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For many years now, social scientists have observed and studied certain aspects of youth in tropical Africa and indeed in much of the developing world. Several ideas have been put forward concerning the relationship between education and social change, the inadequacies of imported educational systems, the overproduction of unemployable school-leavers and the alienation of youth from their roots because of the development of new institutions. These views have been echoed by politicians who constantly reiterate the need for programmes to keep youth on the land through agricultural education and national service, point to allegedly frustrated and alienated school- leavers and see them as a source of political and social turmoil. Briefly, the purpose of the Uganda Youth Survey was to assess how far these popularly held views of youth in developing Africa fitted the situation in Uganda, and to consider among other things whether an identifiable youth culture existed in that country by examining some of the norms, values, expectations and behaviour of youth. The survey involved interviewing a total sample of 700 youths in three village areas in the eastern, northern and central regions of Uganda. We interviewed every youth twice, once in 1970 and again a year later. Our sample included both those who lived in the village and those whose family lived there but who had themselves left. A sample of 300 adults from the same villages was interviewed for comparative purposes.

This paper examines the transition to adult status in four ethnic groups in Uganda, including one with circumcision and one with age-sets. The formal status hierarchies and the recognized points of transition are described. Then the variations from these norms are examined to show that when one functionally becomes an adult may differ from the stated points of transition.