Adolescence In The 1950's

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The development among adolescence in the 1950s compared to present day is drastically different; the statistics show that teenagers have developed differently neurologically over the years, also studies have shown that teenagers have abused drugs and alcohol throughout the years and a difference is visible among the use of these substances throughout the decades, teen pregnancy and sexual behaviors statistics have too changed throughout the years. From the 1950s to the 2000s, there have been significant differences among the adolescent throughout the generations, pertaining to the development of the brain, the use of drugs and alcohol, and sexual behavior statistics. Social scientist, L. Steinberg states that factors such as impulse control, …show more content…
In the 1950s, a young child would have many responsibilities within a family unit and in the social world. Over the decades there has been a drastic change in the responsibilities of children; children are deemed to only go to school and start working when they turn a certain age. Many establishments do not hire youth under the age of fifteen and this is a reason why youth do not have much knowledge of responsibility even if duties are being set at home, there is not much of a chance to perform responsibly for society. Steinberg states that the four factors which are: impulse control, vulnerability to social influence, and the evaluation of risk and reward, and rational reasoning capabilities, sometimes leads adolescents to make decisions that were not as mature as those that would be made by adults. In today’s society, peer pressure is a large issue among the youth as adolescents mainly do what their friends or peers are doing. Youth usually stick to the trends as much as possible so that they do not stand out and this has been a thing way before the 1950s. Adolescents tend to have the urge to follow or mimic the actions of their friends, most of the times the actions are immature and irrational. Several writers pointed out that judgment is affected not only by cognitive abilities but by social and emotional capacities as well. (Steinberg, 2013) Social influence is clearly a large part in the decision making process throughout the development of a child to adolescence and even to
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