ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the tenuous and ambivalent relationships between adolescents and families, on the one hand, and adolescents and the larger society, on the other. It explores the broad trends that have defined American adolescence as a stage in the life course. Looking at the emergence of "the adolescent" and "the teenager" at various points in American history will offer a foundation for the more specific discussion of adolescent sexuality. The chapter overviews the changes in sexual attitudes and behavior in the United States since the critical period of the 1920s, with an emphasis on the institutions that helped shape a distinctive youth culture and modern definitions of sexuality. Because one of the most frequently cited consequences of less restrained adolescent sexual behavior is a modern epidemic of premarital pregnancy and early childbearing, the chapter investigates these trends historically and in modern times.
