Introduction: For this formative essay, I have chosen the developmental stage: 12-18 years of age. The paper looks into the influence of physical changes, psychological changes and emotional changes on the conscious and subconscious mind of children aged 12-18 years of age. The period is also called adolescence stage. During this stage, the child experiences dramatic emotionally and mentally transformation. Many parents complain about the difficulty of handling the behavior of the child. There are also differences in the way child experience things at this stage. During the beginning of this period, most children achieve puberty. As the child enters puberty, there is a dramatic synaptic reorganization in the brain (Blakemore, Burnett, & Dahl, 2010). As a result of this, the brain of the child is extremely sensitive to inputs and feedbacks. The paper also examines brain development and cognitive development that occurs during the stage.
Bodily changes are noticed in the child as pass 12-18 years of life stage as a result of puberty. The child also senses an increased responsibility to behave like an adult. They seek to develop a deeper relationship with others. Puberty is marked by physical, mental and emotional changes. There is the difference in hormone profile and the surge of sexual hormones can affect the emotional and mental process of the child. In girls, the ovary begins to function and they experience their first menarche. The estrogen level in the blood increases. Changes are also noticed in the body like, the breast begins to develop, hip widens, shoulder begins to round and the body becomes curvier. In boys, the sweat production and oily secretions from the skin increases. Sudden growth spurts and an increase in height is noticed. Hair growth is noticed in the face, air pit, and pubic region. Face begins to look less childlike and the man like features begin to appear. The changes in hormone can affect their thought process and fantasies. During adolescence, the child may experience strong emotions and mood swings. They begin to show signs of emotional maturity. ("Stanford Children's Health", 2016)
Erickson classified development into different psychosocial stages. The person enters stage 1 at birth and stage 8 at old age. There are totally eight psychosocial stages from infancy to old age. Erickson called 13 to 18 years of age as a stage of identity vs role confusion. The teenager during this stage develops the need to identify self. They are curious about a lot of things and this motivates them to explore new amenities. During this stage, the child craves for independence. Like in every life stage, in stage 5 there is a development conflict that the child has to overcome, in order to develop. The conflicts that occur during this period will be important in determining the child’s sense of self as an adult. There is an inherent confusion regarding their identity and position in the society. They try experimenting with different kinds of activities and roles. Adolescents may have a constant tendency of experimenting with different friends, clothes, hairstyle, and relationships. (Berzoff, Melano Flanagan, & Hertz, 2011)
During the stage of identity vs role confusion, the child’s concept of self will be greatly influenced by his or her social groups and friends. The popular culture of the time and trends in the society, also influence the child’s concept of self. Children who are provided strong encouragement for being independent during this stage can develop strong identity about self. On the other hand, children who are not encouraged to be independent can develop beliefs and insecurities that can continue to the individual’s future life as well. Children who are able to identify their self and what they like or dislike, are able to make better choices about what they want to be and what they want to do. Those children who are not encouraged to explore, have difficulty developing a sense of identity and thus develop into individuals who have confusion about their role (Berzoff, Melano Flanagan, & Hertz, 2011). They can drift to drift from one relationship to another or from one job to another. They face a constant uncertainty about their life situation. Disappointment and confusion tend to be high among such children. Developing a sense of identity can influence their success of interacting and getting along with other people (Aneshensel, Phelan, & Bierman, 2012). It is natural for people to have different values and views of life. By maintaining once sense of identity, adolescents can interact with others in a successful way to solve their life problems. It is important for children to express their emotions and face their feelings. They should be encouraged to talk about a problem that is bothering them. Suppressing the child’s emotions will only promote confusions. This can have an impact on how the brain approaches to solve emotional problems. (Sullivan, Helms, Kliewer, & Goodman, 2010)
Cognition wise, children in this age, develop abilities to solve complex life problems. However, the part of the brain that is concerned with decision making is often the last to mature, and thus the ability to take a decision, considering different views and perspective are deficient in adolescents when compared to adults. For these reasons, adolescents may have difficulty in controlling their impulses and making a correct judgment. However, the changes in hormones, mental and emotional state; increases the vulnerability of the child to risk taking behavior. When compared to adults, adolescents have weaker decision-making ability. They are less inhibited and self-regulated. During adolescence, the child begins to develop advanced thinking and reasoning skills, and these skills are still in the formative stage. (Romer, Duckworth, Sznitman, & Park, 2010)
Western culture offers more freedom to a teenager when compared to the Eastern culture. This difference in restriction can influence the rate at which adolescence from these different cultures, develop a sense of identity about self and their role in the family or society. American culture is focused on individual wellbeing and encourages teenagers to be expressive, irrespective of how different their views vary from that of the society. In many Asian cultures, individual behavior that disrupts the harmony of family and groups is less tolerated. Teenagers in these cultures are restricted from expressing views and emotions. The cohesiveness of the group is often weighed over individual choices. (Arnett, 2014)
Peers and families can influence the social skills of the teenager. The attitude of the society or family towards a topic can influence the teenager’s judgment on the topic. For example, dating and man-women relationships, face increased restriction in the Eastern culture. On a comparative scale, women from western culture are more independent in making their choices. The beliefs, attitudes, and values of a person, are based on the social and cultural attitude or beliefs that prevailed during the person’s adolescence stage. As adolescents undergo changes in their self-identity, they change the nature of people they choose to interact. They become part of a new social group that fits their identity better. They seek to do new activities and engage in interests that match with their identity. (Lewiga, Arneyb, & Salveronb, 2016; Parke & Ladd, 2016)
Conclusion: Adolescence is a period between childhood and adulthood. It is a transformative phase. Understanding the development psychology during this stage is very important for nurses to understand the influence of popular culture and societal values in promoting health seeking behavior of this age group. Children are emotionally sensitive and extremely self-conscious during this stage. Understanding the adolescence developmental stage is important to handling them as an individual or as community partners in the healthcare process.
References
Aneshensel, C., Phelan, J., & Bierman, A. (2012). Handbook of the sociology of mental health. Dordrecht: Springer.
Arnett, J. (2014). Emerging Adulthood: The Winding Road from the Late Teens Through the Twenties (pp. 1-14). New York: Oxford.
Berzoff, J., Melano Flanagan, L., & Hertz, P. (2011). Inside out and outside in (p. 100). by Joan Berzoff, Laura Melano Flanagan, Patricia Hertz: Row man and Little Field.
Blakemore, S., Burnett, S., & Dahl, R. (2010). The role of puberty in the developing adolescent brain.Human Brain Mapping, 31(6), 926-933. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hbm.21052
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Parke, R. D., & Ladd, G. W. (Eds.). (2016). Family-peer relationships: Modes of linkage. Routledge.
Romer, D., Duckworth, A., Sznitman, S., & Park, S. (2010). Can Adolescents Learn Self-control? Delay of Gratification in the Development of Control over Risk Taking. Prevention Science, 11(3), 319-330. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11121-010-0171-8
Stanford Children's Health. (2016). Stanfordchildrens.org. Retrieved 25 August 2016, from http://www.stanfordchildrens.org/en/topic/default?id=the-growing-child-adolescent-13-to-18-years-90-P02175
Sullivan, T., Helms, S., Kliewer, W., & Goodman, K. (2010). Associations between Sadness and Anger Regulation Coping, Emotional Expression, and Physical and Relational Aggression among Urban Adolescents. Social Development, 19(1), 30-51. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9507.2008.00531.x
