Male adolescents and aggression: evolutionary issues.

• Self-Selected Data, Evolutionary Psych, and Born To Rebel by James Brody, 4/5/97
  
  

A common experience when one nears a group of male adolescents "on the move" is to feel the energy in the air if not a twinge of anxiety or fear. Primate observation documents that in many species there exists an alpha male who is in charge of several females, sires young, and keeps intruding males away. Small groups of adolescent males may strike and pester the alpha from the outskirts of his ter ritory, only to be driven off. Eventually, however, the alpha is deposed. Then, the young victor may rush in, even kill the young (which triggers the females' return to fertility and mating interest), and take over as ruler and sire his progeny.

What does the adolescent male in our contemporary society do with his energy and "testing" of authority? Robert Bly in Iron John writes of the lack of easy and plentiful male initiation and mentoring opportunities with older, "strong" men because of cultural and economic changes. Historically, male adolescents often were able to deploy some of their "energy" through social structures like armies or setting off to found a new farm or homestead.

I wonder if an evolutionary perspective on the task of late adolescence in males is helpful. That is, perhaps some of the substance abuse, vandalism, violence, crime, and disillusionment of some males in this developmental epoch derive from a biologically guided drive to test the limits, seek confrontation with the old order, and estab- lish oneself as one of the "new order" thereby? However, our culture does not have many resources for channeling some of this "male energy" in a constructive fashion these days, and this problem may be particularly acute where there are associated stress factors--either within a given family or in a social mileu such as inner city environments. Sports does not manage this need satisfactorily. Perhaps some of the inner city male mentoring programs are addressing these issues. I'm not sure how effective the rebellious aspect of alternative music, etc. is at providing a route to adult identity.

• Adolescent Aggression: It's the Girls' Fault by James Brody, 4/9/97
• Jeannie Lee Effect Confirmed by James Brody, 5/25/97
  • Jeannie Lee Again by James Brody, 6/20/97