How Stereotyping Teens is Unfair

Stereotyping is unfortunately a natural human behaviour. We all have prejudices ingrained in us from childhood by our peers, our parents, our surroundings, the media and our contact with other people in everyday life. As we progress through life and become adults - and hopefully more mature - our preconceived notions of gender, race, colour, clothing or any other aspect of human behaviour can become reinforced. Alternatively, we can try our best to notice the judgemental part of our nature and act consciously to overcome it.

Putting aside for the moment the 'big' stereotypes (which are usually based on race, religion or nationality), one of the most prevalent and particularly unfair prejudices is that of judging teens. We begin before we are teens ourselves and very often we continue through adolescence and on into adulthood. Where does it come from and why is it so unfair?

Like all prejudices, it starts when we are children. A child's job is to learn. Research has proved that we learn much faster when we are young and virtually everyone has heard the expression that a kid's brain is like a sponge. The problem is that - like that sponge - the child's brain absorbs everything with which it has contact, whether we want it to or not. This means that parental stereotyping begins to be learnt by the next generation. As the child grows and learns, more stereotypes are picked up from peers and the media, particularly in television and film. In an effort to reconcile all this information, the child slowly puts all the little subconscious judgements together and eventually builds up their own prejudices.

As adults, the most common stereotyping of teens (again ignoring the 'big' stereotypes) is based on the way certain groups dress. The best known in recent years is that of the "hoodie". Adolescents who wear hoodies (basically a cardigan with a hood attached) are almost immediately assigned the status of 'young offender': criminals in training, disrespectful, untrustworthy, confrontational and vulgar.

The image seems to stem from the predilection of rap artists for wearing this particular item of clothing. Given that rap music often concentrates on social exclusion and is generally much angrier than many other forms of music, adults frequently assume that anyone wearing one must be of a certain mindset. Before the "hoodie" made its appearance, goths and heavy metal fans often suffered a similar stereotyping. Before them it was punks, skinheads, mods, rockers, hippies, new romantics or whatever other style was current. Like all stereotypes, when viewed with a cool head the assumptions are ridiculous.

But why is it particularly unfair to stereotype teens? Adolescence is an extremely difficult period in anyone's life. Hormonally turbulent, it is the time when we change from children, learning by absorption and assimilation of information, into young adults, questioning every fact and even ourselves. The pressures on teens are enormous: they are expected not only to deal with their own coming of age, both physically and emotionally, but also with educational requirements, relationships and massively increased peer pressure.

In seeking their own identity, teens almost invariably identify with a particular group - friends, role models, celebrities and so on. One of the primary expressions of this identification is in outward appearance, especially clothing and hair style. By wearing the appropriate 'uniform' of their group, they announce their allegiance to other teens, simultaneously in defiance and as a plea for acceptance. Unfortunately, by the same action, they bring the judgement of the adult population upon themselves and, with it, all the stereotypes with which they probably have little in common.

In turn, these same teens' prejudices against the judgemental adult groups are reinforced, and the cycle continues. Their emotional and intellectual growth can even be stunted by severe stereotyping as they are either forced to expend a great deal of energy fighting the prejudice that faces them or to accept it and conform to an image with which they may never have agreed. Socially, they may be excluded by peers or adult groups because of their appearance. None of this is very good for their well-being.

By resisting the temptation to judge young people, we can not only allow teens the freedom of expression they need, but we can help them grow into adults with a much lesser propensity to stereotype the next generation.