Factors Influencing Identity Development and Search for Self among Adolescents, Essays (high school) of Psychology

Download Factors Influencing Identity Development and Search for Self among Adolescents and more Essays (high school) Psychology in PDF only on Docsity! Surname1 Name Instructor Course Date Selected Topic: Identity and the Search for the Self Research Question: What Factors Influence Identity Development and Search for Self among Adolescents? Introduction The adolescent stage of life is the stage that precedes the childhood stage and comes before early adulthood. It is a unique stage of development because it prepares one for adulthood, and it’s also the process where kids begin to search for and develop an identity. This is the stage they become self-aware of their existence, and begin a serious search for the self. Also, they experience transitions in life experiences that come with growing older, and the more they become self-aware of themselves, the more they develop a solid identity and other concrete self-concepts; self-esteem and self-schemas. During this stage of development, individuals experience rapid cognitive, social, emotional and biological changes, and these happen to be the factors that influence identity search. This paper, therefore, presents a research paper that explains how cognitive, social, emotional and biological changes in adolescents influence their identity development and the search for self. Discussion Surname2 Cognitive Changes In development psychology, cognitive development explains the advancement in peoples’ thinking. According to (Berger), cognitive development in adolescents occurs in three phases. The first phase is the advancement of their reasoning capabilities. This phase occurs in the early stage of adolescents where individuals start to get a wider perspective of the world. They develop the ability to explore their surroundings to optimal levels as well as situations privy to them (Sander). In addition, this phase also comes with ability to reason hypothetically as well as apply logic during problem solving. In Lisa Wingate’s book, “Before we were yours,” this stage is manifested when Rill Foss and her siblings begin to get a wider perspective of life. They begin to realize that the world is uncertain; hence, Foss begins to fight for them. The cognitive ability to explore her surrounding pushes her to develop a sense of familial identity. She begins to question her identity and her position in the family, considering she has a huge responsibility ahead of her (Wingate). The second phase is the abstract thinking phase. It occurs while an individual is around 15 years of age. His cognitive sense is more advanced and given him the advantage of thinking abstractly (Sanders). An individual becomes a concrete thinker and will always link his thought to his knowledge, and create a picture and explanation to things he is yet to experience. This is the point where an adolescent individual becomes able to understand complex mathematics formulas or any other technical subjects and experiences around them (Beger). An individual’s problem solving skills also advance during this phase; and individual is able to devise independent solutions without an iota of help. Still at this phase, an individual becomes aware of his personal feeble and develops the need to have thoughts, ideas and reasoning that appeals to an audience. The individual’s thought are mature and have the ability to appeal to people Surname5 At the middle adolescent stage, that is around age 16, adolescents become disinterested in same-sex peer relationship and start to explore their social space (Sanders, 2013). Here, they begin to develop social connection towards the opposite sex. Boys usually have an upper hand in this. They approach girls with intentions of starting intimate relationships. This is the stage where most of them explore their sexuality, and by the end of it, they are no longer virgins. Towards the end of adolescents, individuals have a developed whole new identity, separate from their parents (Sanders). This is where they begin to pursue social independence. Most of them move out from their parents at this age. Social transition, if not well handled, may affect an individual for the rest of his life. Pediatricians recommend parents to guide their kids through the transition process, despite being in inconsistent relationships with their children. A not-fully-developed identity may affect an adolescent individual, and in some cases, lead to grave mental issue. Psychologist Erikson, in his description of identity vs. role confusion stage of life—which occurs during the adolescent stage —says that it is normal for individuals to experience confusion in their social growth which may lead them to experimenting inappropriate social behaviors (Malone et al, 2016). This confusion results from not-fully-developed-identity, and it is the core cause of depression in adolescents. Emotional Adolescence stage of development is also characterized by development in emotional competence; this relates to the management of emotions especially with their relationships (Berger). Adolescent marks the stage where individuals are more aware of their sentiments and can manage them to match with the feelings of other people, or still show emotional imbalance; they become more sensitive to other people’s emotions towards them. Adolescents also become Surname6 more self conscious (Sanders). They get emotionally attached to their peers and worry more about their peer’s comments; they are highly influenced by what people say about them. However, their emotional growth is not parallel to their physical growth. Most adolescents’ physical development outdoes their emotional development; it is not guaranteed that the more an adolescent physically grows is the more he emotionally grows. Things that negatively trigger their emotions affect their identity formation. This is because emotional fluctuations exposes them to new environments, and shift their search for identity. In the book, this happens when Rill and her sisters experience emotional abuse and later separated as they get adopted by wealthy families. They have to change their identities to conform to their new families. This can easily be assumed that adolescents hardly have a solid identity until they reach adulthood. Mostly, it affects the development of their self esteem. Marcus defines it as, "Self-esteem is a psychological gauge of the degree to which people perceive that they are relationally valued and socially accepted by other people." It affects the process of identity formation in adolescents. Biological The biological transition of individuals during adolescent is mainly exhibited through their physical appearance. Unlike cognitive, social and emotional aspects where changes are uniform for both boys and girls, biological changes are gendered; male biological changes are different from female biological changes (Berger, 2018). Just like the other aspects, biological changes are important because they help individuals fit in their gendered environments. The immediate biological change that occurs is changes in body structures. For females, this may begin as early as towards the end of the late childhood stage of development, and may continue until they are around 21. They begin to develop breasts as their bodies become more curvy—due to enlargement of the pelvic girdle—and fatty. Their voices become softer. Internally, they Surname7 experience rapid hormonal changes that lead to menstruation. The biological aspect of development in boys begins much later. For some, it may delay up to the age of 14. Just like girls, boys also experience increase in height. Their voices break/become coarse to denote masculinity (Berger). Their shoulders broaden. Increase hormonal—testosterone—activities in their bodies cause enlargement of genitals, and begin to experience beard growth and wet dreams. Their growth phase can also continue until they are 21 years old. Biological factors only influence the development of gendered identities and self-awareness. This is not well illustrated in the book. Challenges and Opportunities The search for identity and development of self awareness among adolescents are subjects to challenges and opportunities; as seen through the various occurrences in the book. The challenges prevalent during the adolescent stage of development are deeply embedded in their aspects of growth. Biological changes bring about rapid emotional activity in the body, and as a result affect their emotions and emotional reaction towards people. Mood change is a challenge that increases during this stage, and has great impact on family relationship. As Thomas & Patterson note, “Mood changes can negatively affect social relationships of adolescent individuals” (Thomas & Patterson). In such cases, most people end up losing friends. Cognitive challenges are embedded in their ego. Objective thinking causes adolescent to question and challenge their surroundings. Majority of them end up questioning familial rules and norms, which leads them to feel like they are not being understood. This further destroys their relationship with those people around them. Psychologically, they find it stressful to adjust to the new roles and responsibilities that come with maturity. They grow intolerant of rules and