Selected Topic: Identity and the Search for the Self

Research Question: What Factors Influence Identity Development and Search for Self among Adolescents?

Introduction

Adolescent is an important stage in development. It’s a vital stage because it prepares one for adulthood. It’s also the process where kids begin to search for and develop an identity. This is the stage they become self-aware of their existence and begin a serious search for the self. Also, they experience transitions in life experiences that come with growing older, and the more they become self-aware of themselves, the more they develop a solid identity and other concrete self-concepts; self-esteem and self-schemas. During this stage of development, individuals experience rapid cognitive, social, and emotional changes, and these happen to be the factors that influence identity search. This paper, therefore, presents a research paper that explains how cognitive, social, and emotional in adolescents influence their identity development and the search for self.

Discussion  

Cognitive Changes

In development psychology, cognitive development explains the advancement in peoples’ thinking. According to (Berger), cognitive development in adolescents occurs in three phases. The first phase is the advancement of their reasoning capabilities. This phase occurs in the early stage of adolescents, where individuals start to get a wider perspective of the world. They develop the ability to explore their surroundings to optimal levels as well as situations privy to them (Sander). In addition, this phase also comes with the ability to reason hypothetically as well as apply logic during problem-solving. In Lisa Wingate’s book, “Before we were yours,” this stage is manifested when Rill Foss and her siblings begin to get a wider perspective of life. They begin to realize that the world is uncertain; hence, Foss begins to fight for them. The cognitive ability to explore her surrounding pushes her to develop a sense of familial identity. She begins to question her identity and her position in the family, considering she has a huge responsibility ahead of her (Wingate). 

The second phase is the abstract thinking phase. It occurs while an individual is around 15 years of age. His cognitive sense is more advanced and has given him the advantage of thinking abstractly (Sanders).  An individual becomes a concrete thinker and will always link his thought to his knowledge and create a picture and explanation to things he is yet to experience. This is the point where an adolescent individual becomes able to understand complex mathematics formulas or any other technical subjects and experiences around them (Beger). An individual’s problem-solving skills also advance during this phase, and the individual is able to devise independent solutions without an iota of help. Still, at this phase, an individual becomes aware of his personal feeble and develops the need to have thoughts, ideas and reasoning that appeals to an audience. The individual’s thoughts are mature and have the ability to appeal to people surrounding him, including those that are way much older than him. Here, an individual also develops an ego that dictates his thoughts and behaviour. Research has it that this phase, the ability to think abstractly, is dangerous. This is because it gives adolescents the power to think that they have the freedom to make independent decisions; hence, most of them choose the path of risky behaviours (Sanders). The freedom of making independent choices leads most of them to drug abuse and high-risk sexual behaviours, and other indulgences. Most of them become victims of peer pressure. In Wingate’s book, the self-awareness developed through this phase creates a bond in Foss’ family. They realize that they have to stick together no matter what. This exhibits an almost complete development of familial identity (Wingates). The cognitive ability of Foss also leads her to realize her self-schema. Marcus defines self-schema as “The cognitive generalizations about the self, derived from experience, that organize and guide the processing of the self-related information contained in an individual’s social experience.”

The third phase of cognitive development during adolescents is the operation thinking phase. Here, adolescents not only think abstractly but also start to think with respect to their sentiments; they begin to think under the influence of their emotions and the physical factors that affect their emotions (Sander). This is the phase where adolescents create an imaginary audience in their heads and start thinking like they are addressing this audience. This phase marks the full cognitive development and shows that the individual is already an adult, ready to lead an independent life. At this phase, the adolescent individual already has a fully developed identity and is fully aware of himself and his actions.        

 Social Changes

The social aspect of adolescent development is majorly exhibited through an individual’s relationships and social surroundings.  Most adolescents tend to distance themselves from some relationships while forming new relationships (Simmons). Such social changes are influenced by the pressure of their newly acquired autonomy, developed identity, and social orientation learnt throughout the childhood stages of development. The first social change common to almost all adolescents is the need to distance themselves from their parents. At the age of 13, most adolescents begin to join same-sex peer groups. Their social connections with these groups become robust. At the same time, the relationship/bond they have with their parents starts to break (Berger). They show less concern for a family activity and the need to take parental advice while being more concerned about how their peers perceive them (Simmons). These groups bear too much social influence on them to the point that they idolize them; they’ll always do anything to fit in the peer groups. They develop peer codes that socially bind them and make them feel accepted. Adolescents who have no peer groups to join end up feeling socially alienated, something that affects their psychosocial growth for the rest of their remaining stages of development. Even if they do not distance themselves from their parents or immediate family, they develop an autonomy that pushes them to break away from familial identity and search for their own identity. It is through this autonomy that they begin to develop some sense of self-awareness. Wingate’s book comprehensively illustrates how the social world contributes to identity development and the search for self-awareness. Soon as the children are taken to children’s homes and realize that they will never see their parents again, they utilize their new social surroundings to develop new identities, which possibly fit this setting and will enable them to feel a sense of belongingness. Their self-awareness, therefore, grows beyond themselves to their new surroundings.      

At the middle adolescent stage, which is around age 16, adolescents become disinterested in same-sex peer relationships and start to explore their social space (Sanders, 2013). Here, they begin to develop social connections towards the opposite sex. Boys usually have the upper hand in this. They approach girls with the intention of starting intimate relationships. This is the stage where most of them explore their sexuality, and by the end of it, they are no longer virgins. Towards the end of adolescents, individuals have a developed whole new identity, separate from their parents (Sanders). This is where they begin to pursue social independence. Most of them move out from their parents at this age.

Social transition, if not well handled, may affect an individual for the rest of his life. Paediatricians recommend parents guide their kids through the transition process, despite being in inconsistent relationships with their children. A not-fully-developed identity may affect an adolescent individual, and in some cases, lead to a grave mental issue. Psychologist Erikson, in his description of the identity vs role confusion stage of life—which occurs during the adolescent stage—says that it is normal for individuals to experience confusion in their social growth, which may lead them to experiment with inappropriate social behaviours (Malone). This confusion results from not-fully-developed-identity, and it is the core cause of depression in adolescents.          

Emotional

The adolescence stage of development is also characterized by the development in emotional competence; this relates to the management of emotions, especially with their relationships (Berger). Adolescence marks the stage where individuals are more aware of their sentiments and can manage them to match with the feelings of other people, or still show emotional imbalance; they become more sensitive to other people’s emotions towards them. Adolescents also become more self-conscious (Sanders). They get emotionally attached to their peers and worry more about their peer’s comments; they are highly influenced by what people say about them. However, their emotional growth is not parallel to their physical growth.  Most adolescents’ physical development outdoes their emotional development; it is not guaranteed that the more an adolescent physically grows, the more he emotionally grows. Things that negatively trigger their emotions affect their identity formation. This is because emotional fluctuations expose them to new environments and shift their search for identity. In the book, this happens when Rill and her sisters experience emotional abuse and is later separated as they get adopted by wealthy families. They have to change their identities to conform to their new families. This can easily be assumed that adolescents hardly have a solid identity until they reach adulthood. Mostly, it affects the development of their self-esteem. Marcus defines it as, “Self-esteem is a psychological gauge of the degree to which people perceive that they are relationally valued and socially accepted by other people.”  It affects the process of identity formation in adolescents.     

Challenges and Opportunities

The search for identity and development of self-awareness among adolescents are subjected to challenges and opportunities, as seen through the various occurrences in the book. The challenges prevalent during the adolescent stage of development are deeply embedded in their aspects of growth. Biological changes bring about rapid emotional activity in the body, and as a result, affect their emotions and emotional reaction towards people. The mood change is a challenge that increases during this stage and has a great impact on family relationships. As Thomas & Patterson note, “Mood changes can negatively affect social relationships of adolescent individuals” (Thomas & Patterson). In such cases, most people end up losing friends. Cognitive challenges are embedded in their ego. Objective thinking causes adolescents to question and challenge their surroundings. The majority of them end up questioning familial rules and norms, which leads them to feel like they are not being understood. This further destroys their relationship with those people around them. Psychologically, they find it stressful to adjust to the new roles and responsibilities that come with maturity. They grow intolerant of rules, and as a result, most of them end up developing behaviour that is not only detrimental to their lives but also the society.

Social challenges are the grossest for adolescents. Generally, adolescent individuals find it challenging to deal with the pressure that comes with social growth.  As Dishioni & Patterson puts it, social freedom corrupts the mind of adolescents, steering them to indulge in unsocial behaviours that affect the rest of their adulthood (Dishioni & Patterson). Most adolescents are trapped in peer pressure and become victims of high-risk behaviour such as drug abuse and active sexual indulgence.   Recovering from such behaviours is cumbersome; hence, they are forced to carry them to adulthood. They end up becoming frustrated for the rest of their lives.          

As discussed, adolescence is a unique stage of development, but with complex changes. The complexities of these changes are gross to the point that they bear a myriad of challenges that these individuals. The positive side of it is, as Quas put it, that they can use these challenges as an opportunity to become better adults. She writes, “The same tough time though, the transition may also represent an ideal time for interventions, largely for the same reason….the teens years offer a chance to alter children’s trajectory toward more positive long term outcomes” (Quas).     

Conclusion

This paper examines the factors that influence identity search and the development of self-awareness among adolescents. It explains its cognitive, social, emotional and biological aspects of influence. As discussed, they undergo rapid changes along with these aspects. These also come with challenges that also serve as opportunities to become better adults. Parents or guardians should guide their children through this stage to ensure that they form positive self-identities.

References

Berger, Kruger. Invitation to the Life Span. 3^rd Edition, 2018. New York, NY: Worth Publishers

Dishion, Thomas J., and Gerald R. Patterson. The development and ecology of antisocial behaviour in children and adolescents. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2006.

Malone, Johanna C., et al. “Midlife Eriksonian psychosocial development: Setting the stage for late-life cognitive and emotional health.” Developmental psychology 52.3 (2016): 496.

Quas, J. A. “Adolescence: A unique period of challenge and opportunity for positive development.” American Psychological Association (2014).

Sanders, Renata Arrington. “Adolescent psychosocial, social, and cognitive development.” Paediatrics in review 34.8 (2013): 354-8.

Simmons, Roberta G., and Dale A. Blyth. Moving into adolescence: The impact of pubertal change and school context. Routledge, 2017.

Zaky, E. A. “Adolescence: A crucial transitional stage in human life.” J Child Adolesc Behav 4 (2016): 1-2.