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15: Adolescence - Social Emotional Development

  • Page ID
    105576
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    learning objectives

    After this chapter, you should be able to:

    1. Compare Erikson and Marcia’s Theories
    2. Explain Identity and Self-concept
    3. Summarize the Stages of Ethnic Identity Development
    4. Explain the Development of Gender Identity
    5. Summarize Sexuality Identity and Orientation
    6. Describe Antisocial Behaviors
    7. Explain the Developmental Stage of Emerging Adulthood

    Adolescents continue to refine their sense of self as they relate to others. Adolescent’s main questions are “Who am I?” and “Who do I want to be?” Some adolescents adopt the values and roles that their parents expect of them. Other teens develop identities that align more with the peer groups rather than their parents’ expectations. This is common as adolescents work to form their identities. They pull away from their parents and the peer group becomes very important (Shanahan, McHale, Osgood, & Crouter, 2007). Despite spending less time with their parents, most teens report positive feelings toward them (Moore, Guzman, Hair, Lippman, & Garrett, 2004). Warm and healthy parent-child relationships have been associated with positive outcomes for the adolescent, such as better grades and fewer school behavior problems, in the United States as well as in other countries (Hair et al., 2005). 1

    • 15.1: Erik Erikson – Theory of Psychosocial Development
      Erikson proposed that each period of life has a unique challenge or crisis that a person must face. This is referred to as a psychosocial development. According to Erikson, successful development involves dealing with and resolving the goals and demands of each of these crises in a positive way. These crises are usually called stages, although that is not the term Erikson used. If a person does not resolve a crisis successfully, it may hinder their ability to deal with later crises.
    • 15.2: James Marcia – Theory of Identity Development
      One approach to assessing identity development was proposed by James Marcia. In his approach, adolescents are asking questions regarding their exploration of and commitment to issues related to occupation, politics, religion, and sexual behavior. Studies assessing how teens pass through Marcia’s stages show that although most teens eventually succeed in developing a stable identity, the path to it is not always easy and there are many routes that can be taken.
    • 15.3: Development of Identity and Self Concept - Who am I?
      Developmental psychologists have researched several different areas of identity development for adolescence and some of the main areas include:
    • 15.4: Development of Gender Identity
      From birth, children are assigned a gender and are socialized to conform to certain gender roles based on their biological sex. “Sex,” refers to physical or physiological differences between males, females, and intersex persons, including both their primary and secondary sex characteristics. “Gender,” on the other hand, refers to social or cultural distinctions associated with a given sex.
    • 15.5: Socialization Agents During Adolescence
      Adolescence is a crucial period in social development, research shows there are four main types of relationships that influence an adolescent: parents, peers, community, and society.
    • 15.6: Community, Society, and Culture
      There are certain characteristics of adolescent development that are more rooted in culture than in human biology or cognitive structures. Culture is learned and socially shared, and it affects all aspects of an individual’s life. Social responsibilities, sexual expression, and belief-system development, for instance, are all likely to vary based on culture. Furthermore, many distinguishing characteristics of an individual are all products of culture.
    • 15.7: Media- Influences on Teens
      Media is another agent of socialization that influences our political views; our tastes in popular culture; our views of women, people of color, and the LGBTQ+ community; and many other beliefs and practices. In an ongoing controversy, the media is often blamed for youth violence and many other of society’s ills. The average child sees thousands of acts of violence on television and in the movies before reaching young adulthood.
    • 15.8: Development of Sexual Identity
      Adolescence is the developmental period during which romantic relationships typically first emerge. By the end of adolescence, most American teens have dated others and have had at least one romantic relationship. Dating serves many purposes for teens, including having fun, companionship, status, socialization, intimacy, sexual experimentation, and partner selection for those in late adolescence.
    • 15.9: Antisocial Behavior in Adolescence
      Bullying is defined as unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. Further, the aggressive behavior happens more than once or has the potential to be repeated. There are different types of bullying.
    • 15.10: Antisocial Behaviors, Violence, and Child Abuse
      "Most kids will act up or become disruptive or defiant sometimes. Disruptive and conduct disorders, however, involve much more severe and longer-lasting behaviors than typical, short-lived episodes. Disruptive, impulse-control and conduct disorders refer to a group of disorders that include oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, intermittent explosive disorder, kleptomania and pyromania. These disorders can cause people to behave angrily or aggressively toward people or property."
    • 15.11: Violence and Abuse
      Violence and abuse are among the most disconcerting of the challenges that today’s families face. Abuse can occur between spouses, between parent and child, as well as between other family members. The frequency of violence among families is difficult to determine because many cases of spousal abuse and child abuse go unreported. In any case, studies have shown that abuse (reported or not) has a major impact on families and society as a whole.
    • 15.12: Emerging Adulthood - The Bridge Between Adolescence and Adulthood
      The next stage of development is emerging adulthood and is characterized as an in-between time where identity exploration is focused on work and love, which occurs from approximately 18 years of age to the mid to late 20s.
    • 15.S: Summary

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    This page titled 15: Adolescence - Social Emotional Development is shared under a CC BY 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson (College of the Canyons) .