Ethnicity, Adolescents, and Family: A Cultural Comparison Study

This assignment explores the diverse approaches to adolescent rearing across different cultures, with a specific focus on comparing practices in African communities to those in the United States. The paper uses an article to highlight the significant cultural variations in family involvement and teenage interactions. In many African cultures, adolescents undergo rites of passage and receive extensive cultural education, often involving parental guidance and community involvement. In contrast, the United States emphasizes individual development and provides adolescents with more autonomy, albeit with structured guidance. The assignment highlights differences in how adolescents are educated about their bodies, health, and social interactions, emphasizing how cultural norms shape adolescent experiences. The study contrasts the restrictions and expectations placed on teenagers in African societies with the more open environment of the United States, providing insights into the diverse paths to adulthood across different cultures. This document is available on Desklib, a platform offering past papers and solved assignments to students.

Surname1
Name
Professor
Course
Date
How do different cultures rear adolescents in comparison to the United States Culture?
According to the WHO, adolescence is the process of transition in young individuals from the
stage of childhood to adulthood. The organization defines an adolescent as any person between
the ages of 10-19nyears. This group of young individuals requires special care during this
transition period. There is an article is used in this paper to study how different cultures in the
world take care of adolescents and hence comparing with the USA form of raising adolescents.
The care accorded to this group of individuals is different in many parts of the world due to
differences in traditions. In most African countries, adolescent family involvement is very vital;
this is because at this stage the parents pray their role of educating their children on how to be
responsible adults (Amos 523). At this stage, the parents dictate the rules to be followed by the
children, failure to follow these rules results, to punishment. This method of raising adolescents
is far much descent as compared to the United States method which is more democratic. The US
family interaction method is aimed at making awareness to adolescents of both the body and
health changes this group of individuals will be experiencing.
In many parts of Africa different ethnic groups interact differently with their adolescents. Most
communities view this stage of life as the right time to conduct cultural education awareness
cultural practices on this group of young individuals. In these communities, adolescents go
through circumcision to mark the transformation from childhood to adulthood.in other

Surname2
communities at this stage girls are considered ready for marriage (Amos 524). The practices are
far much different from the US since there are no such cultural practices. At this stage, the US
culture often prepares this group on how to cope with the expected body changes as well as on
how they should decently conduct themselves.
In African countries, teenage interactions are more restricted as compared to interactions in the
United States. At this stage, parents tend to separate teenage boys and girls. The separation
occurs because these two groups are expected to undergo a different form of teenage education.
The restriction of the teenagers involves hiding those passing from one generation stage to
another in separate places (Amos 525). They are taught the norms of the community and how
they should adhere to them. In this stage, the teenagers are separated from any misfortunes and
nor female is allowed to interact with those teens because women are assumed to be unclean.
During the separation time, the elders take this opportunity to teach the teens about the history of
their community including their origin. They assume that teenagers are responsible and they
should be taught the secrets about the community (Amos 526). This is different from the United
States as teenagers are supposed to interact with other people without any restrictions. There are
communal norms taught to teenagers. In the USA, the teenagers are just taught daily life
behaviors and how they should interact with others. It is not done through the traditional way but
through formal education. Some of these real-life learning skills are taught in school and
sometimes by parents at home. There is a procedural way of teaching these but just in normal
school and home routines.

Surname3

Surname4
Work cited
Amos, Patricia Mawusi. "Parenting and culture–Evidence from some African
communities." Parenting in South American and African contexts. IntechOpen, (2013):
523-526. Retrived from https://www.intechopen.com/books/parenting-in-south-american-
and-african-contexts/parenting-and-culture-evidence-from-some-african-communities