1. Life-Span Development Twelfth Edition
Chapter 12:
Socioemotional Development in Adolescence
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

2. ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Self-Esteem
Self-Esteem is the overall way we evaluate ourselves
Girls’ self-esteem tends to decline during adolescence, while boys’ self-esteem increases
Girls’ negative body image during pubertal change
Greater interest young adolescent girls take in social relationships
Gender differences may be exaggerated
Low self-esteem in adolescence is associated with:
Poorer mental and physical health
Worse economic prospects
Higher levels of criminal behavior
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

3. ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Identity
Vocational/Career
Political
Religious
Relationship
Achievement, Intellectual
Sexual
Cultural/Ethnic
Interests
Personality
Physical
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

4. ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Identity
Erikson’s Identity versus Identity Confusion:
Psychosocial Moratorium: the gap between childhood security and adult autonomy
Adolescents are generally free to try out different identities and choose what is right for them
Adolescents who resolve the conflict emerge with a refreshing, acceptable sense of self
Adolescents who do not successfully resolve the conflict suffer identity confusion
Withdrawal and isolation
Immersion in peers
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

5. ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Identity
Four statuses of identity based on crisis or commitment
Crisis: a period of identity development during which the individual is exploring alternatives
Commitment: a personal investment in identity
Diffusion: individuals who have not yet experienced a crisis or made any commitments
Foreclosure: individuals who have made a commitment but not experienced a crisis
Moratorium: individuals who are in the midst of a crisis but whose commitments are absent or weak
Achievement: individuals who have undergone a crisis and made a commitment
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

6. ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Identity
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

7. ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Identity
Key changes in identity are more likely to take place in emerging adulthood than in adolescence
Especially true for vocational choice
One of emerging adulthood’s themes is not having many social commitments
Developing a positive identity requires considerable self-discipline and planning
Identity does not remain stable throughout life
“MAMA”: repeated cycles of moratorium to achievement
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

8. ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Identity
Family atmosphere is important in the adolescent’s identity development
Individuality (self-assertion and separateness)
Connectedness (mutuality and permeability)
Ethnic Identity: an enduring aspect of the self that includes a sense of membership in an ethnic group and the attitudes and feelings related to that membership
Development of a bicultural identity
Identity development tends to be more complex for members of ethnic minority groups
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

9. ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Identity
Downtrend in religious interest among adolescents has occurred in the 21st century
Adolescence and adulthood can serve as a gateway to a spiritual identity that “transcends, but not necessarily excludes” the childhood religion
Adolescents higher in religiosity are:
Less likely to smoke, drink, use marijuana
Less likely to be truant from school and engage in delinquent activities
Less likely to be depressed
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

10. ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Families
Parents often have to weigh competing needs for autonomy and control, independence and connection
Adolescents’ ability to attain autonomy and gain control over their behavior is acquired through appropriate adult reactions to their desire for control
Boys are often given more independence than girls
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

11. ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Families
Role of Attachment:
Securely attached adolescents are less likely to engage in problem behaviors such as juvenile delinquency and drug abuse
Securely attached adolescents have better peer relations
Correlations are moderate
Balancing Freedom and Control:
Adolescents still need to stay connected to families
Parents who play an active role in monitoring and guiding adolescents’ development are more likely to have adolescents with positive peer relations and lower drug use
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

12. ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Families
Parent–Adolescent Conflict:
Parent–adolescent conflict increases in early adolescence
Conflict typically involves everyday events of family life
Disagreements may serve a positive developmental function
Conflicts facilitate the adolescent’s transition from being dependent to becoming autonomous
About one in five families engage in prolonged, intense, repeated, unhealthy conflict
Associated with various adolescent problems
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

13. ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Families
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

14. ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Peers
Peer Relationships:
Most teens prefer a smaller number of peer contacts and more intimacy
Friends become increasingly important in meeting social needs during adolescence
Teens with superficial or no friendships tend to be lonely and have lower self-esteem
Characteristics of friends have an important influence
Friends’ grade-point average is a consistent predictor of positive school achievement
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

15. ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Peers
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

16. ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Peers
Peer Pressure:
Young adolescents conform more to peer standards than children do
Peaks about 8th and 9th grade
14 to 18 years of age is an especially important time for developing the ability to stand up for one’s beliefs
U.S. adolescents are more likely than Japanese adolescents to put peer pressure on their peers to resist parental influence
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

17. ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Peers
Cliques and Crowds:
Cliques: small groups (2 to 12 individuals), typically of the same sex and about the same age
Based on friendship or similar activities
Crowds: larger than cliques and less personal
Based on reputation
May not spend much time together
Usually appear in early adolescence and become less prominent in late adolescence
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

18. Dating and Romantic Relationships
Adolescents spend considerable time either dating or thinking about dating
Dating can be a source of:
Recreation
Status and achievement
Learning about close relationships
Mate selection
Adolescents often begin by hanging out together in mixed-sex groups
Cyberdating has become popular among middle-school students
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

19. Dating and Romantic Relationships
Gay Male and Lesbian Youth:
Many date other-sex peers, which can help clarify their sexual orientation or disguise it from others
Sociocultural Contexts:
Differences in dating patterns among ethnic groups
Values, beliefs, and traditions often dictate how and when adolescents date
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

20. Dating and Romantic Relationships
Dating and Adjustment:
Adolescents who date are more likely to be accepted by peers and be perceived as more physically attractive
Dating and romantic relationships at an unusually early age have been linked with several problems
Lower grades
Less active participation in class
School-related problems
Delinquency
Substance use
Adolescents who watch soap operas are more likely to date early and have more dating partners
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

21. ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Culture
Cross-Cultural Variations:
Two-thirds of Asian Indian adolescents accept marriages arranged by their parents
Female adolescents in the Philippines sacrifice their futures to work and send money home
In the Middle East, many adolescents are not allowed to interact with the other sex, even in school
Street youth in Kenya survive economically by delinquency or prostitution
Russian youth are marrying earlier to legitimize sexual activity
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

22. ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Culture
Health:
Fewer adolescents around the world die from infectious diseases and malnutrition than in the past
Some health-compromising behaviors are increasing in frequency (illicit drug use and unprotected sex)
Gender:
Experiences of male and female adolescents are quite different around the world
In many countries, adolescent females have much less freedom than males
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

23. ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Culture
Family:
In some countries, adolescents grow up in closely knit families with extensive extended kin networks
In western countries, parenting is less authoritarian and larger numbers of adolescents are growing up in divorced families and stepfamilies
Family trends include:
Greater family mobility
Migration to urban areas
Family members working in distant cities or countries
Smaller families; fewer extended-family households
Increases in mothers’ employment
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

24. ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Culture
Peers:
Some cultures give peers a stronger role in adolescence than others
In western nations, peers are prominent in adolescents’ lives
In other regions, peer relations are restricted (especially for girls)
Rites of Passage:
Rite of Passage: ceremony or ritual that marks an individual’s transition from one status to another
Vary among cultures
Rich tradition has prevailed in African cultures
In the U.S., rites of passage are found in various religious and social groups
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

25. ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Ethnicity
Immigration:
Immigrants often experience stressors uncommon to longtime residents
Language barriers
Separation from support networks
Changes in SES status
Struggle to preserve identity and to acculturate
Assimilation: the absorption of ethnic minority groups into the dominant group
Pluralism: the coexistence of distinct ethnic and cultural groups in the same society
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

26. ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Ethnicity
Ethnicity and Socioeconomic Status:
Ethnic minorities are overrepresented in the lower socioeconomic levels of American society
Many ethnic minorities experience a double disadvantage:
Prejudice, discrimination, and bias
Stressful effects of poverty
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

27. ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Ethnicity
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

28. ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Juvenile Delinquency
Juvenile Delinquent: an adolescent who breaks the law or engages in behavior that is considered illegal
Broad concept that includes many actions, from littering to murder
At least 2% of all youth are involved in juvenile court cases
More likely to be committed by males, but involvement by females is increasing
Property offenses are committed more than any other crime
Rates are disproportionately higher for minority and lower-SES youth
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

29. ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Juvenile Delinquency
Should an adolescent who commits a crime be charged as an adult?
One study demonstrated that trying adolescent offenders as adults increased their crime rate
Early onset (before age 11) antisocial behavior is associated with more negative outcomes than late onset antisocial behavior
More likely to persist into adulthood
More mental health and relationship problems
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

30. ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Juvenile Delinquency
Causes of Delinquency:
Heredity
Identity problems
Community influences
Family experiences
Parental monitoring is important
History of physical abuse
Hostile sibling relationships
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

31. ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Juvenile Delinquency
Causes of Delinquency (continued):
Lower-class culture
Antisocial peer groups and gangs
Status given for antisocial behavior
Observation of models engaging in criminal activities
Inadequate community resources
Cognitive factors
Low self-control
Low intelligence
Lack of sustained attention
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

32. Depression and Suicide
Depression is more likely to occur in adolescence than childhood
Linear increase from 15 to 22 years of age
Earlier onset is linked with more negative outcomes
Depression is consistently higher in girls and women
Females tend to ruminate
More negative body image
Females face more discrimination than males
Puberty occurs earlier for girls
Family factors play a role
Having a depressed parent
Emotionally unavailable parents
High marital conflict
Parents with financial problems
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

33. Depression and Suicide
Poor peer relationships are associated with adolescent depression
Co-rumination in girls
Depressed adolescents recovered faster when they took an antidepressant and received cognitive behavior therapy than when they received either treatment alone
Safety concern with certain antidepressants in adolescence
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

34. Depression and Suicide
Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death in 10- to 19-year-olds
Far more adolescents contemplate or attempt it unsuccessfully than actually commit it
Females are more likely to attempt suicide, but males are more likely to succeed
Lesbian and gay male adolescents are only slightly more likely than heterosexual adolescents to commit suicide
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

35. Depression and Suicide
Other Risk Factors:
History of family instability and unhappiness
Lack of supportive friendships
Genetic factors
Depressive symptoms
Low self-esteem
High self-blame
Being overweight
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

36. Depression and Suicide
Successful Intervention Programs Include:
Intensive individualized attention
Community-wide multi-agency collaborative approaches
Early identification and intervention
©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.