Footnote:
Previously issued in print: 2017. - Includes bibliographical references and index. - Description based on online resource; title from home page (viewed on February 16, 2017)
Description:
Teenagers in the US hear mixed messages about sexuality from the people and institutions around them. These social norms are important for understanding teen sexuality because they shape teens' sexual behaviours and because the negative sanctioning of norm violators affects teens' lives. Struggles over norms and enforcement around teen sexuality are also a major cultural battleground in US society today. Based on 133 in-depth interviews with college students and teen mothers and fathers, this work reveals teenagers' fascinating and complicated social worlds of communication and silence, rules and inconsistencies, control and evasion, hidden behaviours and threatened reputations. The text develops theoretical tools for understanding norms and social control in ways that attend to social inequalities and emphasize conflict and change.