Week 5 - Adolescent development Flashcards
Changes that happen in adolescence:
- Puberty or changes to the physical body
- Changes to the family (parent) relationships
- Changes to peer relationships
- Changes to educational setting
- Broader societal context (roles and expectations)
What are the different identities
Identity foreclosure:
Identity achievement:
Identity moratorium:
I
Identity diffusion:
Identity foreclosure:
In this foreclosure status, individuals don’t necessarily go through the crisis and upheaval of exploring who they are, but they do come to a sense of identity anyway. Erikson proposed that this sense of identity could be placed on them by others (family) or by circumstance (talent).
Forming a sense of identity this way is often influenced by parental or societal pressure, or even a way for an individual to avoid having to make difficult decisions about who they are. These identities may seem coherent externally, but may not be coherent internally, as they may not truly reflect the individual’s personality, skills, interests and desires.
Identity achievement:
This status is about successfully achieving identity. Adolescents overcome the upheaval and doubts about their identity by actively confronting the crisis and deeply considering who they want to be. This leads to the formation of a coherent sense of self and identity. This identity then guides future choices and behaviour the adolescent feels committed to. Adolescents in this status have a coherent sense of self that aligns well with who they want to be and who they see themselves as.
Identity moratorium:
In this status, the adolescent does not necessarily come to a coherent sense of identity because there is some blockage (own personality, social issues, disadvantage) inhibiting them from confronting the crisis. As a result, the identity crisis continues. In moratorium, individuals may feel lost and confused. Often, individuals in moratorium avoid making any commitment to aspects of identity.
This status acts a pause in the formation of identity and can provide the individual with a “breathing space”. Often, after an individual moves through moratorium, a strong, coherent sense of identity emerges.
Identity diffusion:
In this status, individuals don’t make any identity decisions during adolescence. They experience no crisis and therefore show no commitment to any strong identity, even an identity imposed by the outside world. The lack of a strong sense of who we are during adolescence has potential impacts on behaviour, emotional outcomes and decision-making processes.
Parenting adolescents
Baumrind (1991) suggested that there were particular parenting styles associated not only with specific types of parenting behaviour, but also outcomes for adolescents.
What are they?
- Authoritarian
- Authoritative
- Disengaged
Authoritarian
An authoritarian parenting style is lower on warmth but higher on control. The style of parenting is often more directive and strict, with high monitoring and low independence.
This style has been associated with sound academic achievement, but adolescents report less autonomy as an experience of their parents’ restrictiveness.
Authoritative
An authoritative parenting style is higher on warmth but with appropriate levels of control. In this style, the parent takes the adolescent’s needs and desires into account, there’s still high monitoring, but the parent considers the adolescent’s readiness for new independence.
This style has been associated with sound academic achievement and reports of higher self-esteem and competence from adolescents, who also saw their parents as more loving and influential.
Disengaged
A disengaged parenting style involves a laissez-faire, hands off approach, with very little monitoring or control. This style can either be very permissive, non-directive and warm, or in other cases neglectful and very low on warmth.
This style has been associated with higher risk for poorer outcomes, including lower achievement, less prosocial competence and more risk taking
