Chapter 10 Flashcards
Identity versus role confusion
Identity
Erikson’s term for the fifth stage of development, in which the person tries to figure out “Who am I?” but is confused as to which of many possible roles to adopt
Identity
Consistent definition of one’s self as a unique individual, in terms of roles, attitudes, beliefs, and aspirations
Identity achievement
Identity
Erikson’s term for the attainment of identity, or the point at which a person understands who he or she is as a unique individual, in accord with past experiences and future plans
Role confusion (identity diffusion) (Not Yet Achieved)
Situation in which an adolescent does not seem to know or care what his or her identity is
Foreclosure
Not Yet Achieved
Erikson’s term for premature identity formation, which occurs when an adolescent adopts parents’ or society’s roles and values wholesale, without questioning or analysis
Moratorium
Not Yet Achieved
An adolescent’s choice of a socially acceptable way to postpone making identity-achievement decisions (Going to college is a common example.)
Four Areas of Identity Formation
Erikson (1968/1994) highlighted four aspects of identity:
- Religious identity
- Political identity
- Vocational identity
- Sexual identity/gender identity/gender dysphoria
Adolescents
Human Relationships
- Seek to establish unique self
* Are social beings, dependent on others to validate whatever identity they seek
Conflicts with parents
Human Relationships: With Parents
Parent–adolescent conflict typically peaks in early adolescence and is more a sign of attachment than of distance
Bickering
Human Relationships: With Parents
Bickering involves petty, peevish arguing, usually repeated and ongoing
Neglect
Human Relationships: With Parents
Although teenagers may act as if they no longer need their parents, neglect can be very destructive.
Family closeness, five aspects:
Human Relationships: Family Closeness
More important than conflict may be family closeness, which has five aspects: • Communication • Support • Emotional dependency • Connectedness • Control
Communication
Human Relationships: Family Closeness
Do parents and teens talk openly with one another?
Support
Human Relationships: Family Closeness
Do they rely on one another?
Emotional dependency
Human Relationships: Family Closeness
• Adolescents are more dependent on their parents if they are female and/or from a minority ethnic group.
– This can be either repressive or healthy, depending on the culture and the specific circumstances.
Connectedness
Human Relationships: Family Closeness
How emotionally close are they?
Control
Human Relationships: Family Closeness
Do parents encourage or limit adolescent autonomy?
Parental monitoring
Do You Know Where Your Teenager Is?
Parents’ ongoing awareness of what their children are doing, where, and with whom
• Monitoring is a mutual process with adults who care and adolescents who communicate.
• Adolescents participate in their own monitoring.
Positive
Parental monitoring
Part of a warm, supportive relationship
Negative
Parental monitoring
When overly restrictive and controlling
Worst
Parental monitoring
Psychological when parents make a child feel guilty and
impose gratefulness by threatening to withdraw love and support
Peer pressure
Relationship with Peers
Provides encouragement to conform to one’s friends or contemporaries in behavior, dress, and attitude
• Is usually considered a negative force, as when adolescent peers encourage one another to defy adult authority
• Can also be positive influence of either gender
Peers
Relationship with Peers
Help adolescents navigate physical changes of puberty, intellectual challenges of high school, and social changes of leaving childhood
– Can be more helpful than harmful, especially in early adolescence
– Affect adolescents differentially
– Are particularly needed by adolescents of minority and immigrant groups