ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the concept of youth and adolescence, and provides an analysis of major elements of youth needs. Some societies take an active role in preparing young people to progress from adolescence to adulthood without undermining the autonomy of the youth. Adolescence as a concept relates to socio-psychological, even clinical, perspectives, while youth concepts relate narrowly to sociological perspectives. Age-related definitions of youth needs should be applied flexibly in order to manage or accommodate variations in age of majority and social responses between social classes or cultural groups. Developed countries take on questions of skill relative to training in order to sustain youth employment and expand the base of technology generally. Traditional solutions take the form in which loyalty, strong kinship and bond loyalty and respect for the elders form the basis of maturation with religious and folkistic symbols upheld for their perceived worth.
