Teen Behavior at the Mall: A Cultural Observation Study

Introduction and Site Selection

The shopping mall site selected for this observation meets the criteria of a secular, well-attended local teenage "hot spot" because it contains attractions designed to draw young people in and keep them engaged for relatively long periods of time. Like many shopping malls today, this site is adjacent to a movie complex. Teenagers congregate on the open area just outside the theater before and after seeing movies, and from there they walk into the mall to investigate other sources of entertainment. The combination of a theater and retail environment makes this an ideal location for observing adolescent social behavior in a naturalistic setting.

Analytical Observation of Teenage Social Behavior

It is relatively easy to identify the distinct cliques of friends, as the groups of teenagers tend not to mingle much. The groups stay mostly to themselves, although they occasionally call out to friends nearby. Girls are especially likely to move briefly from group to group, and they seem fond of giving each other hugs as part of their greetings. There is a great deal of joking and laughing, and teenagers of both genders make comments about clothing, jewelry, tattoos, and hairstyles. When a group moves to the parking lot, the comments shift mostly to the cars they are driving and where they want to go next.

The teenagers seem most relaxed — and least concerned with how they appear to their peers — when they are eating. The mall offers ample fast food options: pizza, pretzels, burgers, wraps, frozen yogurt, and blended beverages. It is easy to see how teenagers can spend long periods of time at the mall; they simply do not go hungry. After eating, the groups appear energized and begin moving around more. When stores are open, they go inside, but they never stay long. Their objective does not appear to be making purchases. During a two-hour observation, not a single teenager was seen buying anything other than fast food, beverages, confections, popcorn at the theater, or movie tickets. For the teenagers observed, the shopping mall is not a place to shop — it is a place to hang out, to see and be seen.

Being seen by peers often entails becoming boisterous, loud, and playfully over-the-top. There is some unwritten, unspoken contest in progress that only the teenagers themselves seem to understand. Peer group dynamics appear to govern nearly every interaction observed.

Group Identity, Diversity, and Dress

The groups of teens are quite heterogeneous. Diversity is the rule, although some groups are predominantly one gender, one race, or one ethnic background. Almost without exception, however, the groups represent a diverse blend of friends. What does create a semblance of homogeneity is dress. Some groups favor fedoras, bold jewelry, and makeup, while others lean more toward a grunge aesthetic. Predictably, the greater the differences in dress between groups, the less mingling occurs across them.

Despite the variety of groups and the energy of the environment, throughout the entire observation period no group singled out another in a mean or aggressive way. There was considerable activity, but no violence or name-calling. The presence of security was also very evident: three guards carrying walkie-talkies roamed the mall, observing the groups of teenagers with focused attention — almost as though they were memorizing faces or watching for individuals who were frequently seen hanging out at the mall. This surveillance dynamic is consistent with broader scholarly discussions of how youth subcultures are managed in commercial public spaces.