Early Adolescents' Stereotypes About Teens in Hong Kong and Chongqing: Reciprocal Pathways With Problem Behavior

To elucidate the processes underlying the cultural construction of adolescence, this research examined youth's stereotypes about teens in Hong Kong and Chongqing, a relatively less developed city in Mainland China. Youth (N = 1,269) reported on their teen stereotypes and problem behavior in the fall and spring of 7th grade. Youth in Hong Kong (vs. Chongqing) saw adolescence as a time of dampened family obligation as well as heightened individuation from parents, disengagement from school, and orientation toward peers. The tendency for youth in Hong Kong (vs. Chongqing) to see teens as less obligated to their family and more disengaged from school undergirded their greater problem behavior over the 7th grade, with problem behavior appearing to contribute to the maintenance of the two stereotypes.