Grayce P. Storey
Adolescence brings with it upheavals. Family, peer and society relations are altered. There is a need for the adolescent to see him or herself as a separate human being. Levels of great change can cause levels of great stress. What the child is actually experiencing are mixed feelings of being both a child, an adult and a non-integral mixture of the two.
The possibilities and choices are numerous during the adolescent period. It is during this time that the child makes many discoveries about self, parents, friends, sexual relationships, and about the world as a whole. It is also during this time that ambivalence is experienced. The child is torn between the responsibilities of an adult and the security of being a child. It is during this period that the child is easily frustrated by limits on his or her controls. The child may become angry and hostile in response to preconceived threats to his or her state of independence.
Psychologist Erik Erickson has described each stage of the life cycle in terms of universal “tasks.” The adolescent has tasks to complete in the transition from childhood to adulthood. Erickson has also described the adolescent period as one of identity role versus role diffusion. He concluded that the formulation of identity is an ongoing process through the stages of life. In Erickson’s description of role diffusion, he sees it as the opposite to successful identity integration. The adolescent experiences too many changes and not enough support.
As the child grasps concrete concepts the formal abstract cognitive patterns develop. m is pattern development makes the child more inclined to think about morals, values, and ethics.
