12: Socioemotional Development in Adolescence

self-esteem

the self-esteem of girls declines more during adolescence

Self-esteem reflects perceptions that do not always match reality

• For example, one’s perception of one’s own intelligence or attractiveness

Thus, high self-esteem may refer to accurate, justified perceptions—but it can also indicate an unwarranted sense of superiority

Narcissism

a self-centered and self-concerned approach toward others

Self-regulation is important to many aspects of adolescents’ lives.

• Academic achievement

• Good health habitsAvoiding risky behavior

a key component is effortful control, which involves

• inhibiting impulses

• not engaging in destructive behavior

• focusing and maintaining attention despite distractions

• initiating and completing tasks that have long-term value, even if they may seem unpleasant

identity is a self-portrait composed of many pieces and domains

• vocational/career identity

• political identity

• religious identity

• relationship identity

• achievement, intellectual indentity

• sexual identity

• cultural/ethnic identity

• interests

• personality

• physical identity

Erikson’s view

• the 5th developmental stage, experienced in adolescence: identity vs. identity confusion

• the search for identity is aided by a psychosocial moratorium— the gap between childhood security and adult autonomy

• Adolescents experiment with different roles and personalities

• Adolescents who cope with conflicting identities emerge with a new sense of self

• Adolescents who do not successfully resolve the identity crisis suffer identity confusion

Developmental changes:

• the individual can now sort through and synthesize childhood identities to construct a path toward maturity

• James Marcia classifies individuals at this stage based on the existence or extent of their crisis or commitment

• Crisis: a period of identity development during which the adolescent is exploring alternatives

• Commitment: a personal investment in identity

Marcia’s four statuses of identity

• identity diffusion

• identity foreclosure

• identity moratorium

• identity achievement

identity diffusion

individuals who have not yet experienced a crisis (explored meaningful alternatives) or made any commitments

identity foreclosure

those who have made a commitment but have not experienced a crisis

identity moratorium

those who are in the midst of crisis, but their commitments are either absent or vaguely defined

identity achievement

those who have undergone a crisis and have made a committment

Emerging adulthood and beyond:

Key changes in identity are more likely to take place in emerging adulthood—or later—than in adolescence.

College can have significant effects, including increased complexity in reasoning and a wide range of new experiences

Note that identity does not remain stable throughout life

• Many follow “MAMA” cycles: from moratorium to achievement to moratorium to achievement

• the first identity should not be expected to be the final product

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

• many adolescents develop a bicultural identity, based on both their ethnic group and the majority culture.

• Pride in one’s ethnic identity group and a strong ethnic identity and connection has positive outcomes

  • Influenced by positive and diverse friendships

Although important to many, religious interest among adolescents has declined in the twenty-first century

• Assessed in terms of frequency of prayer, discussion of teachings, and deciding moral actions for religious reasons, along with the overall importance of religion in everyday life.

Adolescent girls are more religious than are adolescent boys

Emerging adults in less developed countries are more likely to be religious than their counterparts in more developed countries

Cognitive development and religion in adolescence:

• More so than in childhood, adolescents think abstractly, idealistically, and logically

• The increase in abstract thinking lets adolescents consider various ideas about religious and spiritual concepts

• Increased idealistic thinking provides a foundation for considering religion’s role in a better world

• An increased capacity for logical reasoning enables them to develop hypotheses and sort through answers to spiritual questions.

The positive role of religion in adolescents’ lives

Religion plays a role in adolescents’ health and has an influence on whether they engage in problem behaviors

• Research links religiosity or spirituality to a decreased likelihood of engaging in substance use and to positive health outcomes

• In one study, spirituality but not religiosity was linked to higher life satisfaction.

Many religious adolescents adopt their religion’s message about caring and concern for people

• Increased likelihood of engaging in community service.

A key aspect of the managerial role of parenting is effective monitoring

• Supervising adolescents’ choice of social settings, activities, and friends

• Supervising academic efforts

Higher levels of monitoring and rule enforcement are linked to

• Engaging later in sex and using condoms

• Getting more sleep

• Better health behavior in adolescence and college.

A current interest focuses on adolescents’ management of their parents’ access to information

• Disclosing or concealing information about their activities.

When parents engage in positive parenting practices, adolescents are more likely to disclose information.

This disclosure is linked to positive adolescent adjustment.

Adolescents who engage in problem behaviors are more secretive and disclose less to parents

Adolescents often have a strong desire to make their own decisions—and to spend time with friends

• Adolescents’ ability to attain autonomy is acquired through appropriate adult reactions to their desire for control

• When given autonomy, teens feel they have more independence and a better parental relationship

• Boys are typically given more independence

• Cultural diversity in timing and roles must also be considered

The role of attachment

Securely attached adolescents are less likely to have emotional difficulties and to engage in problem behaviors, juvenile delinquency, and drug abuse

Balancing freedom and control

Adolescents still need to stay connected with their family

• For example, those who do not eat with a parent on most days have higher rates of substance use.

A high monitoring, high autonomy support parenting profile is positively linked to adolescent adjustment.

Developmental advantages occur when friends are:

• Socially skilled

• Supportive

• Oriented toward academic achievement

Developmental disadvantages are more likely with friends who:

• Coercive friends who encourage drinking

• Conflict-ridden, poor-quality friendships

Five ways social media use transforms adolescent peer relationships

• Changing the frequency or immediacy of their experiences

• Amplifying their experiences and demands

• Altering the qualitative aspects of their interactions

• Facilitating new opportunities for their compensatory behaviors

• Creating completely novel behaviors

Young adolescents conform more to peer standards than children

• Boys are more influenced by peer pressure involving sexual behavior than girls

• Adolescents with low self-esteem and high social anxiety are most likely to conform to peers and during transitions (for example, a new school).

Clique

a small group of about five or six individuals that may form among adolescents who engage in similar activities

• May also form because of friendship.

Crowd

a larger group structure that is usually based on reputation

• Members may or may not spend much time together

• Most are defined by the activities adolescents engage in— that is, “jocks” and “druggies.”

Peer Groups

• The appearance of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) in 2020 quickly affected the ways friendship and peer relations take place

• Social distancing—maintaining a distance of 6 feet or more from others—may for some increase feelings of social isolation

• In this respect, the dramatic increase in social media use may prove to be of great value, allowing adolescents to stay connected with friends and peers online.

Three stages characterize the development of romantic relationships in adolescence

• Entry into romantic attractions and affiliations at about 11 to 13 years of age

• Exploring romantic relationships at approximately 14 to 16 years of age, often through casual dating and dating in groups

• Consolidating dyadic romantic bonds at about 17 to 19 years of age

Two variations are considered early bloomers and late bloomers

Dating in gay and lesbian youth

• Many date other-sex peers, which can help clarify their sexual orientation or disguise it from others

• Most gay and lesbian youth have had some same-sex experience, often with peers who are “experimenting.”

Sociocultural contexts and dating

• Cultures, values, beliefs, and traditions often dictate the age at which dating begins, how much freedom is allowed, whether dates must be chaperoned, and the roles of males and females

• Dating can be a source of conflict in families, especially if parents grew up in a culture where little freedom is allowed

Dating and adjustment

Experiencing romantic encounters can increase social acceptance, friendship competence, and romantic competence

Supportive romantic relationships can improve the likelihood of positive outcomes for adolescents experiencing conflict in other parts of their lives.

Having more romantic relationships can also have negative implications

• Higher levels of substance use, delinquency, and sexual behavior

• In girls, depression and pregnancy.

Health

Overall, fewer adolescents die from infectious diseases and malnutrition today; but health-compromising behaviors are increasing in frequency

Gender

The experiences of boys and girls continue to be quite different

• In much of the world, males have far greater access to education, a variety of careers, and leisure activities

• Far more restrictions are placed on the sexual activity of adolescent females than on that of males

• Differences are narrowing over time, however.

Family

In some countries, families are close-knit and have extensive kin networks; but current trends of mobility and migration are bringing change

• Countries like the United States are seeing greater numbers of divorced families and stepfamilies

Peers

In some regions, peer relations are restricted (especially for girls); in others, the peer network can serve as surrogate family

Activities

U.S. adolescents have far more discretionary time than adolescents in other industrialized countries

• When given a choice, they typically engage in unchallenging activities such as hanging out and watching TV

rite of passage

signal the adolescent’s move to maturity and achievement of adult status

• Jewish bar and bat mitzvah and the Catholic confirmation

• School graduation may be the most culture-wide rite of passage in the United States

The following factors appear to improve academic achievement for children living in poverty

• greater academic commitment

• emotional control

• family involvement

• a supportive school climate

Immigration

Immigrants often experience stressors uncommon to or less prominent among long-time residents

• Language barriers

• Dislocations and separations from support networks

• The dual struggle to preserve identity and to acculturate

• Changes in socioeconomic status.

Many individuals in immigrant families are also dealing with the problem of being undocumented

The ways ethnic minority families deal with stress depend on many different factors

Ethnicity and socioeconomic status:

Ethnicity and SES can interact in ways that exaggerate the influence of ethnicity, because ethnic minorities are overrepresented in the lower-SES levels of American society.

Thus, many ethnic minority adolescents experience a double disadvantage:

• prejudice, discrimination, and bias because of their ethnic minority status

• Stressful effects of poverty

Economic advantage among middle-income ethnic minority youth does not mean they escape prejudice, discrimination, and bias.

Screen time includes how much time individuals spend watching TV or DVDs, playing video games, and using computers or mobile media devices

• Nighttime mobile phone use and poor sleep behavior increases from 13 to 16 years of age

• Among both girls and boys, heavy users of digital media are twice as likely to have low psychological well-being.

The more screen time adolescents have, the more their academic achievement suffers

One major trend is the dramatic increase in media multitasking, which at a general level is distracting and impairs performance on many tasks.

A national survey also revealed dramatic increases in adolescents’ use of social media and text messaging

• In 2019, 15- to 17-year-olds spent an average of three hours and four minutes each day engaging in screen time (Livingston, 2019)

Less screen time has been linked to better health-related quality of life among adolescents.

Text messaging is the preferred method of contact with friends, while voice mail is used to connect with parents

Juvenile delinquent

an adolescent who breaks the law or engages in behavior that is considered illegal.

Delinquency rates

• Males are more likely to engage in delinquency than females

• Rates among minority groups and lower-SES youth are especially high

Causes of delinquency

• Lower-SES culture

• Parents less skilled in discouraging antisocial behavior

• Siblings and delinquent peers.

Factors contributing to depression

• Genes

• Certain family factors

• Poor peer relationships

Treatment of depression

• Drug therapy using serotonin reuptake inhibitors

• Cognitive behavioral therapy

• Interpersonal therapy

In the United States, suicide is now the third-leading cause of death in 10- to 19-year-olds

Adolescents contemplate or attempt it unsuccessfully more often than they actually commit it.

Females are more likely to attempt suicide, but males are more likely to succeed.

Risk factors for suicide

• History of family instability and unhappiness

• Lack of supportive friendships

• Cultural contexts and genetic factors

• Depressive symptoms

The four problems that affect the most adolescents are

• Drug abuse.

• Juvenile delinquency

• Sexual problems

• School-related problems.

A review of the programs that have been successful in preventing or reducing adolescent problems found these common components

• Intensive individualized attention

• Community-wide multiagency collaborative approaches

• Early identification and intervention.