Developmental Tasks of Adolescents of Native or Foreign Origin in France and Germany

Abstract

The developmental task concept has been useful to study adolescent development for more than 50 years. However, some facets of this concept remain unexplored. In this article, the author presents a cross-cultural and intercultural study comparing the developmental tasks of adolescents of native and foreign origin in France (French and North African origin) and Germany (German and Turkish origin). The results suggest that developmental tasks are not identical for adolescents in the national cultures (France and Germany) and furthermore that they are not the same depending on the acculturation framework to which adolescents of foreign origin are exposed in these two European countries.