This is not to say that adolescents do not think for themselves. Remmers and Radler (1957, p. 236-237) and Sorensen (1973) found that though adolescents show concern for what parents and peers think, many report that they think things out for themselves and that they act on their own decisions. For instance, 62 percent of all adolescents affirmed that they do what they want to do so far as sex is concerned, regardless of what society thinks (Sorensen, 1973, p. 355), and 87 percent of all adolescents agree that "all in all, I think my head is pretty well together" (Sorensen, 1973, p. 43).
As pointed out earlier, adolescents attempt to come to terms with parent-peer
cross pressures by simply not communicating with parents. However, it is possible for
adolescents to identify with parents and yet to have increasing association with peers
if the adjustment toward family is favorable (Bowerman and Kinch, 1959, p. 206-211).
Much of the terminology of youth culture seems strongly directed toward making
invidious distinctions among people and among events. Thus its highly normative
content makes it admirably suited for use as sanctions-approving or unmasking
deviants.
We all wore the same type (clothes). We could not bear to be
individuals, and anyone who did not conform was talked about and
made fun of.
The youth culture, without much help from elders, has evolved an informal series
of sex codes and practices in an attempt to solve the conflict with adult standards. The
primary sexual dilemma for young people is that they have great individual
freedom-males and females are allowed to mix freely-but they are not supposed to
engage in coitus. Moreover, they are expected to exercise this control themselves. In
the history of cultures, this expectation is an unusual one. Two other arrangements
have been more common wherein the society at large takes the responsibility. Where
premarital sexual activities have been permitted, the sexual activities have been
regulated and the rites and statuses of both males and females have been protected;
where virginity has been demanded, women have been carefully chaperoned or
secluded.
Despite movements in the direction of unisex, the differences between males and
females in the youth culture with respect to sex and love is marked, and one can argue
that there are distinct male and female subcultures as well as a common youth
culture. Although both sexes are profoundly affected by these matters, females seem
more directly and overtly concerned with companionship and romance, and males
more with companionship and eroticism.
Adolescents with Adult Normative Commitment
There are adolescents who have internalized a strong positive set of normative
commitments toward the adolescent sex repression espoused by society. This is the
youth sex culture that has been developed and supported by adults. That is a dating
pattern largely devoid of sexual involvement, a culture aimed at successful mate
selection. The following are examples of adolescents who subscribe to these traditional
adult norms.
I do want to be virgin when I marry, and I also want to save the
more intimate sex relations for my future husband. I will not let my
body be used for someone's enjoyable outlet, purely sexual in
nature. I feel it is God's gift, and it is not to be played with.
We were never intimate in our dating, besides kissing. I knew that
he wanted to go beyond this stage, but my standards were high,
and I wouldn't give in. I knew this disappointed him, but I told him
that I would be married in white, and it would have a meaning to
me and my future husband. I wanted to be married in white, which
is the sign of purity.
There appears to be little conflict of opinion today over the value of absolutistic as
opposed to more permissive sexual norms in the lives of adolescents (Sorensen, 1973).
How important is it that adolescents experience a growing sexual intimacy along with
growth to maturity in the other aspects of their relationships? There is some public
debate over this issue, particularly when the content of sex education courses in the
schools are discussed, and some thought and discussion is given to it in adult circles.
The most recent survey of adolescent sexual attitudes does not show chastity to be
highly valued (Sorensen, 1973).