Ideas on adolescence among parents, teachers, adolescents and elderly people

Abstract

The study of beliefs about child development is one of the most prolific research areas in developmental psychology, but only a few works focused on ideas about adolescence. The main aim of this study was to research beliefs about adolescence in a sample composed by 80 parents of adolescents, 80 teachers of secondary schools, 85 elders with
more than 60 years and 102 adolescents from 13 to 17 years. All of them completed a questionnaire including 55 items referring to behaviors and characteristics that can be attributed to adolescents. Results give a picture of the dominant ideas in society about adolescence, including both positive and negative elements, but with a higher incidence of the second. The most remarkable finding coming from the comparison among the
four groups included in the sample was that teachers had more negative beliefs about adolescence, specially when compared to parents and adolescents.