Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Adolescent development challenges
Challenges faced by adolescents
Adolescent development challenges
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Adolescent development challenges
Life is something that is much more complex than anyone can imagine. No matter who the person is or how old they are, everyone faces various obstacles and challenges that make their lives difficult. Some people are faced with physical limitations such as not being able to pick something up or walk up a flight of stairs while others may be faced with mental limitations such as being unable to comprehend something that’s going on. Two of the toughest points in an individual’s life come during the years of adolescence and late adulthood. These points of a person’s life can be overwhelming and stressful as a person tries their best to grasp the changes occurring before their very eyes.
Adolescence is often a time where drastic changes are occurring in an individual’s life as they find that they are no longer children, but still not mature enough to be adults. One of the major issues adolescents face is peer pressure. Many adolescents may dress a certain way or listen to certain types of music just because they feel it will help them be accepted. In fact, adolescents feel as if they have an imaginary audience and must be at their best at all times to ensure that their popularity is not affected. Additionally, adolescents face the conflict of identity versus role confusion which was developed by Erikson. They must not only develop a sense of who they are, but also where they belong in their culture. Also, adolescents often begin to become involved in romantic relationships and possibly sexual activity. Adolescents need to figure out whether they prefer dating people of the same and/or opposite gender and must also understand whether or not they should have sex given the teachings they were provided in their childhood. Anot...
... middle of paper ...
...re afraid to admit that they can no longer perform tasks at the levels they once did and therefore may need to seek assistance or drop some of the activities they used to do. There are numerous examples of how people behave in certain life stages such as with the movies Rebel Without a Cause and Driving Miss Daisy. In Rebel Without a Cause, we see how the main characters are struggling to find who they are and what they are going to do with the rest of their lives. On the other hand, in Driving Miss Daisy, we see how Miss Daisy struggles to come to terms with the changes in her life and the fact that her life is coming to an end. No matter how young or how old you are, there are always challenges that will get in the way of where you want your life to be. However, it up to the individual to accept the challenges in their lives and make them work to their benefit.
The psychosocial stage represented by adolescence, as we can see from Erikson’s model, is the resolution of the conflicts raised by the profusion of role changes in adolescent life. Healthy resolution of these conflicts would mean that the person would be able to adjust to the changing role demands of the period of adolescence while still retaining a strong sense of their own lasting personal identity. If the increasing role demands of adolescence placed too great a stress on the individual, then identity diffusion would result. This means that the individual would become confused about who they were, in view of all the different roles which they seem to be acting
During this stage, Erikson believes that the individual’s successful identity formation relies on social, cognitive and physical maturation (Pittman, Keiley, Kerpelman, & Vaughn, 2011). The individual tries out different roles for who they see in themselves and who they portray to others, eventually committing to their own personal role and occupational choice. Pittman et al. (2011) describe the identity formation as “consisting of decisions, investments, and commitments tied to current and future roles, goals, and relationships.” Additional considerations for identity formation include the context of the culture which is available to the adolescent during this time. After successful resolution of this stage during adolescence, individuals will typically progress into Erikson’s Intimacy versus Isolation stage during young
Biological influences combined with societal and social expectations contribute to how well people learn to adapt to their environments (2013). According to Erikson, there are eight stages of development. Within these states, there are different psychological, emotional and cognitive tasks. In order to adjust, individuals must learn to develop these tasks. During adolescence, Erikson states that each person needs to navigate through the development task of ‘‘Identity vs. Identity confusion ’’ (2013). He defined this task by stating that adolescent children must learn to develop a sense of self and establish independence. Prior to this stage of development, a person’s parents largely influence their identity. In this stage the adolescent children begin to explore and develop their identity outside of their parents’ influence (Hill, Bromell, Tyson, & Flint, 2007). Adolescents are generally more egocentric at this stage and have an increased sense of self-consciousness. They also have a strong desire to conform to peer influence and develop concerns regarding their appearance. They develop concern about their level of competence in relation to their peer group as well. As peer influence increases, during this stage, parental influence decreases (Ashford & LeCroy, 2013; Hill et. al, 2007). Conflict generally increases between parent and child at this stage of development (2007).
This period is marked by physical, social, moral and emotional development (Davies, Hartdegen, Haxell, Le Geyt & Mercier, 2012). It is a time when the adolescent’s sense of self or identity is becoming much more clear and they are beginning to understand their role in society, starting to question the morals of others and contemplating their own moral and ethical beliefs (Davies et al., 2012). During this time Erik Erikson believed that adolescents are faced with the psychosocial stage of identity versus role confusion (Berk, 2008). Adolescents explore their values and role in society, overcoming this conflict to better understand their own identity, however if they do not fully overcome this conflict, Erikson believed that the adolescent would be confused about their values and future adult roles (Berk, 2008). This conflict was clearly demonstrated in my own development during the late teenage years when I experienced both the results of failing to overcome and then overcoming Erikson’s fifth psychosocial stage. At age eighteen I finished secondary school and began my tertiary studies, I had been accepted into the degree I had wanted to study since middle childhood, however I quickly learnt that I was enjoying neither my studies nor my experience of life in halls of residence. I discontinued my studies after only
Adulthood is the time in life when a person has reached maturity and is aware of the responsibilities that they have to take on. People’s lives are centered on their careers and relationships, leaving less time for much of anything else. Adulthood has three different stages; there is young adulthood (18-40), middle adulthood (41-65), and late adulthood (65-to death), according to Levinson’s Seasons of Life (Levinson, 2010). Individuals experience so many changes to their physical body, cognitive abilities and social development throughout different stages of life. Looking at all the differences that are experienced during these stages of development in early, middle and late adulthood. As an individual we may experience many changes in the body and the mind but the changes in
Lynda remembered her adolescent years as a time of many changes, “high school was a roller coaster, and I think it is for every teenager. I had so many different clothing and hair styles; even friends moved on frequently, you realize you’re not into the same things.” Peer relationships plays a very important role in this stage of development as the adolescent tries to answer the question “Who am I?” The adolescent is making a search for identity, they are experimenting and they begin to realize things about themselves that help them form an idea of who they are and what they want in life. According to Erikson, healthy resolution of the earlier conflicts now serves as a foundation in the teenager’s search for an identity. A strong sense of self-control and feeling of independence is the result of a positive resolution of this stage. Unsuccessful resolution of this life stage will lead to what Erikson called role confusion; these individuals will lack a feeling of self, they may drift from job to job and jump from one relationship to another, not knowing what they really want in
Adolescents is a time of significant life transitions in which young adults learn to cope with changes that are brought about by physical and emotional maturation (Sands and Howard-Hamilton, 1994). During this time girls begin to become more aware of themselves as females, and learn to identify society’s signals to conform appropriately for their gender (Sands and Howard-Hamilton, 1994). The highschool girls that are present in this writers program are starting to unders...
Adolescence refers to the transition period experienced by children that occur between childhood and adulthood (Shefer, 2011). Identity is first confronted in adolescence between the ages 12 – 19 years old, because of physical and hormonal changes in the body. It is also due to the introduction of formal operations in cognitive development and societal expectation that this contributes to an individual’s identity to be explored and established (McAdams, 2009). The forces within and outside (family, community) the individual that promote identity development usually create a sense of tension. The basic task is, in Erikson’s terms, “fidelity or truthfulness and consistency to one’s core self or faith in one’s ideology” (Fleming, 2004: 9), in a nutshell: "Who am I and where am I
Helen Bee viewed development through sequences of stages of various events that occur in life. Dr. Helen Bee believed that the changes were due to one’s life experiences which cause maturity in making future decisions from knowledge of past experience. Therefore, past experience can help as a guide to handle future problems. I really enjoyed what Daniel Levinson believed about the changes that were brought on throughout life. She looked at the changes as a set order of sequences that occurred to define age eras of the stage Levinson Knowles, Holton & Swanson (2012). Her stages of sequences development begin at seventeen then proceeded up to the age of forty-five. Now a lot of experiences happen throughout life. Within this stage the learner becomes independent while experiencing new life as an adult. Now, a young child is not involved so the learner does not have family matters. At this age focus is mainly on getting a degree. The learner here is just beginning to explore things in life. Next, the second stage is middle adulthood age range forty to sixty. This learner can accomplish so much during this time frame. There may be a time when the learner may want to transition to another job or go back to school for a refresher course. Health becomes important to this learner special at the age of fifty. Lastly, late adulthood stage starts at age sixty and over. Sickness and disease is believed to attack learners in this stage of life. You will continue your education to
The period of adolescence is a time of immense changes, both biologically and socially, through self-discovery and identification. During adolescence, the human body goes through a wave of hormonal changes in preparation for sexual reproduction. As the individual reaches adulthood, this process is called puberty (Arnett, 2015, p. 350). In addition to the physical changes, teens undergo many social and psychological changes as they approach adulthood, preparing them for the many responsibilities to come (Arnett, 2015, p. 350). Adolescence is constructed by changes in relation to the physical, cognitive, and emotional states of an individual. Within each of these developmental areas, teens mature in varying ways. In regards to physical changes, adolescents undergo the previously mentioned process of puberty, but they also face many issues such as eating disorders and substance abuse (Arnett, 2015, p. 357-359). For cognitive development, teens undergo
Has there been a time when you suddenly found yourself watching a group of teens communicate and they all seemed to be doing something different from what you can see? How did this make you feel? Did you feel like you had to conform to their way of communicating to each other? If so you just failed victim to your desire to conform. Adolescence, go through different stages of development, these stages are meant to move adolescence between their childhood and their adulthood. These stages are the experiences a teen go through that brings about a variety of changes and emotional issues. Varies cultures play a part in the adolescence development, ranging from their preteens through 19 years of age. “According to the World Health Organization (WHO), adolescence covers the period of life between 10 and 20 years of age. Adolescence is often divided by psychologists into three distinct phases: early, mid, and late adolescence” (World Health Organization).
For nearly fifty years Erikson 's psychosocial theory has provided an essential framework in understanding the role of adolescence in life-course development, especially the crises of identity and intimacy and their achievement. During adolescence, we are confronted with “the need to resolve the crises of identity versus identity diffusion and intimacy versus isolation” (Meacham & Santilli). Because it is a volatile stage of development, many changes are taking place during this part of the lifecycle, including deciding who to be with, who we are and what our roles are in society.
As a person ages, there are many changes which occur to them. These changes can be negative or positive in their lives. The best thing that we can do for the person is, to be positive and assist them adjust to these
Furthermore, Levinson classifies the novice phase into the early adulthood transition stage (17-22 years), entering the adulthood world (22-28 years), and age-30 transition (28-33 years). On the other hand, the culminating phase encompasses the settling down stage (33-40 years) and midlife transition stage (40-45 years of age). Nevertheless, adulthood is composed of middle-aged period (45-65 years) and late adulthood period entailing the age of 65 years and beyond. Some experts in developmental psychology have gone further to classify the late adulthood period into young-old stage (65-85 years) and old-old stage (85 and above years of age) (Newton, 1994; Levinson, 1978). However, it suffices to emphasize that these stages only exist as a guide to showcase normal development occurring in a continuum, since not everyone develops through displayed stages at exactly similar
Throughout our life, it can be marked by developmental changes in every domain of life: our physical, cognitive, social, personalities, and morals. Due to some important researchers such as Erickson, Freud, Piaget we are able to understand the development of each of these domains. Each stage of it’s life has it’s own difficulties and events that can determine a person’s life (Mogler, 2008). During the stages of adolescence, they are very vulnerable to a lot going on in their life such as fitting in, peers, family, school, activities, and society, and not to forget the ups and downs of puberty. Adolescence can be viewed as a huge part of many children’s lives where in this part of their life they try to find teenagers experience physical, cognitive,