Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Alberta, 1997. / In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Department of Educational Psychology. Also available online.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Queensland, 2006. / Includes bibliography.

Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 2000. / "A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Science (Speech and Hearing Sciences), The University of Hong Kong, May 10, 2000." Also available in print.

Thesis (doctoral)--University of Tartu, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2010. / Title from title screen (site viewed July 8, 2010). PDF text: vii, 125 p. ; 2 Mb. UMI publication number: AAT 3397187. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche formats.

Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio State University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 35-36). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2007. / Title from PDF title page screen. Advisor: Susan P. Keane; submitted to the Dept. of Psychology. Includes bibliographical references (p. 32-39).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 163-167).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 2006. / Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 59-60).

After making an observation that young people wish to maintain traditions, but they themselves do not wish to attend, lead to a curiosity to examine if traditions serve any purpose for the young people of today. The discrepancies between that the young people say that it is important to preserve traditions versus that themselves do not wish to participate leads us to believe that traditions fills some kind of function but the question is – What function is this? The purpose of this research is to find out what purpose traditions have for young people and also look for the answer to why young people refrain from participating in certain traditions. The results are built from answers from interviews with 36 young people (19 girls and 17 boys) in the ages of 17 – 19 years old. Theoretical frames that helps answer the questions in this paper are represented by theories from Anthony Giddens, Pierre Bourdieu, Émile Durkheim and Erving Goffman. The results shows that traditions fills the following function, - maintaining social relationships and connections at different times and in different contexts, - contributing to interaction and connectedness, - legitimately be allowed to be family-oriented, - opportunity to provide a desirable appearance and a desired identity. The results also shows that traditions have a function to exclude when a person is not included in a social context The results show that choosing to refrain from participating has to do with that we live in a post–traditional society that opens up opportunities to make choices. Our desire to keep traditions is based on our upbringing and in our habits