Developmental Psychology

Chapter 12

1. Self, Identity, Religious/Spiritual Development

SELF ESTEEM Both boys and girls had particularly high self-esteem in childhood but it dropped

considerably during adolescence

Girls self esteem declines more than boys (due to negative body image, take in social relationships and societys failure to reward that interest) Adults characterized by poor mental and physical health, worse economic prospects and higher levels of criminal behavior were more likely to have low self-esteem in adolescence than their better adjusted, more competent adult counterparts

NARCISSICM: self-centered, and self-concerned approach toward others

IDENTITY Vocational/career identity Political identity Religious Relationship Achievement, intellectual Sexual Cultural/ethnic Interests Personality Physical identity *Identity development does not happen neatly and cataclysmically

Adolescence

1. Self, Identity, Religious/Spiritual Development

Eriksons View Identity vs. identity confusion

Search for an identity during adolescence is aided by psychosocial moratorium (term for
gap between childhood security and adult autonomy) Society leaves adolescents relatively free of responsibilities and free to try out different identities, those who dont resolve this identity crises will suffer from identity confusion which takes one of the two courses (1) individual withdraw, (2) immerse themselves in world of peers

Developmental Changes James Marcia: reasons that Eriksons theory of identity development contains 4 statuses (ways of resolving identity crisis) Classifies individuals based on existence or extent of crisis or commitment:

CRISIS: period of identity development during which the individual is exploring alternatives COMMITMENT: personal investment in identity

1. Identity Diffusion: crisis and commitment absent. Show little interest in matters 2. Identity Foreclosure: commitment present. Occurs when parents hand down commitments to their adolescents 3. Identity Moratorium: crisis present. 4. Identity Achievement: crisis and commitment present

Adolescence

1. Self, Identity, Religious/Spiritual Development

Emerging Adulthood and Beyond Alan Waterman found:

College upperclassmen are more likely to be identity achieved than college freshmen or
high school students. Timing of identity development may depend on particular dimension involved Increased complexity in reasoning skills of college students combined with a wide range of new experiences that highlight contrasts between home and college and between themselves and others stimulates them to reach higher level of integrating various dimensions of their identity Studies found: Identity moratorium rose steadily to 19 years old Identity achievement rose across late adolescence and adulthood Foreclosure and diffusion declined across high school years but fluctuated in late adolescence and early adulthood MAMA Cycle: MoratoriumAchievement

Ethnic Identity ETHNIC IDENTITY: enduring aspect of self that includes a sense of membership in an ethnic group, along with attitudes and feelings related to that membership Many adolescents develop bicultural identity to solve the need of choosing between own ethnic group and dominant culture Ethnic minority individuals, adolescence and emerging adulthood are often special junctures in their development

Adolescence

1. Self, Identity, Religious/Spiritual Development

Generation Difference: First generation immigrants: likely to be secure in their identities, unlikely to change, may

not develop new identity. Feel American related to whether or not they learn English
Second generation: think themselves as American because citizenship granted at birth. Likely to be linked to retention of their ethnic language and social networks Third generation: historical, contextual and political factors are unrelated to acculturation may affect the extent to which members of this generation retain their ethnic identities Researchers found positive ethnic identity is related to positive outcomes for ethnic minority adolescents Navajo adolescents positive ethnic heritage is linked to higher self-esteem, school connectedness and social functioning Latino adolescents found that ethnic identity resolution predicted proactive coping with discrimination over time Exploration was an important aspect of establishing secure sense of ones ethnic identity, which in turn was linked to positive attitude toward ones own group other groups

RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT Adolescents who are involved in religious institutions are more likely to engage in service learning Adolescent girls are more religious than boys Emerging adults in less developed countries are more likely to be religious than their counterparts in more developed countries

Adolescence

1. Self, Identity, Religious/Spiritual Development

Cognitive Development and Religion in Adolescence Increase in abstract thinking lets adolescents consider various ideas about religious

concepts
increased logical reasoning gives them the ability to develop hypotheses and systematically sort through different answers to spiritual questions Positive Role of Religion in Adolescents Lives Religion plays a role in their health and whether they engage in problem behaviors Those who were higher in religiosity were less likely to smoke, drink alcohol, engage in delinquent activities and be depressed More likely to engage in community service

Adolescence

2. Families
PARENTAL MONITORING
Research showed that parental monitoring has shifted from an exclusive emphasis on parents role in monitoring adolescents whereabouts and activities to include adolescents active role in managing their parents access to information Adolescents are more willing to disclose information to parents when parents ask them questions and then their relationships is characterized by higher level of trust, acceptance and quality

AUTONOMY AND ATTACHMENT Push for Autonomy Adolescents ability to attain autonomy and gain control over their behavior is acquired through appropriate adult reactions to their desire for control Boys are given more independence than girls, US families with traditional gender-role orientation. Latino parents protect and monitor their daughters more closely than nonLatino white parents

Role of Attachment Adolescents who were securely attached at 14 years of age were more likely to report that they were in an exclusive relationship, comfortable with intimacy in relationships and increasing financial independence at 21 years old

Balancing Freedom and Control Those who did not eat dinner with parent 5 or more days a week had dramatically higher rates of smoking, drinking, initiation of sexual activities

Adolescence

2. Families
PARENT-ADOLESCENT CONFLICT
Parent-adolescent relationships become more positive if adolescents go way to college than if they attend college while living at home Everyday conflict serve a positive developmental function

Old model: As adolescents mature, they detach themselves from parents and move into a world of

autonomy apart from parents

Parent-adolescent conflict is intense and stressful throughout adolescence

New model: Parents serve as important attachment figures and support systems while adolescents explore a wider more complex social world Most families parent-adolescent conflict is moderate rather than sever and that the everyday negotiations and minor disputes not only are normal but serve positive developmental function of helping them transition from childhood dependency to adult independence

Adolescence

3. Peers
FRIENDSHIPS
Harry Stack Sullivan: importance of adolescent friendships Friends become increasingly important in meeting social needs If adolescents fail to develop close friendships, they experience loneliness and reduced sense of self-worth Adolescents report disclosing intimate and personal information to their friends more often than do younger children

They depend more on friends than parents to satisfy their needs for companionship,
reassurance of worth and intimacy Gossip about peers take place, not all are negative, some can involve collaborative construction that contributes to developing perspectives on intimacy and close relationships Characteristics of friends have important influence on their development Friends GPA was consistent predictor of positive school achievement and linked to lower level of negative behavior Those who interact with older youth engage in more problem behaviors

PEER GROUPS Peer Pressure US adolescents are more likely than Japanese adolescents to put pressure on their peers to resist parental influence Study showed (Mitchell Prinstein): adolescents who are uncertain about social identity (in form of low self-esteem or high social anxiety) are more likely to conform to peers

Adolescence

3. Peers
Cliques and Crowds
CLIQUES: small groups (2-12 individuals, average 5-6). Same sex and about same age form because of friendship, or engage in similar activities CROWDS: larger and less personal. Members of a crowd based on reputation, may not spend too much time together

DATING AND ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS

Developmental Changes in Dating and Romantic Relationships

Early Bloomers: (11-13) who say they currently are in romantic relationships Late Bloomers: (17-19) say they have no relationship before 1. Entry into romantic attractions and affiliations (11-13) Triggered by puberty Interested in romantic relationships, dominates conversations Develops crush and often shared by same sex friends Dating occurs in group

2. Exploring romantic relationships (14-16) (a) casual dating emerges between individuals, short lived (b) dating in groups is common Friends often act as 3rd part facilitator of a potential dating relationship

3. Consolidating dyadic romantic bonds (17-19) More serious relationships develop Characterized by strong emotional bonds More stable and enduring

Adolescence

3. Peers
Dating in Gay and Lesbian Youth
Man sexual minority youth date other-sex peers which can help them clarify their sexual orientation or disguise it from others Study: gay and lesbian youth rated the breakup of current romance as their 2 nd most stressful problem. Second only to disclosure of their sexual orientation to their parents

Sociocultural Contexts and Dating

Asian American adolescents were less likely to have been involved in romantic
relationship in past 18 months than African American or Latino adolescents Latino and Asian American have more conservative standards regarding adolescent dating than Anglo-American

Dating and Adjustment Study: 10th grader revealed that the more romantic experiences they had, the more they reported higher levels of social acceptance, but linked to higher level of substance use, and sexual behavior Adolescent girls found that those who engaged in co-rumination were more likely to be involved in romantic relationship and together co-rumination and romantic involvement predicted an increase in depressive symptoms

Adolescence

4. Culture and Adolescent Development

CROSS-CULTURAL COMPARISONS Traditions and Changes in Adolescences Around the Globe Health: fewer adolescents around the world die from infectious disease and malnutrition Gender: males have greater access to educational opportunities than females in well developed countries Family: some grow up in closely knit families. In US, parenting is less authoritarian and more adolescents are growing up in divorced families and stepfamilies Peers: western nations, peers figure prominently in adolescents lives, sometimes taking roles of parents Time allocation to different activities: for optimal development, US adolescents may have too much unstructured time because when adolescents are allowed to choose what they do in their time, they typically engage in unchallenging activities. Structured voluntary activities provide more promise for adolescent development Rites of Passage: ceremony of ritual that marks an individuals transition from one status to another

ETHNICITY Immigration Immigrations often experience stressors uncommon to or less prominent among longtime residents (language, dislocations, separations from support networks, change in SES status) For adolescents in family obligtion, they will assist parents in their occupations and

contribute to familys welfare

Adolescence

4. Culture and Adolescent Development

Ethnicity and Socioeconomic Status Ethnicity and SES can interact in ways that exaggerate the influence of ethnicity because ethnic minority individuals are over-represented in lower socioeconomic levels Many adolescents experience double disadvantages (1) prejudice, (2) stress of poverty

THE MEDIA Media Use Dramatic increase in media multitasking Television viewing and video game playing increases

Online lives of adolescents Boys report that they feel more comfortable self-disclosing online than girls Girls are more comfortable self-disclosing in person

Adolescence

5. Adolescent Problems
JUVENILE DELIQUENCY

JUVENILE DELINQUENT: adolescent who breaks the law or engages in behavior that is considered illegal Males are more likely to engage in delinquency Rates from minority and low SES groups are high Early onset antisocial behavior is associated with more negative developmental outcomes Associated with more mental health and relationship problems

Causes of Delinquency Lower SES: being tough and masculine are high status traits for low SES boys Study showed: young adolescents school connectedness buffered the effects of negative family relations and poor self-control on the development of conduct problems Family support systems are associated, parents who dont know how to discourage delinquent behaviors Families living in high-risk neighborhoods revealed that parents lack knowledge of their

childs whereabout
Harsh discipline predicted individuals who are delinquents

Marion Forgatch: Randomly assigned divorced mothers with sons to an experimental group where mothers receive extensive parenting training Training consisted 14 parent group meetings that emphasizes skill encouragement, limit

setting, monitoring, problem solving

Results showed that improved parenting practices and reduced contact with deviant peers were linked with lower rates of delinquency in experimental group at 9 year follow up Siblings have strong influence

Adolescence

5. Adolescent Problems
DEPRESSION AND SUICIDE Depression Females have rate of depression twice of males Having depressed parent, emotionally unavailable parents, parents with high martial conflict and those with financial problems Not having close relationship with best friends, adolescent romantic relationships Young adolescents with nondepressed friends are less likely to be depressed than those without friends Co-rumination in girls predicted increase in positive quality of friendship, but also increase in depressive and anxiety symptoms Depressed adolescents recovered faster when they took antidepressants and CBT

Suicide 3rd leading death of 10-19 years old Males more likely to succeed May have long history of family instability and unhappiness

Lack of affection and emotional support

Pressure for achievement by parents during childhood Research showed: prior suicide attempts by a member of adolescents social groups were linked to probability of the adolescent attempting suicide Peer victimization is linked to suicide thoughts and attempts African American and non-Latino white males reported lowest incidence of suicide attempts

The closer a persons genetic relationship to someone who has committed suicide, the
more likely that person is to do so too Adolescents who used alcohol while they were sad or depressed was linked to suicide attempts

Adolescence

5. Adolescent Problems
SUCCESSFUL PREVENTION PROGRAMS Four main problems: (1) drug abuse, (2) delinquency, (3) sexual problems, (4) schoolrelated problems Problems are interrelated Early initiation of sexual activity is associated with use of cigarettes, alcohol, drop out

What to do: (Dryfoos) 1. Intensive individuated attention: attached to responsible adult. Have student assistance counselor who is available full time for individual counseling and referral for treatment 2. Community wide multiagency collaborative approaches. 3. Early identification and intervention

Adolescence