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5. ADOLESCENCE NOW AND BEFORE: INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE PSYCHOBIOLOGICAL AND THE SOCIO-CULTURAL FACTORS IN THE CHANGED CONDITIONS OF GROWING UP

ADOLESCENCE NOW AND BEFORE: INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE PSYCHOBIOLOGICAL AND THE SOCIO-CULTURAL FACTORS IN THE CHANGED CONDITIONS OF GROWING UP

Rudan Vlasta

Faculty of Medicine, University of Zagreb, Clinic for Psychological Medicine, Croatia

Rudan Vlasta, e-mail: rudan@hazu.hr.

Abstract

The research of and observations related to adolescence often lead to partly contradictory results. It may at times seem that adolescence has changed in the recent decades, and at other times that it has remained the same (Briggs, 2008). Research however indicates to the fact that particular parameters in relation to adolescence have indeed changed: e.g. adolescence lasts longer and is by far more diverse than described in the earlier theories of adolescence. The socio-cultural changes have most probably made the term “identity” – as defined by the earlier theoreticians, for instance Erik Erikson – questionable. Identity seems to be a multi-fold and complex concept, rather difficult to comprehend; hence, some authors (e.g. Cahn 1998; Briggs 2008) suggest it is necessary to tackle the idea of “subjectivism” or “subjectivation” (or “becoming subject”) more thoroughly. Since the “post-traditional” identity is more open and changeable, it seems as if an individual becomes a continued project of oneself (Thomson et al., 2004). The tension between the more narcissistic goals and those directed toward interrelation indicate to conflicts that potentially occur in more markedly individualised societies – unlike, if compared with, the situation in the earlier, more traditional societies, such as were present for a long time in technologically less developed countries (e.g. many former socialist countries of the Eastern Europe). A revision of the concept of narcissism might lead to a better understanding of growing up and development in and under changed socio-cultural conditions that strengthen the inclination towards the occurrence of more destructive and self-destructive behaviour (Waddell, 2006).

Keywords

adolescence, growth and development, psychobiological and the socio-cultural factors

Цит.: Rudan Vlasta ADOLESCENCE NOW AND BEFORE: INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE PSYCHOBIOLOGICAL AND THE SOCIO-CULTURAL FACTORS IN THE CHANGED CONDITIONS OF GROWING UP // Moscow University Anthropology Bulletin (Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seria XXIII. Antropologia), 2014; 3/2014; с. 41-41