Developmental Psychology
Introduction
Adolescence refers to the developmental period that involves transition from the childhood to adulthood. This stage may also be used to describe the teenage years that involves transition into puberty. However, various studies also indicate that the period can also extend beyond the teen years, it is therefore estimated that the adolescence period is between the age span of 10-24 years. The adolescence is stage is also further subdivided into various stages which include the early, middle, and the late adolescence stage. Some of the major physical developmental changes during the early adolescence include growth of body hair, increase in the height among other changes. In the late adolescence the young women are fully developed while most of the young men continue to gain height and weight.
Cognitive development
During the early adolescence developmental stages an individual begins to develop the capacity for abstract thought. In addition, most of the adolescence in this early stage also becomes interested in the present issues more than future related issue. Moreover, in this early stages most of the adolescence expand their intellectual interest and develop a deeper moral thinking (Lerner & Steinberg, 2004). However, during the middle adolescent stage the individuals continue to expand the capacity for abstract thought. In addition during this middle stage individual also increase their moral reasoning and show a greater capacity for setting various goals. During the late adolescence period most of the individuals increase their ability to think ideas through. In addition, most of the adolescences in this period have an increased concern of the future events.
Impact of the cognitive developmental stage to an individual
In order for the adolescence to undergo a successful cognitive developmental stage first, they must be encouraged to share their ideas and thought. Studies have shown that the adolescence must also be encouraged to think independently and develop their own ideas. In addition it is also important for the adolescence to be encouraged to engage in setting their goals. The cognitive development stage affects an individual in several ways. First, it affects the emotional processing in adolescence. In relation to this the adolescence face expression is one of the major sign that shows how individuals process their emotions. Most of the adolescence begins to worry about their appearance during this stage. This in turn leads to variation in their facial expressions. Some aspect such as the size of the nose, the eyes also contributes to the emotional expression in most of the adolescence.
Most of the adolescence also experiences a feeling of imaginary audience. In relation to this most of the adolescence develops a feeling that the thought and notion that other people are interested with their actions and behaviors. This may therefore affect the performance of an individual both in class and in the other places. Perspective thinking is also another cognitive developmental feature associated with the adolescence stage. In relation to this, most of the adolescence engage into the reasoning about others, how they feel, believe, and think. This perspective thinking help an individual to feely interact with other people since they are able to put into other people mental shoe and take their perspective.
Moral reasoning is another cognitive developmental change that has a considerable effect in the development of an individual. Various studies indicate that the individual in the adolescence stage reason according to his or her stage (Steinberg, Vandell, & Bornstein, 2011). However, by the age of 13 most of the adolescence begin to include the concept of mutual understanding in their reasoning. This is where the adolescence begins to have the view that what might be good to one person might not be good to another person. This development change therefore helps the adolescence to learn how to feely interact with other people. In addition, this moral reasoning ability helps the adolescence to maintain relationships. This is because most of the adolescence are able to imagine their multiple roles and understand how others reason. Poverty and economic resources are also known to affect some specific aspect of cognitive function. One of the major aspects that that is affected by the poverty and economic aspects of an individual include the memory capacity (vesque, 2011). In relation to this children form poor families in some case may have poor memories due to the poor economic condition they face. In addition, children from poor families may also be faced with chronic stress in their development. This chronic stress may affect the performance of adolescence in school.
Intellectual development is another aspect of cognitive development that individuals undergo during the adolescence. In relation to this an individual first undergoes componential intelligence where one is able to indentify various ways of solving problem. The individuals with well developed componential ability are able to effectively solve various life problems. In addition, during this developmental stage individuals are also able to develop their experiential intelligence. This implies that such individuals are able to cope and learn quickly new techniques. However, individuals with low or underdeveloped experiential intelligence during their adolescence stage are usually unable to cope and learn new techniques later in life.
Cognitive developmental stages may have an impact in the adolescence pregnancy and prenatal care. First, the concrete thinking during the early childhood may prevent a teen from understanding that her behavior is closely connected to the future health of the child. However, during the late adolescence stage the increased ability to understand the perspective of others allows the teenage to understand the various relationships between her behavior and that of the child.
Impacts of psychosocial development
During the adolescence stage an individuals undergoes a period of indentifying their identity. In relation to this, an individual tries to indentify his or her integrity in regard to behavior and thinking. In addition, during this stage the adolescence encounter identity versus role confusion according to the Erikson psychosocial model. An individual is therefore confused as to whether to adopt his or her own ideas or to incorporate the idea of others (Swanson, Edward, & Spencer, 2010). Some adolescence may adopt negative identity. In relation to the adolescence mainly feels that their role in the society is not appreciated or what the society expects them to accomplish is quite unattainable. During developing self-identity one must first the beliefs that one has on some aspects such as, height, goals among others. Second one must also set self-esteem where one first evaluates how he or she feels about certain situations. However, development of low self-esteem may in turn lead adverse side effect on the life of an individual. This is because it may lead to the development of a feeling of depression, lack of energy to pursue certain things. In addition, low self-esteem may lead to one having unrealistic expectations as well as having may doubt about the future.
Various studies have shown that all adolescence must undergo behavioral development as they transform into adulthood. This in turn helps them to cope up with different aspects in the adult life. In relation to this, the adolescence must therefore learn to take certain risk in life, this help them to make some important decision in life. However, it has been established that some young people try out new ideas without considering the consequences of such ideas. This idea or decision in turn put many young people into certain threat that directly affect their life. For instance many young people engage into alcohol abuse therefore posing a great health risk to their bodies.
The adolescence psychosocial development can also be broadly be divided into two category the social bonding and the social interaction perspective (Rubin, Bukowski,& Laursen,2011). It has therefore been established that social bonding contributes positively to the both emotional and physical development of an individual. However, the social interaction mainly focuses on the negative characteristics of an individual. Social bonding is an important aspect in the life of adolescence since it has an impact in the life of an individual. This is evident from the research conducted on teens showed that lack of close friends by the age of 16 resulted to depression symptom at the age of 22(Rubin, Bukowski,& Laursen,2011). In another study it was established that lack of friends during grade 1 resulted in feeling of lonely later in life. Friends also play important roles as moderators in the adolescence stage. Various studies have shown that having a close friend does not only help in ensuring that an individual to cope up with life but also help to protect against negative emotional consequences. This there clearly shows that friends play an important role in the psychosocial development of adolescence.
Moreover the individual in this stage who receive proper encouragement during this stage usually emerge form this stage with a strong sense of self. In addition, the individuals who receive reinforcement through personal exploration also develop a strong sense of control and independence. However, those individuals during adolescence stage who remain unsure about their feeling and beliefs about issues usually feel insecure and confused about themselves. Another important psychosocial development that takes place during adolescence is the psychosocial competency. This is where the adolescence develops the ability to deal effectively with the demand and challenges of the real situation. Development of positive behavior
help the adolescence to develop their psychosocial competency. However, failure to develop some of psychosocial competency skills leads to development of weak personality even in adulthood.
Conclusion
From the above it is evident that the cognitive development plays an important role during the adolescence stage. The adolescence in this stage must therefore be encouraged to share their thought and ideas. This in turn help to ensure that the adolescence develop the right attitude toward life issues. Moreover, the adolescence must also be discouraged from worrying about their physical outlook. The psychosocial development also plays a critical role in the life and development of the adolescence. This is because certain aspects of psychosocial development such the psychosocial competency greatly influence the personality of an individual. Development of proper psychosocial competency should therefore be encouraged to ensure that an individual develop the right skills to him or her cope with adult life.
References
Lerner, R. M., & Steinberg, L. D. (2004). Handbook of adolescent psychology. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons.
Rubin, K. H., Bukowski, W. M., & Laursen, B. P. (2011). Handbook of peer interactions, relationships, and groups. New York: Guilford.
Steinberg, L. D., Vandell, D., & Bornstein, M. H. (2011). Development: Infancy through adolescence. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Swanson, D. P., Edwards, M. C., & Spencer, M. B. (2010). Adolescence: Development During a Global Era. Burlington: Elsevier Science.
vesque, R. J. R. (2011). Encyclopedia of adolescence. New York: Springer.
