The Impact of Social Norms On The Mental Health of Young People
The Impact of Social Norms On The Mental Health of Young People
The Impact of Social Norms On The Mental Health of Young People
1. Introduction
Do you follow or abide by the traditions and norms of your ancestors? Traditions are
behaviors or beliefs passed down within a group or society with symbolic meanings or
special significance with origins in the past. The term “invention of traditions” was
norms can go further deeper than that. Social Norms are the standard or average
behaviour, attitude,or opinion by members of a social group. There are 4 different types
of social norms which include, Folkways; norms that stem from casual interactions like
shaking hands when meeting someone, More; norms that structures the difference
between right and wrong, Taboo; strong negative norm (violating it results in extreme
disgust), Law; norm that is formally engraved by the state or federal level (Crossman A.,
2019). Norms, like every society’s traditions and values, can play a big role in shaping
one’s identity and mindset. That fact can have multiple impacts both
previous ones and so, a lot of norms can seem irrelevant to the new ones but feel
members etc.) otherwise they might have to face negative sanctions. With that being
said, norms can have a huge negative impact on the mental health of young people as it
can cause personality/identity confusion, social stress and anxiety, and depression.
1.1 Research Question
How far could norms impact young people’s mental health negatively?
2. Literature View
reflect the fundamental perception of what others do and think they should do by
In addition, (Jodrell D., 2015) mentioned that most concepts of social norms have
two similar features, including Bicchieri's. Firstly, individuals perceive that most
individuals around them comply with specific behaviours. Secondly, people have
a sense that those around them, i.e. society, feel they must comply with certain
do, and of what others want us to do which brings us to understand how it affects
want to act a certain way but would be avoid doing so as they want to avoid
society degrading them and other negative sanctions. Therefore, they struggle to
systems, language, and the media are socialization agents, or organisations that
these socialization agents play a role in socializing individuals: The family assists
to socially define children, and plays a significant role in their socialization. Some
claim that religion is like a racial or cultural group, making it less likely for people
During youth, the influence of the peer group usually peaks. However, unlike the
family, which has long-term influence, peer groups usually only influence
short-term interests. Peer groups may also act as a platform for teaching gender
individuals to adjust their behaviors, values, or actions in order to align with group
wide audience. The word media derives from the Latin sense of "middle,"
implying that the role of the media is to bind people. Because mass media has
are expected to act in certain scenarios and they have four qualities: They tell us
what we should do and what we should not do, they are shared socially (In other
words, most individuals have a common idea of the norm and are mindful of it),
they have an element of power or sanction that can trigger feelings of shame or
anxiety if the social norm is not followed, they can actually force or at least
significantly influence behaviour (Steckl. C.). Every day, people make choices on
how to behave based on the societal norms and expectations that govern our
social environments, several times over. Social norms often impact important
decisions in life, such as how to handle individuals, what career path to follow,
who to support, and who to marry and when to marry. According to (Steckl. C.),
The degree to which social norms play a role in our decision making has been
imaging evidence that confirmed the idea that social norms affected decisions
rather than a demand for fairness. If this model were to carry on to further
(Steckl. C.).
Cultural factors in social anxiety are rarely discussed, but it seems possible that
variations in social norms between countries may be linked to the extent of social
anxiety. The present research examined the personal and assumed cultural
norms of individuals and their connection to social anxiety and fear of blushing. A
social circumstances and measured the social acceptability of the main actor's
actions both from a personal and cultural point of view. Personal and cultural
norms have displayed very contradictory patterns in relation to the different types
than they did in individualistic countries. On the other hand, there was little
countries have also shown higher levels of social anxiety and more fear of
culture and the degree of social anxiety or concern of blushing symptoms. These
findings provide initial evidence that social anxiety can be attributed to various
cultural norms across countries (Heinrichs, Nina & Rapee, Ronald & Alden, Lynn
& Bögels, Susan & Hofmann, Stefan & Oh, Kyung & Sakano, Yuji., 2006).
2.3 Depression
Some risk factors for depression are common across cultures. These involve
happens when expressing our feelings with others. Analysis indicates that
cultures can promote techniques for functional control. For example, Igor
the same manner, and help is not available in the same way. Moreover, the
that tell us how we are expected to act in certain situations and aspects of life.
They can control the basis of one’s life decisions including what to study, who to
marry, who to be associated with etc. And so, this type of pressure can cause
individual’s mental health worse is the stigma that in order to be a strong and
psychiatrist as those that do that are viewed as weak and labeled as abnormal.
3. Discussion
3.1 Inferences
This report demonstrated the strong relationship between the negative impacts
of social norms on the mental health of young people and its causes such as
The report clarified how socialization agents affect the development of one’s
personality, how social norms affect our decisions, the link of social norms
between countries and social anxiety, depression and culture, and the effect of
3.2 Limitations
Every research has gaps and the sources employed to conduct this report are
no exception. To start with, (Heinrichs, Nina & Rapee, Ronald & Alden, Lynn &
Bögels, Susan & Hofmann, Stefan & Oh, Kyung & Sakano, Yuji., 2006) did not
make enough research about the cultural differences in perceived social norms
and social anxiety. This research was also missing some statistics that determine
the extent to which each socialization agent affected the development of young
individuals’ personalities.
3.3 Recommendations
So we need to increase awareness of the impact of social norms on the mental
health of young people. Supplying the researches and sociologists existing with
statistics that benefit scholars and those interested in researching this topic as
4. Conclusion
development and the mental health of young people like social stress and
life and mental health. To sum it up, there should be further research regarding
this topic in order to understand the impacts of social norms on youth further and
help change these norms so that the next generations can get the chance to
develop better and have better mental health in order to become better
5. References
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/07/how-do-social-norms-affect-dev
elopment/
● _Steckl. C. How Social Norms Affect Our Decisions. Mental Help sources.
retrieved from
_https://www.mentalhelp.net/blogs/how-social-norms-affect-our-decisions/
● Heinrichs, Nina & Rapee, Ronald & Alden, Lynn & Bögels, Susan &
Hofmann, Stefan & Oh, Kyung & Sakano, Yuji. (2006). Cultural differences
therapy._retrieved from
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S000579670500194
4?via%3Dihub
Retrieved from
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/between-cultures/201712/how-c
ulture-affects-depression