A&P” by John Updike, both authors explore adolescence and bring to light the devastation caused by letting childish impulse control your actions. Although the storyline of “Araby” and “A&P” differ in terms of setting, age of main characters, and ideals, both works come together to show the reader how letting impulses control your actions will leave you worse off than you were before.

The adolescence stage in one’s life is often portrayed as a time of ‘storm and stress’ (Lipsitz, 1980). However, there are

Adolescence describes the transitional stage in a teenager’s life, from childhood to adulthood, where an individual evolves physically, psychologically, emotionally, cognitively and socially. It is a defined social category that is expressed through immaturity and unpredictability and allows an individual to learn and discover their sense of self and identity. The idea of adolescence came into perspective after children were expected to take on adult roles as soon as they were mature enough to, going straight from puberty to adulthood. As society changed and moulded, so did the ideas about life stages, which is evident in Erikson’s theory.

Pipher gives some compelling stories about the behaviors of some pre-adolescent girls she has encountered. Her cousin, Polly, was an energetic and opinionated girl when she was young. Upon puberty, Polly felt unable to connect to boys and girls her age until she became stylish and more subdued in her language. This gives the reader the feeling that Polly was not accepted until she changed her personality to fit that of her surroundings. It is possible that Polly’s friends no longer enjoyed being around a girl who was opinionated or who would insult those with whom she did not agree. This story does not qualify as a valid, concrete premise to show the connection between changes an adolescent girl and her ability to connect with others.

Adolescence is defined as the transition between childhood and adulthood. Many changes happen at this stage. Adolescence involves things such as puberty, greater independence, and a time when someone begins to construct their identity. Identity means their life value and goals including a secure sense of who they are in terms of sexual, vocational, and moral ethics. In the next few paragraphs I will be discussing my Virtual Child, Maeve as she went through adolescence (ages 11- 16). I am going to delve into the different changes I saw in her and how they relate to theories proposed by Piaget, Erikson, Marcia, and Gardner. Each

In this paper I plan to discuss the developmental stages of adolescence. Adolescents are also referred to as "teenagers" or "young adults." Adolescence begins after the childhood stage and ends right before adulthood. The years of adolescence range from 12 years old to 21 years old. The years of adolescence can be quite a roller coaster ride. Young people in this stage encounter a great deal of changes in their life as they prepare for adulthood. I will discuss emotional, intellectual, physiological, and social domains of development and how it relates to adolescents. I will also discuss some helpful tips for teachers to aide in communicating effectively to adolescents and understanding their

The central object of Mead’s study, Coming of Age in Samoa (1928), was to determine whether or not:

First of all, with the use of plot and character as dramatic elements, MacLeod is able to depict the main characteristics of the nature of adolescence, mainly the search for identity and the quest for independence. Among the scientific community, adolescence is believed to be the most crucial period in human development. It is a period of “rapid biological, social and psychological change” (Soto, et al. 330). There are the transformations that define puberty, there are changes in the relationships and attitudes towards adults and peers, and many teenagers struggle to form a coherent identity (331). In the process of discovering their identities, most adolescents become self-centered. Having not yet

Adolescence is a time of stressful transition for teenagers. They are straddling the fence between childhood and adulthood. Changes in their bodies, brains, thinking, values, friends, responsibilities and expectations cause events that are usually a time fraught with turbulence, for both the teen and their parents. This is a normal part of human development, and must be endured in order to come out the other side, hopefully well-adjusted, happy, healthy, and

In Coming of Age in Samoa, by Margaret Mead, she exemplifies and puts emphasis on the idea of socialization through the view of the Samoan girl, and we also see what her sexuality is as she becomes an adult and has to deal with marriage. Before reading the book I never knew that different cultures like the Samoan culture viewed everything in their daily lives different than how we view it in ours. After learning about the Samoan culture in the book, it gave me a new perspective and how to view the world around me because the book discussed key concepts I didn’t expect to be interesting.

What variables influence the adolescent developmental process? Does biology outweigh the effect of environment? Do teenagers mature in a continuous or discontinuous fashion? What effect do early verse later experience influence the young people’s maturity into adulthood? Through the ages, researches have investigated these questions to better understand the growth adolescent experience between the ages of ten to twenty-one. The intermingling of the biological, cognitive, and socioemotional process constitutes the development of an adolescent. By examining the effects of nature verse nurture, continuous verse discontinuous development, and early verse later experiences, we will conclude that the developmental process in an adolescent is the intertwining of all these variables and not a result of one over the other.

Samoan culture plays a large part in the lives of those with Samoan heritage. Samoan culture is kept strong in a Samoan house hold by keeping the culture alive. This is done by keeping family unity, the art of traditional tattooing, and eating traditional foods and cooking traditional ways.

Middle childhood, is a very exciting time for young children from the ages of seven to twelve years old. It’s known as the school years and new social and cognitive traits are being learned at home and at school. Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory found this to be the latentcy period in which no much happens. He described this because children at this age sexual and aggressive urges are repressed ("Stages of Growth Development," 1898-1987). This paper will also discuss the changes from middle childhood to adolescence, the affects of parents and peers and the affects they have on developing children.

Adolescence is the distinct transitional stage between childhood and adulthood in human development, extending primarily over the teenage years and terminating legally when the age of majority is reached (Rathus, 2014). However in some instances, this biological, cognitive, social and emotional maturity may not be reached until a later stage and may be dictated by gender. Adolescence is characterised by rapidly changing and unpredictable behaviour (Freud, as cited in Rathus 2014), heightened and unstable emotions (Hall, as cited in Rathus 2014), disturbances in identity, the gradual development of one’s moral reasoning (Kohlberg, as cited in Rathus, 2014) and the gradual establishment of one’s independence. Several of these changes may occur at differing phases in adolescent growth. This development is categorized into three separate stages; early adolescence, middle adolescence, and late adolescence. Early Adolescence, commencing from the ages of eleven or twelve until the age of fourteen, comprises of several features such as rapid biological development and maturity, heightened stress levels and limited coping capabilities. On the other hand, middle adolescence, from the approximate age of fourteen to sixteen, involves the gradual cease of biological change, an increase in coping strategies and declined stress levels. Furthermore, late adolescence, commencing from the age of sixteen until the age of eighteen or nineteen, encompasses physical maturity, whereby the