Determining the Most Effective Approach to Understanding and Working with
INTRODUCTION
Adolescence is a period of rapid development ranging from ages twelve to eighteen (Kassin, 2001). During this time individuals experience rapid changes physically, cognitively, and emotionally. Adolescents experience an abundance of new experiences but lack the understanding and skills that adults have. More demands are made of them, yet they are not full adults both developmentally and legally. This period of development is categorized by risk behaviors and experimentation in many different aspects of life. Feelings are intense and social interaction becomes more complex. Teens also develop a moral sense. While these are all fairly common aspects of adolescence, the effects of the values, ethics, religion, class, school, and home of the society an adolescent is raised in makes development a distinctive experience. These factors can also combine to add pressure and anxiety to a teenager’s life, becoming “risk factors” for a teen at risk. As adolescents develop their skills in numerous areas, it is useful and important to use multiple perspectives when analyzing this stage.
Biologically, adolescents approach physical maturation and develop secondary sex characteristics (Spear, 2000). There is sporadic and dramatic physical change, including growth spurt, change in voice, and hair growth. Girls grow breasts and receive their period. There is rapid hormone secretion. These are all aspects of puberty (Greif & Ulman, 1982). These features greatly affect the adolescent’s self image and relationships with others. How teenagers experience these changes, at what time and duration, and how those around them react to them shapes an individual’s developmental experience. To understand the adolescent experience of development, and what occurs when it falls off the normative path, it is necessary to go beyond its physical aspects and examine how teenagers think. This article will present theoretical material about adolescence. In a follow up article I will discuss examples from my practice as a social worker in Jerusalem, Israel, working with teens-at-risk. Finally I will share some suggestions and conclusions regarding working with this population.
A) Theoretical Overview of Normative Development in Adolescence:
Adolescence is a period of pervasive growth that often stimulates anxiety in teenagers (Abodinsky, 2001). The physical, cognitive, and emotional changes that teen’s experience present multiple perspectives in understanding their development. Important stage theories of adolescent development include Piaget’s Cognitive theory and Kohlberg’s Moral development theory. Freud’s psychosexual theory and Erikson’s psychosocial theory give another critical viewpoint on adolescents. Still, other theories aside from stage theories are useful in comprehending adolescent behavior and motivation. The Hierarchy of needs, the Systems Theory, and behavioral Theory all provide effective viewpoints on adolescence. Using these theories in conjunction with one another is essential in grasping the total adolescent experience, and crucial in treatment with Teens-At-Risk.
1) 4 IMPORTANT STAGE THEORIES OF DEVELOPMENT:
Many developmental theorists utilize stages in their theories to conceptualize development. This is a useful way of labeling time periods along the cycle of development and defining their features and characteristics.
a) Theory of Cognitive Development:
Cognitively, adolescents thinking skills develop in line with physical development, as there is a “cognitive growth spurt” (Kassin, 2001). In his Theory of Cognitive Development, Piaget explained that at approximately age 12, individuals gain the ability to formulate solutions and can reason on a logical hypothetical level (Inhelder & Piaget, 1958). They also gain the capacity to think abstractly, critically, and contemplate possibilities. They can detect logic or inconsistency in statements, as well as anticipate consequences and thing about things changing in the future (Gray, 1990). Still, though they are beginning to turn their thinking outside themselves, they are still egocentric and think that they are the focus of everyone’s attention (Elkind, 1967). Characteristically, then, teenagers will begin to challenge the natural order, often disagreeing with societal and parental rules and conventions, viewing them as arbitrary and unreasonable (Turiel, 1983). Piaget categorized this age as the final stage of cognitive development, the Formal Operations stage. Lastly, Piaget said that the adolescent’s moral reasoning capabilities mature during this period (Piaget, 1932).
b) Theory of Moral Development:
Expanding on Piaget’s idea that moral reasoning is related to an individual’s cognitive abilities, Lawrence Kohlberg developed his Theory of Moral Development (Kohlberg, 1981). In Kohlberg’s theory he categorizes adolescents in the conventional stage of moral development. He further divided this period into two sub-stages, the first consisting of an individual embracing perceived social role in an attempt to gain the approval and avoid disapproval of others. In trying to live up to other’s expectations, their moral reasoning is based on evaluating the consequences a given action will have on their relationships (Kohlberg, 1976). In the second sub-stage individuals begin to obey laws, dictums, and social conventions to facilitate the functioning of society. The person outgrows the need for approval from others, basing morals on ideals. An important aspect of this is the belief in culpability and obligation to uphold laws.
Understanding how adolescents think and problem solve is important to understand when engaging and treating teenagers. The problem with cognitive approaches, however, is that they fail to take into account an individual’s development of personality, and how previous experiences affect later stages of development. Freud, however, did consider these factors in his Psychosexual Theory of Development. Later on in this essay examples will be presented that reflect some of this theoretical material.
c) Psychosexual Theory of Development:
Freud’s theory suggests that a person’s personality is the result of the resolutions of various psychosexual conflicts experienced at an early age. He defined adolescence as the Genital stage, the final stage of development (Kassin, 2001). He categorized this stage as the time when an individual’s unresolved conflicts manifest themselves and can be revisited, and the finalization of detachment from parents. It also includes symbolic gratification through the formation of love relationships and families, or acceptance of responsibilities associated with adulthood. He also said that adolescents have a fully developed ego, which mediates between their primary drives, or Id, and moral social constrains, or Superego. Using this theory is useful when attempting to link current behaviors with past experiences, in order to re visit and rectify them. This includes addressing possible defense mechanisms that have been developed to deal with anxiety and object relations, the degree of mutually satisfying relationships the individual had expressed during childhood.
What Freud’s theory lacks, as does the other previously mentioned theories, is inclusion of social influences on development and viewing development as a life-long process. All of the theories above view adolescence as the final stage of development.
d) Psychosocial Theory of Development:
Erikson, on the other hand, viewed development as a constant process throughout life. In his Psychosocial Theory of Development, his stages range from birth to death, each with its own crisis needing resolution and tasks to be accomplished (Erikson, 1963). An individual’s capability to resolve a crisis during a given stage is determined by their experiences and resolutions of crises in previous stages.
Whereas the aforementioned theorists defined adolescence as taking place between the ages of twelve and eighteen, some later theorists divided adolescence into two stages, Early and Late Adolescence, the former being from age twelve to eighteen and the latter from eighteen to twenty-four.
The psychosocial crisis of Early Adolescence is Group Identity Vs Alienation (Newman & Newman, 2003). This is essentially a conflict in the ego of “I” Vs “We”. The adolescent begins to develop skills and strategies for connecting with a group (Farmer & Rodkin, 1996). They experience different group related roles and activities, such as leadership, following, and teamwork. They reflect about how a given group is perceived by others and evaluate its strengths and weaknesses. Being in a group brings with it emotional investment, a group history, and distinguishing features from others (Newman & Newman, 2003). Alienation, or the feelings of social estrangement and lack of meaningful social connections (Mau, 1992), can occur when a group member feels pressured (i.e. peer pressure) to take on a role or comply with expectations to which they do not subscribe, or an individual might have difficulty forming interpersonal relationships due to personality characteristics. Navigating this crisis is essential in developing both a self-concept and an ability to function in society. However, a negative resolution can have lasting effects on further development through life-stages and functioning both as an individual and member of society.
The next psychosocial crisis, Late Adolescence, was defined by Erikson as Identity Vs Identity Confusion (Newman & Newman, 2003). In defining Identity, Erikson described it as the combination of past identifications, future aspirations, and contemporary issues (Erikson, 1959). This can change over the course of an individual’s lifetime. In forming a positive identity, one must pull together the many components that make up the self, including beliefs, values, and social demands. It also includes sorting out what an individual wants to be from what their parents urge them to be. This creates a worldview to evaluate what values and goals are meaningful and worth committing to. This is accomplished through role experimentation, self-reflection, and feedback from others (Arnett, 2000). A successfully defined identity will also include gender identity, and will result in autonomy from parents and a choice of career.
When individuals are unable to make a commitment to any single view of themselves, they experience identity confusion. They lack confidence in their own decision making abilities and are unable to integrate the various roles they play and opposing value systems. They experience negative emotions such as depression (Clancy & Dollinger, 1993), are self conscious, are not outgoing, and often resort to drug abuse. Identity Confusion is usually the result of unresolved and/or ill resolved crises in previous stages of development. During my social work internships, I encountered many young teens experiencing some aspect of ‘identity confusion.’
A critique of Erikson is that his theory might be culture specific. The crises and processes he uses in explaining his stages tend to be characteristic of western societies. Many cultures have different ages and ceremonies in which they identify coming of age. There are other theories that can be used across cultures when looking at adolescent development. These theories take into account self-motivation, social influences, learned behaviors.
2) Other Theories:
a) Hierarchy of needs:
Psychologist Abraham Maslow viewed human motivation as a pyramid with five levels of different needs, each one only being accessible only if the previous levels needs are met. Maslow’s hierarchy progresses from physiological needs, being on the bottom, to growth and psychological needs, the uppermost of which is self actualization, the primary motivation of human beings (Newman & Newman, 2003).
Maslow outlines his five levels as physiological needs, safety and security, love and belonging, self-esteem, and self-actualization. Physiological needs include breathing, eating, drinking, sleeping, and sex. Safety needs incorporates security of body, employment, resources, family, health, and property. Love consists of friendships, familial and sexual relationships. Self esteem is made up of confidence, achievement, and respect of and by others. When all these needs are met, the individual can begin growth and fulfillment of psychological needs, which include cognitive and aesthetic needs.
This is an important theory to use when dealing with teenagers who are lacking in their basic needs. It is often necessary to first provide services that will meet the adolescent’s lower levels of the pyramid until they are built up enough to begin working on psychological growth. My awareness of these issues was an important aspect of my work with problematic teenagers.
b) Ecological Systems Theory:
In studying the environments that a person interacts with, Urie Bronfenbrenner defined four systems that effect and that can be affected by the individual: the Microsystem, the Mesosystem, the Exosystem, and the Macrosystem (Bronfenbrenner, 1995). Each of these systems is interrelated and grows broader than the one before it. The Microsystem consists of interpersonal relationships that an adolescent experiences physically, for example family, friends school, relatives, and religious institutions. The interactions of these Microsystems make up the Mesosystem. The Exosystem is made up of settings in which the individual is not an active participant but has a profound effect on and is affected by the individual, such as a parent’s workplace. Finally, the Macrosystem includes the overall context that the individual resides in, such as nation, culture, and economy.
The Systems Theory is important to understanding development in that it adds context to the individuals’ life experiences. Though it lacks emphasis on internal factors of the adolescent, it can be combined with other theories to paint an overall picture of who the individual actually is.
The Systems Theory also demonstrates that mastery of developmental tasks requires adequate environmental resources and positive interactions between them (Hepworth, 2002). It also assists in assessing a person’s strengths, risk factors, and likelihood of success.
c) Behavioral/Learning Theory:
Behaviorists viewed development as a function of conditioning and reinforcement. Cognitive development, as well as development of personality and self, depend on the persons learned experiences, reward and punishment (Aronfreed, 1969). Also, the individual’s attitudes and interactions with society are informed by previously learned behaviors. Those actions that are rewarded are likely to be repeated, which is most often pro-social behavior. Those behaviors which are punished or ignored are less likely to occur. This can also occur by observing another’s behaviors (Bandura, 1977).
The Learning Theory is useful in understanding the values, expectations, goals, and situations that inform an adolescent’s behavior (Mischel, 1973). It is also useful in understanding how At-Risk behaviors can develop through conditioning and reinforcement, such as drug abuse.
In the next article, I will discuss the development of the Teen-At-Risk, and how it differs from normative teen development.
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