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Puberty Rites Of Passage

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In many cultures around the world, ceremonies are held or rituals are undergone to mark the passage of adolescents into adulthood. These are known as rites of passage. Rites of passage, is a term first coined by Arnold Van Gennep in 1909 to describe the universal transition of adolescents by maturational progression, a phenomenon that is cross-cultural (Gibson, 2007). Indeed, the term puberty rites and rite of passage can be used interchangeably. Because puberty is an experience all humans have, the rite of passage may reflect cultural evolution as co-occurring with bodily changes (Weisfeld ,1997, as cited by Gibson, 2007). Rites of passage can also signify changes of status in other stages of life, and these transitions seem to be demarcated …show more content…

Studies indicate that in the absence of a rite of passage experience, there are aberrant consequences relating to behaviors such as bullying, substance use, violence, and crime (Scheer et al., 2007). “Citations in professional literature and popular media ascribe risk-taking behavior of youth (Lewis and Lewis 1984; Merten 2005) as their attempts to create rites of passage for themselves” (Scheer et al., 2007, para 7). Successful passage results in the youth being both behaviorally and emotionally self-regulating, financially independent from the family, and performing adult tasks and roles (Jaffe, 1998, as cited by Gibson, …show more content…

It is theorized that the adolescent rite of passage has lost its importance because of a change in focus from communal concerns to individuality, or exposure to varied belief systems (Gibson, 2007). Some youth, who lack the completion of these semblances of rites, create their own-through activities such as the use of substances, body modification, or gang initiation (Sande, 2002; Vigil, 1996; Wall, n.d., as cited by Gibson, 2007). A possible reason for the fading of formal rites, is a societal move away from the importance of sexual maturity for reproduction reasons to a society that instead imbues status for financial and vocational gains (Gibson,

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