The interests of adolescents depend upon their sex, their intelligence, the environment in which they live, the opportunities they have had for developing interests, what their peers are interested in, their status in the social group, their innate abilities, the interests of their families, and many other factors. Since girls are expected to behave in a feminine way and boys in a masculine way, it is not surprising that girls’ interests during adolescence are usually very different from boys’ interests.
As adolescence progresses many of the interests that were carried over from childhood are replaced by more mature interests. Also, because of the greater responsibilities older adolescents are expected to assume and the consequent decrease in time to spend as they wish, many older adolescents are forced to limit the range of their interests. This is especially true of recreational interests.
Interest in a career now becomes dominant. Experience also helps older adolescents to evaluate their interests more critically and to know which are really important. As a result of this critical evaluation, older adolescents tend to stabilize their interests and carry them into adulthood.
Last modified: Wednesday, 14 December 2011, 9:18 AM
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