[Type text]

Audio Adolescence
Project
EPSY 321

Dr. Jay
Taylor Laufenberg

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Chapter 3- Social Transitions as seen in The Past by Nevershoutnever!
As I began this project of relating music to the adolescent experience, my first
instinct was to listen to the music that got me through it all. The idea that a child
becomes an adult through adolescence is a very powerful motivation for a lot of
music. Depending on the culture an artist is raised in, their idea of these transitions
will differ. The era of music also plays a key role in determining what opinions to
hold about adolescence. As the book points out, young people are caught between
the world of childhood and the world of adulthood for an extremely long timewith
only a vague sense of when- and how- they become adults (Steinberg 89). This is
very true when some adolescents begin to accept more responsibility, yet they still
are not treated as adults. For some, being stuck in a town where all of the adults
still see you as a child is too much to bear. Christopher Drew Ingle is the creator of a
band called Nevershoutnever! and his life experiences are easy to interpret through
the lyrics he writes. His song entitled The Past is all about the struggles he faced
during that wonderful transition period called adolescence. He found it hard to live
in the world that his parents designed for him and always seemed to be an outcast.
This song highlights how discontinuous his transition into adulthood was when he
sings I was raised and I was thrown out on my ass, cause I didn't care about going
to school. He was picked on during high school and when he dropped out; his
parents kicked him out of their house. This was very different from the experience I
had but I was able to relate to the feeling of wanting to escape my hometown. Chris
was forced to begin supporting himself and make music a career. This early and
abrupt entrance into adult society goes against the trends mentioned in the book
about individuals staying at home until later in life. It says that more than 55% of
all Americans ages 20 to 22either live with or are supported by their parents

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(Steinberg 107). I think that these statistics point out how many adolescents are still
not sure how to completely behave like adults because the clarity of their transition
is so cloudy. I believe that Nevershoutnever!s take on the social transitions of
adolescence are more closely related to most adolescents today. There is a powerful
message conveyed when Chris sings I plead for relief, this town won't receive all
the things that I want. The things that I need. There were so many times that my
friends and I would sit and talk about all the things we couldnt do because we were
stuck at home living under our parents rules. The text book states the passage
into adult citizenship ad decision-making roles is also highly discontinuous in
contemporary Western society (Steinberg 105). This is very apparent when we look
at how quickly adolescents will resort to substance abuse in order to give the
illusion that they are capable of assuming adult roles. Chris Ingle found that he did
not fit into the ideals pushed on him and began to rely on substances. His words
I've been smoking cigarettes since I was only fourteen, just to find an escape from
this town that was so mean to me, highlight how adolescents sometimes struggle
with the clarity of their transition. He was so upset by the way his community
treated him, that he began to use tobacco, and later marijuana, to distract him.
During lecture we discussed Urie Broffenbrenners Bioecological Model of
Development as a way to view the different influences on adolescents. The largest
impact is caused by the Microsystems because they are the closest to us. The
Microsystems of Chris Ingle were his family and his friends. He and his friends would
sit around and laugh because they didnt give a damn. This influence of his
friends possibly led him to drop out of school. He thought, if my friends are
beginning to act a certain way, then perhaps my actions should reflect their
opinions more so than those of my parents. Chris states in The Past that his

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mother nearly cried when I had told her that I had wanted to go, just to prove them
wrong. He is beginning to find his sources of meaning are different that his
parents. Also, by going against the social norm of completing high school, Chris is
showing that he does not have high self control. He seems to be drifting only
because he wishes to rebel. He sees leaving his hometown as the cure to his
feelings of distress. This song exemplifies an individualistic society where you can
make your own decisions as long as you are willing to bear the consequences. If
Chris grew up in a collectivist culture, perhaps he would not feel so strongly about
leaving his hometown. He would also not have such a discontinuous transition
because he would have been slowly taking on adult roles. All in all, I believe that
this song, The Past is a great look at how the transitions into adulthood can be so
different for adolescents. If the author had grown up in a different culture, his song
would be very different. But, because he grew up in a community that would not
allow him to pursue his own route; he felt the only way to fix his dilemma was to
leave. He knew that he would not have to plead for relief from the town who
couldnt satisfy his needs.

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Chapter 4- Families in connection with Sean McConnells If These Walls Could
Speak
Sean McConnell is a very unique artist in my opinion. His songs are sometimes
profound in their descriptions of love, family and God. In this particular song, he
sings about a dream he has about going back to his childhood home. I love the way
he says it hit me like it never did before. This seems to be the stage I am in right
now, my childhood seems so far away but it seems to mean more to me now than it
did when I was young. This has a lot to do with how my relationship with my parents
has changed over the years. I will be looking at this song with the
Structure/Function perspective of families that we learned about in class. We
learned that families exist to satisfy certain needs of the individuals. Sean
McConnell sings in his chorus that the walls of his childhood home would scream
out love. Clearly he means that his emotional need for attachment was completely
satisfied by his parents and siblings. If it werent for this, his song would not be so
positive when he recalls his childhood. The textbook and lecture describe how
parental responsiveness and parental demandingness contribute to the style of
parenting (Steinberg 128). Sean McConnells parents must not have been
indifferent, otherwise he would not have been able to [take] the hallway to the
bedroom where my parents used to sleep, where I'd sneak in during quiet and my
nightmares grew too deep. He had the type of relationship where he could depend
on his parents to ease his feelings of being afraid. The family that he grew up in was
similar to mine in many ways. We were both afforded a comfortable house, love and
affection from our parents, a religious influence, and a sometime tumultuous
relationship with our siblings. He recalls how during his childhood, they would pray
to Jesus, they would sing rock and roll, they would laugh with each other, they

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would live soul to soul. This living soul to soul is another way of saying they each
had an impact on each other. This type of reciprocal socialization is seen in families
as children change the ways adults parent while adults change the way children
behave. We learn from the textbook that parents [who] are more likely to engage
their children in verbal give-and-take are responsible for allowing their children to
develop intellectually in a way that provides an important foundation for the
development of psychosocial maturity. It goes on to say that if parenting is based
on a warm parent-child relationship, adolescents are more likely to identify with,
admire, and form strong attachments to their parents (Steinberg 130). I can think
of my own relationship with my parents as warm and it definitely encourages me to
be strongly attached to them. Sean McConnell describes this type of influence his
parents had perfectly when he says aint it beautiful how life turned out? We also
discussed in class the changes in balances of power that occur during adolescence.
One shift that occurs is in the violations of expectations between parents and
children. The text book states that as they became older, adolescents became
more aware of their families shortcomings (Steinberg 127). When Sean talks
about his parents old bedroom he says that closet used to look so tall and now
everything around here seems so small. I think this means that when he was a
child, he thought everything his parents did was marvelous and the best decision,
but now as he looks back, he has noticed that some things are not as grand as he
once thought. This can happen as adolescents let go of the idea that their parents
are perfect and begin to compare them to an ideal parent. When we discussed
sibling relationships during class I thought of how fluid they can be. Sure, my
brother and I hated each other at times when we were younger, but we now get
along perfectly. It is interesting that sibling collusion is the first experience with peer

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pressure. When Sean McConnell sings about his sisters, you can hear that at one
time their relationship was not so good when he says that they used to get on my
last nerve. As siblings interact, they are influencing the socialization of each other
simultaneously. He goes on to sing that now I'd give anything just to see them
there again, dancing like they used to do. It shows that even though his
relationship with them was rocky in their youth, now he appreciates them in a
different way. The text points out that when siblings have a mixed-sex dyad,
intimacy drops between preadolescence and mid-adolescence, and then increases
(Steinberg 133). This leads me to believe that Seans memories were sometime
during his adolescence, or perhaps while his sisters went through adolescence. At
that time, their intimacy was low and therefore they bothered him much more than
after adolescence when he sees them differently. This song does a great job of
describing a healthy, strong family who satisfies the needs of its members. The
parents provided shelter, socialization of children, and fulfilled the emotional needs
of the individuals.

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Chapter 5- Peer Groups as expressed by Ke$ha in her song We R Who We R
The textbook begins the chapter by discussing where peer groups originated in our
contemporary society. It describes how the changes in education led to agegrouping in schools which subsequently formed peer groups based on friendships
formed in school (Steinberg 151). The song I chose has nothing to do with school,
but it does exemplify the impact that peers have on each other. In lecture, you
defined a peer as any individual who is roughly the same level in one or several of
the following characteristics: age, social status, level of functioning. Ke$ha would
define her peers as those who share her social status, or fellow superstars. When
Ke$ha sings if youre one of us, then roll with us she uses the word roll to describe
acting the same way, or do as I do. The textbook says that cliques can be
defined by common activities (Steinberg 157). Her groups common activities
include being able to make the hipsters fall in love, wear hot pants and be
interested in running this town just like a club. If you are not interested in wearing
hot pants, then you will most likely not get along well with Ke$has clique. There are
some young adults that think even associating with hipsters is not very cool.
Therefore, it would be strange if those type of individuals tried to hang out with
Ke$ha because they would not be able to bond over that activity. The idea that
adolescents will associate with people who are like them is very powerful and Ke$ha
is very aware of this. Many of her songs glorify her lifestyle and describe how young
adults should be living it up. The textbook states that cliques are the main social
context in which adolescents interact with one another (Steinberg 157). Ke$ha
likes to party and therefore she will associate with other individuals who like to
party as much as she does. Her music highlights the idea that there is a separate
youth culture that is hostile toward adult values (Steinberg 155). When she sings

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its about damn time to live it up, Im so sick of being so serious she is talking
about abandoning the universalistic norms that society teaches. What she calls
serious is what adults may call responsible. Ke$ha and her peers are quite fond of
sleepin in cars, dressin it down [and] hittin on dudes. Most adults would be upset
if their childrens friends were influencing them to sleep in cars and act
promiscuously because it goes against those universalistic norms they hold so dear.
Because she and her peers are spending most of their time together, the influence
of Ke$has lifestyle will be felt by all members of their clique. The breakdown of the
sex cleavage seen in childhood is apparent in Ke$has song as she talks about
flirting with guys. Clearly, she and her friends have no problems interacting with the
opposite sex mainly because they are no longer adolescents. Children socialize
mainly with members of the same sex and as they go through adolescence, will
begin to associate more with members of the opposite sex. This socialization that
occurs within her clique, allows Ke$ha to form intimate relationships and develop
her social skills. The text states that within the peer group, young people can try
on different roles and personalities...with greater ease than at home (Steinberg
178). This is a very important role that the peer group plays because it allows
individuals to form their identity separate from what they know at home. The book
goes on to show the importance of the peer group because it provides more
frequent opportunities for interaction and leisure, which contributes to the
development of intimacy and enhances the adolescents mood and psychological
well-being (Steinberg 179). The urge to conform, or need to belong, that we
discussed in class is apparent as Ke$ha sings you know were superstars in an
attempt to motivate others to be like her. She wants people to see her and her
friends as having some sort of unattainable status that they look up to and idolize.

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On a good night, Ke$has posse will let some outsiders participate in the fun and
form a type of crowd. Clearly Ke$ha is no longer an adolescent, therefore the crowd
structure is much more permeable and subject to change. If Ke$ha were in junior
high, she and her clique members would not allow others to participate. Even if her
sense of being popular is all in her head; the fact that Ke$ha sees herself as wellliked and popular contributes to her emotional well-being. The book says that
adolescents may change friends, but they rarely change the type of people they
are friends with. It goes on to say that popular adolescents are more likely to have
close and intimate friendshipsand receive more social recognition (Steinberg
171-173). Ke$ha will continue to dance all night, do drugs and drink alcohol and act
promiscuously with whomever is willing to join her. Because of her shared interests
with some peers who wish to participate in the same activities, Ke$ha is able to
satisfy her need to belong. At the same time that Ke$ha selects peers based on
similarity, she will begin to resemble some of the characteristics of her peers with
time. This is why parents worry that if their child runs with the wrong crowd, aka
Ke$ha and her superstars, that they will begin to acquire undesirable interests and
attitudes (Steinberg 170). Ke$ha may not be underage to drink, but if some
adolescents decide they want to dance all night with Ke$has clique, they are more
likely to engage in underage drinking because of peer pressure. We R Who We R is
a quintessential song about peer groups running around town wreaking havoc. It is
a song that highlights the separate youth culture that adults always seem to think
are getting more and more deviant. Every generation complains about the
degradation of youths morals, so the activities listed by Ke$ha should not be all
that surprising.

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Chapter 8- Identity as expressed by Natasha Bedingfield in Freckles
The period of adolescence is a time of intense changing and reorganizing.
Adolescents are developing more complex intellectual capabilities and are therefore
able to think about themselves differently. In lecture we learned about cognitive
factors that influence our concept of identity during adolescence, one of these is the
possible selves. The book defines them as the various alternative identities that
they [adolescents] may adopt (Steinberg 247). In Natasha Bedingfields song
Freckles, she sings about her struggles in her youth to feel beautiful even though
she had freckles. Her idea of a possible self is expressed when she sings I
wondered if I could trade my body with somebody else in magazines, would the
whole world fall at my feet? She wonders what her life would be like if she did not
have to deal with freckles. The manner of speaking about the change of her
appearance is hypothetical and requires a different type of thinking than children
are capable of. She sings that she felt this way as little girl but has since got
stronger. The concept of imagining what you can be in the future comes about
during adolescence and it can be the cause of distress for some adolescents. The
increase of future orientation is seen during adolescence as individuals are better
able to consider the long-term consequences of ones decisions (Steinberg 247).
This ties in directly with the biological and cognitive changes adolescents
experience because their brain is now capable of processing hypothetical situations.
Adolescents are also able to start thinking about the differences in how they see
themselves and how others view them. Natasha sings that I used to care so much
about what others think about, almost didn't have a thought of my own. For some
adolescents, they care too much about how others view them that they become
fixated on it. They may begin to think as Natasha did, and let others make decisions

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for them. They may even begin to adopt false-self behavior where they act in a
way that [they] know is inauthentic (Steinberg 249). This can be very dangerous
for the adolescent if the discrepancies between their true-self and false-self are big
enough, then the adolescent will worry more about their feared-self. Essentially, if
you are moving further and further away from the characteristics that you value
because of what others think; you will worry about turning into the person you dont
want to become. The text book puts it well when they mention how adolescents
whose self-esteem it too wrapped up in the approval of others-especially the
approval of peers- may be at risk for developing self-image problems (Steinberg
257. Freckles is mainly about self-esteem, which is defined in the text as the
degree to which individuals feel positively or negatively about themselves
(Steinberg 248). It is a very personal song and I believe that any adolescent can
relate to Natasha when she sings I felt unworthy and would blame my failures on
the ugliness I could see when the mirror looked at me. Her case of feeling
negatively about her appearance is not unique, as many individuals struggle with
self-esteem during adolescence especially. In the text it states that early
adolescents have lower self-esteem, are more self-conscious, and have a more
unstable self-image than do other youngsters (Steinberg 252). This leads me to
believe that Natasha must have had her feelings of insecurity right as she started to
experience adolescence. She exemplifies a very unstable self-image as she sings
the slightest remark would make me embark on the journey of self-doubt. I can
easily relate to this line as I am sure many other people can when they are feeling
low. Luckily though, Natasha was able to build up her baseline self-esteem through
experience and develop the positive attitude she describes when she sings Why
waste a second not loving who you are. This line shows me that Natasha has

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resolved her identity crisis. This song is about her journey from feeling unworthy
because of her freckles, to realizing that those little imperfections make you
beautiful, lovable, valuable, they show your personality inside your heart, reflecting
who you are. It took a good deal of time for Natasha to reach this point and still
sometimes [she] still feel[s] like the little girl who doesn't belong in her own world.
The truth is, girls are more vulnerable to disturbances in self-image than any other
group of youngsters (Steinberg 254). When a young girl is bombarded with
messages about appearance from all facets of life, it is hard for her to maintain
positive self-esteem. Songs like Freckles are important to help adolescents
remember that they are beautiful in their own way.

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Chapter 9- Autonomy in the song Bad Reputation by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
The process of defining autonomy is complex and consists of three separate types
of autonomy that must all be present in order for an individual to be considered
truly autonomous. The first type is emotional autonomy and the text defines it as an
establishment of adultlike and less childish close relationships with family
members and peers (Steinberg 280). I prefer the definition given to us during
lecture, that emotional autonomy is the feeling of being independent and the
realization that you are an individual. Joan Jett was an icon for female empowerment
and independence. She knew exactly how to communicate her autonomy through
her music. Take for example the hit song Bad Reputation where the lyrics go A
girl can do what she wants to do and that's what I'm gonna do. Clearly she has
realized that she is in charge of her own decisions, or she is exhibiting behavioral
autonomy. In the textbook behavioral autonomy is defined as a capacity to make
independent decisions and to follow through with them (Steinberg 280). Cognitive
autonomy is a sort of code by which you live, or your value system. Everyone will
develop their own sense of cognitive autonomy during adolescence based on both
the risks and benefits associated with the decisions they make (Steinberg 287).
When Joan sings An' I'm only doin' good when I'm havin' fun An' I don't have to
please no one she is sharing her own value system. She views having fun as doing
good, no matter what the older generation may believe. This is related to the
concept of de-idealization, where a child begins to let go of the idea that their
parents are all-knowing and all-powerful (Steinberg 284). Joan Jett and the
Blackhearts clearly do not view the previous generation as either all-knowing or allpowerful when they sing An' I don't really care
If ya think I'm strange I ain't gonna change An' I'm never gonna care 'Bout my bad

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reputation. For the sake of simplicity, I will consider the previous generation
mentioned in the song to be Joans parents. This is a very clear example of
autonomy because she no longer relies on the acceptance of her parents. She does
not care if they approve of her activities because they are right for her. This could
be a type of non-dependency if her parents perhaps decided not to provide for her
material needs in order to protest her new-found autonomy. After listening to this
song over and over I realized that Joan Jett must have been raised in an
authoritarian household. In the text book it mentions that adolescents raised in an
authoritarian household may rebel against parents standards explicitly, in an
attempt to assert her or his independence in a visible and demonstrable fashion
(Steinberg 286). Clearly this is what Joan is doing, even though she says that she
doesnt give a damn about [her] bad reputation. A component of the behavioral
autonomy that we see increase during adolescence stems from the improvements
of an adolescents decision-making abilities. They are better able to weigh the odds
and make rational decisions. The book also points out that decisions we make
present a combination of potential rewards and potential costs of which we must
decide the most important (Steinberg 287). For Joan Jett, the rewards of making her
own decisions are being able to have fun and live her life. This outweighs the cost of
having a bad reputation among the past generation. She sings that she never said
I wanted to improve my station to prove to the past generation that she isnt trying
to look any better in their eyes. The cost of them looking down on her is of little
consequence to Joan when she sings I dont have to please no one. According to
Kohlbergs stages of moral reasoning, Joan is in the postconventional stage where
societys rules and conventions are seen as relative rather than absolute. She
does have her own set of moral guidelines that take precedence over established

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social norms (Steinberg 296). If Joan were still in the conventional stage of moral
reasoning, she would care very much if she had a bad reputation because it would
mean that she was not abiding by societys rules. Thankfully, she has developed a
sense of autonomy and progressed through the stages of moral reasoning to make
her own decisions based off her own set of values. The book states that individuals
who reason at higher stages behave in more moral ways (Steinberg 297). So, even
though the generation above Joan and the Blackhearts may think that they are
behaving like barbarians, they are actually acting in more moral ways. Now, Joans
morals are clearly different than those of society at the time but nonetheless, she
has developed her own set of them as part of her autonomy. She is concerned with
the direction that the world is moving in and does not agree with how people are
living. She sings the worlds in trouble theres no communication to express her
frustration with people not talking about their true feelings and simply following the
crowd. Her aggravation with her parents generation is also her way of standing up
to peer pressure. Not everyone in Joans generation was as antisocial as she, so
naturally there were also members of her generation living in the past and playing
along with the social norms. In the 1980s when the song was first released, times
were very different than they are today. Women were held at double standards and,
according to an online article titled Great Moments in Badass Rock History: Joan
Jetts Bad Reputation were far more likely than men to be punished -- socially and
professionally -- for failing to adhere to standards of appropriate behavior. The idea
that an individual does not need to follow along with societys norms is the very
essence of autonomy. Joan Jett was not willing to let other people influence her
decisions and decide that she was only doin good.

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Chapter 10- Intimacy as told by Mayday Parade in Kids in Love
The definition of intimacy will change depending on who you ask and how old they
are when you ask them. Ask a 14 year old girl what intimacy is and she might tell
you that it is being sexually in tune with her boyfriend of the month. We defined
intimacy in class as a strong connection between two individuals that is not always
physical, but an emotional sense of attachment. According to Harry Sullivan
intimacy is something that as children develop, different interpersonal needs
surface [and] lead to either feelings of security or feelings of anxiety (Steinberg
308). When individuals enter the early adolescent stage, they have the need for
sexual contact and the need for intimacy with a peer of the other sex (Steinberg
308). Mayday Parade is a band that knows exactly how to tailor songs to teens as
most of their songs deal with heartbreak and disappointment. In their song Kids in
Love they tell a story of a summer romance that eventually fades away. While the
romance was still hot and heavy however, the narrator sings that his girl was the
envy of every friends of mine, she slept safely in my arms. We were so young and
invincible. Part of the reason that adolescents start to date members of the
opposite sex has to do with power. Their peers respect and look up to them if they
have a girlfriend. The text book also says adolescents tend to select romantic
partners with whom they share certain attributes (Steinberg 332). Mayday Parade
communicates this tendency with the lyrics our breath smelled of cigarettes and
alcohol. Both of the characters of the song smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol as a
sort of bonding activity. The narrator also describes that at that time in his life, she
was everything he needed and they would walk down the beach counting every
star, our hearts beat inside our chest leaving us gasping for every breath. At this
age, their relationship exists to help the boy and girl build a sense of intimacy and

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identity. The song has a very insightful line to describe early adolescent
relationships young love is such dumb love, call it what you want it was still
enough. When he says enough, I interpret that to mean that all of his needs were
satisfied through the relationship. The song is unclear as to the reason that their
relationship ended, he sings the first kiss stole the breath from my lips, why did the
last one tear us apart? the relationship did not seem to have lasting effects on the
narrator because the theme of the song is nostalgic and happy. According to the
text book, those who are most vulnerable to the potential negative consequences
of ending a relationship are adolescents high in rejection sensitivity (Steinberg
332). This means that the narrator must deal well rejection, enough to be able to
write a song about his relationship that wasnt angry or depressing. Intimacy serves
a purpose during adolescence as it prepares individuals for later relationships that
are longer lasting. This song highlights the transient adolescent relationship where
there are tensions between partners needs for intimacy and their needs for
autonomy (Steinberg 330). This tension is apparent as the song lyrics say still all
of the things that I want in my life, How could I ask you to leave me? the narrator
was conflicted because his needs for intimacy were being satisfied by his girlfriend,
but his needs for autonomy were not.

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Works Cited
BAILEYROSE113. Bio on Christopher Drew Ingle. Nevershoutnever.com.
Community-Journal section.

Loveway Records and Nevershoutnever. Web. 15

April 2013.
Bedingfield, Natasha. Freckles. Pocketful of Sunshine. Sony Music Entertainment
UK Limited, 2008. MP3.
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. Bad Reputation. Boardwalk Records, 1981. MP3.
Ke$ha. We R Who We R. Cannibal.RCA, 2010. MP3.
Mayday Parade. Kids in Love.Anywhere But Here. Fearless Records, 2009. MP3.
McConnell, Sean. If These Walls Could Speak. 200 Orange Street. Sean McConnell,
2003. MP3.
Nevershoutnever! The Past. What is Love? Sire Records, 2009. MP3.
Steinberg, Laurence. Adolescence. 9th Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011. Print.