NCJ Number
217276
Journal
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 36 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2007 Pages: 47-59
Date Published
January 2007
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This paper examines the application of concepts of normal adolescence pioneered by a researcher to the study of gay and lesbian youth.
Abstract
In the study of the normal gay adolescent, it is the process of narrative engagement, and not necessarily its outcome in the form of assumption of a specific narrative, that characterizes development. Because of the place of homosexuality in relation to the dominant culture, youth with same-sex desire “hypercognize” sexual desire in relation to other emotions because of its perceived “deviance.” The narrative shift in gay youth identity development provides a window into the necessity and relevance of a new approach, the new science of normal human development. As identity becomes an increasingly relevant construct with which to understand human development in the context of globalization and late modernity, the ways in which its development in and through narrative specify the unity and purpose of an individual life, and with that the possibilities of a culture, is the task of the new science. The divergent narratives of gay youth identity that have emerged in the past 3 decades reveal the essential problem of the study of normal processes in human development. The concept of normality pervades both the popular consciousness and also the social sciences. This study focuses on the concept of normal development among adolescents with same-sex desire. It sought to reconcile divergent accounts of sexual orientation and personal adjustment. References