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Adolescent psychosocial development
Psychosocial development in adolescence
Adolescent psychosocial development
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Evaluation and Analysis of the Theme
In reference to Gollnick and Chinn, “Adolescence, approximation ages 13 through 18, is perhaps one of the most challenging times in the life of an individual and the family” (p. 244). Dazed and Confused demonstrates how confused adolescences might behave. In the movie, the plot takes place on the last day of school. Seniors have graduated from their “childlike” days into what they feel is adulthood. They celebrate by taking part in drinking, sex, and drugs. Freshman are trying to find their place in high school, so they take part in the annual initiation ritual, allowing themselves to be humiliated in front of their peers to be accepted. I thought the film did a good job enlightening us on how complex adolescence behavior can be. One of the characters that stand out to me is Pink Floyd. He is the star quarterback and has everything going for him, but he feels like his
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245). Dazed and Confused represented every part of this statement. The characters didn’t give any thought to the consequences of their behavior. They bought alcohol underage and committed crimes like smashing mailboxes and driving under the influence. According to Gollnick and Chinn, “High-risk youth are youth who engage in activities that make them or others vulnerable to physical, social, or psychological harm or negative outcomes” (p. 244). Many of the characters smoked weed and drank alcohol. Then senior boys beat freshman boys with paddles and the senior girls belittled freshman girls by calling them names and making them engage in self-deprecatory acts. Many of the seniors did not give any thought beyond that one night of excitement and partying. They did whatever felt good at that particular
The novel “The Outsiders,” by S.E. Hinton can be defined as an emotional, heart breaking, and lesson teaching story. Ponyboy Curtis and Johnny Cade were the youngest in their gang of Greasers. They were all wild boys, who liked looking “tuff” and being known as criminals. Ponyboy and Johnny were not as intimidating as the other greasers, Two-Bit Mathews, Dallas Winston, Darrel Curtis, Sodapop Curtis, and Steve Randle. One night, Ponyboy and Johnny were both out on the street. Out of nowhere some drunken Socs began to chase and beat up the boys. One of the Socs was drowning Ponyboy in a fountain. Johnny saw the danger Ponyboy was in and pulled out his switchblade. He stabbed Bob Sheldon and killed him. The boys did not know what to do, so they ran away to Windrixville, and lived in an abandoned church. They cut their hair and Ponyboy bleached his. Eventually the boys came to their senses and planned to turn themselves in. Dallas came to pick the boys up, but first they went to Dairy Queen to eat. When they drove back to the church they noticed that the church was on fire. Ponyboy and Johnny forced themselves into the church to save the children stuck inside. Ponyboy ended up with a minor concoction and some small burns on his back. While Johnny was not as lucky, an extremely large, heavy, and blazing hot piece of wood fell on him. Both boys were sent to the hospital. Johnny remained in the hospital much longer than Ponyboy. Johnny felt weaker and weaker every day and was getting worse by the minute. After a long and depressing journey, Johnny passed away. Therefore, their group of Greasers would now be presented with how loss and grief could drive people into making illogical decisions.
Moreover, habitually ignoring the obvious has succumb them to a life of denial, which only exacerbates the inner turmoil of the teenagers. Ultimately, “parents can help teens who feel helpless by being present” (Clinton, Clark, & Straub, 2010). Furthermore, aside from the possible emotional and/or personality disorders demonstrated, such as Bobby’s incessant hand-washing, an underdeveloped prefrontal cortex, which is potentially stagnated due to their excessive drug use, it is obvious as there is no sense or fear of consequences, which is apparent in not only their sexual promiscuity, but their nonchalant demeanor as they devise a plan to commit murder. Although, God has gifted us with free will, which is clearly exhibited by the teens in this movie, parents are obligated to God to provide a strong foundation based on faith, love and guidance so as to ensure the gift of free will is not misused. Therefore, as the prefrontal cortex is not fully developed until their mid-twenties, abuse of drugs and lack of parental guidance will ultimately have detrimental outcomes. As scripture states “The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother” (Proverbs 29:15
Adolescence is a time when everything we've ever known is being changed. Relationships, friends, thoughts, and other things that shape who we are become more awkward and confusing and are changed from what they have been in the past. Consequently, we will change also because all these things shape who we are. During a period of such change, it's hard to know who we really are. Adolescence is the time when we find out who we truly are, but not until we know who we aren't. Adolescents use common words, actions, and rivalries to try to define their unique personalities, goals, and ideas. They label themselves in different ways, trying to find a single word that defines them entirely. Through this ongoing change of identity, adolescents fully realize who they are by trying on different identities until they find the one that fits them the best.
Tracy Freeland in Thirteen is the epitome of a person going through the stages of adolescence. All of the surroundings you grow up in affect and help shape the person you become. In Tracy’s case, her identity was formed by her choices with her new friends, and how she chose to explore that new world. It can be seen throughout this film how easily adolescents are influenced by those around them when deciding the type of person they want to be in adulthood. References Berk, L. E. (2011).
In his research Jay Macleod, compares two groups of teenage boys, the Hallway Hangers and the Brothers. Both groups of teenagers live in a low income neighborhood in Clarendon Heights, but they are complete opposites of each other. The Hallway Hangers, composed of eight teenagers spend most of their time in the late afternoon or early evening hanging out in doorway number 13 until very late at night. The Brothers are a group of seven teenagers that have no aspirations to just hang out and cause problems, the Brothers enjoy active pastimes such as playing basketball. The Hallway Hangers all smoke, drink, and use drugs. Stereotyped as “hoodlums,” “punks,” or “burnouts” by outsiders, the Hallway Hangers are actually a varied group, and much can be learned from considering each member (Macleod p. 162). The Brothers attend high school on a regular basis and none of them participate in high-risk behaviors, such as smoke, drink, or do drugs.
Throughout the time period of adolescence, teen brains are constantly developing into a more mature form of itself: “But as we move through adolescence, the brain undergoes extensive remodeling, resembling a network and wiring upgrade”(Dobbs). Meaning, in the teenage years, teens brains are constantly reworking the way they think. The brain does this, in part, by gaining new perspectives. For example, an adolescent who used to play with dolls when they were younger, now may think it would be very childish to do so. This is due to the teen getting a new more mature perspective. All kinds of new perspectives are being gained during adolescence. These changes in perspective could be as small as viewing dolls differently, or as big as seeing politics in a new light. Sometimes this time period of gaining new perspectives can be seen as dangerous or obnoxious. This is due to the amount of risk teens take throughout the adolescence time period. Although the adolescence stage may be seen as a danger, it is actually a vital part to human development and maturity: “. . . adolescence starts to seem like a highly functional, even adaptive period. It is exactly what you’d need to do the things you have to do then” (Dobbs). What Dobbs means by this is when teens are going through the time period of adolescence, all the scary risk and obnoxious things teens do are an important part of them gaining knowledge and new perspectives. Adolescence is not harmful to teens, but rather a helpful time period that allows them to take on adult responsibilities, and learn from mistakes they make. By gaining new perspectives through experiencing adult responsibilities and learning from mistakes during adolescence, teens become smarter and more
The article “Inside the Teen Brain” by Marty Wolner, states that recent research on the teen brain has left shocking new evidence on why teens act crazy. This was found out by scanning the brains of teens. As it turns out teen brains are under MORE construction than previously thought. The prefrontal cortex and limbic system are not yet developed. Without higher level processing of the prefrontal cortex, it may result in bad and risky behavior. Teens are not fully capable to process information to make good choices. This does not excuse inappropriate behavior. Healthy communication and effective discipline are what a teen needs. Every interaction a teen has is impacting the development of their brain. Teen’s brains need focused and intentional
There is a change between how the characters in teen coming of age films as seen in American Graffiti and Superbad. This is a sign of how society views teenagers or wants them to be portrayed to the public. It is not that teenagers have changed their behavior over time it is the idea that society has become more open and accepting of how a raunchy a film can be. In addition, both films represent society and its culture for the generation, American Graffiti was representing a time of innocence, which is shown through its characters while Superbad reflects the issues that teenagers in recent times have been pressured to do. Therefore, the teen coming of age film changes over time because it usually represents the generation of when the film is
Teenagers have a kind of mystery complex life, a lot of them are not sure about what they are or what they want, they get so confuse in such an insensible society, where they think that they are not understood at all. These thoughts are developed, because puberty has reached its maximum splendor,
Adolescence is a stage in life that brings many changes to one’s life. High school, rebellion, crisis, parties, sex, drugs, social media, and many first are what often come to mind when thinking of the adolescent stage of life, but in reality all this stage is, is the maturing of one’s mind and body. While one’s minds and bodies are evolving both physically and mentally, one is experiencing things such as sexual development and growth spurts. Depending on how your body matures is what may define you as a jock or an outcast and it is mat define your experiences as an adolescent. It is due to this that people either never want to go back to this time in their life or wish to live in it forever. For me, I would never
Young people are often reluctant to heed adults who warn them to avoid the use of alcohol and other drugs. Such youth frequently respond more to peer influence.
Along with Meg, Ella, Matt, and Jake a lot of other young adults were attending this party. There was a variety of alcohol. A majority of the kids were underage at the time of drinking. A few boy and girls choose to smoke cigarettes and intake drugs without the consent of parents. Another example of the disobedience is the noise of the party. The music is tremendously loud. The speakers fills both floors of the house with the volume turned all the way up. The noise could be heard from a block away. The final example is the irresponsibility with managing school work and social life. It is about the time of the midterms and finals at University of Central Florida. The kids are going to parties, to the beach, and extra activities for teens instead of
The film continues on into the lunchroom scene in which the films narrative brings up another strong point. The point that teenagers have little depth to their friendships and to their lives in general. In the lunchroom scene we are taken on a tour of the cliques in the school. Like every school there are the jocks, nerds, potheads, wealthy kids,etc. But the similar charectaristic in each group is their lack of concern with each other. Their selfish attitudes and behaviors consume every idea and action. This aspect of narrative points out the selfish behaviors of the youth then and
One of these topics includes understanding the different stages of life and the psychological development of people of all ages. In Psychology class we learned about numerous Psychologists who had theories related to this important concept. One of the psychologist’s was named Erik Erikson. Erikson believed that there are eight stages of development across the lifespan and during each stage, there is a specific psychosocial crisis that most people face. Since I am planning on working with high school students, it will be essential that I fully understand the stage of development that they are in. Since high school students are in their adolescence, the central issue they would be dealing with would be identity versus role confusion. As Erikson explained, during this time “Teenagers work at refining a sense of self by testing roles and then integrating them to form a single identity, or they become confused about who they are” (Myers 209). Adolescence is a critical time in development because people are trying to figure out their identity and where they fit in society. Studies have shown that adolescents who have positive relations with others in their peer group tend to have a better sense of their well-being and have a more positive outlook on life. On the other hand, some adolescents have a hard time fitting in and becoming part of a peer group. This causes much stress on the individual and can cause the adolescent to isolate themselves from
Juveniles mental issues and brain behavior is the full picture of their everyday lifestyles. In “Juveniles don’t