ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr.Suvarna Sen has completed her PhD in Psychology from Calcutta University. She has 15 years of teaching experience and is presently associated with ICFAI Business School – Kolkata, (IBS-K) as a faculty member. Suvarna has participated in various Seminars and Workshops across the country, including institutions like NIMHANS (Bangalore), ITM (Mumbai), The Eastern Zonal Psychological Association (Kolkata), NIRMA (Ahmedabad) and so on. She regularly conducts various Management Development Programmes for Indian Institute of Coal Management, Alstom India Ltd., and Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. She is also associated with Sikkim Manipal University as a visiting faculty. She also lends her services as a Consultant Psychologist, Joint Secretary of the Eastern Zonal Psychological Association and as an active Member of the Social Development Sub-Committee of Confederation of Indian Industry. Her key knowledge areas are OB, HRM, LSCM and Soft Skills.

ABSTRACT

The adolescent period is considered to be difficult and critical. It is so because of the numerous qualitative shifts that take place, at this time, which at times assume the character of a radical break with the previous properties, interests, and the relationships of the child. Moreover, the changes that take place are often accompanied, on the other hand, by the manifestation in the adolescent him/herself of significantly subjective difficulties of various orders.

The adolescent begins to have a sharpened sense of his/her own dignity, he/she sees himself as someone who may not be browbeaten, humiliated and deprived of the right to independence. The type of relationship with adults that existed during childhood becomes unacceptable to him/her as not corresponding to his/her assessment of the level of his/her own maturity. At that stage, the life of an adolescent contains many contradictions. They strive for recognition; but do not get it! Consequently – they cling to their own age group – peers play the most important role in their lives!

They suffer from an identity crisis! What am I? What will I be? – are the questions that bother them. To minimize this crisis, we should sit down with them, give them a patient hearing and suggest things in way acceptable to them. Lest, we might lead them the wrong way.

“I’ll be fifteen,

And soon a man!

The very thought of its delights me

But even now none dares to slight me

To look with scorn at me, none can

Treat me disdainfully or lightly

I’m no pink-cheeked smiling laddie

I’ve sprouted a moustache already

A gaffer’s mien is mine, it’s proud

My voice is gruff and also loud

And for a fight I’m always ready”

-Alexander Pushkin

Today’s adolescents little resemble this famous literary figure, perhaps because they mature earlier.

The formula ‘no longer a child-not yet an adult’ vividly expresses the transitional character of adolescent life. It is a state in which the person has already broken with the happy age of childhood, but has not yet found himself in adult life. That is why the adolescent’s mind  is confused. The age of adolescence is marked by psychological manifestations that have caused it to be described as “an age of crisis and transition”.

Some consider adolescents to be merely savage because of their boundless imagination, rashness, craftiness, forgetfulness, inconsistency, explosive temper and lack of cares. Some say an adolescent is a madman in view of his/her inclination towards superstitions, pride and extreme sensitivity concerning one’s honor. It has been asserted that an adolescent is a potential criminal in view of his/her fits of rage, crudity, extreme vanity and egoism a tendency towards moral degradation. But why does it so happen?

Children must pass through several stages, or take specific steps, on their road to becoming adults. For most people, there are four or five such stages of growth where they learn certain things: infancy (birth to age two), early childhood (ages three to eight years), later childhood (ages nine to 12 years) and adolescence (ages 13 to 18 years).

Stages of Social-Emotional Development in Adolescents

This is an overview of the developmental tasks involved in the social and emotional development of children and teenagers which continues into adulthood.  This is based on the Eight Stages of Development developed by Psychiatrist Erik Erikson in 1956. According to Erikson, the socialization process consists of eight phases - the "eight stages of man."  His eight stages of man were formulated not through experimental work, but through wide-ranging experience in psychotherapy, including extensive experience with children and adolescents from low, upper, and middle social classes.  Each stage is regarded by Erikson as a "psychosocial crisis," which arises and demands resolution before the next stage can be satisfactorily negotiated. 

Erikson's Eight Stages of Development

1.  Learning Basic Trust Versus Basic Mistrust (Hope)
Chronologically, this is the period of infancy through the first one or two years of life.  The child, well-handled, nurtured, and loved, develops trust and security and a basic optimism.  Badly handled, he/she becomes insecure and mistrustful. 

2.  Learning Autonomy Versus Shame (Will)
The second psychosocial crisis, Erikson believes, occurs during early childhood, probably between about 18 months or two years and 3½ to four years of age.  The "well-parented" child emerges from this stage sure of one’s self, elated with his new found control, and proud rather than ashamed. 

3.  Learning Initiative Versus Guilt (Purpose)
Erikson believes that this third psychosocial crisis occurs during what one calls the "play age," or the later preschool years. During it, the healthily developing child learns: (1) to imagine, to broaden one’s skills through active play of all sorts, including fantasy (2) to cooperate with others (3) to lead as well as to follow.  Immobilized by guilt, one is: (1) fearful (2) hangs on the fringes of groups (3) continues to depend unduly on adults and (4) is restricted both in the development of play skills and in imagination.  

4.  Industry Versus Inferiority (Competence)
Erikson believes that the fourth psychosocial crisis is handled, for better or worse, during what he calls the "school age," presumably up to and possibly including some of junior high school.  Here the child learns to master the more formal skills of life: (1) relating with peers according to rules (2) progressing from free play to play that may be elaborately structured by rules and may demand formal teamwork, such as baseball and (3) mastering social studies, reading, and arithmetic.

5.  Learning Identity Versus Identity Diffusion (Fidelity)
During the fifth psychosocial crisis (adolescence, from about 13 or 14 to about 20 years of age) the child, now an adolescent, learns how to answer satisfactorily and happily the question of "Who am I?"  But even the best-adjusted of adolescents experiences some role identity diffusion: most of them experiment with minor delinquency; rebellion flourishes; self-doubts flood the youngster, and so on.

6.  Learning Intimacy Versus Isolation (Love)
The successful young adult, for the first time, can experience true intimacy - the sort of intimacy that makes possible good marriage or a genuine and enduring friendship.

7.  Learning Generativity Versus Self-Absorption (Care)
In adulthood, the psychosocial crisis demands generativity, both in the sense of marriage and parenthood, and in the sense of working productively and creatively.

8.  Integrity Versus Despair (Wisdom)
If the other seven psychosocial crises have been successfully resolved, the mature adult develops the peak of adjustment and integrity.  He/she trusts, is independent and dares the new.  He/she works hard, has found a well-defined role in life, and has developed a self-concept with which he/she is happy.  He/she can be intimate without strain, guilt, regret, or lack of realism; and he/she is proud of what he/she creates – one’s children, work, or one’s hobbies.  If one or more of the earlier psychosocial crises have not been resolved, one may view one’s self and one’s life with disgust and despair.

Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development

Adolescents and their social contexts

Peer relations are extremely important for the teen in that they experience a whole new realm of reality unique to themselves. Teens are more self-disclosing to peers about things like dating, views on sexuality, personal experiences, common perspectives, interests, and doubts. Teens tend to spend more time with peers outside of the classroom (approximately 20 hours per week). The frequency of time spent with peers increases as the time spent with parents and family decreases throughout the course of adolescence (Savin-Williams and Berndt, 1990).

Family Functions

The roles of the family established during childhood have helped the family unit to keep a system of equilibrium. During adolescence, teens are looking for a different kind of support from their family and this may be a stressful time for the family until a new system of equilibrium is established. Here is a list of changes you can expect to see in the family system: There will be a shift from the parents providing nurturance, protection, and socialization for the child to providing support and direction for the teen. Acceptance, active understanding, and parental expressions of individuality and connectedness can help the teen to mature without feeling left out or alienated from his/her family.

PARENT-ADOLESCENT RELATIONS

Adolescence is marked by disagreements, bickering, emotional tensions, and minor conflicts with parents over the everyday details of family life, such as doing the chores, feeding the pets, doing schoolwork, and getting along with siblings.

Characteristics of parents and adolescents

• As adolescents usually spend more time with mothers than fathers, conflict (although minor) is more common. This conflict increases between the ages of 10 and 15 and then decreases.

• Conflict is considered temporary and necessary to reorganize the parent-adolescent relationships.

Parent-adolescent interaction styles:  

• Parents' beliefs on adolescence may influence their interactions with the adolescent.

• Less effective management techniques include monitoring, discipline, reinforcement of positive behavior

• More effective management techniques include exercising reasonable control along with being flexible and encouraging independence (authoritative)

As a child begins to enter adolescence, there appears to be a rise in conflict between the adolescent and parents. The amount of conflict differs from family to family and is dependent on many factors. It is mainly due to the changing characteristics and growing of the adolescent and the way in which the rest of the family adjusts to these changes. Here are some concepts of conflict and some areas to look out for -

What is considered as normal conflict?

Conflict between parents and adolescents usually revolves around common daily events that take place within the family. This day-to-day conflict includes things like:

• Keeping a bedroom clean,

• Dressing neatly,

• Being home at a certain time,

• Talking long on the phone, and

• Not doing chores.

It is not usual that conflict will involve major difficulties such as drugs and delinquency, but when the conflict begins to disrupt the family it becomes problematic (Santrock, 1992).

When does conflict become problematic?

Conflict has a tendency to increase during early adolescence (around ages 12-14), even out during mid-adolescence (approximately ages 14 - 17), and decrease during late adolescence (ages 17-20). Anger is the major emotion associated with conflict. This anger is accompanied by anxiety, frustration, or guilt. Five criteria for problematic anger that is associated with parent-adolescent conflict are:

• Anger becomes too frequent

• Anger becomes too intense

• Anger is long lasting

• Anger leads to aggression

• Anger disturbs work or relationships

Who is at risk?

When conflict tends to be problematic in early adolescence, it tends to be problematic in later adolescence. Adolescents and parents are more at risk for conflict if:

• There is marital conflict or divorce taking place within the family

• Adolescents are in the situation of having to adjust to a new step family, and

• The family itself is unstable, i.e. parents being inconsistent with the adolescent (Steinberg & Belsky, 1991).

What are some coping techniques?

Depression, according to the National Institutes of Health, occurs with greater frequency among teenagers today than in the past. Because many adolescents’ behaviors are attributed to "normal adjustments", they are often not identified as troubled and do not get the help they need. Many teens, who believe their problems to be unsolvable, become so despairing that they attempt suicide, and many succeed.

Although other causes of teen suicide and violence exist, depression is a major factor. Adolescents often "act out", obscuring depression with aggression, elopement, or antisocial acts. Manic-depressive disorder also begins in post-puberty and may be manifested by impulsive episodes, irritability and loss of control alternating with periods of withdrawal and excessive sleeping. If these behavioral signs are considered by parents and professionals as natural to adolescence, the disorders go unrecognized and untreated.

Whether homicide or suicide, violence among adolescents has forcibly brought these problems to the forefront of our attention, while other, less sensational yet far more frequent adolescent dramas occur among our youth on a daily basis.

The Warning Signs of Depression

• Chronically depressed mood occurring for most of the day, more days than not.

• Showing or describing their mood as sad (This may be shown as irritability rather than depression)

• Poor appetite or overeating.

• Insomnia or hypersomnia.

• Low energy or fatigue.

• Low self-esteem.

• Poor concentration or difficulty making decisions.

• Feelings of hopelessness.

• Low interest.

• Self-criticism, with the self-concepts of being uninteresting, incapable, or ineffective.

The Warning Signs of Violence

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Arnett, J.J. (1999) Adolescent Storm and Stress, Reconsidered. American Psychologist, 54, 5, 317-326.

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV (1994) Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.

Erikson, E.H. (1968) Identity youth and crisis. New York: W. W. Norton.