Family values and expectations

Familial expectations and freedoms are also important. Young people reaching the age of 16 years are inevitably a product of their past experiences within their families or communities and this can be in relation to social expectation and values as well as to critical events. The school leaving age has been raised numerous times over the last 2 centuries. Education in the UK is compulsory up to the age of 18.

At this time family relationships change as the young person must make decisions in respect of future learning or work as they reach the end of formal schooling and have the opportunity to leave. These decisions may affect whether the young person remains within the family home or moves on at this time.

There has been a steep rise in the number of women studying at university. Women have outnumbered men in university admissions for some time and the gap is widening with women making up more than half of students in ⅔ of subject areas. Men remain over-represented in science, technology, engineering and maths subjects, most notably in engineering and computing science. Women make up 47% of the U.K. workforce but there is a gap of nearly 10% in the median full time pay between men and women.

There are opportunities not available to adolescents' grandparents and yet there is uncertainty about the probability of steady work and the difficulty of making the most of the opportunities without considerable family help.