Adolescence is a time of great change for a child. It is a time where they begin to explore who they are as individuals and develop their own identities as they get closer into adulthood. Erik Erikson theorized that in adolescence “the main task is developing an identity” and that a healthy identity is developed when they try on alternate identities and reflect on these experiences (Pressley & McCormick, 2007,p.147). Michael Nakkula says “identity is not the culmination of a key event or series of events, although key events can play an important role in the larger process. It is rather, the lived experience of an ongoing process-the process of integrating successes, failures, routines, habits, rituals, novelties, thrills, threats, violations, gratifications, and frustrations into a coherent and evolving interpretation of who we are. Identity is the embodiment of self-understanding” (Nakkula, 2008, p.11). The experiences that adolescents go through daily and over time influences the identity they eventually form. Adolescence is a time when children start to reflect on what they are good at, their relationships with family and friends, questions about sexual orientation and even religion. There are six domains that affect an adolescent’s development which are personal, social, familial, moral, and intellectual. I will be focusing on the social, intellectual and physical domains. Demographics: I interviewed a student from Millennium Art Academy in the Bronx. Michael is an 11th grader at Millennium who at the time of the interview was actually on an in-house suspension. Michael was a bit shy and soft spoken. He lives with his mother and younger siblings, two sisters and a brother. He claims he has no responsibilities ... ... middle of paper ... ...ity to Michael. He seems like a very social person and his identity revolved around his relationships with his friends. His friends were one of the positive influences in his life since they were a source of motivation to do well in school. When asked if his friends deter him from being academically successful, he revealed that they actually keep him on track in school. Their doing well made him want to do well and he said that his friends always made him “feel good about himself.” I believe that constructing lessons where he can problem solve in groups with his friends would benefit a student like Michael the most since working together with friends keeps his motivation up, makes the material more fun to him, and working with friends gives him that investment he may need to achieve academically.
During this stage, Erikson believes that the individual’s successful identity formation relies on social, cognitive and physical maturation (Pittman, Keiley, Kerpelman, & Vaughn, 2011). The individual tries out different roles for who they see in themselves and who they portray to others, eventually committing to their own personal role and occupational choice. Pittman et al. (2011) describe the identity formation as “consisting of decisions, investments, and commitments tied to current and future roles, goals, and relationships.” Additional considerations for identity formation include the context of the culture which is available to the adolescent during this time. After successful resolution of this stage during adolescence, individuals will typically progress into Erikson’s Intimacy versus Isolation stage during young
...f adolescence allow development the identity that will serve as a basis for their adult lives. During Erikson's stage of identity versus role confusion, adolescents' description of self expands to include personality traits and attitudes. The emergence of abstract reasoning abilities allows adolescents to think about the future and experiment with different identities. The development of abstract thought in adolescence also impels the exploration of religious and spiritual beliefs. The development of religious identity begins to come into question with further exploration. Even though the adolescent may eventually adopt beliefs that were similar to their childhood beliefs, the process of exploration is important in achieving a religious identity.
Lastly, we look at identity without knowing it adolescents are searching for the answers to the question, “who am I?”. Although this is an important part of development for this stage it didn’t just being in this stage nor do adolescents have the capability to figure it all out. While growing up children are pushed one way or another by parents and peers some are pushed towards academics while others athletics. But how influential are parents and peers?
This period is marked by physical, social, moral and emotional development (Davies, Hartdegen, Haxell, Le Geyt & Mercier, 2012). It is a time when the adolescent’s sense of self or identity is becoming much more clear and they are beginning to understand their role in society, starting to question the morals of others and contemplating their own moral and ethical beliefs (Davies et al., 2012). During this time Erik Erikson believed that adolescents are faced with the psychosocial stage of identity versus role confusion (Berk, 2008). Adolescents explore their values and role in society, overcoming this conflict to better understand their own identity, however if they do not fully overcome this conflict, Erikson believed that the adolescent would be confused about their values and future adult roles (Berk, 2008). This conflict was clearly demonstrated in my own development during the late teenage years when I experienced both the results of failing to overcome and then overcoming Erikson’s fifth psychosocial stage. At age eighteen I finished secondary school and began my tertiary studies, I had been accepted into the degree I had wanted to study since middle childhood, however I quickly learnt that I was enjoying neither my studies nor my experience of life in halls of residence. I discontinued my studies after only
DeCuir-Gunby (2009) states that identity is “a formation process begins at birth, peaks during adolescence, and continues to develop throughout adulthood, thus allowing an individual to fully negotiate multiple identities.” During adolescence, the peak of identity development, it is the most judgemental and children
Identity Achievement – the adolescent has developed a well-defined self. Development of their identities can usually be expanded upon and continually defined throughout adulthood. The adolescent is committed to an ideology in addition to having and understanding of their ego
Biological influences combined with societal and social expectations contribute to how well people learn to adapt to their environments (2013). According to Erikson, there are eight stages of development. Within these states, there are different psychological, emotional and cognitive tasks. In order to adjust, individuals must learn to develop these tasks. During adolescence, Erikson states that each person needs to navigate through the development task of ‘‘Identity vs. Identity confusion ’’ (2013). He defined this task by stating that adolescent children must learn to develop a sense of self and establish independence. Prior to this stage of development, a person’s parents largely influence their identity. In this stage the adolescent children begin to explore and develop their identity outside of their parents’ influence (Hill, Bromell, Tyson, & Flint, 2007). Adolescents are generally more egocentric at this stage and have an increased sense of self-consciousness. They also have a strong desire to conform to peer influence and develop concerns regarding their appearance. They develop concern about their level of competence in relation to their peer group as well. As peer influence increases, during this stage, parental influence decreases (Ashford & LeCroy, 2013; Hill et. al, 2007). Conflict generally increases between parent and child at this stage of development (2007).
The fifth stage, according to Erik Erikson psychoanalytic theory of development is the Identity Vs Identity confusion. The stage occurs during adolescence in the ages between 12 to 18 years. At this stage, the adolescents try to find a sense of personal and self-identity by intensely exploring their personal goals, beliefs, and values (McLeod, 2017). Notably, the adolescence is between childhood and adulthood. Thus, their mind is between the morality learned during childhood and the ethics they are trying to develop into adulthood. The transitioning from childhood to adulthood is the most important development for a person because the individual is becoming independent and is focusing on the future regarding career, relationships, families
Adolescence refers to the transition period experienced by children that occur between childhood and adulthood (Shefer, 2011). Identity is first confronted in adolescence between the ages 12 – 19 years old, because of physical and hormonal changes in the body. It is also due to the introduction of formal operations in cognitive development and societal expectation that this contributes to an individual’s identity to be explored and established (McAdams, 2009). The forces within and outside (family, community) the individual that promote identity development usually create a sense of tension. The basic task is, in Erikson’s terms, “fidelity or truthfulness and consistency to one’s core self or faith in one’s ideology” (Fleming, 2004: 9), in a nutshell: "Who am I and where am I
The essay aims at an explicit discussion of adolescence as a stage of human development. The stage occurs at the age of 12 years to 18 years. The paper will discuss the transition stage in detail and the crucial social cultural and physical aspects associated with the stage. It will also look into the cognitive aspect in human development that result due to adolescence by mentioning to a theorist work. In every stage of human development, it has been found that they exist some important non-normative life transitions associated with it. The essay will precisely analyze the crucial non-normative life transitions that are expected to occur in the adolescence stage. the paper will discuss the criteria in which self-concept develops in the adolescence
Pinpointing the start of any developmental phase is difficult as different people view adolescence and who is classified as an adolescent in different ways. This is because of perspective as well as cultural differences of what an adolescent is. As a rule of thumb,we say that the onset of adolescence is when puberty starts. This is fairly easy to notice because of the physical changes. However, determining the end of adolescence is much harder. There are criteria from a social, legal, psychological and economic perspectives which determine the end of adolescence. In some cultures, youth are expected to go through an initiation of
Adolescence is a period of transition between the ages of 13 – 19, after childhood but before adulthood. Adolescence can be a difficult period in a teenager's life. Many teenagers do not know how to react or how to adapt to all of the physical, social, and psychological changes that occur during this period. Some adolescents pass through this period without problem, while for others, it is a period of torture, discomfort, and anxiety. With all the biological and social pressures that occur during adolescence, many teens fail to assume their identity. Sometimes family and society does not help to make this task easier. Challenges teenagers face due to biology and society are body image, hormonal changes, social and parental pressures, family problems, school pressures, alcohol, drug abuse, homosexuality, and suicide.
Identity can be considered relational and formative. Everybody has a sense of self or sense of personal identity. Our sense of self includes those roles, attributes, behaviors, and associations that we consider most important about ourselves. They and have a core impact on individual occupations, careers, friendships and social relationships, future family roles, and personal interests. Children acquire their sense of self and self-esteem slowly as they mature into adolescents. Identities develop over time and may change from time to time and place to place. Early in life, sense of self is associated with the security, protection, and acceptance that infants feel when cared for by adults they feel attached to. As a child matures, sense of self develops in concert with values observed in their parents. How we come to relate to our own sense of self begins by our earliest experiences. As we mature, we ultimately must deal with positive and negative aspects of peer pressure and role pressure. So that we can reflect on the individual we want to become based on deeply held values (Ylvisaker, Hibbard and Feeney, (2006)
My physical development was not so difficult for me. I experienced the growth spurt when I was10 to 15-years old. I didn’t think it was difficult time for me because my range of growth spurt was not so large. Additionally, I did not belong to sports club, so I did not feel uncomfortable when I move my body. I think I am a late bloomer because I have never had boyfriend. But I think it is advantage for me because I am not a “boy-crazy”. I know some friends who are early bloomer and being “boy-crazy”, I do not want to be like them. I have my own interest and I have something what I want to do besides dating with boys. My physical developments have some effects on my character of today. I think it is because I was taller than others since very young, my friends often said to me “you are like my elder sister.” This phrase makes me think that I need to be like elder sister when I was child. It is related to more about psychological development, but this way of thinking came from my height. One of other physical development related issue that makes me struggle is my period. Every time I am in period, I have pain in stomach and back; I feel sleepy, hungry, and irritating; and I have skin problems. I think there are more people who have more heavy symptoms of period, however, sometimes I cannot endure these. My physical developments have some effects on me, but it was not so difficult for me to pass through.
Many cultures celebrate the transformation from child to adult, but the change is not overnight. Rather, it is a culmination of many years; these years are summarized in one word, adolescence. Adolescence is the transition period from immaturity and childhood to maturity and adulthood in a person’s life. The adolescent years are filled with transformation both physically and intangibly. While there are many stages of development, adolescence is the most important as it provides a basis for the remaining years of life. The life lessons and experiences gained in adolescence either set one up for success or utter failure. The vulnerability of young adults during adolescence causes the years to be the most influential and significant. The decisions