Abstract
This paper examines high school research projects as an adolescent transitional episode that demarks acquisition of a capacity for prolonged creative effort. Whereas tests of courage are important in many subsistence societies, in ours a valued quality of adulthood is the ability to think and act on one's own. Self-report data from 154 students working on a “Junior Theme” are employed to illustrate the psychological significance of this kind of “rite.” The students report a range of emotional states that are well out of their normal school experience. Many go through a process of personal involvement and self-searching that resembles an identity quest. As a result of the project students feel they have acquired a new status, one that separates them from the uninitiated and puts them closer to the status and power of an autonomous adult.
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Received his Ph.D. in Behavioral Sciences from the University of Chicago. Research interests include adolescent emotional development, the ecology of daily life, and gerontology.
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Larson, R. The high school “Junior Theme” as an adolescent rite of passage. J Youth Adolescence 17, 267–283 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01537670
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01537670