1. Adolescence: Psychosocial Development
The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence
by Kathleen Stassen Berger
Seventh Edition
Chapter 16
Adolescence: Psychosocial Development
Slides prepared by Kate Byerwalter, Ph.D., Grand Rapids Community College

2. Self and Identity
Erikson’s fifth stage of psychosocial development is identify vs. diffusion. It involves the question, “Who am I?”
PHOTODISC

3. Multiple Selves
Possible selves: various intellectual fantasies about what the future might bring if one or another course of action is chosen
False self: set of behaviors that is adopted by a person to combat rejection, to please others, or to try out as a possible self

4. Paths to Identity
Identity achievement: knowing who one is as a unique person, accepting some cultural values and rejecting others
This allows a person to have strong convictions, but to remain open to alternate ideas and opinions.

5. Paths to Identity (cont.)
Identity diffusion: a lack of values, traits or commitments
Foreclosure: adopting preset roles and values, without questioning
Foreclosure may lead to prejudice, narrow-mindedness.

6. Paths to Identity (cont.)
Moratorium: a pause in identify formation, in which alternatives are explored
This is an important step towards identity!
Negative identity: a rebellious, defiant identity, taken on to anger adults

7. Make it Real: Identity
On paper, place yourself in an identity status for each of the following arenas:
Religion
Ethnic identity
Sexual orientation
Politics
Career
Education

8. Religious Identity
Many adolescents take longer than age 18 to achieve religious identity. Struggling with questions is an important part of the commitment.
Example: The Amish encourage adolescents to go into the “real world” temporarily.

9. Gender Identity
Gender identity is the degree to which people see themselves as masculine or feminine.
This includes gender roles (duties), and sexual orientation (towards same or opposite sex, or both).

10. Ethnic Identity
Ethnic identity involves identification with a particular ethnicity through values, diet, gender roles, language, clothing, etc.
The process of ethnic identity may be especially intense for immigrant adolescents.

11. Make it Real: Vocation and Identity
What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of working during adolescence?
How much of a connection do you see between the types of jobs had during high school, and those you have or will have in adulthood?

12. Vocation and Identity
Research has found that working during adolescence impedes identity formation, family relationships, academic achievement, and career success.
Also, the types of jobs don’t tend to teach skills for later vocations.

13. Support from Adults
The “generation gap” between adults and teens is not wide when it comes to core beliefs and values.
However, each generation does view interactions from his/her own perspective (generational stake).

14. Generational Stake: An Example
A young Indian American girl wanted the freedom and independence of cutting her hair. Her elders considered hair an essential part of being a “good Indian girl.”
PHOTODISC

15. Make it Real: What’s your prediction?
At what age would you suppose parent-child conflict to be greatest?
What are parent-child conflicts about?
What does parent-child conflict a signal?

16. Parent-Child Conflict
NANCY RICHMOND / THE IMAGE WORKS

17. Parent-Child Conflict (cont.)
Is greatest during child’s tween years (10−13)
Is greatest between mothers and daughters
Usually involves repeated, petty arguments about clothes, cleanliness, etc.
Represents a teens desire for independence

18. Culture and Family
Some have argued that adolescent rebellion is a product of Western culture.
Parent-child conflict occurs later in adolescence for Asian and Latino teens, and hardly at all for teens in China.

19. Aspects of Parent-Teen Relationships
Communication
Support
Connectedness
Control
PHOTODISC

20. Parental Monitoring
Parental monitoring involves ongoing awareness of what a teen is doing, where, and with whom.
It deters delinquency.

21. Make it real: Parental Monitoring
Is it possible to have too much monitoring? What would be the result?

22. Peer Relationships
Peer pressure: social pressure to conform to one’s contemporaries
Peer pressure can be positive or negative.
It rises during early adolescence, peaking around age 14 years of age.

23. Peer Friendships Selection: peers choose one another
Example: Drug users hang out with drug users, high achievers with high achievers.
Facilitation: peers encourage one another to do things they wouldn’t do alone

24. Peer Group for Immigrant Teens
Conflict arises when the culture of friends of an immigrant teen differs considerably than the parents’ culture.
The teen wants to “fit in” with both peers and family!

25. Adolescent Interactions
The following sequence occurs for adolescent interactions (timing varies):
Groups of friends of one sex only
Loose association of “boy” and “girl” group
Small mixed-sex groups
Pairing of couples

26. Homosexuality
Teens with a homosexual orientation rarely tell anyone until at least age 17 years of age.
They may experience denial or repression of their sexual urges before finding their sexual identity.

27. Teenage Sexual Activity
Teens are by nature sexual beings.
The question becomes what one does with that sexuality during adolescence.
RUBBERBALL PRODUCTIONS

28. Parental Guidance About Sex
Question: Do you know any teen who has had a serious talk with his/her parents about sex?
Often parents avoid the issue. But proper guidance can influence teens in a positive manner.

30. Make it Real: Sex Education
Did your school have some type of sex education program?
If yes, at what age did it begin? What were the topics?
Do you think schools should teach sex education?

31. Sex Education in School
In the U.S., almost all adults (90% or more) think high schools should teach sex education, including contraception.
The concern is that talking about sex will lead teens to have sex. However, a report by the Surgeon General suggests this is not the case.

32. Sex Education (cont.)
Research suggests that the most effective sex education programs:
Are multi-faceted
Precede sexual activity by a year or more
Advocate for abstinence but also teach about contraceptives

33. Peer Influence on Sex
Friends influence each other in both positive and negative ways.
Examples: A “virginity pledge” among friends is positive. Pressure to “gain respect” by having sex is a negative.

34. Media as a Sex Educator
TV and movies are FULL of sexuality, but offer little knowledge about sex.
Using the Internet to find facts too often brings up pornography sites instead.

35. Trends in Adolescent Sexuality
Premarital sex has increased.
Sexual interactions are more varied (e.g., oral sex).
Teen births are decreasing worldwide.
The use of protection has increased.

36. Trends in Adolescent Sexuality (cont.)
U.S. teens have more babies than teens in other countries, due to lower contraceptive use, and fewer abortions.
In the U.S., teens with lower education tend to have sex and babies at earlier ages.

37. Self-Esteem During Adolescence
Self-esteem tends to decline between 6 to 18 years for many children.

41. Depression
Clinical depression: an overwhelming, enduring feeling of sadness and hopelessness.
The rate of depression doubles at puberty to about 15%, affecting 1 in 5 teen girls and 1 in 10 teen boys in the U.S.

42. Make it Real: Depression
WHY do you think depression becomes more prevalent during adolescence?
WHY do girls seem especially at risk?

43. Suicide
Suicidal ideation (thinking about suicide) is actually quite common during adolescence (e.g., 21% of girls).
The actual suicide rate is lower among teens under age 20 than adults.

44. More Facts on Suicide
The suicide rate among teens in North America and Europe has doubled since 1960.
Worldwide, parasuicide (attempt) is higher for females and completed suicide is higher for males.

46. Factors Influencing Suicide
Availability of lethal means (guns)
Lack of parental supervision
Use of alcohol and other drugs
Gender
Cultural attitudes

49. More Destruction
Many teens, especially boys, show bouts of anger and destruction during adolescence.
Question: Should this rebellion be considered a “normal” part of adolescence?
PHOTODISC

50. Breaking the Law
Delinquency is more frequent in adolescence than at other ages.
Worldwide, arrest rates increase between years, declining slowly after that.
Arrest rate for violent crimes is twice as high for teens as adults.

51. Breaking the Law (cont.)
Almost all teens have broken a minor law (e.g., curfew, speeding, truancy, etc.).
Males are arrested 3 times as often as females; ethnic differences exist in arrest rates (but not in self-reports of illegal acts).

52. Committing Crimes: Will it last?
Adolescence-limited offender: a person whose crimes end by age 21 years
Life-course persistent offender: a person whose crimes continue as an adult

53. Possible Roots of Life-Course Offenders
Antisocial as a child
Parental neglect or abuse
Brain damage
Early sex and drug use
Little participation in school activities

54. Intervention for Offenders
Therapeutic foster care: foster families trained to teach anger management, school achievement, self-care
This reduces later arrests by more than half.
It is costly in the short run, but saves money in prison, jail costs in the long run.

55. Depression and Self-Destruction
Adolescents can feel:
despondent and depressed, overwhelmed by the world and their own inadequacies, or
on top of the world, destined for great accomplishment

56. The Usual Dip General trend in mood is more downward than upward
Among boys, athletic self-confidence is especially likely to dip in adolescence
Self-esteem drops at around age 12

57. The Usual Dip (cont.)
Adolescents who lack support from family, friends, or school are more vulnerable to the self-esteem dip.
Loss of self-esteem may push them toward depression.

58. Mood Disorders in Adolescence
Warning signs
Not eating, sleeping, talking, or moving in normal rhythm
Strong feelings of despair or elation not based on reality
Suicidal ideation
Thinking about suicide is common among adolescents

59. Adolescent Suicide
Five reasons for erroneous belief that suicide is an adolescent problem
Rate is triple the rate of 40 years ago
Adolescents lumped together with young adults as one statistical category
Adolescent suicide is shocking and grabs attention
Social prejudice considers teenagers as problems
Suicide attempts are more common in adolescence

60. Parasuicide and Prevention
Parasuicide = deliberate act of self-destruction that does not end in death
Parasuicide and suicide depend on five factors
Availability of lethal means, especially guns
Parental supervision
Alcohol and other drugs
Gender
Attitudes of the culture

62. Rebellion and Destructiveness
Internalizing problems = emotional problems that are manifested inward, when troubled individuals inflict harm on themselves
Externalizing problems = emotional problems that are manifested outward, when people “act out,” injuring others, defying authority, or destroying property
More common among boys

63. Rebellion and Destructiveness (cont.)
Acting out may signify trouble in three ways
Externalizing actions may prove harmful to the actor
Externalizing behavior often harms others
For a significant minority, externalizing disorders signal the need for intervention

64. Breaking the Law
Delinquency is one indication of the emotional stress adolescents feel.
Worldwide, arrests are more likely in the adolescent years; ages are the peak.

65. Incidence and Prevalence
Incidence: how often a behavior occurs
Prevalence: how widespread a behavior is
Adolescent males are 3 times more likely to be arrested than females.
African Americans are 3 times as likely to be arrested as European Americans, who are 3 times more likely to be arrested than Asian Americans.

66. Crime Prevention
Adolescent limited offender: person who becomes law abiding as an adult
Life-course persistent offender: juvenile delinquent who continues patterns of lawbreaking throughout life