Cross-Cultural Concepts of Adolescence in Europe, the United States and Japan

Abstract

In the twentieth century, in Europe and North America, the origin and development of the concept of adolescence owes much to the growth of universal education. However, in the latter years of the present century the countries of Europe and North America began to experience relative economic decline and, at the same time, develop growing respect for the educational achievements of the countries of the Pacific Rim. This paper seeks to examine models of adolescence more closely both in the countries of the first industrial revolution and in the country that leads the world in academic achievement – Japan.

Descriptors::

• Adolescence
• cross-cultural
• education
• Europe
• North America
• Japan