Entry #12: Tween, Adolescent, Young Adult, Pre-Teen, Teen

This assignment has been interesting for me. Predominantly using the internet to find sources has shown me how difficult it can be to find resources for a tween audience. Oftentimes, wording is very much a factor not only in finding information but also focusing in on specific age group. What has become most insightful is the use of interchangeable terms for the tween age group. While our class has distinct characteristics yet loose age ranges for tween, use of the term is still somewhat open.

I’ve noticed that most of the time google tries to change my search to teen, that the term adolescent appears to imply 12 - 17 year olds, Young Adult can be a broad spectrum of ages including and up to early 20’s, pre-teen is passé, and teen is the catch-all phrase. As such is it okay to use teen for gathering tween materials? Armstrong’s article, though mostly about gay representation in tween networks, does make a good point about tween networking in that it often shows characters in or around high school. This is consistent with the course readings. This would imply that use of teens is okay for some tweens.

However, tween age definitions vary, as biological factors, culture, maturity and intelligence can affect these characterizations using the catch all phrase to define tweens as teens is not realistic. How then do the media portray these definitions?

Most of my google searches have seen that libraries and marketing sources often use the word tween to specify this group. While both areas can have different definition of the actual age ranges, it shows that both institutions desire to provide these youth with their own separate programming. However, online searches for health and other more serious issues often do not use the word tween. This appears somewhat problematic, as tweens are going through biological, physical and mental changes throughout their growth and development. As such, why wouldn’t these issues merit a specific term for this age group, more defined than say young adult, adolescent, or teen?

I am not sure what the answer is, however, I do understand that cross-over will and does exist. As development occurs at an individual pace, there is no definite line between tween and teens. Nevertheless, it is interesting to note the confusion in titles for tweens.

Resources

Armstrong, J. (2011). Gay teens: Do they belong on the tween networks?. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved from http://popwatch.ew.com/2011/01/21/gay-teens-do-they-belong-on-the-tween-networks/