Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. Margaret Mead intentionally wrote this book for a general audience of parents and teachers, not just for fellow anthropologists. Did you feel this approach was effective? What aspects of her writing made the complex cultural details feel accessible, and were there moments where you wished for a more academic or critical perspective?

2. The guide mentions psychologist Mary Pipher’s introduction, which connects Mead’s work to her own famous study of American teenage girls, Reviving Ophelia. If you are familiar with this work, in what ways do the pressures facing Samoan girls in the 1920s seem to echo or diverge from the challenges facing young people today?

3. What was the most surprising or challenging aspect of Samoan culture that Mead described for you?

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. The book presents Samoan adolescence as a smooth transition. Did this portrayal remind you of your own experience of adolescence, or differ from it? How does it shape your understanding of the concept of “storm and stress” in your own life or in Western culture generally?

2. Did the Samoan practice of having many caregivers in within an extended family or kin group make you reflect on your own family structure or experiences of caregiving? In what ways, if any, did it differ from your own upbringing?

3. What do you think of the concept of musu, or an accepted state of unwillingness that requires no explanation? Can you imagine a situation in your own life where having such a concept might have been useful for avoiding conflict?

4. Mead contrasts the way Samoan children learn skills as an integrated part of daily life with the separation of school, work, and play in America. Think about a skill you’ve learned. Did you learn it more formally or informally, and what was that experience like?

5. The dance, or siva, is described as the one approved outlet for individuality and ambition in an otherwise conforming society. What activities or spaces served a similar purpose for you when you were growing up, allowing you to express a different side of your personality?

6. Mead suggests that intense, exclusive romantic love is less central in Samoan adolescence. How does this compare to your own experiences or expectations of relationships? Do you think this difference would affect how fulfilling those relationships feel?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. Did this book challenge or reinforce any of your existing views on the “nature versus nurture” debate? In what ways?

2. The guide details the heated Mead-Freeman controversy, where another anthropologist challenged the accuracy of Mead’s findings decades later. What does this debate reveal about the challenges of objective cultural representation? Does knowing about the controversy change how you read the book?

3. Mead concludes with a call for an “Education for Choice” to help young people navigate a world of conflicting standards. Considering the social and digital complexities of the 21st century, does her call for teaching children how to think instead of what to think feel more urgent than ever?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. Franz Boas’s foreword frames the entire book as a scientific test of a long-held anthropological suspicion. How did this introduction shape your expectations and your reading of Mead’s evidence about Samoan life?

2. What is the effect of Mead structuring her study to move from broad descriptions of Samoan life, like “A Day in Samoa,” to the specific case studies of girls like Lola and Mala?

3. Mead’s other famous works, like Growing Up in New Guinea, continued her project of making anthropology relevant to American life. If you are familiar with her other work, based on this book, what do you think made her voice so influential as a public intellectual?

4. The clear division between the boys’ society, the Aumaga, and the girls’ Aualuma is striking. What does this reveal about Samoan values concerning gender roles and public life?

5. What purpose do the “deviant” girls, like the ambitious Lita or the delinquent Lola, serve in Mead’s overall argument about Samoan culture?

6. The brother-sister taboo is presented as a cornerstone of the Samoan household. What function does this strict avoidance serve in the social and emotional lives of adolescents as they mature?

Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.

1. If you were asked to design a community support system for new parents based on the principles of the Samoan aiga, what key features would you include?

2. How would you design a modern lesson plan or family activity that applies Mead’s idea of an “Education for Choice” in a practical way for today’s adolescents?

3. Imagine you had the chance to create a welcome guide for an outsider visiting your own community, similar to how Mead describes Samoa. What are one or two unspoken social rules you would need to explain so that they can understand how people avoid conflict and maintain harmony in everyday interactions?