How Unthinkable and At What Age?: Adult Opinions about the ‘Social Clock’ for Contested Behaviour by Teenagers

Abstract

ABSTRACT The adult world's concern about youthful drug use is not only about the fact of use, but also about the age at which experimentation or regular use begins. Sometimes the explicit aim of prevention campaigns is to postpone the age of drinking or other contested behaviours, such as sexual activity. This corresponds to the concept of a ‘social clock’, discussed in the sociological literature, that guides when behaviours are viewed as normative; before that age the behaviour is seen as deviant or disturbing. Given studies that have claimed an upturn in teenage drug use, as well as a decrease in the age of onset of use, some have hypothesized that liberal parenting styles of the ‘baby boomers’ play a significant role. The present study is the first part of a larger research endeavour, which compares adults' and teens' opinions, that seeks to understand whether liberal views are prevalent among adults today, and what factors are associated with these views. In a survey of 1025 adults (aged 25 and over), we asked: ‘Regardless of what the law says, at what age does it become OK’ for a person to engage in 15 contested behaviours. Half the sample was asked the questions concerning a male protagonist, and half concerning a female. Results showed that between approximately one-fifth and one-half of the sample volunteered that it was ‘never OK’ to engage in eight of the behaviours: having sex with a girl/boyfriend, moving in with a girl/boyfriend, going to a bar with friends and drinking enough to feel the effects, buying a pack of cigarettes, smoking a cigarette, getting drunk on beer at home, becoming a regular smoker, and trying some marijuana. More ‘never’ responses were offered a female protagonist, particularly for smoking-related behaviours. For those who gave an age, the acceptable mean ages and their ordering were much the same for female protagonists as for males, with all but one behaviour (dating) having acceptable mean ages of initiation clustered around 18 or 19. Strong predictors of tolerance for youthful engagement in the contested behaviours included respondents' socio-demographic characteristics (e.g. being male, young, less religious), perceiving less risk from substance use, and current alcohol and marijuana use.