Lost in transition: status insecurity and inconsistency as hallmarks of modern adolescence

Abstract

In highly developed countries, the adolescent phase of life is expanding more and more. The consequences are status insecurity and inconsistency. A side effect is that adolescence is no longer clearly separable as demarcated biographical stage from adulthood. In this paper, we argue that the developmental tasks of a typical adolescent and a typical adult can only be partially differentiated, and the exact point in time when adolescents become adults can no longer be clearly identified. We find evidence that adolescence is becoming more ‘adult’ and adulthood is correspondingly becoming more ‘juvenile’. In almost all important social areas of life, the behavioral patterns of adults and of adolescents are coalescing. Living with insecurity in the working life and in social relations, experiencing limitations of personal autonomy, and the continuous need to work on social status inconsistencies today are characteristic features of the life of adolescents and adults. As many adolescents meet these demands skillfully and flexibly, they have in many respects become ‘social models’ for the adult life phase.

Keywords::

• developmental tasks
• status insecurity
• status inconsistency
• socialization
• life course

1 ‘Developmental tasks’ during adolescence and adulthood

Interdisciplinary research has adopted the concept of ‘developmental tasks’ to characterise the conflict between the physical, mental, social and ecological demands, with which individuals are confronted during the various stages of life. The concept, introduced by Havighurst, describes the constitutive social expectations societies have on their members during the different life stages. Through internalisation, and because of physical, cognitive or sexual needs and desires, individuals generally incorporate these expectations into their own goal structure. ‘A developmental task is a task which arises at or about a certain period in the life of the individual, successful achievement of which leads to his happiness and to success with later tasks, while failure leads to unhappiness in the individual, disapproval by the society, and difficulty with later tasks’ (Havighurst, 1953, p. 2).

1.1 Havighurst's concept of developmental tasks

According to Havighurst, developmental tasks can be understood as the age-based expectations a society has at a certain time in history and which are shared by a large number of the members of that society. These developmental tasks, transmitted primarily through the various socialisation agents (family, peer group and educational institutions), include the collective beliefs as to the appropriate behaviour of individuals at a particular stage of life. As age-specific goals are set, the developmental tasks structure the entire course of life and help to determine the direction of individual development (Pinquart, Silbereisen, & Wiesner, 2004; Roisman, Masten, Coatsworth, & Tellegen, 2004; Schulenberg, Maggs, & Hurrelmann, 1997; Schulenberg, Bryant, & O'Malley, 2004).

Age-specific norms and expectations define which goals are considered important within a specific stage of life. If, however, they are to provide direction, individuals must concretise these as personal goals (Seiffge-Krenke, 2000). Adolescents, for example, not only have to attach importance to the need to one day earn their own living, but they must also make this value a personal goal, which determines their actions by going to school, completing an education and searching for a place to work (Freund & Wiese, 1996).

1.2 Havighurst's differentiation between adolescence and adulthood

According to Havighurst (1953, p. 111), adolescence spans the period from 12 to 18 years of age. This time span is heavily influenced by emotional and social challenges. During this time, the peer group gains tremendous importance; in some cases, there are conflicts between parents, teachers and other adults on the one side and the peer group on the other. Havighurst finds the cause of these conflicts primarily in rapid social change. The second significant area Havighurst identifies as formative of the adolescent life phase is the development towards the emotional, intellectual and economic independence characteristic of the adult life phase: ‘Adolescence is a period when growth toward autonomy and personal independence normally proceeds to the point where a person becomes independent emotionally, financially, and intellectually’ (Havighurst, 1953, p. 120).

Havighurst (1953, p. 257) differentiates between the various developmental tasks of the adolescent phase of life:

• achieving new and more mature relations with age mates of both sexes,

• achieving a masculine or feminine social role,

• accepting one's physique and using the body effectively,

• achieving emotional independence of parents and other adults,

• achieving assurance of economic independence,

• selecting and preparing for an occupation,

• preparing for marriage and family life,

• developing intellectual skills and concepts necessary for civic competence,

• desiring and achieving socially responsible behaviour and

• acquiring a set of values and an ethical system as a guide to behaviour.

The successful mastering of the adolescent phase of life strongly depends on whether the developmental tasks have been suitably addressed. At the end of adolescence, young people enter adulthood. According to Havighurst, the adult life phase is characterised not only by the achievement of emotional, social and financial independence but also, and more particularly, by the assumption of responsibility and the commitment to new and long-term emotional, social and financial obligations. ‘Early adulthood, the period from eighteen to thirty, usually contains marriage, the first pregnancy, the first serious full-time job, the first illnesses of children, the first experience of furnishing or buying or building a house, and the first venturing of the child off to school’ (Havighurst, 1953, p. 257). The most important developmental tasks of early adulthood thus are:

• selecting a mate,

• learning to live with a partner,

• starting a family,

• rearing children,

• managing a home,

• getting started in an occupation,

• taking on civic responsibility and

• finding a congenial social group.

1.3 Re-defining the concept of ‘developmental tasks’

Havighurst's theory obviously is tied to the historical circumstances of the time after the Second World War. His concept of developmental tasks originated in the 1950s, and there have been substantial social and economic changes since then; the period of childhood in the life course is getting shorter and the period of adolescence is expanding. This is because the timing of sexual maturation (puberty) has shifted during the past two centuries, from 1800 to 2000, and now happens up to 5 years earlier in the life course. The consequence is that youth and adolescence begin as early as never before in history. On the other hand, young people stay longer in the life phases of ‘arrested adolescence’ (Cote, 2000).

To appropriate the concept of developmental tasks for a valid analysis of the characteristics of the adolescent and adult life phases today, a re-definition is necessary which accommodates all of the important functional aspects identified by Havighurst but integrates these into a historically and culturally appropriate frame of reference. In this study, we use the approach of modern socialisation theory that defines personality development as the productive processing of interior and exterior realities. Bodily and mental qualities and traits constitute a person's ‘inner’ reality and the circumstances of the social and physical environment embody the ‘external’ reality. Reality processing is ‘productive’ because human beings actively grapple with their lives and attempt to cope with the attendant developmental tasks. The success of such a process depends on the personal and social resources available (Hurrelmann, 2009, p. 42).

Within this theoretical framework, four clusters of developmental tasks can be identified; they include the central social dimensions of social membership roles:

• The developmental task ‘Qualify’: The development of the intellectual and social competences necessary to meet performance requirements and societal demands, as well as to attain the educational qualifications necessary to assume the social membership role in the labour force.

• The developmental task ‘Commit’: The development of a physical and of a gender identity so that a personal intimate relationship can be established into which children can be born. In this way, the social membership role of family founder can be attained.

• The developmental phase ‘Consume’: The development of recreational and off-loading support strategies, which serve the purpose of regeneration, attaining the skills in dealing with economic opportunities, leisure activities and media services and so achieving the social membership role of the consumer.

• The developmental task ‘Participate’: The development of an individual system of values and norms and the competence to participate politically, and so to assume a citizen's social membership role.

Based on this analytical framework, we trace the historical changes in the status passage between adolescence and adulthood and subsequently develop the guiding thesis of this essay, which is based on the assumption that the two life phases coalesce.

2 Historical changes in the shape of the developmental tasks

In Havighurst's theory, adolescence is defined as a ‘status passage’ that leads from the socially dependent life phase of childhood to the independent life phase of adulthood. This independence is expressed by obtaining central membership roles within the society. According to this theory, being adult is to be capable of perpetuating and reproducing the existing society both economically and biologically. An adult person has become a full-fledged, responsible member of the society.

2.1 Status insecurity as hallmark of modern adolescence

According to this traditional approach, the transition in the status from adolescent to adult is complete when a person has assumed the following membership roles:

• The role of a wage earner or professional as an economically independent actor.

• The role of a partner and parent as a responsible family founder.

• The role of a consumer as a confident user of leisure activities.

• The role of a political citizen as an active participant in the social environment.

Today, in highly developed countries, it is hardly possible to complete this transition from childhood to adulthood by following the four intermediate passages. Instead, economic, social and cultural conditions have created new and much more insecure pattern of the status passage than two generations ago:

• The assumption of the social membership role of gainfully employed wage earner or professional is delayed and for a number of adolescents is not even possible anymore. Since the worldwide economic distortions of the 1990s, high unemployment rates are prevalent and too few training and work opportunities are available (UNDES, 2012). A clearly structured transition to the role of the gainfully employed is non-existent today. Some adolescents enter the status of the fully employed – traditionally the pre-condition for attainment of the role of adult – whereas some do not at all. They are thus excluded from a central social membership position and are unable to contribute to the society's ‘economical reproduction’. This development stands in stark contrast to the growing biographical importance adolescents attribute to their future careers; the majority of adolescents regard their careers primarily as a means of self-realization and secondarily as a securing of their livelihood (Bangerter, Grob, & Krings, 2001).

• The transition to the membership role of family founder has become fragile. In earlier generations, marriage and the birth of one's own children coincided chronologically. Today, often many years separate these two events. Increasingly, a ‘permanent partnership’ is observed as being totally independent of ‘having children’. Partnership and family roles are thus disconnected from one another. A number of adolescents and adults no longer see marriage and having their own children as a firm, constituent part of living together. A significant reason for this is the insecurity experienced with regard to the professional career on which the financial income depends (Fussell, Gauthier, & Evans, 2007). Another reason can be found in the ambitions to attain both individuality in lifestyle and emancipation from social ties (Brannen & Nilsen, 2002). Thus, according to traditional perceptions, the transition into the familial, ‘biologically reproductive’ aspect of the role of adult either takes place at a very late point in time or not at all. As a consequence, many adults do not participate in the membership role of family founder.

• By contrast, at a very early age in their life cycle, most adolescents today have unrestricted access to the membership role of consumer. Because they handle money at an early age, adolescents can tap into practically the complete leisure and media market, even then when they do not yet have full legal contractual capacity (Shell Deutschland, 2010). According to traditional perceptions, they have reached early ‘adulthood’ in this area and are even superior to adults in their competences of media usage. No definitive criteria can be identified in which adults and adolescents differ from one another in this developmental area.

• A similar scenario is observable with regard to assuming the role of political citizen. Already at the beginning of the adolescence phase, young people have the possibility to become socially involved and to contribute politically. Adolescents may only be given voting rights when they turn 18, yet in their families, their schools, their communities and among their peers, they are already active in the organisation of public and private spheres of life – increasingly via the interactive medium of the Internet (Boyd, Zaff, Phelps, Weiner, & Lerner, 2011; Youniss et al., 2002).

Summing up, it can be said that adolescence today is characterised by status insecurity. The status passage does not lead to any fixed endpoint. It has lost the notion of a secure and safe transition from one social position to another. It is no longer a foreseeable and well-delineated process, which is connected with a specific social role.

2.2 Status inconsistency as a structural characteristic of adolescents' life

The second characteristic of adolescents' life of today is status inconsistency. The transition from adolescence to adulthood occurs at different points in time within the individual developmental areas. Adolescents typically participate at a very early stage in the areas of consumption and political participation and therewith assume important segments of the traditional roles of adulthood. By contrast, they assume the membership roles of an economically independent actor and the founder of a family at a very late stage in the life course or not at all.

The differing manifestations of the time patterns within the four areas of the status passage lead to ‘status inconsistency’. Adolescents inhabit social positions where the room for manoeuvre is very different. They are forced to cope with the resultant tension. The inconsistency is heightened through the great divide that exists between possible opportunities and their use in reality. Examples here include the early management of money despite later legal competence; early access to paid activities as non-skilled workers and much later assumption of qualified gainful employment; early sexual relationships with much later entry into marriage and early participation in political organisations despite only being granted the right to vote at the age of 18. This leads to ambiguity within the overall status ‘adolescence’ and inevitably brings about insecurities with regard to self-assessment (Hurrelmann & Quenzel, 2012, p. 44).

This analysis makes clear that the profile of the developmental tasks in the adolescent life phase has undergone an enormous transformation since the 1950s when Havighurst first developed the concept. Young people who are presently passing through this life phase have to develop a personality structure that puts them in a position to respond to rapidly shifting social, cultural, economic and ecological conditions. An intrinsic characteristic of the adolescent life phase is the ability to address contradictions in social expectations and to develop self-definitions despite these difficult circumstances. The non-simultaneous appropriation of independence in the four different areas has to be endured and processed.

Today, a basic precondition for mastering the adolescent life phase is the ability to address the uncertainty of whether one will actually ever advance to all four areas of the traditional full social membership, which is characteristic of the adult phase, or whether one will be lost in transition and remain in the adolescent life stage as in a kind of moratorium, even though according to chronological age, one has already attained ‘adulthood’.

Arnett names this phenomenon of non-existent structure during the transitional passage from childhood to adulthood, when the point at which adolescents have the sense they have become ‘adults’ is continuously being postponed, ‘emerging adulthood’ (Arnett, 2010). This phase is characterised by (1) the search for an interesting and satisfying field of work and for a workplace; (2) the decision, made by trial and error, as to which partner and which form of partnership is personally suitable; (3) the search for a suitable place to live and the appropriate form of living and (4) the best way to shape a fitting social environment.

According to the traditional culture patterns, an important attribute of adulthood is that the restless trial-and-error search phase, characteristic for all areas of the physical, mental and social development of adolescents, has now come to an end – at least temporarily (Blos, 1962; Erikson, 1968). Adulthood thus begins when an individual has stepped beyond the emotional, dynamic and partly uncontrolled zone of finding his or her own personality. This sort of ‘Sturm und Drang’ period has now ended, and its motives, needs and interests have been brought into preliminary personal order. Such a ‘maturation process’ is observed as the precondition for the exit from adolescence, and is required if one wishes to be recognised as an adult. Under the present circumstances, however, these traditional characteristics are no longer functional. At times when structural uncertainty determines life planning, it can be disadvantageous to ever leave behind the ‘Sturm and Drang’ period with its open, groping and probing attitude. What adolescents definitely need in order to appropriately cope with their developmental tasks today is to be ready to react to unpredictable outcomes.

3 Adolescents as social models for coping with developmental tasks

In highly developed countries, status insecurity and inconsistency are no longer only characteristics of adolescence but also of adulthood. The two life phases are no longer clearly separable as demarcated biographical life stages. The manner in which adolescents address everyday life and in which they master the developmental tasks can only be differentiated slightly from that which is typical for adults. The economic and social upheavals that determine modern adolescence have an increasing effect on the adjacent adult life phase.

The adult life phase, too, can no longer be lived in its traditional form. This is due to the decrease in permanent and secure fixed-term employment and the rising risk of having to experience periods of unemployment. This is also due to the fragility of partnership relationships of adults.

3.1 The adolescent style of coping with developmental tasks

Thus, in historical perspective, adolescence is becoming more ‘adult’, and adulthood is correspondingly becoming more ‘juvenile’. In almost all important areas of life, the behavioural patterns of adults and of adolescents are coalescing. Living with insecurity and breaks in the working life and in social relations, experiencing limitations of personal autonomy, and the continuous need to work on social status inconsistencies today are characteristic features of the life of adolescents and adults.

Naturally, young people set off earlier in life than older people to address these challenges. As many adolescents are able to skilfully and successfully meet the challenges, they have in many respects become ‘social models’ for people in the adult life phase. Adolescents are forced to develop a lifestyle based on an active form of self-management; this is an appropriate strategy to cope with an open-ended, inconsistent and insecure future perspective. This individually constructed and institutionalised system of daily activity is necessary to achieve a minimum of stability and self-identity through self-defined goals and giving meaning to a life phase characterised by status inconsistency and insecurity regarding the future. Because adults face the same challenges, they tend to copy the adolescents' strategies of coping with the developmental tasks.

3.2 Lessons to be learned for coping with the developmental challenges

The belief that a certain status in the life cycle will permanently continue once it has been attained is outdated; status acquisition has become a lifelong task.

• The acquisition of higher qualifications is only rarely achieved when school or occupational training has been completed. Qualification is increasingly becoming part of the adolescent and adult life (lifelong learning; Field, 2006).

• Being a member of the labour force does not provide the guarantee of a safe social status. Precarious working conditions, frequent job changes, partial self-employment and temporary unemployment become typical for professional careers (Buchholz et al., 2009).

• The time span spent in a partnership is getting shorter. Consequently, new partners have to be found, and new family arrangements that can accommodate former and current partnerships have to be negotiated in adolescence as well as in adulthood.

• The competences attained in mastering the challenges within the leisure, media and consumer goods markets have to be permanently adapted and reorganised to keep pace with the rapid developments in these areas.

• The role of political participation requires the constant acquisition of new competences to cope with the shifts in political challenges and the reactions demanded by political organisations responding to these shifts. The continuously decreasing turnout at elections in industrialised countries (EED, 2012) suggests that many citizens no longer wish to fulfil this role in the traditional manner.

Mastering the developmental tasks can no longer be equated with the simple fulfilment of the external social expectations. Mastering these tasks has become a matter of productive individual processing of the demands according to internal, individual standards.

• Only two generations ago, the transition to adulthood was taken for granted. Today this is still possible, but not necessarily the case. Consequently, the status of an adult can no longer be automatically equated to the status of full social membership. We need other criteria to define the status of adulthood.

• Because of the high unemployment rate experienced by people of all age groups, a large part of the younger generation find it impossible to either enter the labour market as full-time workers or complete the step usually associated with full-time employment – move out of the parental home and found their own family (EGRIS, 2001, p. 106; UNDES, 2012). If the traditional benchmark was applied according to which the adult status continues to be attached to the assumption of a professional role and the role of family founder, large parts of the younger generation would retain the permanent status of ‘adolescents’ who are never able to attain the full social membership of ‘adulthood’. Thus, internal standards have to be activated to determine which phase of life an individual has entered.

• Thus, mastering the developmental tasks not only depends on the competence to generally follow societal expectations but also on the competence to manage life's internal and external demands by means of an individually determined standard of implementation of the developmental tasks.

• Autonomous citizens no longer realise societal membership only when the demands of the four central membership roles (professional, partner/parent, consumer, political citizen) have been formally fulfilled. This status may also be achieved when through individual effort personal needs, possibilities and social expectations are balanced with competent management of the developmental tasks; thus, a personal maturity is established.

• It is becoming increasingly rare for a permanent state of affairs to follow the successful mastering of developmental tasks. Accordingly, the developmental tasks of adolescence, which are characterised by a Sturm und Drang approach of trial and error, have become fruitful and should be carried over into adulthood.

• The mastering of developmental tasks demanded of adolescents today involves responding openly and flexibly to rapidly shifting social constellations. A distinctly defined and pre-planned progression of actions is often inadequate. Under these circumstances, a lifestyle that accommodates improvising elements is at least as important as routine-determined behavioural patterns. Such a focus can be characterised as a mixture of self-reference and sensitivity. It is a form of behaviour that reveals a point of view that is opportune, a tentative, carefully engineered approach (Egotactics; Hurrelmann & Quenzel, 2012, p. 53).

4 Conclusion

Adolescents have become pioneers in the development of a lifestyle that responds to current cultural, economic and social changes within the modern society. The open-ended demands encountered in present-day life necessitate reflexive control of situation-specific activities and strong self-reference. It is precisely this lifestyle orientation that is being practised by most adolescents.

This becomes apparent when one examines their living arrangements and the types of relationships to which they commit themselves. They leave the parental homes, living together in flat-sharing communities or with a partner. At the end of the relationship, or when they are offered employment, they return to the home of their parents only to move out again (Mills & Blossfeld, 2003, p. 208; Shanahan, 2000). The European Group for Integrated Social Research uses the yo-yo-metaphor description. The yo-yo swings up and down. The direction it takes depends on the personal abilities and the opportunities to prove and test oneself, on material resources, as well as on the motivation of the players (Pais, 2003; Walther, 2006, p. 121).

The majority of young men and women succeed in being dynamic actors who respond to rapidly changing economic and social realities (Bynner, 2005; Krings, Bangerter, Gomez, & Grob, 2008). When it becomes difficult to access the job market, they acquire new qualifications and extend the period of their education. Others aspire to a combination of work and education to prepare their transition into the job market. Yet, others become freelancers. In the midst of uncertain employment opportunities, partner relationships often remain non-binding. This is not merely for economic reasons, but to remain open to any number of alternatives, including possible moves or ascents up the career ladder. For others, early marriage and the founding of a family provide economic and emotional security. As they meet the challenges in an innovative and successful manner, adolescents become ‘social models’ for older people in the adult life phase.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Klaus Hurrelmann

Klaus Hurrelmann is professor at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin, Germany. His main fields of reasearch are developmental transitions in the life course, social inequality, and related welfare policy approaches. During his time at Bielefeld University he initiated and lead the “Research Center on Prevention and Intervention in Childhood and Adolescence”.

Gudrun Quenzel

Gudrun Quenzel is assistant professor at Bielefeld University. Her main area of research is the interconnection between developmental tasks, sociaslization and health. Together with Klaus Hurrelmann she has been the principal investigator of the German national youth surveys (“Shell Jugendstudiue”) and editor of the handbook “Bildungsverlierer” (Educational Loosers).