Integrating the Field of Developmental Psychology: Adolescence (13-18 Years)

Integrating the Field of Developmental Psychology: Adolescence (13-18 Years)

Article Review

Introduction

Developmental psychology provides a comprehensive framework for the conceptualization of the developmental course during adolescence. Developmental psychology also provides the framework for understanding the various stages of continuity, and the emergence of the cognitive prowess, and subsequent stages during the adolescence transition. Adolescence is dynamic, and evolves from a theoretical construct, which informs psychosocial, physiological, and cultural aspects. Conventionally the period of this critical, and dynamic development is understood to creep in from the onset of puberty to the establishment of social independence. The most commonly used chronological definition of adolescence may encompass those of ages between 10 and 18 but may extend up to 25 years. This variation in the inclusion criteria can create confusion in the overall construction of research based on adolescents, and the subsequent program planning. During the adolescent development, there exist normal and abnormal developments across the genders. Hormonal changes in the body heavily characterize the period. Nevertheless, there are specific changes to boys, and girls during the onset of the secondary characteristics. Various authors, and researchers have invested resources and time to research and publish the psychological changes, which accompany the changes in the secondary stages. These authors and researchers also have divergent views about the psychology developmental of adolescents between 13 and 18 years.

Defining Adolescence

Adolescence has been defined from various perspectives by various authors. (Cherry, 2012) recognizes that it is imperative to remain mindful about the tremendous variability about an individual’s culture throughout the journey of adolescence. Curtis (2015) asserts that it is paramount to develop clarity in the type of the phonology used to ascribe the sub-stages and the boundaries to this crucial developmental stage. Currently, there is a lack of a consensus, but the definitions of adolescence can be attributed to a number of both social and psychological factors. According to (Curtis, 2015), youth is the long life stretch between childhood and adulthood, with a long posed conundrum definition. According to (Cherry, 2012), adolescence encompasses the various elements of major social transition and biological growth. The several definitions of adolescence, which are available in the Oxford dictionaries, refers to it as a period between childhood and adulthood that extend between 14 and 25 years, and between 14 and 21 years in males and females respectively. Nevertheless, the original conception of the term adolescence included males and females of 14 and 24 years.

The Psychological Development of Adolescents

The current research works have contributed significantly to the understanding of adolescents’ brain development (Chen et al. 2019). The brain of an adolescent manifests uniqueness in the strengthening of the commonly used neuronal networks, the increased sensitivity, and the punning of unique and unused connections. The brain development of an adolescent especially between the ages of 13 and one years, demonstrates a great extent of plasticity strengthening the neuronal connections. The use of Magnetic Reasoning Images (MRI) has shown how a teenage brain is unique and characterized by changeability. According to Geidd,2015, comprehensive brain development takes place in three neuronal systems during the adolescent stage (Chen et al. 2019). The three neuronal networks include the regulatory system, the relationship system, and the reward system. The research by the center for disease control highlighted the inadequacy of the synchronicity between the reward and the regulatory systems. The recent study according to (Chen et al. 2019), reveal that numerous changes in the neuronal network develop continuously through the teens and the early twenties.

The Psychosocial Development

According to Erik Erikson, a German-American psychologist, there are eight stages in psychosocial development as individuals transform into adulthood. The first stage is the “Trust versus Mistrust” in the infancy stage (Graber et al. 2019). However, of interests to this paper are the fourth and the fifth stages, which occur between 13 and 18 years of age. The fourth stage of industry versus inferiority, which according to Erik, occurs in the schooling age. In this stage, the child will try to win the will of others, even if it means being impressive. The fidelity mainly characterizes the “Identity versus Role Confusion” stage in adolescents (Chen et al. 2019). The child will try to focus on himself or herself as a person in the society, and the sex roles they pick. The sixth psychosocial stage is the “intimacy versus Isolation” stage. This stage is marred by love as the fundamental ingredient. According to Mahzarin Banaji, a professor of psychology from Harvard’s Department of Psychology, adolescents struggle with intimate and emotionally appeals at this stage (Graber et al. 2019). They tend to share most of their stories only with their peers to gain emotional strength.

The Psychosocial Theories of Adolescent Development

The definition of adolescence at the sub-stages is theoretically informed. There are various classic theories of adolescent development, which stem from philosophical perspectives. Darwin’s theory of phylogenic evolution played a more significant role in shaping the current definitions of adolescence (Cherry, 2012). According to peer-reviewed sources on Darwin’s theory, development is controlled by physiological transitions, which portray the stages of human evolution, which he called “recapitulation.” Darwin’s work influenced great psychologists such as Freud 1992 (Cherry, 2012). According to Freud, the intra-psychic theories, which emphasize energy, instincts, and drive were biologically propelled (Cherry, 2012). Feud recognized the contextual influences on the biological imperatives; thus he was considered philosophically organismic. Anna Freud, and the Neo-Freudians expanded the organismic theories into the realm of adolescent development. The Freudian psychoanalytic training revolves on the construction of a child’s developmental theories around the psychological conflicts. According to Piaget (2010), the concept of egocentrism in a child’s psychology is in line with the Freudian theory (Graber, et al. 2019). Piaget focused on the growth cognition, and the rational aspect of the adolescent developments.

The contextual theory of adolescent development plays a significant role in its definition. The major contextual approaches contributing to this broad understanding include the theories by Margaret Mead and Richard Lerner. Margaret is renowned for her anthropological work on identifying the cultural context of adolescents’ development (Cherry, 2012). Mead interconnected the ideas in the Lewin’s field, which emphasized on the significance of a contextually situated research on the adolescents (Cherry, 2012). Piaget further proposed cognitive development theories to account for the intellectual capacities among adolescents. The theory of cognitive development was split into four stages, with the last two stages applicable to adolescents who inform the inclusion criteria in this work. The stages are the concrete operational stage, and the formal operational stage. According to Kendra, the concrete operational stage in Piaget’s theory begins from 11 years to 14, where the child gains a solid understanding of the mental operation (Cherry, 2012). The formal operation stage commences from 13 to adulthood, and is characterized by the adolescent’s ability to think about abstract features. Skills such as deductive reasoning, logical thoughts, and planning are manifested in the reasoning of the child at this stage.

Conclusion

The existing discrepancies between 10 and 25 years have made it possible to divide adolescents into sub-stages. Researchers, theorists, and various authors, for decades, have differed into the right cohort to classify adolescents. The resultant effects are the numerous subcategories where each author, a researcher or a psychologist categorizes adolescents based on his or her understandings. Early adolescents begin at ages 10 to 13, middle adolescents between 14 and 26 years, and the late adolescents between 17 to 21 years. On the contrary, some researchers categorize adolescents as follows; early adolescents between 10 to 13 years, middle adolescents between 14 to 18 years, and the late adolescents between 19 to 22 years. The variation in the age classifications for the adolescents has led the researchers into proposing an amicable conventional framework. Nonetheless, the decision settles on the age bracket 14 to 17 years, which concurs with the recommended age cohort for this paper of 13 to 18 years. A report from the UNICEF 2015, shows that most western cultures recognize the average entry age into high school to be 14 years, while they leave at 18 years. This age bracket according to the western countries informs the epitome of adolescence. Every stage mentioned above is psychologically affected differently. To conclude this work, the paper paid attention to the in-depth definition of youth, which shed light on the overall framework. The review has conglomerated various ideas from various research works, and peer-reviewed sources to construct a solid paper, which illuminates the developmental psychology of the adolescents. Different theoretical frameworks have been used to build the overall arguments. Such theories include the Piaget, Erik Erikson, and Darwin’s theories.

References

Chen, J., Wang, G., Zhang, K., Wang, G., & Liu, L. (2019). A pilot study on evaluating children with autism spectrum disorder using computer games. Computers in Human Behavior, 90,        204-214.

Cherry, K. (2012). Child development theories. Psychology. About. com. The New York Times.

Curtis, A. C. (2015). Defining adolescence. Journal of Adolescent and Family Health, 7(2), 2.

Graber, J. A., Brooks-Gunn, J., & Petersen, A. C. (Eds.). (2019). Transitions through adolescence:             Interpersonal domains and context. Psychology Press.