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

originally introduced by british historian, E. J. Hobsbawm (Wikipedia,2020). Examples of

traditions are eating turkey on Thanksgiving or putting up a tree on Christmas. However,

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

negative(personality development is slowed or prevented) and positive(bad habits can

be prevented or controlled). Additionally, every new generation is different from the

previous ones and so, a lot of norms can seem irrelevant to the new ones but feel

pressured to abide by them by the older generations (parents, older family/society

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

2.1 Personality Development

2.1.1 What are Social Norms?

As well as individual interpretations of unique group behaviour, social norms

are known as universal representations of appropriate group behaviour. They can

be seen as cultural products (including values, customs, and traditions) that

reflect the fundamental perception of what others do and think they should do by

individuals. Social norms are informal understandings, from a sociological

perspective, that shape the behavior of members of a society (Wikipedia,2020).

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

behaviours. Therefore,' social norms' represent expectations of what we should

do, and of what others want us to do which brings us to understand how it affects

personality development as individuals would usually have certain ideas or would

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

create an identity of their own.

2.1.2 Socialization agents around youths

Family, religion, peer groups, economic structures, legal systems, punitive

systems, language, and the media are socialization agents, or organisations that

can impress social norms on a person (LumenLearning). This is how each of

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

to break from religious affiliations and be more socialised in this community.

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

roles to members.The power of a peer group is peer pressure, encouraging

individuals to adjust their behaviors, values, or actions in order to align with group

norms. Mass media is the way of transmitting impersonal messages targeted at a

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

tremendous effects on our attitudes and actions, it contributes to the socialization

process, especially with regard to violence (LumenLearning).

2.2 Social Stress

2.2.1 How social norms affects our decisions

 Social norms are common in our society as expectations that tell us how we

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

highlighted by a recent report in the journal Social, Cognitive, & Affective

Neuroscience. The researchers developed a theoretical model using brain

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

studies, it would imply that when faced with a difficult, potentially

ethically-charged decision, we are more likely to do what we believe society

needs us to do regardless of what we know is fair or morally correct in our hearts

(Steckl. C.).

2.2.2 Cultural Differences in perceived social stress

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

total of 909 participants from eight countries completed vignettes explaining

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

of countries (individualist/collectivist). According to recorded cultural norms,

collectivist countries embraced more socially reticent and withdrawn practises

than they did in individualistic countries. On the other hand, there was little

disparity between individualistic and collectivist countries in the personal

viewpoints of people with respect to socially withdrawn behaviour. Collectivistic

countries have also shown higher levels of social anxiety and more fear of

blushing than individualistic countries. Significant positive relationships have

existed between the degree to which attention-avoiding habits are tolerated in

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

2.3.1 Depression and culture

Some risk factors for depression are common across cultures. These involve

gender, unemployment, and traumatic incidents. The topics of depression appear

to be all about loss. Yet what people do with their losses and how they view their

suffering varies greatly across cultures (Pogosyan.M., 2017). Emotion regulation

is increasingly being recognised as a central component in all affective disorders.

In western societies, There is not enough social regulation of emotion, which

happens when expressing our feelings with others. Analysis indicates that

cultures can promote techniques for functional control. For example, Igor

Grossmann's work reveals that Russians make rumination (generally considered

a dysfunctional strategy) more practical by allowing people to ruminate about

themselves from another person's point of view, making rumination almost

reassessment-like in quality(Pogosyan.M., 2017). People are not seeking help in

the same manner, and help is not available in the same way. Moreover, the

degree to which depression symptoms are recognised as pathology vs. an

undesirable yet normative aspect of life can vary (Pogosyan.M., 2017).

2.3.2 Social Norms and Mental Illness

As mentioned earlier, social norms are common in our society as expectations

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

anxiety and depression. Another way social norms/expectations can make an

individual’s mental health worse is the stigma that in order to be a strong and

mature individual, we must “pull ourselves together” instead of seeing a

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

personality/identity confusion, social stress and anxiety, and depression.

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

social norms on mental illness.

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

more research is yet to be done.

4. Conclusion

Social norms tend to have negative effects especially on the personality

development and the mental health of young people like social stress and

depression through socialization agents, culture, and by affecting our decisions,

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

individuals and help make a change in the world.

5. References

● Jodrell, D. (2015). How do social norms affect development?. World

Economic Forum articles. retrieved from

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

in perceived social norms and social anxiety. Behaviour research and

therapy._retrieved from

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S000579670500194

4?via%3Dihub

● Pogosyan, M. (2017). How Culture Affects Depression. Psychology Today.

Retrieved from

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/between-cultures/201712/how-c

ulture-affects-depression