Tweens
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2017
Abstract
One of the first usages of the term tweens was in the late 1990s referring to children who are in the liminal space between childhood and adolescence. In other words, these children are in a state of “in between.” The culture of tweens originally emerged as a marketing niche directed at preteen girls. One of the first usages of the term was in a 1987 article in Marketing and Media Decisions. The term was used to describe a market of children between the ages of 9 and 15. The actual age range of tweens varies according to the different standpoints of those who define the term and the specific audience to which a product is targeted. The common consensus is that tweens are between the ages of 8 and 12; however, the term has also included children of 7 to 15 years of age. Although the market for tweens have included both boys and girls—and although the word can be used to include boys—the term tween or tweens has increasingly been used to refer to girls who are in the threshold between girlhood and teenagehood. Previous to the emergence of this term, children who were no longer children were categorized as adolescents. In the 1960s this category was better known as the “subteen,” and also known as the “preteen,” referring mostly to girls from the age range of 9 to 12. In addition to being an often female-oriented category, the subteen or preteen was also thought of as a white and middle-class heterosexual subject. The present usage of the term goes beyond marketing purposes to inscribe the tween or tween as a developmental category. Therefore, this article includes sources of scholarship about tweens from various standpoints: girlhood studies, childhood studies, marketing, and education. This variety of scholarship offers wide and in-depth looks at the construction of the tween as its own category that is separate from a child and from a teenager. The article also offers sources such as media produced by children, including tweens, documentaries about the tween, and journals and associations in which the study of tweens is part of the scope. Finally, this article offers a sample of guidebooks for parents, caretakers, and tweens that present advice for getting through the “tweenage” years.
Publication Title
Oxford Bibliographies in Childhood Studies
Publisher
New York: Oxford University Press
DOI
10.1093/obo/9780199791231-0189
Recommended Citation
Aguiló-Pérez, E. R. (2017). Tweens. In H. Montgomery (Ed.), Oxford Bibliographies in Childhood Studies. New York: Oxford University Press.