Abstract
The twentieth century has witnessed several changes in social structures and notably with the birth of youth culture, which allowed people between the state of childhood and the one of adulthood to be recognized as a full-fledged category of the society. This change in status has led to several other changes as well for girls as for boys, and the question that will be dealt with in this essay is the one concerning the differences in young girls' life between the patterns of courtship and marriage before and after the birth of youth culture, that is to say between the pre-war and the post-war periods. To answer this question, the essay will be divided in two main parts dealing with the two different statuses a girl usually goes through in her life, namely, the pre-marital situation and the marital one. Each part will tackle the several aspects of these statuses and point out the differences between the period of time that preceded the birth of youth culture and the one that followed it.
