A Brief History of Adolescence

Biblical and Historical

"I was born at a very early age." Hokey as it is, the opening line of my testimony gives a cue that history is relative. The concept of a history of adolescence is also relative; it can be assumed that there have always been adolescents. So a history would have to go all the way back to the Garden of Eden. (This brings up an interesting theological question to add to the now-famous, Did Adam have a navel? This study suggests a companion question: Were Adam and Eve ever teenagers, or did God create them as adults?)

Theological rambling aside, the question of how long adolescents have existed as a group is one we should cover. Phil Briggs, esteemed professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is fond of pointing out that Jesus was an adolescent. The way that we know that for sure is that the first word we know Jesus spoke was the word why (ta-dum).

Now His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when He became twelve, they went up there according to the custom of the Feast; and as they were returning, after spending the full number of days, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. But His parents were unaware of it, but supposed Him to be in the caravan, and went a day's journey; and they began looking for Him among their relatives and acquaintances. When they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem looking for Him. Then, after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers. When they saw Him, they were astonished; and His mother said to Him, "Son, why have You treated us this way? Behold, Your father and I have been anxiously looking for You." And He said to them, "Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father's house?" But they did not understand the statement which He had made to them (Luke 2:41-50).

While we don't know whether Adam and Eve were ever teenagers, after they began to have kids, there have been persons that were chronologically the age we call adolescents or teenagers.  In the Bible we can certainly identify persons who were teenagers and/or who acted much like our modern view of adolescents. Daniel Aleshire (1982, 11-13) identified some of these precocious biblical youth.

David, a "man after God's own heart" and a great warrior was young when he had his famous confrontation with Goliath. David had brought provisions to his older brothers who were at the front lines. Goliath was considered to be insurmountable, and rich rewards had been promised to the man who could defeat him. In 1 Samuel 17:26-29, the interchange between David and his brothers is not unlike one you may have heard in your home. Notice the last two sentences:

Then David spoke to the men who were standing by him, saying, "What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should taunt the armies of the living God?" The people answered him in accord with this word, saying, "Thus it will be done for the man who kills him." Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab's anger burned against David and he said, "Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your insolence and the wickedness of your heart; for you have come down in order to see the battle." But David said, "What have I done now? Was it not just a question?"

The great warrior Samson is known for his adolescent silliness and hormonal rages. Mary was probably a teenager when she gave birth to the Christ child. At least a couple of the disciples were very young. Psalms and Proverbs have much to say about the "young man," which lead us to the conclusion that puberty is not a new problem (Ps. 25:7; 71:5,17; 88:15; 89:45; 103:5; 110:3; 127:4; 129:1-2; 144:12; Prov. 1:4; 2:17; 5:18). Of course, the one that keeps coming back to me is the admonition in Psalm 119:9: "How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word."

YQ: Study the verses listed above. In the space below list the words found in these verses that describe adolescents.

So teenagers have been around for a long time. And teenagers have always been "adults in progress." People who study people have always been fascinated with the mystery of when children become adults. Many cultures have rites of passage which mark the entry point into adulthood. Rites of passage are ceremonies or rituals that mark an individual's transition from one status to another, especially into adulthood (Santrock 1998, 281-82). Such ceremonies range from teeth filing, body painting or piercing (or other forms of mutilation) in some primitive cultures to temporary banishment (i.e. a "quest") in others.

In America religious ceremonies like the Jewish bar mitzvah or the Catholic confirmation are formal rites of passage. Other formal rites of passage include high school graduation, getting a driver's license, or getting married. Informal rites of passage in our culture can include first date, first job, or the first time to stay at home alone. Unfortunately, a rite of passage that has gained popularity in the past few decades is sexual intercourse. Statistically, more than 70 percent of adolescents have their first sexual experience prior to their 18th birthday (Santrock 1998, 281).

I am getting ahead of myself. The question returns: Have adolescents been around for a long time? Consider some not-so-contemporary quotes:

I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on the frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words. . . . When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise and impatient of restraint. —Hesiod, 800 B.C.

The children now love luxury; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company and tyrranize their teachers.—Socrates, 470-399 B.C.

The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for parents or old age; They are impatient of all restraint; They talk as if they alone know everything and what passes for wisdom in us is foolishness in them. As for girls, they are foolish and immodest and unwomanly in speech, behavior and dress.—Peter the Hermit, A.D. 1083

These quotes probably sound like a business meeting at your church to discuss the fact that the church van wasn't cleaned up after the trip to the water park. Obviously, the opinion of adults about persons of an adolescent age have been around for a long time. But lest this become a gripe session or a trip down memory lane, allow me to fast-forward. The English word for adolescence has only existed since the fifteenth century (Kaplan 1984, 44). Some writers see the pattern of adolescence (progression that leads from childhood to adulthood) in the middle ages.

Indeed, the code of chivalry with knights and maidens was a time in which "a young boy might progress from page at age seven to squire at age fourteen to virtuous knighthood at age twenty-one. Similar progressions were observed in the initiation of novitiates into the church and in the progression from apprenticeship to journeyman to master craftsman in the guild system" (Kaplan 1984, 51).

Near the end of the nineteenth century, a man named G. Stanley hall suggested that adolescence was a transition in which "storm and stress" were necessary in order for a child to become a healthy adult. In other words the struggle was essential. Others have disputed his conclusions. (Hopefully many of you had a relatively stormless and stressless adolescence.) Hall was helpful in pointing out that many "little things" can seem like "big things" to an adolescent in whose world everything is changing. Hall and others recognized that adolescence also represented a "moratorium" where the consequences of behavior did not need to be as severe as they would be in adulthood.

YQ: What are the rites of passage in your family, church family, and community?

Secular Trend

Some social thinkers have observed that adolescence has reinvented itself in America in the 20th century. In the United States at the end of the 19th century, the typical 14-year-old boy lived on his father's farm, anticipating that in the next few years he would claim a parcel of land, marry a local girl (who would have been somewhere between 13 and 16 years old), and imitate the life he had observed growing up. Marriage generally occurred when the groom was 15-17 years old. Incidentally, the average age of puberty was between his 15th and 16th birthday.

YQ: What is the average age of puberty in your community today?

Adolescence: 20th-Century Invention

In the first few decades of the 20th century, a subtle shift began to take place. Individuals and families started moving in substantial numbers to the cities. The industrial revolution produced machines that made farming less labor intensive, so large families were not needed purely for extra hands. As people moved to the cities, they worked in factories. Even young children could be found operating (sometimes dangerous) machines. In the years that followed, at least five factors combined to lengthen the period of time called adolescence, in effect creating a class of pre-adults (Cobb 1998, 26; Bakan, 71). In no particular order, they are:

• Puberty has been occurring earlier by three to four months per decade since the mid 1800s. In the mid 1800s, the average age for menarche was 15.5-16.5. Now the average age in U.S. is 12.5. Another effect is that people grow larger. Males average an inch and 10 pounds heavier than their fathers. Females grow 1/2 inch to an inch more than their mothers and weigh about 2 pounds more on average. Perhaps due to better diet and health care, the average age for puberty in boys has moved from 14-16 years old in 1900 to 12-14 years old in the late 1900s.
  
  
• Marriage is coming later. In the late 1800s the average age at which a couple married was somewhere between 14 and 16. USA Today recently reported that the average age at which people in the U.S. get married is 23 for women and 25 for men.
  
  
• Child labor laws were enacted in the early 20th century as the move to the cities placed children at risk due to long hours around dangerous machines. Another motivation was that adults needed the jobs as the industrial revolution continued to produce labor-saving machinery.
  
  
• Compulsory education laws were introduced for children between 6 and 18 both federally and in many states. Prior to the 20th century, children may or may not have attended school, depending upon the need for labor in the fields. With child labor laws taking children (and adolescents) out of the work force, schools were opened to accommodate and educate. The first public high school opened in 1875. (See youth ministry timeline below.)
  
  
• The juvenile justice system was created in response to the notion that adolescents were not helped if they were punished on the same scale as adults. Some authors suggest that adolescence was a time of moratorium in which consequences for negative actions (as well as the finalizing of adult decisions) should be suspended (or at least the pressure diminished) until adulthood. Separate legal proceedings were introduced, which were intended to allow corrective measures instead of punitive ones.

Side effects of the reinvention of adolescence in America linger today. The period of time between puberty and adult responsibility is lengthening. The emergence of youth ministry, also in this century, provides a helpful reference. Since you are already weary of all of this history, I will simply present a timeline taken from my youth ministry class notes (sources include Senter 1992 and Ross 1989).

YQ: How have these factors affected your experience with teenagers?

Historical Timeline in Youth Ministry

Early foundations—Characteristic of the era was the function to get children off of the streets and to teach them to read, to cope with the decreasing emphasis on child labor. Early emphasis was still on children, as most teenagers still entered the work force relatively early. See 1875 for important change.

Society era—Characteristic of the era was response to the question, how can the church shelter and keep young people who have committed themselves to an active faith?

Fellowship era—Characteristic of this era was the emergence of both church-based youth ministries and parachurch clubs. In Southern Baptist churches youth work included primarily, if not exclusively, the youth director and the youth. A gap developed between the youth program and other programs of the church (even Sunday School). Time period dominated by full calendars and sometimes disconnected events.

I will stop here because the point is to show the development of a class of people called adolescents, not the development of youth ministry as a discipline. Thus adolescence as we know it is both a description of a place in the life span and a social invention. Dan Aleshire said it best: "God makes persons. Cultures and societies make certain persons into adolescents" (Aleshire 1982, 25).

YQ: Consider approaches and activities used in the your ministries in your church. Review the history outlined here to find the historical roots. With which era does your ministry today have more in common?