Chapter 9: Demographic And Cultural Differences Among Adolescents

In the previous chapters we have addressed issues that are important in the lives of adolescents, including prosocial values, appearance, self and identity, education and schooling, fun and leisure, and family and relationships. In this chapter we will summarize how adolescents’ ideas differed according to their economic condition, cultural background, and gender. The purpose of this chapter is to synthesize our findings about differences among adolescents, to draw conclusions, and to relate our findings to other research and theories.

We found that the economic condition of an adolescent’s country, more than the adolescent’s personal economic condition, was associated with the values expressed regarding the ideal. All 10 rated qualities differed according to the economic condition of the country.