Lifespan overheads, chapter 12: emotional and social development in adolescence
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Chapter 12: Emotional and Social Development in
Adolescence
Erikson’s theory: identity versus identity confusion
 Identity: search for what is true and real about the self
(sexual orientation, vocation, interpersonal relationships
and community involvement, ethnic group membership,
moral, political, religious, and cultural ideals)
 Successful outcomes of earlier stages pave the way:
o weak sense of trust  trouble finding ideals to
have faith in
o little autonomy or initiative  won’t actively
explore alternatives
o lack a sense of industry  fail to select an
appropriate vocation
 identity crisis: a temporary period of confusion and
distress as they experiment with alternatives before
settling on values and goals
 identity confusion: shallow and directionless, because
earlier conflicts were resolved poorly or because
society restricts their choices to ones that don’t match
their desires and abilities
Lifespan overheads, chapter 12: emotional and social development in adolescence
Self-Development
Changes in self-concept:
 in early adolescence statements about one’s traits are
not interconnected and are often contradictory
 middle to late adolescence: combine various traits into
an organized system, and use qualifiers
 add integrating principles to explain the apparent
contradictions
Changes in self-esteem:
 close friendship, romantic appeal, and job competence
now factor in
 self-esteem rises over adolescence for most
 authoritative parenting predicts high self-esteem in
adolescence
 conditional affection more likely to engage in “false”
behaviours
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Paths to identity
The 4 identity statuses
Identity status
Identity
achievement
Description
Committed to a clearly formulated set of
self-chosen values and goals, having
already explored alternatives
Moratorium
Have not yet made definite
commitments, but are in the process of
exploration
Identity foreclosure Committed to values and goals without
taking the time to explore alternatives
Identity diffusion
Lack clear direction, not committed to
goals or values, nor actively trying to
reach them
 Many start out as foreclosed/diffused, but by late
adolescence move toward moratorium/ achievement.
 identity achieved/moratorium  higher self-esteem,
think abstractly and critically, report greater similarity
between their ideal self and their real self, advanced in
moral reasoning
 foreclosure  dogmatic, inflexible, intolerant,
defensive, likely to display ethnic and religious
prejudices
 diffused  the least mature, going along with the
crowd, most likely to use/abuse drugs, sense of
hopelessness about the future, likely to display ethnic
and religious prejudices
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Factors affecting identity development
 personality
 the family
o identity-achieved/moratorium: attached but free to
voice their own views
o foreclosed: close to their parents, cannot
healthily separate
o diffused: cold, uncommunicative home
environments
Moral Development
Kohlberg’s theory
* e.g., the “Heinz dilemma” - the way a person reasons
about the dilemma determines moral maturity.
Kohlberg’s stage of moral understanding
 The Preconventional Level
o Stage 1: the punishment and obedience
orientation. The fear of authority and avoidance of
punishment become the reasons for choosing
one’s actions.
o stage 2: the instrumental purpose orientation. Kids
become aware in a concrete manner that people
can have different perspectives – they see right
action as what satisfies their personal needs.
Reciprocity is understood as an equal exchange of
favours.
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 the Conventional Level
o Stage 3: the “good boy/girl” orientation. Being a
nice person - trustworthy, loyal, respectful, helpful,
nice, is the motivation behind their choice.
o stage 4: the social-order orientation. The larger
perspective of societal laws is considered. Laws
cannot be disobeyed under any circumstances
because they are vital to ensuring social order
 The Postconventional Level
o Stage 5: the social contract orientation. Laws can
be changed when there is a good reason to do so.
The laws have to be consistent with individual
rights and the interests of the majority.
o stage 6: the universal ethical principle orientation.
Right action is defined by ethical principles of
conscience that are valid for all humanity
regardless of law and social customs. E.g. respect
for worth & dignity of every person.
Research into these stages
 few people actually move beyond stage 4.
 real-life conflicts often elicit moral reasoning below a
person’s actual capacity
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Environmental Influences on moral reasoning
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Child rearing practices
Schooling
Peers
Culture
Gender Typing
gender intensification - increased gender stereotyping of
attitudes and behaviour.
 Puberty magnifies sex differences in appearance, and
prompts gender-typed pressures form others.
 Dating leads to more gender typed behaviours, possibly
as a way to become more attractive to the opposite sex
 Declines for many (but not all) by middle-late
adolescence.
 Those who end up androgynous tend to be
psychologically healthier
The Family
 Parent –child relationships
o Teenagers de-idealize their parents, and so no
longer bend to their authority as easily as before.
o Teenagers start to think of some things as their
own business, whereas parents continue to see
them as shared concerns.
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 family circumstances: parents who are financially
secure, invested in their work, and happy in their
marriages tend to find it easier to grant their teenagers
appropriate autonomy
 siblings: An overly intrusive older sibling undermines
self-esteem and promotes adjustment difficulties.
Peer relations
Friendships: The number of best friends declines from 4-6 in
early adolescence to 1-2 in early adulthood.
 Friendship is now about intimacy and loyalty
 emotional closeness more common in girls’ friendships
 androgynous boys are just as likely as girls to form
intimate same-sex ties
 opportunities to explore the self, develop a deeper
understanding of another person
 helps deal with the stresses of adolescence
 can improve attitudes towards academic performance
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Cliques and crowds
cliques: groups of about 5 to 7 members who are good
friends and resemble one another in family background,
attitudes, and values
 dress codes, ways of speaking, and behaviours that
separate them from other cliques and from the adult
world
 sometimes several cliques with similar values form a
larger, more loosely organized group called a crowd
(e.g. jocks, brain, druggies, greasers, goths, skaters)
 authoritative parents  “brains”, “jocks”, “popular”
 permissive parents  the “fun crowd”, the partiers
 uninvolved parents  partiers and druggies
In early adolescence boys’ and girls’ cliques merge.
 practice for interacting with the other sex
 larger group divides into couples, who spend time
together
 by late adolescence the mixed-sex clique dissolves and
the importance of the crowd declines
Dating
 Younger teenagers date for recreation and to achieve
status with agemates
 by late adolescence, looking for a partner who shares
their interests.
 Intimacy in dating relationships lags behind that of
same-sex friendships
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 Dating young does not foster social maturity and carries
a risk of premarital pregnancy
 Homosexual youths: may retreat into heterosexual
dating; have trouble finding same-sex partners;
profound loneliness
 50% of high school romances do not survive high
school graduation, and those that do tend to become
less satisfying.
Problems of Development
Depression: most common psychological problem of
adolescence
 15-20% with one or more episodes
 2-8% chronically depressed
 twice as often in girls than boys
 adults may see symptoms as part of normal moodiness
 genetic and environmental factors play a part
 a learned-helplessness attributional style
 early maturing girls are more prone to depression
Suicide
 3rd leading cause of death
 4 to 5 times the number of boys kill themselves
compared to girls.
o Girls use methods that have a greater likelihood of
revival
o Boys use more active methods
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 Suicide tends to occur in 2 types of adolescents
1) highly intelligent, solitary, withdrawn, unable to
meet their own (or important others’) high
standards
2) more common – antisocial teenagers who bully.
Fight, steal, abuse drugs
 family turmoil, parental emotional problems, martial
breakup
 breakup of an important peer relationship, or humiliation
Prevention of suicide
warning signs
 putting one’s affairs in order
 saying goodbye, references to death, suicide
 sadness, despondency
 fatigue, boredom, lack of energy
 withdrawal from friends
 easily frustrated, with emotional outbursts
 distractible
 decline in grades, discipline problems
 neglect of appearance
 sleep change
 appetite change
 physical complaints
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Delinquency
 people under age 21 account for 30% of police arrests
 27% of violent crimes; 42% of property crimes
 rises over the early teenage years, remains high in
middle adolescence, then declines into young
adulthood. Why?
o peers become less influential over time
o moral reasoning matures
o social contexts occur that are less conducive to
law-breaking (marriage, career)
Predictors of delinquency
 3 to 8 times as many boys as girls
 temperament, low IQ, poor school performance, peer
rejection in childhood, entry into antisocial peer groups
 families low in warmth, high in conflict, with inconsistent
discipline
 schools that fail to meet developmental needs
Treatment
 lengthy and intensive, using problem-focused methods
that teach cognitive and social skills needed to
overcome family, peer, and school problems.