Exploration of individual and social identification patterns in school-aged adolescents in Mérida, Venezuela

Abstract

The aim is to explore and describe the main points that characterize the identity patterns of a group of adolescents in four educational institutions of the state of Mérida, Venezuela. Using qualitative methodological strategies, through observation, focus groups and interviews, it was observed that adolescents were organized under a social, normative and moral structure that was similar to the prison and typical of inmates in the country, expressing the same as a manifestation of their individual and social identity. Thus, adolescents built their social capital based on such social structure, organizing then the interaction between groups and individuals based on violence and bullying. The main conclusion is that this social structure and individual values are assimilated as patterns of identification of adolescents, as a consequence of the institutional disintegration experienced in the country.

Keywords

• identification
• adolescents
• subculture
• violence
• bullying