Psychologkcal Development In Adolescents

Adolescent maturation is a personal phase of development where children have to establish their own beliefs, values, and what they want to accomplish out of life. Because adolescents constantly and realistically appraise themselves, they are often characterized as being extremely self-conscious. However, the self-evaluation process leads to the beginning of long-range goal setting, emotional and social independence, and the making of a mature adult.

Three distinct stages can be identified in the psychological development of the adolescent, even though there is a great deal of overlap in the stages, and they may not occur during the age span indicated. During early adolescence (ages 11-13), development usually centers around developing a new self-image due to their physiological changes. Adolescents need to make use of their newly acquired skills of logical thinking and ability to make judgments rationally. When they reach the ages of fourteen and fifteen (the period known as mid-adolescence), adolescents strive to loosen their ties to their parents and their emotions and intellectual capacities increase. The adolescent becomes adventuresome, and experiments with different ideas. This plays an important role in finding one's relations to oneself, groups, and opposite sex. During this time, the adolescent battles over his own set of values versus the set established by parents and other adult figures. The adolescent also begins to take on more control of educational and vocational pursuits and advantages. It is during this time that adolescents' self-dependence and a sense of responsibility become apparent, along with their quest to contribute to society and find their place in it.

During late adolescence (ages range from sixteen on), adolescents have a more stable sense of their identity and place in society. At this stage in life they should feel psychologically integrated and should have a fairly consistent view of the outside world. Adolescent should, by this time, have established a balance between their aspirations, fantasies, and reality. In order for them to achieve this balance they should be displaying concern for others through giving and caring, instead of the earlier childhood pattern of self-gratification. At the conclusion of late adolescence they should have had designed or discovered their role in society, have set a realistic goal in life, and have begun in ernest to achieve it.

Erik Erikson's Psychosocial Theories

Psychosocial theorists based the development of identity on the outcome of crises that occur during the life of a person. Psychosocial theorists define crises as ...