LESSON 3:

“Development Stages in
Middle and Late
Adolescence”
Adolescence – Between Childhood and
Adulthood
 Do you remember the feeling you had
when you finally celebrate your 13th
birthday, which symbolized your
crossing over the developmental stage
of childhood to teen-hood?
 As adolescents develop physically, they also
develop cognitively, psychologically,
socially, and spiritually.
The ages during adolescence may be bracketed as
follows (Corpus et al. 2010):
• Early adolescence – ages around 10 to 13
• Middle adolescence – ages from 14 to 16
• Late adolescence – ages from 17 to 20
American psychologists differ slightly with
their age definitions of adolescence. Feist
and Rosenberg (2012) pegged early
adolescence at age 11 or 12, and late
adolescence at about age 18. Hence, in
America, a child is usually out of the house
by the age of 18 because this is the age on
how they define young adulthood.
Erikson’s Eight Stages of Personality
Development
ADOLESCENCE:
Identity vs.
Confusion
What is IDENTITY?
• Identity is the concept of an individual
about himself and is often referred to as
“self-identity,” molded through various
interactive experiences around himself,
such as their family and community, and
his responses in terms of thinking,
attitude, and behavior to external stimuli.
• Identity is a self-belief of what the
individual thinks and feels about himself.
Roles oftentimes form part of this self-
identity, such as birth order in the family,
the nature of work, occupation or title,
and academic and social standing.
Identity is also influenced by how others
perceive an individual.
What is ROLE CONFUSION?
• Role confusion is the negation of self-
identity, in a sense that there is confusion
over one’s self-concept or the absence or
lack of such concept. Role confusion affects
an individual’s relationship with others,
because there is no clear definition of what
he is and how he relates to others.
Changes During Adolescence:
 The adolescent’s physiological
transitioning is very pronounced at this
stage. Puberty kicks in and is fueled by the
hormonal changes that the occurring and
pushing the adolescent toward sexual
maturation. At this stage, the brain also
continues to develop.
 Their beliefs about morality, religion,
and politics are also starting to evolve.
This is the stage when young men and
women begin to ask questions about the
status quo, about the way things happen,
and usually counter questions or
situations with a challenging question of,
“why not?”.
 Experimentation is a common activity
among adolescents as they search for
their identity. They want to be treated as
adults, and they see adult behavior as
something to emulate. Unfortunately,
they also mimic negative behaviors like
smoking and drinking, which are
perceived as marks of manhood in some
cultures like ours.
 In most high schools, various student
organizations are being offered to students for
them to choose from. Joining these
organizations according to one’s interest is
part of the adolescent’s continuing formation
of self-identity. Socializing among male and
female adolescents also occur in this phase. In
this digital era, online friendships abound,
thanks to social networking sites such as
Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Sexual experimentation also happens
in this stage. However, due to their
underdeveloped cognitive and
affective capacities and education of
the matter, this experimentation
sometimes end up in a disaster, such
as teen pregnancies and sexual
diseases.
Skills and Tasks Appropriate for Middle and
Late Adolescence
 According to a study conducted by the Work-Life
Center at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, titled Raising Teens Project. The
study enumerated ten desirable developmental
tasks every adolescent in America should develop:
1. Adjust to sexually maturing bodies and
feelings – being aware of the bodily
changes happening, managing sexual
feelings, and engaging in healthy sexual
behaviors. Establishing sexual identity
and developing skills for romantic and
meaningful relationships are the healthy
results when adolescents learn to adjust
to their own development.
2. Develop and apply abstract thinking skills –
effectively understand and coordinate
abstract ideas, thinking out possibilities,
trying out theories, planning ahead,
reflecting on how and what they are
thinking, and coming out with their own
personal philosophies.
3. Develop and apply a new perspective on human
relationships – developing the capacity for
compassion by learning how to put
themselves in “somebody else’s shoes” in
order to understand other people’s feelings
and perspectives. Looking at relationships in
different perspectives can develop in learning
how to resolve conflicts in relationships.
4. Develop and apply new coping skills in areas such
as decision-making, problem solving, and conflict
resolution – adolescents acquire new thinking
capabilities that will help them engage in
more creative strategies for problem solving,
decision-making, and resolving conflict. They
should be able to project toward the future
and see the consequences of their decisions.
5. Identify meaningful moral standards,
values, and belief systems – because of
their idealism, adolescents develop
more complex understanding of
morality, justice, and compassion that
leads to the formation of their own
belief systems that will guide their
decisions and behaviors.
6.Understand and express more complex
emotional experiences – becoming more in
touch with their emotions and see the
complex variances among strong emotions
and feelings, understanding the emotions
and feelings of other persons, and learning
how to detach themselves from emotional
situation whenever the need arises.
7. Form friendships that are mutually close
and supportive – peer influence is very
strong among adolescents and this
should be able to steer an adolescent
toward productive and positive
relationships, behavior, and thinking.
Learning how to trust others is an
important task for and adolescent to
develop.
8. Establish key aspects of identity – be
encouraged to develop their own
healthy self-concepts that reflect
their uniqueness in relation to
themselves, their families and
friends, and with the bigger
community.
9. Meet the demands of increasingly mature
roles and responsibilities – it is important
for the emerging adult to acquire skills
and knowledge that will provide him with
meaningful careers and jobs and to live
up to the expectations regarding
commitment to family, community, and
nation-building.
10. Renegotiate relationships with adults in parenting
roles – the adolescent stage sees the movement
toward independence and autonomy. In the
Philippine setting, this is not as pronounced as
with other western cultures. However, Filipino
adolescents should be able to communicate
with their parents their need for a certain
degree of independence as they mature to
young adulthood.
Filipino authors Corpuz et al. (2010)
in their book, Child and Adolescent
Development, identified similar
developmental tasks a Filipino
adolescent needs to learn. These are:
1. Developing occupational skills
– skills that can help the
adolescents develop
responsibility as a preparation
for gainful employment
ahead.
2. Self-reliance – the ability to
identify their own skills and
knowledge, capabilities, and
resources to engage in
meaningful activities and not
rely too much on others.
3. Ability to manage their finances – be
able to discern what is the difference
between “wants” and “needs,” and be
able to learn self-control when
handling their finances. As early as
possible, the adolescent should learn
financial literacy through various
means available to them.
4. Social responsibility – adolescents
should be able to see beyond
themselves, take into consideration the
greater community around them, and
see their role in improving and
developing these communities, serving
as change agents.
5.Mature work orientation –
develop pride in what they
do and raise standards of
excellence in the quality of
their work.
6. Personal responsibility – to be fully
responsible for their own decisions and
actions by owning them, become aware
of the repercussions or results of the
decisions they make and be mature
enough to “own” these results, and
refrain from putting blame on others for
the results of their decisions and actions.
7. Positive attitude toward work – in the book,
The Prophet by the Lebanese poet, Khalil
Gibran, he wrote, “Work is Love made
Visible.” Developing a healthy and
positive attitude toward work means that
we see work as an expression of our love
for people who are important to us,
including ourselves.
 Here is an additional list of developmental
tasks and skills a Filipino adolescent should
require:

1. Being courageous in standing up and

being different from your friends
• Adolescents need to feel he or she

belongs to a group.
2. Developing self-esteem
• Learn to understand, accept, and
appreciate oneself as a unique person.
Avoiding comparisons between you and
other people is also a healthy way to
develop self-esteem.
3. Being true to yourself and avoiding
the tendency to please others
• Adolescents find it difficult to assert their
individuality or uniqueness because they
are afraid to others will not approve or like
them, or will not allow them to become a
member of a group.
4.Learning how media and advertising
are trying to influence your thinking
and feelings
• Understand that news is reported for a
reason, usually to serve the purpose of
someone or some organization. Understand
that advertising employed to sell consumer
products work on either fear or desires.
5. Becoming aware, critical, and
being involved with social issues
• Ask questions and speak up whenever
possible to address social issues such
as poverty and corruption. Let our
leaders know how you think and feel
about our society, and learn to suggests
solutions in improving our lives.
6. Embracing a healthy lifestyle
• Becoming aware of your health and the
food you eat, and engaging in sports
and other physical activities beneficial
to your well-being. Learn to relax.
ACTIVITY: Choose Me!
INSTRUCTIONS: Choose ONE from the
given item below. Then write an essay for
each chosen item. Use the rubric below
as guide.
1. If a personal fable makes you think you're invincible,
predisposing you into engaging high-risk activities, what do
you think combats this and saves you from doing so?
2. Are sexual behaviors hormonal or by choice? Justify your
answer.
3. Is delinquency a cause or a symptom? How so?
4. Define gender identity in you own terms.
5. Now that the definition of anti-social behavior is clearly
define, how do you think can you manage others with such
behaviors? Do you notice such tendencies with others'
actions or yours?
RUBRIC:
Description Score Score Obtained
Content provided are correct 5  
and appropriate.
Sufficient elaboration of key 5  
ideas and examples are
provided.
The essay is clear and 3  
organized.
Grammar and usage are 2  
correct.
TOTAL 15  
 Journal Entry no. 3

• Write a journal entry that expresses your

feelings on the expectations of the significant
people around you such as your parents,
siblings, friends and community leaders.
• Write a journal entry that contains
affirmations that will help you become more
lovable and capable as an adolescent
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