What We Have Learned
The transition from adolescence to
adulthood is not an easy one. It is, as we have learned, in our society
a discontinuous transition. A discontinuous transition is one where
there is not a clearly defined structure or roles on how to become an adult.
We do not have any rituals or customs that move an adolescent into the
adult world. In some cultures they do have a type of ritual that
helps their adolescents to make that transition. One example of this
is within the Amish culture. When an Amish adolescent turns fifteen
they must decide if they want to stay in school or leave school and start
work on the farm. They are also given the opportunity to leave the
community for a few years to go into another society and decide which society
they want to become a part of. Once an Amish adolescent is baptized
into the church, they know exactly what their role is and what is expected
of them. They are expected to marry, have a family, and carry on
their family's ways. The women take care of the children and the
home while the men run the farm and provide for the family. In our
culture it is up to the adolescent to find their own way through this transition.
For the adolescents in our society,
they must learn how to move from being irresponsible to becoming responsible
and able to take care of themselves. This transition of becoming
responsible includes romantic relationships. They must move from
being in asexual to sexual relationships. Most of the time they are
not told how they can accomplish this or even how to begin moving from
one to the other. They must figure things out for themselves and
decide how their own transition will be done. Erik Erikson described
this transition as intimacy versus isolation. He said that an adolescent
must resolve the conflict of whether they will be able to have successful
romantic relationships or they will struggle with these relationships throughout
their lives.
Our goal throughout this website
is to help answer any questions and provide information to adolescents
struggling with this transition. We want to provide health and safety
advice and teach them how this whole dating thing got started. We
also hope to help them keep their relationships going in a safe and positive
direction that will help them foster their own personal development.