ABSTRACT
In the modern world, youth has become a topical issue with young people commanding a great deal of attention in everyday life: young people have become spectacular in new and provocative ways. As part of the transition from childhood to adulthood, young people have to develop their own ‘identity’ and ‘personality’. Many people also feel that modern life has become more demanding and complex, and that this can pose serious challenges for the individual and can make the transition to adulthood more difficult. Societal conditions are represented both as a set of rules and as resources which facilitate different forms of action. Societal conditions, as historically developed possibilities and constraints, are frequently contradictory and the individual both draws on and changes societal conditions. The individuals understanding of societal conditions and individual capacities plays a central role in the process of actualisation and both aspects are regarded as meaningful.
