Born in 1902 in Philadelphia, United States, Margaret Mead grew up in a household of three different generations. She was the first child in a family of five children and this had a greater impact on her later life. Having been born during the progressive period when reformers felt that social sciences should be applied in solving social problems and the fact that her parents were among these reformers, Mead became a great social scientist in the world. In her later life as an anthropologist, she applied techniques and theoretical explanations from psychology and sociology to describe the effects of culture in an individual’s life. She had a strong conviction that culture influences human life and behavior patterns. She therefore sought to find solutions to “nature versus nurture” debate that puzzled many social scholars of that time as well as the extent to which human behaviors and personality are influenced by biological factors.
In her work, Coming of Age in Samoa (1928), she gave a vivid description on the variations in human behavior patterns among the adolescent girls in Samoa. She explained that modesty, conformity and other ethical standards have no universal way of attainment. In her argument, she outlined that by the early 19th Century, many Americans had started perceiving the adolescence stage as an important period of growth and development. She sought to find out whether this period brought with it episodes of stressful conditions due to biological changes or cultural upbringing requirements among different communities. She became eager to get explanations for the myths related to adolescence and culture. In order to achieve her goals, she conducted research among the Samoa community and wrote a book that shocked many Americans.
The book received serious criticism among anthropologists such as Derek Freeman who accused Mead of romanticizing the life of the community by giving false evidence in her work. In her book, “Coming of Age in Samoa”, she indicated that young girls in the community had engaged in casual sex before marriage. Freeman responded to this claim saying that virginity was crucial among Samoa people and their culture provided for specific rituals that newly married virgin women had to undergo to earn appreciation. This encouraged the majority of the women to maintain virginity until marriage unlike Mead’s argument that virginity was not being considered important among the Samoa community.
Freeman on the other hand, alleged that Mead had taken advantage of hearsay statements from non-Samoa community members to downplay most important information collected from their informers. The criticism heightened over the taupou system among the Samoa community. According to Mead, ‘’this is the institution where virginity of women especially at younger age is vital.’’ However, Mead confirmed that the young women had engaged in premarital sex during adolescence. Freeman disapproved of the idea affirming that the system was revered by women in that society.
On the contrary, all girls who had been interrogated by Mead refuted having engaged in casual sex on subsequent interrogation by Freeman. In spite of this, Mead’s work remained popular among anthropologists and cultural scholars who have continued using it worldwide for learning purposes.
The beginning of sexual behavior is however noted to be a stormy and stressful experience. Unlike Mead’s conclusion that the stage varies from one culture to the other, many girls at adolescence find it difficult to move into adulthood as opposed to their male counterparts. The stress at the beginning of sexual behavior in girls is noted through traumatic characteristics such as rebellion against family values. This is caused by the physiological changes taking place in their bodies thus making them scared and antisocial.
Besides, girls in adolescence may experience short periods of poor health characterized by severe amenorrhea. These changes make them uncomfortable due to the accompanying pain in the condition. In addition, emotional distress and depression are pronounced among sexually active girls at adolescence stage resulting into their involvement in suicidal activities than sexually active boys. This reflects their confusion about the culturally expected codes of conduct leading to young girls’ involvement in casual sex. Similarly, girls face dating violence during this stage. When forced into sexual intercourse by their male partners, the adolescent girls become stressed and even risk contracting sexually transmitted diseases as well as unplanned pregnancy.
The myth of generation gap between the children and their parents holds in adolescence sexuality. Generation gap is a term used to express variation between individuals of different ages. Adolescents are often rejected by their parents due to differences brought about by changes in tastes, culture, politics and even entertainment. These factors have a greater influence on an individual’s behavior and personality.
Due to the environmental differences between children and their parents occasioned by the generational gap, parents usually adopt a conservative lifestyleq which they in turn recommend to their children. These behaviour patterns are linked to remote cultural beliefs of the society thus being rejected by young people during their adolescence. Certainly, every new generation undertakes activities different from the older generations. This is reflected in unique clothing style and entertainment activities among others. Such factors tend to bring much tension between parents and their children.
In conclusion, adolescents are faced with challenges brought about by different life experiences. These often cause changes in their behavior deviating from the expected cultural norms. As a result, young people engage in unique activities such as drug abuse which interferes with their future prosperity.