SOCIOEMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN ADOLESCENCE

preview Significant changes characterize socio emotional development in adolescence. These changes include increased efforts to understand one’s self and searching for an identity. Changes also occur in the social contexts of adolescents’ lives, with transformations occurring in relationships with families and peers in cultural contexts. Adolescents also may develop socio emotional problems, such as delinquency and depression

THE SELF, IDENTITY, AND RELIGIOUS/ SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT self-esteem is the overall way we evaluate ourselves. Investigators sometimes use the terms self-esteem and self-concept interchangeably or do not precisely define them, but there is a meaningful difference between them. Self-esteem refers to global evaluations of the self; it is also called self-worth or self-image . For example, a child may perceive that she is not merely a person but a good person. Self-concept refers to domain-specific evaluations of the self. Children can make self-evaluations in many domains of their lives—academic, athletic, appearance, and so on. In sum, self-esteem refers to global self-evaluations, self-concept to domain specific evaluations.

Increasing Children’s Self-Esteem Bednar, Wells, & Peterson, 1995; Harter, 2006 Identifying the causes of low self-esteem, Providing emotional support and social approval, Helping children achieve, Helping children cope Self confidence Self esteem Self concept

IDENTITY Who am I? What am I all about? What am I going to do with my life? What is different about me? How can I make it on my own? These questions reflect the search for an identity.

What Is Identity? Identity is a self-portrait composed of many pieces, including these: • The career and work path the person wants to follow (vocational/career identity) • Whether the person is conservative, liberal, or middle-of-the-road (political identity) • The person’s spiritual beliefs (religious identity) • Whether the person is single, married, divorced, and so on (relationship identity) • The extent to which the person is motivated to achieve and is intellectual (achievement, intellectual identity)

• Whether the person is heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual (sexual identity) • Which part of the world or country a person is from and how intensely the person identifies with his or her cultural heritage (cultural/ethnic identity) • The kind of things a person likes to do, which can include sports, music, hobbies, and so on (interests) • The individual’s personality characteristics, such as being introverted or extroverted, anxious or calm, friendly or hostile, and so on (personality) • The individual’s body image (physical identity)