16 - Adolescence: Psychosocial Development

1. 16 - Adolescence: Psychosocial Development Ages 11 to 18

3. Identity • Erikson • Identity vs. role confusion • “Who am I”

4. Identity Not Yet Achieved • Role confusion (Identity diffusion) • Don’t know, don’t care • Few commitments to goals or values • Apathy • Foreclosure • Premature identity formation • Adopting parents’ or society’s roles and values rather than exploring their own • Moratorium • Postponing identity achievement decisions • College may be one way

5. Four areas of identity formation • Religious identity • Often similar to parents • Political identity • Often similar to parents • Vocational identity • Sometimes similar to parents • Adults often change vocations • Sexual (Gender) identity • Accepting socially approved roles and behavior of their gender • Gender identity disorder • Does not identify with their biological sex

6. Relationships with adults • Conflicts with parents • Peaks in early adolescence • More a sign of attachment rather than distance • Distant relationships ignore the other • Neglect • Can be destructive for teenagers • (Even though they want to feel independent)

7. Closeness within the family • Four aspects of closeness • Communication • Can both talk openly? • Support • Do they rely on each other? • Connectedness • Emotional closeness • Control • How do parents exercise control? • Encourage or limit adolescent autonomy

8. Closeness within the family (Cont.) • Parental monitoring • Monitoring of peers, friends, websites • Positive – When warm, supportive • Negative - When overly restrictive and controlling

9. Peer Power (Pressure)

10. Selecting friends • Selection • Choosing friends with common values and interests • E.g. Academics, music, athletics • Facilitation • Friends encourage behavior similar to the peer group • Positive • Studying together, church, sports • Destructive • Skipping school, drinking, drugs

11. Learning about sex • Peers • Strongly influence sexual behavior • Only half U.S. adolescents discuss pregnancy or STD’s before being sexually active • Parents • Underestimate need for information • Wait too long before talking about sex • School • Preferred by most parents • Sex education varies dramatically by nation • Abstinence-only programs • No significant impact on sexual activity • Does education change behavior? • Depends more on family, peers, and culture than classes

12. Sadness and anger

13. Suicide • Suicidal ideas (Ideation) • Ideas are common – completed suicides are not • Adolescents are less likely to kill themselves than adults are • Gender differences • More girls attempt suicide than boys • Boys are 4 times as successful • Methods • Males shoot themselves • Females use pills and hanging

14. Drug use and abuse • Age • Widespread ages 10-25 then decreases • Drug use before 18 = best predictor of later drug use • 20% of adolescents never use drugs • Gender • Boys use more drugs more often than girls • “If I don’t smoke, I am not a man.”

15. Harm from drugs

16. Tobacco • Slows down growth • Damages heart, lungs, brains, and reproductive systems

17. Alcohol • Heavy drinking may permanently impair memory • Damaged hippocampus • May impair self control • Damaged prefrontal cortex • Denial of problems • Problems get worse

18. Marijuana • People who regularly smoke marijuana are more likely to: • Drop out of school • Become teenage parents • Be unemployed • Affects: • Memory • Language • Motivation

19. Preventing drug abuse • Focus on friends and peers • First use is social • Delay first use • Younger when starting = more likely addiction • Massive ad campaigns • E.g. Smoking • Generational forgetting • Each generation forgets what previous generations learned • Drug users tend to be more emotional & less reflective • Interference with prefrontal cortex

20. Scare tactics • Mayincrease drug use • Drugs seem exciting • Adolescents recognize exaggeration • Show a way to show defiance