West Indian adolescents: an anthropological perspective

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Abstract
Adolescents from West Indian backgrounds in the United Kingdom face special problems because they are marginal, not only to adult society, but also to the “host” culture. Caribbean parents tend to have expectations for their children which do not correspond with those of the young people themselves.The boy may respond by selecting an image of masculinity based on a politico‐religious protest cult which seeks a return to African roots.The peasant family support system is poorly adapted to an urban industrial culture. It fails when the adolescent girl becomes pregnant.Many difficulties faced by a proportion of West Indian adolescents can be related to twice occurring loss of mother, in babyhood and againinlater childhood, resulting in a long drawn out and often unresolved mourning.

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