Wild years: Researching youth in different cultures

Faculteit—

NiveauBachelor

Studiejaar2026-2027

Beschrijving

Course goals

In this course, you will ...
... learn about

culture-specific findings about development in adolescence and young adulthood (e.g., what adolescence and emerging adulthood are characterized by across cultures, family relationships, friendship, love and/or marriage, social media, living arrangements, initiation rituals, health ...);
how culture-sensitive research can be conducted;
a nuanced understanding of ‘culture’, implying that culture varies not only between, but also within countries (e.g., between groups with different political orientation, SES, rural and urban areas, different friendship groups);
bias when social scientific research is mostly conducted in WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, and Democratic) cultures, and by researchers from WEIRD cultures.

... critically analyse and evaluate the generalisability of social scientific findings about youth development across different cultural contexts.
... reflect on how your own characteristics and cultural background may influence your scientific perspective and motivations.

Content

How wild are the years of adolescence and young adulthood really, if we look at them across different cultures around the globe?

Adolescents and young adults around the world live in quite different social realities: For instance, in certain cultural contexts, youth stay with their (extended) family of origin at least until they get married, whereas youth in other cultures move away from their (nuclear) families shortly after coming of age. Youth in certain cultural contexts are encouraged to experiment with sexuality and seek out romantic partners themselves, while youth in other cultures are urged to wait for their family to select a spouse. As such, many social scientific findings about adolescents and young adults (e.g., about outcomes of pre-marital romantic relationships, social media use, or parenting styles) may not be generalisable across social and cultural contexts.

Against that backdrop, it is problematic that social scientists often draw conclusions about ‘people’ even though participants in their studies are typically undergraduate students from western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic contexts (so-called WEIRD contexts). Similarly, it is problematic that social scientists themselves are predominantly from these contexts as scientists’ values, beliefs, and norms may influence what is measured, how it is measured, and how findings are interpreted.

In the lectures of this course, you will learn about concepts of culture, social norms, generalisability, cross-cultural relevance, and about culture-sensitive research methods.

In seminars, you will learn about and present concrete examples for how youth development can differ across cultures (e.g., daily routines, family relationships, friendships, romantic relationships, social media, living arrangements, food, health ...). Additionally, you will learn to identify cultural norms, beliefs, and values in practice, reflect on how your own culture can influence how you conduct and interpret research, and you will develop concrete suggestions for more culture-sensitive research.

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