Socio-Emotional,

Spiritual and Cultural

Development in
Adolescence
 Learning outcomes

1 2 3 4
Discuss self, identity, Describe changes Characterize the Explain how culture
and that take place in changes that occur influences
religious/spiritual adolescents’ in peer relationships adolescent
development in relationships with during adolescence. development.
adolescence their parents.
 Some highlights from previous lesson:
➢Adolescence - a transitional period in the human life span,
linking childhood and adulthood
➢During adolescence, teenagers move beyond concrete
thinking and become capable of abstract thought.
➢. Adolescents engage in increased risk-taking behaviors and
emotional outbursts possibly because the frontal lobes of
their brains are still developing
➢In Piaget’s formal operational stage, thought is more
abstract, idealistic, and logical than during the concrete
operational stage.
➢Adolescent egocentrism, which involves a heightened self-
consciousness, reflects another cognitive change in
adolescence.
SELF-ESTEEM
the overall way we
evaluate ourselves
 • A New Zealand longitudinal
Does self- study assessed the self-
esteem in esteem of adolescents at 11,
adolescence 13, and 15 years of age and
foreshadow then assessed the adjustment
adjustment and and competence of the same
competence in individuals when they were 26
years old (Trzesniewski &
adulthood?
others, 2006).
• The results revealed that…
 • adults with poorer mental and
Does self- physical health, worse
esteem in economic prospects, and
adolescence higher levels of criminal
foreshadow behavior were more likely to
adjustment and have had low self-esteem in
competence in adolescence than their better-
adulthood? adjusted, more competent
adult counterparts.
Does self-esteem
in adolescence
foreshadow
adjustment and
competence in
adulthood?
Some critics argue that
developmental changes
and gender differences
in self-esteem during Why would the self-
adolescence have been esteem of girls
exaggerated (Harter, decline during early
adolescence?
2006, 2012, 2013,
2016). Despite the
differing results and
interpretations, the self-
esteem of girls is likely
to decline at least
somewhat during early
adolescence
• One explanation points to
girls’ negative body images
during pubertal change.
• Another explanation involves
the greater interest young
adolescent girls take in social
relationships and society’s
failure to reward that interest
(Impett & others, 2008).

Self-esteem reflects
perceptions that do not
always match reality
(Jordan & Zeigler-Hill,
2013).
Thus, high self-esteem may
refer to accurate, justified
perceptions of one’s worth as
a person and one’s successes
and accomplishments,
An adolescent’s self-esteem
might indicate a perception
about whether he or she is
intelligent and attractive, for
example, but that perception
may not be accurate.
but it can also indicate an arrogant,
grandiose, unwarranted sense of
superiority over others. In the same
manner, low self-esteem may
suggest either an accurate
perception of one’s shortcomings
or a distorted, even pathological
insecurity and inferiority.
What is Identity?
Some decisions made during
adolescence might seem trivial:
• whom to date,
• whether or not to break up,
• which major to study,
• Whether to study or play,
• whether or not to be politically
active,
• and so on.
Santrock (2019)
Over the years of adolescence,
however, such decisions begin to
form the core of what the
individual is all about as a human
being—what is called his or her
identity.
Santrock (2019)
Narcissism
• Narcissism refers to a self-centered and
self-concerned approach toward others.
• Typically, narcissists are unaware of their
actual self and how others perceive them
(Miller & others, 2017; Thomaes &
Brummelman, 2016).
• Narcissists are excessively self-centered
and self-congratulatory, viewing their own
needs and desires as paramount (Kealy &
others, 2017).
 Career

Physical Political
Identity

Identity is a
self-portrait
composed of Personality Religion

many pieces, Identity

including
these: Cultural/
Relationship
Ethnic

Achievement/
Sexual Intellectual
 PARENTAL MONITORING AND INFORMATION
MANAGEMENT
• A key aspect of the managerial role of parenting is effective
monitoring, which is especially important as children move
into the adolescent years (Bendezu & others, 2018; Cope &
others, 2017; Kelly, Becker, & Spirito, 2017; Lindsay & others,
2018; Low & Shortt, 2017; Rusby & others, 2018).
• Monitoring includes supervising adolescents’ choice of social
settings, activities, and friends, as well as their academic
efforts.
• When parents engage in positive parenting practices,
adolescents are more likely to disclose information
• The typical adolescent’s push for autonomy and
responsibility puzzles and angers many parents.
• Most parents anticipate that their teenager will have
some difficulty adjusting to the changes that
adolescence brings.
• Few parents imagine and predict just how strong an
adolescent’s desires will be to spend time with peers
or how intensely adolescents will want to show that it
is they—not their parents—who are responsible for
their successes and failures.
The Role of Attachment
• Researchers have found that
insecurely attached adolescents
are more likely than securely
attached adolescents to have
emotional difficulties and to
engage in problem behaviors
such as juvenile delinquency and
drug abuse (Hoeve & others,
2012).
 The Role of Attachment
• A recent study involving adolescents and
emerging adults from 15 to 20 years of age
found that insecure attachment to mothers
was linked to becoming depressed and
remaining depressed (Agerup & others,
2015). In a longitudinal study, Joseph
• Allen and his colleagues (2009) found that
secure attachment at 14 years of age was
linked to a number of positive outcomes at
21 years of age, including relationship
competence, financial/career competence,
and fewer problematic behaviors
PARENT-ADOLESCENT CONFLICT

Conflict with parents

often escalates during
early adolescence and
then lessens as the
adolescent reaches 17
to 20 years of age.
OLD AND NEW MODELS OF PARENT-
ADOLESCENT RELATIONSHIPS
PEER GROUPS
• How extensive is peer
pressure in
adolescence?
• What roles do cliques
and crowds play in
adolescents’ lives?
 Peer Pressure

Young adolescents conform more to

peer standards than children do (Nesi &
others, 2017; Prinstein & Giletta, 2016).

Around the eighth and ninth grades,

conformity to peers— especially to their
antisocial standards—peaks (Brown &
Larson, 2009; Brown & others, 2008).
 Which adolescents are most
likely to conform to peers?

Mitchell Prinstein and his colleagues

(Prinstein, 2007; Prinstein & Dodge, 2008;
Prinstein & Giletta, 2016) have conducted
research that found adolescents who feel
uncertain about their social identity,
which may be evident in low self-esteem
and high social anxiety, are most likely to
conform to peers.
 Cliques and crowds assume more
Cliques and important roles during adolescence
Crowds than during childhood (Brown,
2011; Furman & Rose, 2015).
• Cliques are small groups that range
from 2 to about 12 individuals and
average about 5 or 6 individuals. The
clique members are usually of the same
sex and about the same age.
• Cliques can form because adolescents
engage in similar activities, such as
belonging to a club or playing on a
sports team. Some cliques also form
because of friendship.
• Several adolescents may form a clique
because they have spent time with each
other, share mutual interests, and enjoy
each other’s company.
• Crowds are larger than cliques and less personal.
Adolescents are usually members of a crowd based on
reputation, and they may or may not spend much time
together. Many crowds are defined by the activities
adolescents engage in (such as “jocks” who are good at
sports or “druggies” who take drugs) (Brown, 2011).
 Three stages characterize the development
of romantic relationships in adolescence
(Connolly & McIsaac, 2009):
Developmental
1. Entry into romantic attractions and
Changes in affiliations at about 11 to 13 years of
Dating and age.
Romantic 2. Exploring romantic relationships at
Relationships approximately 14 to 16 years ofage.
3. Consolidating dyadic romantic bonds at
about 17 to 19 years of age
Spiritual Development in
Adolescence
DEVELOPMENTAL CHANGES IN RELIGIOUSNESS FROM 14 TO 24
YEARS OF AGE

• More change in religiousness

occurred from 14 to 18 years of age
than from 20 to 24 years of age.
Attending religious services declined
from 14 to 18 years of age and then
began to increase at 20 years of age
(Koenig, McGue, & Iacono, 2008)
• And in a recent study, as adolescents got
older, their religious service attendance
declined and this decline was linked to such
factors as becoming employed, leaving
home, and engaging in sexual activity
(Hardie, Pearce, & Denton, 2016).
• Researchers have found that adolescent
girls are more religious than are adolescent
boys (King & Boyatzis, 2015).
Religion and Identity
Development
Adolescents and emerging adults begin to
grapple in more sophisticated, logical ways
with such questions as
“Why am I on this planet?”
“Is there really a God or higher spiritual
being, or have I just been believing what my
parents and the church imprinted in my
mind?”
“What really are my religious views?”
Cognitive Development and
Religion in Adolescence
Adolescents think abstractly, idealistically, and logically.
The increase in abstract thinking lets adolescents
consider various ideas about religious and spiritual
concepts

Adolescents increased idealistic thinking provides a foundation for

thinking about whether religion provides the best route to a better
world. And adolescents increased logical reasoning gives them the
ability to develop hypotheses and systematically sort through
different answers to spiritual questions (Good & Willoughby,
2008).
Culture and Adolescent
Development
 • There are similarities and
differences in adolescents across
different countries.
• In some countries, traditions are
being continued in the
Cross-Cultural socialization of adolescents,
whereas in others, substantial
Comparisons changes in the experiences of
adolescents are taking place.
• Adolescents often fill their time
with different activities,
depending on the culture in
which they live.
 • Low socioeconomic status
and poverty can have
extremely negative effects
on adolescents’
Socioeconomic development, including
Status and Poverty lower academic
achievement, lower
occupational attainment,
and more psychological
problems.
Any questions
 • Santrock, J. W. (2019). Life-
span development. New York:
McGraw-Hill.
• Images: Creative Commons
References: Licenses