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Globalization––the flow across cultures of ideas, goods, and people at unprecedented speed, scope, and quantity––has profound implications for identity formation in adolescence (ages 10–18) and emerging adulthood (ages 18–29). Recent news reports and ethnographies provide vivid, thought-provoking illustrations. In Chile, for example, parties that each draw adolescents in the hundreds, even thousands, flout the traditional sexual mores of what once was one of the most conservative countries in Latin America. At the parties, promoted through the highly popular Fotologs and MSN Messenger, adolescents meet up with assorted and fleeting partners to dance and make out with enthusiasm and abandon (Barrionuevo, 2008). In China, a mass movement of “factory girls” in their late-teens to mid-twenties streams from rural villages to cities to work. In the process, their lives are changed in myriad ways as some attend English classes, some become escorts for wealthy businessmen, and many increasingly emphasize self-reliance while also sending hard-earned money back home (Chang, 2008). In Paris, France, a couple in their mid-twenties is married. She is American, he is Greek. Following the wedding, they honeymoon in Africa and then take up residence in England (Boston Globe, 2009). These “snapshots” begin to show how globalization impacts adolescent and emerging adult identity developments worldwide in such key areas as sexuality, marriage, work, and moral values (see also Hardy & Carlo, Chapter 19, this volume). Below, we provide demographic information further documenting the reach of globalization in regard to other areas salient for identity formation, such as language, diet, and media.

Thus, we start from the observation that adolescents and emerging adults seldom grow up knowing of only one culture in a globalizing world. Rather, they increasingly have interactions with people from diverse cultures, either first-hand or indirectly through various media. Consequently, developing a cultural identity has become more complex, no longer a question of becoming an adult member of one culture but instead of figuring out how to negotiate multiple cultures. Next, we discuss how the new complexity of identity development goes together with increased diversity of possible identities. Because two or more cultures can be incorporated into a person’s identity in many different ways depending on individual choices and the status or power of the different cultures in question, cultural identities take highly diverse forms in a global world (see also Huynh, Nguyen, & Benet-Martinez, Chapter 35, this volume). Finally, the outcomes linked to these diverse cultural identities appear to be varied; we point to a selection that ranges from positive opportunities to risk and psychopathology (see also Unger, Chapter 34, this volume).

Before addressing the intersection of globalization and cultural identity developments in adolescence and emerging adulthood, we define the term cultural identity, and discuss in more detail what we mean by globalization and why it may be particularly salient for adolescents and emerging adults.

A Definition of Cultural Identity

About half a century ago, the anthropologists Whiting and Child (1953) described the relation between cultural beliefs and practices as a “custom complex,” consisting of “customary practice and of the beliefs, values, sanctions, rules, motives, and satisfactions associated with it” (quoted in Shweder et al., 1998, p. 872). Forming a cultural identity involves adopting the beliefs and practices––the custom complexes––of one or more cultural communities (Jensen, 2003). For example, the extent to which one acts on the basis of familial and communal obligations, or adherence to spiritual precepts, or notions of autonomy and independence typically constitute important elements of one’s cultural identity (Jensen, 2008).

In many ways, a cultural identity includes the key areas that Erikson (1968) emphasized as central to the formation of an adolescent’s identity (see also Kroger & Marcia, Chapter 2, this volume). These key areas pertain to ideology (beliefs and values), love (personal relationships), and work. Erikson’s focus was on how adolescents make choices about ideology, love, and work in order to arrive at an independent and unique sense of self within the culture in which they live (Erikson, 1950, 1968). Forming a cultural identity, however, involves making choices about the cultures with which one identifies. Put another way, the Eriksonian identity formation task centers on the process of developing an individual identity within one’s cultural community, whereas the process of forming a cultural identity involves deciding on the cultural community to which one belongs.

Researchers conducting work on ethnic identity formation in many ways address issues similar to those involved in cultural identity formation (see also Umaña-Taylor, Chapter 33, this volume). Although there are discrepant definitions of ethnic identity (Phinney, 1990), a central focus of research on ethnic identity formation is on how members of ethnic and racial minority groups negotiate their identifications with their own group in the context of living among other ethnic and racial groups. One difference between research on ethnic identity formation and on cultural identity formation as described here is that the former focuses on minority groups. However, cultural identity formation in the context of globalization also pertains to people who form part of a majority culture but who still have exposure to other cultures as well. For example, a Hindu Indian adolescent living in India with exposure to the global economy and media will likely negotiate culturally diverse custom complexes in forming a cultural identity. An American emerging adult may go abroad for educational or work purposes, or, to return to the example at the outset, may marry someone who is not American. One important similarity between ethnic and cultural identity formation pertains to the issue of dominance. As diverse ethnic, racial, and cultural groups come into contact with one another, there are invariably differences in status and power among those groups. We return to this issue in a number of places below.

Globalization and the Focus on Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood

As noted at the outset, globalization involves a multidirectional flow of people, goods, and ideas (Hermans & Kempen, 1998; Tomlinson, 1999). The impact of globalization is worldwide. At the same time, however, experiences with globalization vary by location. For example, an ethos of individual autonomy and secular values flow from the West to other parts of the world. The movement of migrants, however, is far more often from less developed to more developed countries than the other way around (Martin & Zurcher, 2008). Also, globalization is more evident in urban than rural areas (United Nations Development Programme, 2009).

The influence of globalization on cultural identity formation may be particularly salient in adolescence and emerging adulthood. Media such as television, movies, music, and the Internet contribute to the rapid and extensive spread of ideas across cultures, and adolescents and emerging adults have more of an interest in popular and media culture compared to children or adults (Dasen, 2000; Schlegel, 2001). For example, market researchers aim to sell to “global teens” because urban adolescents worldwide follow similar consumption patterns and have similar preferences for “global brands” of music, videos, clothing, and so on (Friedman, 2000).

Adolescence and emerging adulthood may also be a time of life with a pronounced openness to diverse cultural beliefs and behaviors. Research has noted that, in many ways, adolescents and emerging adults have not yet settled on particular beliefs and behaviors (Arnett, 2000; Côté, 2000, 2006). Some research with immigrants to the United States has also shown that adolescents change their behaviors, beliefs, values, and identifications more than adults do (Nguyen & Williams, 1989; Phinney, Ong, & Madden, 2000). This phenomenon, also known as dissonant acculturation (Portes, 1997), may apply not only to immigrants but also more generally to adolescents and emerging adults who are exposed to globalization.

On the more negative side, research with immigrants also suggests that risks for psychological and social problems increase as a person moves from childhood into adolescence (Berry, 1997; Unger, Chapter 34, this volume). These risks may carry into emerging adulthood, where identity issues now come to the fore. With globalization, as with immigration, adolescence and emerging adulthood may be vulnerable developmental periods.

Furthermore, the phenomenon of emerging adulthood itself goes hand-in-hand with key features of globalization. Emerging adulthood is a new phase of the life course, spanning the late teens through the mid-to-late twenties. In many ways, this phase is demographically, behaviorally, and psychologically distinctive from adolescence and young adulthood (Arnett, 1998, 2000, 2004). For example, emerging adults have high mobility, yet remain somewhat financially dependent on their parents. They often report striving for a sense of responsibility for themselves, and feeling “in-between” adolescence and full adulthood. Emerging adulthood is not a period of life present in all cultures, however. Researchers find that it is most evident in societies where educational training has become extended while marriage and family obligations often are postponed (e.g., Mayseless & Scharf, 2003). Both emerging adulthood and globalization, then, involve an emphasis on continuing education and mobility, as well as individual autonomy and a psychology of being “in-between.”

Before proceeding, we wish to observe that, just as emerging adulthood varies in its applicability and presence across cultures (Arnett, 2011), adolescence also takes many forms across cultures. For example, although more and more adolescents worldwide obtain secondary education, substantial numbers of adolescent boys, and especially adolescent girls, do not (see Larson, Wilson, & Rickman, 2009, for statistics documenting worldwide diversity in adolescence on such factors as education, work, and marriage age). We often write here of cultural identity developments in the plural, in recognition of the diversity of the experience of adolescence and emerging adulthood across the globe. Below, we elaborate on the second reason that we write of cultural identity development in plural, namely the complexity and diversity of cultural identifications that come with globalization.

With Globalization Comes Complexity

The worldwide reach of globalization is occurring in many arenas. In this section, we describe it with regard to language, diet, and media. Each of these three arenas typically forms important components of the custom complexes of a culture, as well as of the cultural identity developments of adolescents and emerging adults.

Globalization and Language

Scholars have noted linguistic changes resulting from globalization (Crystal, 2003; Tomlinson, 1999; Tsui, 2007). The number of people who have exposure to, or are learning, the English language is at an all-time high. As of 2002, one-third of the world’s population had at least some English language exposure, and one billion people were then learning English (Lieber & Weisberg, 2002). English is the first language for over 400 million people (English Language Guide, 2009); it is spoken on a daily basis as a second language by 375 million people; and it is used occasionally as a foreign language by over 700 million people for business or pleasure (English Learning Resources, 2009). Moreover, exposure to English is expected to rise exponentially in the years to come. By the year 2050, it is estimated that half of the world’s population will be proficient English speakers (The Economist, 2009).

While English is becoming a global language, many local languages are dying out. More than 7,000 languages are in existence today. With the current rate of “language death” at 1 per 14 days, however, the expectation is that fewer than half of today’s languages will remain in about 100 years (“Enduring Voices,” 2008). Although this threat to local languages has propelled preservation programs such as National Geographic’s Enduring Voices Project and local preservation academies, many indigenous languages are becoming extinct.

With its communicative, symbolic, and social functions, language constitutes a key part of cultural identity, and the linguistic changes occurring as a result of globalization are likely to influence the cultural identity developments of many adolescents and emerging adults. For example, as stated above, around the world, youth are particularly likely to learn English. This occurs formally in school, but also informally through work, the media, contact with tourists, and so forth. Youth are also particularly likely to lose the languages of their local communities, either because the local languages are not passed on from the older to the younger generation, or as a consequence of adolescents and emerging adults moving away from their local community. In some cases, the loss may not be outright, as when second-generation immigrant youth adopt a hybrid language such as Spanglish or Chinglish.

Globalization and Diet

Globalization has made local cuisines available far from their original locales (Mendez & Popkin, 2004; Tomlinson, 1999). A rapid increase in the availability of Western fast foods is occurring in the developing world. In India, for example, the fast food industry is growing at an average of 40% per year (“Good Stuff? – Fast Food,” 2008). The flow of foods and cuisines also moves in the other direction. Non-native restaurants increasingly permeate the US and European food markets. In Britain, for example, Indian “take-aways” now outnumber fish and chip shops (Tomlinson, 1999).

Clearly, global dietary changes have health effects. One such effect is the worldwide obesity epidemic, which the Worldwide Health Organization attributes primarily to economic growth and the globalization of food markets (Global strategy on diet, physical activity, and health: obesity and overweight, 2009). Rising obesity rates are particularly pronounced among children and adolescents (French, Story, Neumark-Sztainer, Fulkerson, & Hannan, 2001), who may be most likely to be attracted to unhealthy Western food.

Global dietary changes also have psychological implications. Food––what, when, where, and with whom we eat––is part of daily cultural customs. Food is also a crucial part of a culture’s holidays. Finally, food is often linked to moral values and cultural worldviews. For example, foods can be seen as sacred, forbidden, virtuous, disgusting, male or female, and so forth. As with language, youth are particularly likely to change their dietary habits. As with language, the changes are likely to have implications for their worldviews and cultural identity development.

Globalization and Media

With the media explosion, the global world begs for our attention today more than ever. For example, as Table 13.1 shows, worldwide Internet usage skyrocketed between 2000 and 2008. Particularly notable is the rapid rise of Internet connectivity in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East. Cell phone usage has also become increasingly common. Four of every five US teenagers carried a cell phone in 2008, representing a 40% increase since 2004 (“Cell Phones Key to Teens’ Social Lives,” 2008). Currently, the most rapid increase in cell phone use is occurring in the developing world. In 2002, less than half of mobile subscriptions globally were in the developing world. By 2008, the proportion had risen to two-thirds. As of 2009, 60% of people globally have cell phone subscriptions (“World’s Poor,” 2009).

Table 13.1 World Internet usage in 2000 and 2008
Full size table

Another relatively recent media phenomenon is Facebook, a social networking website that allows people to bring their social lives to the Web. According to Facebook’s senior platform manager, Facebook is about “giving users the ability to take their identity and friends with them around the Web” (“Facebook to open the gates,” 2008). The website has 175 million active users as of 2009, more than 70% of whom are living outside of the US (Facebook Press Room, 2009). Additionally, Facebook users tend to be adolescents or emerging adults; 54% of users are under 25 years of age (“2009 Facebook Demographics and Statistics Report,” 2009). Facebook, then, provides instantaneous connectivity, overcomes geographic boundaries, and goes along with particular conceptions of how to self-present and connect with others.

In sum, today’s adolescents and emerging adults seldom grow up knowing of only one culture but increasingly have interactions with people from diverse cultures, either first-hand or indirectly through different media. These interactions influence their everyday lives in myriad ways, from everyday habits such as language use and diet to key life-course decisions about where to work and whom to marry. Consequently, developing a cultural identity has become more complex, and it is no longer a question of becoming an adult member of one culture––but rather a task of navigating both local and global cultures. Next, we turn to how the observed complexity results in diverse pathways to cultural identity formation.

With Complexity Comes Diversity

In a globalized world where many adolescents and emerging adults navigate multiple cultures, cultural identities become more diverse. For most of human history, it seems likely that, for most people, cultural identity development was relatively simple. Children were born into a culture and, in the course of childhood, adopted the ways of that culture as their own ways and as the basis of their cultural identity (e.g., Mead, 1928; Schlegel & Barry, 1991).

This pattern of cultural identity development can still be observed today in traditional cultures (e.g., Whiting & Edwards, 1988). However, for most of the world, the process of forming a cultural identity has changed dramatically in recent decades. As economies have become more complex, the range of possible identity paths in terms of work has expanded vastly. With respect to marriage, young people have more freedom than ever before to choose their partners with minimal family influence, transforming marriage from a practical arrangement between families to an identity-based search for a “soul mate.” Increasing flexibility in gender roles, especially during the past half century, has led to an unprecedented expansion of young women’s life options. In the past, becoming a wife and mother were virtually their only options, regardless of what their personal identity preferences might be, but today young women exceed young men in educational attainment in virtually every country in the world (United Nations Development Programme, 2009). Moreover, women have, in vast numbers, entered professions from which they were formerly excluded, such as medicine, law, and business.

Globalization has brought these changes to every corner of the world. The increasing interconnections of the global economy have led to an expansion of identity options in work for young people in developing countries, especially in urban areas. Consequently, young people are migrating in large numbers from rural villages to urban centers. In 2008, for the first time in human history, more people were living in urban areas than in rural areas (Population Reference Bureau, 2008), and the migration has been led mainly by emerging adults (Hugo, 2005). As young people leave their families and rural villages for urban centers, they gain greater freedom to choose their own love partners as well, sometimes despite their families’ objections. In urban areas, young people come into contact with the ideology and values promoted by the global economy, including independence, consumerism, and individual choice.

One model that fruitfully can be used to understand how globalization promotes diverse cultural identities in adolescence and emerging adulthood is Berry’s (1997) model of adaptation to immigration. In presenting his model, Berry raises the question, “What happens to individuals, who have developed in one cultural context, when they attempt to live in a new cultural context?” (1997, p. 6; see also Huynh et al., Chapter 35, this volume). Because our purposes here pertain to globalization rather than immigration, we could rephrase the question as, “What happens in the identity development of adolescents and emerging adults when they are presented with multiple cultural contexts, including their local culture and other cultures they may come into contact with via globalization?”

Berry (1997) presented four possible patterns of acculturation:

  1. 1.

    Assimilation. Persons do not wish to maintain their original cultural identity. Instead, they reject it and embrace their new culture as the basis of an entirely new cultural identity.

  2. 2.

    Separation. Persons place value on holding on to their original culture, and avoid contact with people in the new culture to which they have immigrated.

  3. 3.

    Integration. The original cultural identity is combined with elements of the new culture (see also Huynh et al., Chapter 35, this volume, on biculturalism).

  4. 4.

    Marginalization. Persons have little interest in maintaining their original culture, but also reject (or are rejected by) the new culture.

Next, we reconceptualize these four acculturation patterns with regard to cultural identity formation occurring in the context of globalization.

Assimilation

In Berry’s model, people who choose assimilation have no wish to hold onto the culture they left when they immigrated, but embrace wholeheartedly the new culture. They engage actively in what Berry terms “culture shedding,” defined as “the unlearning of aspects of one’s previous repertoire that are no longer appropriate” (1997, p. 13, emphasis in original).

This is not only an immigration pattern, but a possible cultural identity path for young people growing up with globalization. Especially in places where economic and social changes are occurring rapidly, young people may decide in the course of growing up that their local culture has little or nothing to offer them. They see the global culture, not the local culture, as where their future will be. Consequently, as soon as they are able – usually in adolescence or emerging adulthood – they leave behind the ways of their local culture as much as possible for the ways of the global culture.

One example of this pattern can be seen in the lives of young women in China. As mentioned at the outset of the chapter, in her book Factory Girls, Leslie Chang (2008) describes how there has been a massive migration in recent years from rural villages to booming urban industrial centers, led by young women in their late teens and early twenties. When they first arrive in the city, they are often tentative and reserved. They work in a miserable factory job for long hours and little pay. They send a substantial part of their pay home to their family in the village. Their limited social life is spent with other girls whom they already know from the village or with others who are from their region.

Gradually, however, they may gain more confidence and begin to learn and adopt the ways of the city. In effect, they engage in culture shedding at a rapid rate, and embrace instead the values of the global culture as presented to them in city life: individualism, consumerism, and self-development. They learn that there is a wide range of jobs available, and they switch jobs frequently for better pay, better working conditions, and greater opportunity to learn and advance themselves. They begin to send less of their income back home and spend more of it on themselves, for example on clothes, make-up, technological products such as cell phones, and a nicer place to live. Many seek out additional education and training––including training in how to speak English––so that they can compete for better jobs with not only Chinese, but also international, companies. They undergo a dramatic change in values because they learn that, in the global culture, values of assertiveness, self-confidence, and initiative are rewarded, not the traditional Chinese values of humility, self-sacrifice, and self-denial.

Separation

In Berry’s model, the separation response entails maintaining allegiance to the original local culture and avoiding contact with the new culture to which the person has immigrated. This response would be most common among people for whom immigration had been involuntary, such as refugees from war or famine, or family members who were required to go along when the head of the family immigrated. Reframed for globalization, it would apply to people whose local culture was being impacted by globalization but who preferred the local culture to the global culture and wished to keep the global culture at bay.

One interesting example of a separation response to globalization comes from the islands known as Samoa, in the Pacific Ocean near New Zealand. Samoa became known to many Americans early in the twentieth century when the anthropologist Margaret Mead wrote a book about Samoan adolescence, Coming of Age in Samoa (1928), that was widely read in the United States (and, in fact, all over the world). Many people were fascinated by the stark contrast between adolescence in Samoa and adolescence in the West.

One of the ways in which Samoa differed from the West was in having a ritual to mark the beginning of adolescence. The traditional rite of passage into adolescence involved an elaborate process of tattooing sometime between ages 14 and 16 (Côté, 1994). The tattoos were made in elaborate geometric patterns and extended from the waist to the knees. Having the tattoos put on was painful, especially for males, whose tattoos were more elaborate than those applied to females and usually took 2–3 months to complete, whereas the tattoos for females took 5–6 days. But the young men experienced it together and took satisfaction in sharing the ordeal of it and in supporting one another. In spite of the pain, few young men or young women declined to take part in it, because being tattooed was considered essential to sexual attractiveness and to being accepted as a legitimate candidate for full adult status.

This tattooing ritual has been profoundly affected by the globalization of adolescence. In the past 100 years, Samoan culture has changed a great deal (Côté, 1994; McDade & Worthman, 2004). Christian missionaries arrived and sought to stamp out a variety of native practices they considered immoral, including the ritual of tattooing. More recently, the rise of secondary education and the widening of economic opportunities for Samoans who immigrated to nearby New Zealand undermined the traditional local economy and caused the tattooing ritual to be viewed as irrelevant or even shamefully “primitive” by some Samoans. By now, most Samoans have abandoned their cooperative, traditional ways in favor of participation in the wage labor of the global economy.

Recently, however, tattooing for young men has undergone a revival. Currently, the majority of young men get tattoos in their teens to demonstrate their pride in the traditional ways of their culture, as part of an explicit attempt to resist the total absorption of their indigenous culture into the global culture (Côté, 1994). The tattooing ritual is more than skin deep; it is a custom complex representing their belief in the value of Samoan culture and their desire to retain a Samoan cultural identity. Although many young Samoans immigrate to New Zealand or other places seeking the opportunities available in the global economy, those who stay often adopt a separation response to globalization and represent their resistance to globalization through the traditional tattooing ritual.

Integration

In the integration response, immigrants maintain their identification with their culture of origin even as they also seek to adapt to the ways of their new culture. This response has also been termed bicultural, in the literature on ethnic identity (Phinney, 1990; Phinney & Devich-Navarro, 1997; Huynh et al., Chapter 35, this volume; Umaña-Taylor, Chapter 33, this volume). Applied to globalization, it means that, in addition to their local identity, young people develop a global identity that gives them a sense of belonging to a worldwide culture and includes an awareness of the events, practices, styles, and information that are part of the global culture. Their global identity allows them to communicate with people from diverse places when they travel from home, when others travel to where they live, and when they communicate with people in other places via media technology (such as e-mail or Facebook). Television is crucial in the process of developing a global identity, as it provides exposure to people, events, and information from all over the world. However, for future generations of children and adolescents, the Internet is likely to be even more important, because it allows direct communication with other people worldwide (in e-mail “chat rooms,” e.g., or interactive computer games) and provides direct access to information about every part of the world.

Alongside their global identity, people continue to develop a local identity as well, based on the local circumstances, local environment, local traditions, and local language of the place where they grew up. This is the identity they are likely to use most in their daily interactions with family, friends, and community members. For example, India has a growing, vigorous high-tech economic sector, led largely by young people. However, even the better-educated young people, who have become full-fledged members of the global economy, still tend to prefer to have an arranged marriage, in accordance with Indian tradition (Verma & Saraswathi, 2002). They also generally expect to care for their parents in old age, again in accord with Indian tradition. Thus, they have one identity for participating in the global economy and succeeding in the fast-paced world of high technology, and another identity, rooted in Indian tradition, that they maintain with respect to their families and their personal lives.

Although developing a bicultural identity means that a local identity is retained alongside a global identity, there is no doubt that local cultures everywhere are being modified by globalization, specifically by the introduction of global media, free market economics, democratic institutions, increased length of formal schooling, and delayed entry into marriage and parenthood (see also Huynh et al., Chapter 35, this volume). These changes greatly alter traditional cultural practices and beliefs. Such changes may lead less to a bicultural identity than to a hybrid identity, combining local culture and elements of the global culture (Hermans & Kempen, 1998).

Marginalization

Immigrants who experience marginalization, according to Berry, are those who feel at home neither in their culture of origin nor in the culture to which they have immigrated. Having left their culture of origin, they no longer feel connected to it. They may feel that their new culture is simply too different from their culture of origin for them to adapt it, or they may feel that their new culture rejects them, perhaps due to their physical appearance, socioeconomic status, or religion. Marginalization is most likely when there is a large degree of what Berry calls cultural distance, meaning dissimilarity between the culture of origin and the new culture.

With regard to globalization, marginalization may take place among people whose local culture is being rapidly altered by globalization. They may see their local culture changing beyond recognition, so that they no longer feel connected to it, but at the same time they may feel that the global culture has no place for them. Cultural distance applies here, too; the greater the cultural distance between the local culture and the global culture, the more likely the response of marginalization.

A vivid example of marginalization can be found in Nepal. Few places in the world have been more remote and more isolated from the West historically than Nepal. Not only is Nepal thousands of miles from the nearest Western country, but until 1951 the government made a special effort to isolate its citizens, banning all communications (travel, trade, books, movies, etc.) between Nepal and “the outside.” Since then, Nepal, and especially its largest city of Kathmandu, has been undergoing a rapid transition into the world of global trade, Western tourism, and electronic mass media. Ethnographic research provides a vivid look at how adolescents and emerging adults in Kathmandu are responding to globalization (Liechty, 1995). Media represent the driving force of globalization in Nepal. A variety of imported media are highly popular with young people in Kathmandu. Movies and videos from both India and the US find a broad audience of young people. American and Indian television shows are also popular, and televisions are a standard feature within middle-class homes. There is an enthusiastic audience among the young for Western music, including rock, heavy metal, and rap. Sometimes, young people combine local culture with imported Western styles. For example, a local rock band has recorded an original Nepali-language album in the style of the Beatles. However, older traditions such as Nepali folk songs are rejected by many urban young people.

Nepalese people use the terms teen and teenager in English, even when speaking Nepali, to refer to young people who are oriented toward Western tastes, especially Western media. Not all Nepalese young people are “teenagers,” even if they are in their teen years, the term is not an age category but a social category that refers to young people who are pursuing a Western identity and style based on what they have learned through media. To many young people in Kathmandu, being a “teenager” is something they covet and strive for. They associate it with leisure, affluence, and expanded opportunities. However, many adults use teenager with less favorable connotations to refer to young people who are disobedient, antisocial, and potentially violent. Their use of the term in this way reflects their view that Western media have had corrupting effects on many of their young people.

Even to “teenagers” themselves, the availability of Western media is a mixed blessing. They enjoy it and it provides them with information about the wider world beyond the borders of Nepal. Many of them use media to help them make sense of their own lives, growing up as they are in a rapidly changing society, and as material for imagining a broad range of possible selves (see also Oyserman & James, Chapter 6, this volume). However, the cultural distance between Nepal and the global culture is vast. Western media tend to disconnect Nepalese adolescents and emerging adults from their own culture and from their cultural traditions, leaving many of them confused and alienated. The media ideals of Western life raise their expectations for their own lives to unattainable levels, and these ideals eventually collide with the incompatibility between their expectations and their real lives. Ultimately, many of them feel marginalized: alienated from their local culture, but not truly part of the global culture. In the moving words of 21-year-old Ramesh (Liechty, 1995, p. 187):

You know, now I know sooooo much [from films, books, and magazines about the West]. Being a frog in a pond isn’t a bad life, but being a frog in an ocean is like hell. Look at this. Out here in Kathmandu there is nothing. We have nothing.

The consequences of cultural identity confusion resulting from globalization are examined further in the next section.

With Diversity Come Opportunities and Risks

Cultural Identity Confusion

Revisiting Erikson’s (1950, 1968) concern with the possibility of a negative outcome of the identity development process, authors have voiced concern that having exposure to multiple cultures may result in some adolescents and emerging adults experiencing identity confusion (Arnett, 2002; Hermans & Dimaggio, 2007; Nsamenang, 2002). Such confusion may take somewhat different forms. In some cases, there may be lack of commitment to any culture––traditional or new, local or global. Marginalization, as described above, and alternative terminology such as “de-cultured” (Giddens, 2000), “deterritorialized” (Kearney, 1995; Tomlinson, 1999), “delocalized” (Thompson, 1995), and “unrooted” (Friedman, 2000) capture different facets of this risk where an adolescent or emerging adult feels bereft of a sense of home and custom complexes to guide positive involvement in local or global communities. Identity confusion may also take the form of bouncing between or among different cultural identities across situations and contexts. Although some degree of alternation might allow for useful flexibility, in other cases it may be confusing (Phinney & Baldelomar, 2011; see also Downie, Koestner, ElGeledi, & Cree, 2004; Falmagne, 2004; Huynh et al., Chapter 35, this volume). What we will term cultural identity confusion may be a particular kind of identity confusion that occurs as a result of globalization.

One question is whether cultural identity confusion may lead to psychopathology. Hermans and Dimaggio (2007) have suggested that there may be a link between globalization and “identity disturbances.” They note that, since about 1980, there has been a dramatic increase in the diagnosis of multiple personality disorder or dissociative identity disorder. Furthermore, the “alters” (or personalities) reported by patients have increased in number, and they have become more diverse in type of identity. In more recent cases, for example, patients report alters based on media characters, and alters who vary widely in terms of ethnicity, nationality, religion, and so forth. To the extent to which these changes in prevalence of dissociative identity disorder are valid, they begin to indicate how awareness of diverse cultural identities may be internalized in pathological ways. However, the extent to which exposure to globalization is a cause per se of psychopathology appears to remain an open question, as does the question of the extent to which adolescents and emerging adults may be particularly vulnerable.

Another question is whether cultural identity confusion may be related to problems such as substance abuse, prostitution, and suicide. In a study drawing on multiple data sources from the period between 1980 and 1991, researchers reported increases in suicide, drug abuse, and male and female prostitution in Ivory Coast youth aged 16–20 (Delafosse, Fouraste, & Gbobouo, 1993). The researchers attributed the increase in problems to the confusion that young people experienced between the values of their traditional cultures and the values of the West. Increases in recent decades, sometimes steep, in rates of suicide and suicide attempts have also been reported by a considerable number of researchers working in Pacific societies, parts of Sri Lanka, and Native American cultures (Booth, 1999; Hezel, 1987; Johnson & Tomren, 1999; Kearney & Miller, 1985; MacPherson & MacPherson, 1987; Novins, Beals, Roberts, & Manson, 1999; Reser, 1990; Robinson, 1990; Rubinstein, 1983). At a general level, researchers have attributed these increases to youth feeling alienated from both traditional and global values. It should be added, however, that researchers working in different locations vary in their more specific explanations, such as the emphasis they place on changing family roles, the irreconcilability of increased economic expectations and decreased opportunities, and the loss of traditional pathways of adolescent socialization.

Still another question is whether cultural identity confusion is tied to hostility and aggression toward others. In a study of immigrant adolescents, Phinney and Navarro (1997) found that “alternating biculturals” whose ethnic affiliations varied notably across social settings were more negative in their attitudes toward ethnic groups other than their own, as compared to “blended biculturals” who had integrated their ethnic group’s and the receiving society’s cultural mores into a fairly stable identity. In their research in the Ivory Coast, Delafosse and colleagues (1993) also attributed recent increases in armed aggression by youth to experiences of internal conflict between local and global values. At a broader level, Lieber and Weisberg (2002) have argued that “problems of identity” (p. 275) occur in some parts of Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East, where frustration with locally corrupt or unresponsive governments coupled with exposure to global cultural values leads to “rage” (p. 275) and sometimes violence, either locally or directed toward the West (see also Hermans & Dimaggio, 2007; Kinnvall, 2004).

In sum, there is empirical and theoretical basis for concern that globalization, cultural identity confusion, and serious internalizing and externalizing problems are connected. At this time, however, the specific nature of the connections and how they might manifest in different locales require further research.

We can, nonetheless, point to factors for future research to consider. The risks of cultural identity confusion and pathology may be pronounced where there is a substantial gap between the cultures to which an adolescent or emerging adult is exposed. As noted above, Berry (1997) has observed that the greater the “cultural distance” in beliefs and behaviors between cultures, the greater the psychological and social problems in immigrants. Also, the extent to which one is voluntarily motivated to adopt the custom complexes of a new culture and to shed some from one’s traditional culture appears to be important. Researchers have noted this in comparisons of immigrants and refugees, where immigrants show fewer acculturation problems (Berry, 1997). Nsamenang’s (2002) observations about African families are also suggestive. He notes that fathers are loath to relinquish patriarchal power in the face of changes resulting from globalization. Nsamenang (2002) describes the father as “the net loser” whose “once undisputed authority is declining as teenagers and their mothers find their ways around the world without depending on his guidance or intervention” (p. 23). In sum, lack of volition, the prospect of loss of power, and exposure to cultures that are highly divergent in their custom complexes and statuses raise the likelihood that cultural identity confusion will arise and develop into psychological and social problems.

A Cultural Gap Between Adolescents and Parents

With globalization, a widening gap may open up between adolescents and their parents in terms of views of parental authority and adolescent autonomy. In traditional cultures where adolescents spend the majority of their time with parents and are integrated into adult groups, adolescents and parents typically share common views of obedience, responsibility, self-reliance, and so forth (Schlegel, 2011). With modernity and globalization, however, a gap may open up (Friedman, 2000).

Research with immigrant adolescents from diverse cultural backgrounds living in the US has found that they often report a desire to limit parental authority over a variety of their activities (Fuligni, 1998). Moreover, research comparing immigrant adolescents and parents in the US has shown that adolescents have expectations for behavioral autonomy at an earlier age than their parents do (Juang, Lerner, McKinney, & von Eye, 1999). Similarly, findings from ethnically diverse immigrant groups in Canada have shown that parents sanction parental authority more than their adolescents, whereas adolescents desire more autonomy than their parents are willing to grant (Kwak & Berry, 2001). In a study in China, adolescents also reported that they desired less parental authority and more adolescent autonomy than their parents believed they should have (Yau & Smetana, 1996). In Japan, researchers have noted that emerging adults in their twenties who continue to rely on parental support while engaging in various forms of self-explorations and postponing marriage are termed “parasite singles” by their parents and older generations—a term that is hardly flattering (Naito & Gielen, 2002). Taken together, these findings suggest that a gap opens up between parents and their adolescents and emerging adults as they cease to share one traditional culture and instead are exposed to various cultures and globalization. This gap pertains to views and behaviors that revolve around autonomy and authority––values that are central to custom complexes and cultural identity development.

The extent to which this gap has negative repercussions seems an open question. Friedman (2000) proposed that parents resent the gap that globalization creates between themselves and their children. Interestingly, however, with regard to the finding above on Japanese “parasite singles,” Naito and Gielen (2002) reported that while parents clearly had some misgivings about their emerging adult children, some parents simultaneously expressed admiration for their children’s creativity and self-assertiveness. Moreover, research has found that only 10–20% of Japanese adolescents report that their parents understand them, but at the same time 80–90% describe their family life as “fun” or “pleasant” and say that they communicate with their parents on a “fairly regular” basis (Stevenson & Zusho, 2002).

Further, an ethnographic study in the Czech Republic found vast differences between parents who had grown up under Soviet communism, and their emerging adult children who grew up mostly in the post-communist era (Nash, 2005). Nevertheless, parents enthusiastically supported their emerging adults’ opportunities to work, travel, and study as they chose. Rather than resenting the young, parents generally encouraged their children to pursue the opportunities that they never had.

For research with immigrant adolescents and their parents, findings on the extent of conflict and cohesion are inconsistent. Some studies report more conflict among immigrants than non-immigrants (Farver, Xu, Bhadha, Narang, & Lieber, 2007; Rosenthal, Demetriou, & Efklides, 1989), some find no differences (Fuligni, 1998), and some report less conflict among immigrants (Barber, 1994). Furthermore, very little research has attempted to demonstrate that a gap between adolescents and parents in views of authority and autonomy is predictive of higher levels of conflict and lower levels of cohesion (Dost & Jensen, 2009).

In sum, extant research indicates that, with globalization, a gap may well arise between parents and their adolescents and emerging adults on views of parental authority and adolescent autonomy. The consequences of such a gap, however, require further research. Some findings suggest that resentment and conflict between parents and youth may arise. But findings also intimate that sometimes both parents and youth recognize the necessity or desirability of this gap in a globalizing world. Finally, even as cultural gaps arise between parents and their adolescent and emerging adult children, parents and children may continue to share other values, such as interdependence, respect, and familial harmony, that may mitigate or supersede the importance of the gaps (Dost & Jensen, 2009). To return to Africa for a last example on this topic, Nsamenang (2002) has noted how globalization has partially delocalized many African families, and that some youth have developed more autonomous or self-focused identities; yet he observes that the importance of “African familialism” remains unmatched.

Youth Civic Involvement

Turning from the negative effects of globalization, it may also have positive influences, specifically on youth civic involvement (see also Hart, Richardson, & Wilkenfeld, Chapter 32, this volume; Vanderkooy, Stepick, & Stepick, Chapter 37, this volume). An article in the Economist (February 7, 2009) addressing the impact of globalization and worldwide electronic media on adolescents and emerging adults asked: “Will they try to change the world, or simply settle for enjoying themselves?” While this article went on to describe the popularity of so-called “cyber-hedonism” such as online gambling and viewing of pornography in highly diverse regions of the world, there also seem to be ways in which globalization may provide new kinds of political and civic opportunities for the youth.

Giddens (2000) noted that globalization pushes for more democratic and less authoritarian forms of governance, and he speculated that youth may play an important role in civic activism in this new political climate. Saraswathi and Larson (2002), in their reflections on adolescence in a global world, also called for attention to emerging youth political movements, such as “Children’s Movement for Peace” in Colombia. Welti (2002) highlighted how youth in a number of Latin American countries have become interested in supporting indigenous movements and have mobilized against privatization of public services. Welti notes that these youth movements are driven, in part, by an anti-globalization stance. In some cases, then, youth civic involvement may be supported or encouraged by some of the characteristics of globalization, such as easy media access and a worldview that conceptualizes adolescents and emerging adults in more egalitarian, independent, and agentic terms. Moreover, globalization may be tied to youth civic involvement as youth mobilize to either support or counter the occurrence of globalization itself.

How globalization, cultural identity, and civic involvement go together, then, becomes an intriguing question (see also Jensen & Flanagan, 2008; Stepick, Stepick, & Vanderkooy, Chapter 37, this volume). Recently, Huntington (2004) proposed that incorporating more than one culture into one’s identity––something increasingly likely with globalization––might threaten civic involvement. Focusing on the US, Huntington specifically argued that immigrants who maintain a culturally distant and immigrant-focused sense of self represent a threat to national coherence and civil society. In this view, immigrants who have multicultural affiliations will see their loyalties and time divided and hence will put less effort and energy into civic associations, public life, and politics in the US.

However, a test of Huntington’s proposal found immigrants’ cultural identities to be related to civic involvement in a way opposite to what Huntington predicted. The study examined the extent to which immigrant adolescents and parents spoke of “cultural motives,” that is their affiliation with their culture of origin or their self-identification as immigrants, to account for their involvement or lack thereof in political and civic activities (Jensen, 2008). Results showed that cultural motives were twice as likely to be mentioned as sources of engagement than disengagement. In fact, cultural motives rarely accounted for lack of participation. The research also indicated that cultural motives for civic engagement included a concern for the welfare of one’s cultural community, a desire for “bridging,” where one comes to know other American communities and vice versa, and appreciation for civic opportunities afforded by American democracy (see also, Jensen, 2010).

Clearly, more research is needed in this area. But the extent to which youth civic involvement is tied to the means of globalization (such as the Internet), as well as associated mobility (such as migration), values (such as democracy, youth agency, and capitalism), and consequences (such as bicultural identities) constitutes an innovative research area. Answering these questions will help us to understand more about globalization and how it is truly transforming the world.

Conclusion

“Globalization fundamentally transforms the relationship between the places we inhabit and our cultural practices, experiences, and identities” (Tomlinson, 1999, p. 106, emphasis in original). As we have discussed here, the transformations of globalization are quite evident in the complexity and diversity of cultural identity developments in adolescents and emerging adults (Jensen, 2011). Moreover, the last three decades or so likely represent only the beginnings of globalization. For example, China and India each have more than a billion people, of which only a minority have fully entered the global economy and culture. The future, then, is likely to hold quite dramatic changes for even larger groups of adolescents and emerging adults on a worldwide scale. As we have also discussed here, with these transformations come both risks and new opportunities.