Countering Youth's Negative Stereotypes of Teens Fosters Constructive Behavior

Abstract

Adolescence can be a time of unconstructive behavior for many youth. This research examined if an intervention countering youth's stereotypes of teens as irresponsible fosters their constructive behavior. In two experimental intervention studies (Ns = 124 and 319) with seventh graders, stereotypes of teens as irresponsible were described as inaccurate portrayals; youth then provided their own observations of teens acting responsibly. Youth in this counterstereotyping intervention (vs. the control) held higher intentions for academic engagement and performed better on an academic task (i.e., a word‐search puzzle). Over the 3 days following the intervention, their academic engagement was higher. Youth's risk taking was also reduced. Redirecting youth to see teens as responsible has the potential to provide a foundation for flourishing.

Early adolescents’ stereotypes about teens in Hong Kong and Chongqing: Reciprocal pathways with problem behavior.

“…Children’s navigation of the adolescent years is driven in part by social constructions of this phase of development (e.g., Buchanan & Hughes, 2009; Madon et al, 2003). The current research drew from evidence that youth’s stereotypes of teens (i.e., widely held, oversimplified beliefs about what the typical teen is like) not only play a role in their behavior during early adolescence (e.g., Qu et al, 2018, 2020), but also differ in the United States and China (Qu et al, 2016). Focusing on variation within China, we examined teen stereotypes in the cities of Hong Kong and Chongqing, a relatively less developed city in Mainland China.…”

“…In both Hong Kong and Chongqing, seeing the teen (vs. younger) years as a time of decreased family obligation and increased school disengagement predicted greater problem behavior among youth six months later, over and above youth’s initial problem behavior. This may reflect youth using teen stereotypes to set standards for their behavior (Buchanan & Hughes, 2009) or make predictions about the consequences of their behavior (Qu et al, 2020). Youth also appear to use their own behavior in deciding what the typical teen is like as evidenced in the pathway over time from youth’s behavior to their teen stereotypes.…”

“…In a small study of American youth, youth’s stereotypes of teens as irresponsible in fulfilling family obligations during middle school were predictive of their problem behavior as they made the transition to high school, as well as changes in their bilateral ventrolateral prefrontal cortex activation during self-control, over and above a variety of potential confounds (Qu et al, 2018). In an experimental study with youth in middle school in a major city in Mainland China, youth experimentally induced to see teens as responsible subsequently had higher engagement in school and lower problem behavior than did their counterparts in the control condition (Qu et al, 2020). Given such findings, one reason problem behavior may be higher during adolescence in Hong Kong than Mainland China (e.g., Cheung et al, 2007; Zhang, 2008), with an increase over the middle school years (e.g., Shek & Lin, 2014, 2017; Shek & Zhu, 2018) in Hong Kong but not Mainland China (e.g., Liu, Zhang, Pan, Ma, & Lu, 2017; Liu et al, 2001), is that Hong Kong (vs. Mainland China) youth may view teens as more irresponsible.…”

“…We focused on youth’s problem behavior (e.g., lying or stealing) given that it is more prevalent during adolescence in not only the United States (e.g., Greenberger, Chen, Beam, Whang, & Dong, 2000; Jessor et al, 2003) but also Hong Kong than it is in Mainland China (e.g., Cheung, Ngai, & Ngai, 2007; Zhang, 2008). Both correlational and experimental research implicate youth’s stereotypes of teens as irresponsible when it comes to fulfilling family obligations in youth’s problem behavior (Qu et al, 2018; Qu, Pomerantz, & Wu, 2020), but research has not examined if such stereotypes undergird differences in youth’s problem behavior in Hong Kong and Mainland China.…”

Neural sensitivity to conflicting attitudes supports greater conformity toward positive over negative influence in early adolescence

“…In addition, the absence or attenuation of unconstructive behaviors (e.g., less reckless driving) is often conflated with the positive effects of social influence, such as the encouragement of constructive behaviors (e.g., driving safely in peer contexts) ( Cascio et al, 2015a ), with few studies comparing social influence on both constructive and unconstructive behaviors (but see Berndt, 1979 ). This constrains our ability to assess how conformity decisions unfold across a wide range of social contexts, thereby perpetuating negative stereotypes of adolescence that may inadvertently shape future attitudes and behaviors ( Qu et al, 2020 ).…”