La adolescencia: retos para la investigación y para la sociedad europea de cara al siglo XXI

Abstract

In Europe, during the last decade, adolescence has been a subject of political debate at the highest levels. In an ever-changing society the socialization of the youngest generations is perceived as a socio-historical challenges which involves all Europeans. The changes we are immersed in
are so plural (demographic, social, technological, economic, political, etc.) that they generate a very broad range of new ethical dilemmas. Europeans express their concern about the emergence of new values; they stress their preference for responsibility, consistent with the changing situation. All this psychosocial macrocontext presents new theoretical challenges for the scientific community. Indeed, in the area of human and social sciences new lines of research are currently underway to understand more clearly the new relations between adults and adolescents, and the new cultures emerging among the adolescents, grounded in new social aspirations shared by groups of varying dimensions in the teenage population. The need for in-depth analysis of theories, techniques and instruments that allow us a better understanding of the adolescent perspective becomes clearer if we analyse its relation with the new information and
communication technologies. These technologies present new risks, but also new opportunities, among which the most important is the chance to establish new forms of relations. The interest that the young generations show in these new technologies presents a great challenge to applied researchers
who must suggest ways of maximizing the hidden potential of
these new means of communication.