Adolescence Identity Development and Risk Behaviors: Erikson and Marcia's Theories, Apuntes de Desarrollo Cognitivo

¡Descarga Adolescence Identity Development and Risk Behaviors: Erikson and Marcia's Theories y más Apuntes en PDF de Desarrollo Cognitivo solo en Docsity! UNIT 5: ADOLESCENCE IDENTTY, RISK BEHAVIOURS Erikson argues that adolescents strive to discover their own strengths and weaknesses and the roles they can best play in their future lives. This discovery process often involves “trying on” different roles or choices to see if they fit and adolescent´s capabilities and views of himself. ERIKSON´S IDENTITY-VERSUS-IDENTITY CONFUSION STAGE Identity confusion stage can be defined as the adoption of socially unacceptable roles by adolescents as a way to express what they do not want to be. They may have difficulty forming and maintaining long-lasting close personal relationships. They are failing to organize themselves around a central, unified core identity. Identity: Those who are successful in forging an appropriate identity set a course that provides a foundation for future psychological development. They learn their unique capabilities and believe in them. They also develop and accurate sense of who they are. Adolescents feel pressure to decide whether their post-high-school plans include work or college and, in any case, the occupational tasks they will follow (choosing the work they will develop or the degree). During this period, adolescents increase their rely on friends and peers as sources of information. At the same time, their dependence on adults decline. The psychological moratorium is a period during which adolescents take time off from the upcoming responsibilities of adulthood and explore various roles and possibilities. (Taking a gap year after high school) MARCIA´S IDENTITY MODEL 1. Identity achievement: Adolescents within this identity status have successfully explored and thought through who thy are and what they want to do. Following a period of crisis during which they consider a wide range of alternatives, these adolescents have committed to a particular identity. Teens reaching this identity status tend to be psychologically healthier, getting higher motivational achievements and higher moral reasoning. 2. Identity foreclosure: These adolescents have committed to an identity ¡, but they didn´t pass through a crisis period in which they explore different alternatives. Instead, they have accepted other´s decisions about what is best for them. Some typical examples of these kind of adolescents are those sons who start working in the family business because it is expected. Another example is a daughter who wants to be a physician because on of his parents is a physician. 3. Moratorium: Adolescents in the moratorium category have explored various alternatives to some degree, although they haven´t yet committed themselves. Marcia suggests that this kind of subjects show relatively high levels of anxiety and experience psychological conflict. They are often lively and appealing, seeking intimacy with others. These adolescents typically settle on an identity, but only after something of struggle. 4. Identity diffusion: Adolescents In this category neither explore nor commit to consider various alternatives. They tend to be shifting from one thing to the next. Their lack of commitment impairs their ability to form close relationships. They are often socially withdrawn. Philip Meilman measured the identity statuses of males between the ages of 12 and 24. He observed the majority of 12 to 18-years-old were identity diffused or foreclosed, and it wasn´t until they reach 21 or older that the majority of participants reached the moratorium status or achieved stable identities. IDENTITY, RACE AND ETHNICS. The path to form an identity is often difficult for adolescents, and it presents a particular challenge for members of racial and ethnic groups that have traditionally been discriminated against. Based on a cultural assimilation model, this view holds that individual cultural identities should be assimilated into a unified culture. The pluralistic society model suggests that society is made up of diverse, coequal cultural groups that should preserve their individual cultural features. A minority group can form a bicultural identity in which they will join their own cultural identity integrating themselves into the dominant culture. This view model suggests that an individual can live as a member of two cultures, with two cultural identities, without having to choose one over the other. The choice of bicultural identity is increasingly common. The process of identity formation is difficult and may be doubly difficult for minority group members. Racial and ethnic identity takes time to be formed, and for some individuals it may occur over a prolonged period. VARIBLES THAT INFLUENCE RISK BEHAVIOURS 1. EGOCENTRISM: The imaginary audience refers to an egocentric state where an individual imagines and believes that multitudes of people are enthusiastically listening to him or her at all times. The personal fable is a form of egocentrism normally exhibited during early adolescence. It is characterized by an over-differentiation of one´s experiences and feelings from others to the point of assuming that those experiences are unique. 2. BRAIN DEVELOPMENT: the prefrontal cortex, is the brain area responsible of impulse control. It is biologically immature during adolescence, leading to some risky and impulsive behaviours associated with the age group. An individual with a fully developed prefrontal cortex is able to inhibit the desire for action that stems from such emotions. 3. CONFORMITY: PEER PREASSURE DURING ADOLESCENCE: Teenagers are highly susceptible to peer pressure, the influence of one´s peers to conform to their behaviour and attitudes. In some cases, adolescents are highly susceptible to the influence of their peers. Cliques during adolescence: New cliques emerge, composed of both, males and females. Boys and girls who previously had moved along parallel but separate tracks, begin to converge. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY • Under-socialized delinquents. They begin criminal activities at an early age, well before the onset of adolescence. They are raised in little disciple or with harsh, uncaring, parental supervision. They tend to be relatively aggressive and violent early in life, characteristic that leads to peer´s rejection and academic failure. They are also more likely to have been diagnosed of ADHD as children, as they tend to be less intelligent that average. • Socialized delinquents. They know and subscribe to the norms of society (they are normal in psychological terms). Transgressions committed during adolescence do not lead to a criminal life. Instead, most of them pass thorough a period during adolescence when they engage in some petty crimes (shoplifting), but they do not continue lawbreaking into adulthood. They are typically highly influenced by their peers, and their delinquency often occurs in groups. DATING, SEXUAL BEHAVIOUR Dating is a way to learn how to establish intimacy with another individual. It can provide entertainment and, depending on someone´s status, prestige. It can also be used to develop a sense of one´s own identity. Dating in early and middle adolescence is not terribly successful at facilitating intimacy. Dating is often a superficial activity in which participants rarely let sown their guards. As a result, they never become truly close and never expose themselves emotionally to each other. Although adolescents become increasingly accurate in understanding who they are (their self-concept), this knowledge does not guarantee that they like