Paper Requirement

Chapter 12: Socioemotional Development in Adolescence

Learning Goals

Learning Goal 1: Discuss self, identity, and religious/spiritual development in adolescence.

A. Discuss adolescent self-esteem.

B. Explain the development of identity in adolescence.

C. Describe religious and spiritual development.

Learning Goal 2: Describe changes that take place in adolescents’ relationships with their

parents.

A. Explain the role of parental monitoring during adolescence.

B. Discuss autonomy and attachment.

C. Describe parent–adolescent conflict.

Learning Goal 3: Characterize the changes that occur in peer relationships during

adolescence.

A. Discuss and describe the purpose of friendships during adolescence.

B. Explain peer groups.

C. Discuss developmental changes in dating and romantic relationships.

Learning Goal 4: Explain how culture influences adolescent development.

A. Compare and contrast how adolescents in different cultures spend their time and

experience rites of passage.

B. Describe the influence of ethnicity on adolescent development.

C. Discuss the use of media by adolescents.

Learning Goal 5: Identify adolescent problems in socioemotional development and

strategies for helping adolescents with problems.

A. Define juvenile delinquency.

B. Discuss the incidence and causal factors of depression and suicide among adolescents.

C. Discuss prevention/intervention programs for adolescent problems.

Think back to when you were a teenager? What were you going through socioemotionally with

family, friends, teachers? How did you view yourself identity-wise? What was your self-esteem

like?

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

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.

 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 intellectually oriented

(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)

What are some of your aspects of your own identity today? How do these differ from when you were a teenager?

 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. My friend was a “preppie girl” her freshman year, a “cowgirl” (Fresno!) our sophomore year, a “hippie” her junior year, and then an “artsy” girl our senior year. She went on to become a successful animator and artist. This trying on of different hats, so to speak, is a very common occurrence in high school.

◦ 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

 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

Let’s use career identity as an example.

 Diffusion: individuals who have not yet experienced a crisis or made any commitments (This is like my cousin when I used to ask him, “What do you want to do for a career?”, he would just say, “I dunno.” He hadn’t gone through a crisis nor had he committed to a career field yet.

 Foreclosure: individuals who have made a commitment but not experienced a crisis. This is similar to when I was working at UC Irvine as a therapist, I would have a lot of student who would just pick a major because that is what their parents did or what they wanted them to be. They committed to a career identity without going through the crisis of picking their own major.

 Moratorium: individuals who are in the midst of a crisis but whose commitments are absent or weak. This is like many of my students who are applying in fall to transfer but who do not have a commitment to a major yet (visit the Career Center in this case!).

 Achievement: individuals who have undergone a crisis and made a commitment. These are the folks who have went through trying to decide between sociology and psychology, went to the career center, looked online, talked to professors about it, etc.. and finally decided on psychology (the right choice! Just kidding!).

 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. I myself am multiracial. My mom is Filipina American and my dad was European American. I always struggled as a kid and teen with figuring out how to fit in, dealing with questions from people, (“Where are you from?”…. “I’m from Fresno!”)

◦ Identity development tends to be more complex for members of ethnic minority groups

 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

Families

 Parents often have to weigh competing needs for autonomy and control, independence and connection. Parents want to keep you safe, make sure you don’t make bad choices. Meanwhile, you as a kid wanted to go out, explore the world, and have independence.

 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  Role of Family

◦ Securely attached adolescents are less likely to engage in problem behaviors such as juvenile delinquency and drug abuse

◦ Adolescents who are securely attached to their parents have better peer relations  Balancing Power 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

 Parent–Adolescent Conflict: What kinds of conflicts did you have with your parents when you were a teen? Did you have little bumps

in the road, or full-blown “storm and stress” as Hall discussed?

◦ 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.

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

 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

 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

I used to do drama for six years when I was in Jr High and HS. My crowd was other drama kids

(of which there were about 30). My clique was a group of about 5-6 with whom I was closer.

What was your crowd and who was in your clique?

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. Malls, In-N-Out Burger, movies, seem to be popular these days;)

 Cyberdating has become popular among middle-school students. Obviously, this carries risks, as there are a lot of online predators and also people being “Catfished” as many say these days (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/mtv-catfish/)

 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

 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

 Pregnancy

◦ Adolescents who watch soap operas are more likely to date early and have more dating partners

Dating Abuse Fast Facts (from Teenage Research Unlimited)

 1 in 5 teens who have been in a serious relationship report being hit, slapped or pushed by a partner.

 1 in 3 girls who have been in a serious relationship say they've been concerned about being physically hurt by their partner.

 1 in 4 teens who have been in a serious relationship say their boyfriend or girlfriend has tried to prevent them from spending time with friends or family; the same number have been pressured to only spend time with their partner.

 1 in 3 girls between the ages of 16 and 18 say sex is expected for people their age if they're in a relationship; half of teen girls who have experienced sexual pressure report they are afraid the relationship would break up if they did not give in.

 Nearly 1 in 4 girls who have been in a relationship (23%) reported going further sexually than they wanted as a result of pressure.

 http://loveisrespect.org/is-this-abuse/dating-abuse-fast-facts.html 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)

 Rite of Passage:

◦ Rite of Passage: ceremony or ritual that marks an individual’s transition from one status to another

Here, you see a quinceañera picture of a 15 year old girl having this rite of passage and on the

right you see a picture of a Navajo girl having her kinaalda. A Bar Mitzvah for a 13 year old

Jewish boy and a Bat Mitzvah for a 13 year old Jewish girl are also rites of passage.

◦ 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 (even

gangs and cliques) 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

 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

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

 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

 Causes of Delinquency:

◦ Heredity ◦ Identity problems ◦ Community influences ◦ Family experiences  Parental monitoring is important  History of physical abuse  Hostile sibling relationships

 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

I went to a very impoverished, rough school, the worst in the district, and it was sad to see a lot

of my peers becoming involved in gangs. At the time, in the Fresno area, gangs were a

humongous problem (thankfully it has improved over the years somewhat), but it was terrible to

see kids inheriting a status into a gang just because their parents were in the gang, or because it

was an easier way to have a family experience that their parents didn’t give them. I highly

recommend, if you are ever commuting or have time to listen to the This American Life podcast

on Harper High, in the south side of Chicago (a notoriously rough neighborhood).

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/487/harper-high-school-part-one

◦ Cognitive factors  Low self-control  Low intelligence  Lack of sustained attention

An example of an intervention program for gang members is Homeboy Industries Their motto is “Jobs not Jails”: Homeboy Industries assists at-risk and formerly gang-involved

youth to become positive and contributing members of society through job placement, training and education. http://www.homeboyindustries.org/

Our ELAC Violence Intervention Team used to order all of our shirts, pens, lanyards, and other

personalized materials from Homeboy. Also, if you haven’t been, I recommend checking out Homegirl Cafe, the dishes are by the women, they cook and serve the food and do an excellent job.

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 ◦ Most frequently cited factor for adolescent suicide

 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

 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

 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

 Successful Intervention Programs Include:

◦ Intensive individualized attention ◦ Community-wide multi-agency collaborative approaches ◦ Early identification and intervention

If you knew a student that was suicidal, what obligations would you have to the student? What

kinds of things could they do to help that individual? Should people have the right to take their

own lives?