Chapter 12

Emotional, Identity, and Social

Development in Adolescence
 Identity
Identity is who people believe they are,
representing a synthesis and integration of self-
understanding.

By far the most comprehensive and provocative

theory of identity development is that of Erik
Erikson.
• Who am I? What am I all about? What am I going to do
with my life? What is different about me? How can I
make it on my own?
• Erikson was the first to realize how central such
questions are to understanding adolescent development.

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 Erikson: Identity vs. Role Confusion
• Identity:
– Defining who you are, your values, and your direction in life
– A process of exploration followed by commitment: to ideals,
vocation, relationships, sexual orientation, ethnic group
• Role confusion:
– Earlier psychosocial conflicts not resolved
– Lack of direction and self-definition
– Society restricts choices
– Unprepared for challenges of adulthood
 Erikson’s Ideas on Identity:
Role Experimentation 1
A core ingredient of Erikson’s theory of identity
development is role experimentation.
• During moratorium and before they reach a stable sense
of self, adolescents try out different roles and behaviors.
• As adolescents gradually come to realize that they will
soon be responsible for themselves and their lives, they
try to determine what those lives are going to be.

Erikson argued that by late adolescence

vocational roles become central to identity
development
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 Role Experimentation
Identity is a self-portrait composed of many pieces and
domains:
• Vocational/career identity.
• Political identity.
• Religious identity.
• Relationship identity.
• Achievement, intellectual identity.
• Sexual identity.
• Cultural/ethnic identity.
• Interests.
• Personality.
• Ethics/Values
• Physical identity.
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Some Contemporary Thoughts on Identity

Contemporary views of identity development

suggest that it is a lengthy process, in many
instances more gradual and less cataclysmic than
Erikson’s term crisis implies.

Today’s theorists note that this extraordinarily

complex process neither begins nor ends with
adolescence.

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 Some Contemporary Thoughts on Identity

What is important about identity development in

adolescence and emerging adulthood is that, for
the first time, physical, cognitive, and
socioemotional development advance to the point
at which the individual can sort through and
synthesize childhood identities and identifications
to construct a viable path toward adult maturity.

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 Family Influences on Identity
Parents are important figures in the adolescent’s
development of identity.

Catherine Cooper and colleagues have found that

a family atmosphere that promotes both
individuality and connectedness is important in the
adolescent’s identity development.
• Individuality has two dimensions: self-assertion and
separateness.
• Connectedness

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Identity and Peer/Romantic Relationships

Researchers have found that the capacity to

explore one’s identity during adolescence and
emerging adulthood is linked to the quality of peer,
friendship, and romantic relationships.
• Friends are often a safe context for exploring identity-
related experiences.

In a romantic relationship, individuals are in the

process of constructing their own identity while
providing their partner with a context for identity
exploration.

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Identity Development and the Digital Environment
For today’s adolescents and emerging adults,
contexts involving the digital world, especially
social media platforms, have introduced new ways
for youth to express and explore their identity.

With more control over what is presented,

adolescents and emerging adults often cast
themselves in as positive a light as possible.
• The online world provides extensive opportunities for
both expressing identity and getting feedback about it.
• Just as in the offline world, feedback is not always
positive.
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 The Self
Self: all of the characteristics of a person

More so than as children, adolescents carry with

them a sense of who they are and what makes
them different from everyone else.

Real or imagined, an adolescent’s developing

sense of self and uniqueness is a motivating force
in life.

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Self-Understanding and Understanding Others

Although individuals become more introspective in

adolescence and even more so in emerging
adulthood, this self-understanding is not
completely internal.

Rather, self-understanding is a social cognitive

construction.

Self-understanding/Self-concept: the individual’s

cognitive representation of the self—the substance
and content of self-conceptions

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 Self-Understanding in Adolescence
Dimensions of adolescents’ self-understanding:
• Abstraction and idealism.
• Differentiation.
• The fluctuating self.
• Contradictions within the self.
• Real versus ideal, true versus false selves.

Possible self: what individuals might become, what

they would like to become (ideal self), what they
think they are expected to become (ought self) and
what they are afraid of becoming (undesired self)

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 Self-Understanding in Adolescence
Dimensions of adolescents’ self-understanding,
continued:
• Social comparison.
• Self-consciousness.
• Self-protection.
• The unconscious self.
• Not quite yet a coherent, integrated self.

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 Self-Understanding in Emerging Adulthood
and Early Adulthood
In emerging adulthood, self-understanding
becomes more integrative, with the disparate parts
of the self pieced together more systematically.

Gisela Labouvie-Vief emphasizes that self-

development in emerging adulthood involves an
increase in self-reflection and a decision about a
specific worldview.
• Aspects of this process include developing self-
awareness and continuing reflection on possible selves.
• Self-awareness: awareness of psychological makeup.
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 Self-Understanding and Social Contexts

The multiple selves of ethnically diverse youth

reflect their experiences navigating their multiple
worlds.

Youth who have difficulty moving between worlds

can experience alienation from their school, family,
or peers.

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 17

Development of the Self-Concept

• Quick Recap of development in childhood:
• Gradually, an infant comes to realize that it is
distinct from the rest of the world—distinction
forms a rudimentary sense of self-awareness of
one’s own body
• Around age two to three, among the first aspects
of self that children learn to identify and associate
with themselves are sex and age
• Children ages two to three also expand self-
concept to include the reference to family
• From ages three to four, children’s self-concept is
based mainly on developing skills and talents
 Development of the Self-Concept
- From ages five to six, children increasingly
begin to compare their skills and abilities with
those of others (social comparison)

- Also from ages five to six, children learn that

they can keep secrets and lie—based on the
development of the private self-concept

- During teen years, perspective taking: Ability

to take perspectives of others, to see oneself
as others do including objective self-
awareness—seeing oneself as the object of
others’ attention
 Perceiving Others’ Traits
As adolescence proceeds, teenagers develop a more
sophisticated understanding of others—that other people
are complex beings and have public and private faces.

Perspective taking: the ability to assume other people’s

perspective and understand their thoughts and feelings

Objective self-awareness is the beginning of social

identity

Social cognitive monitoring becomes increasingly

important.

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 Self-Esteem
Self-esteem: the evaluative dimension of the self.
• Also referred to as self-worth or self-image.

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 Measuring Self-Esteem
Developmental Psychologist, Susan Harter developed
a separate measure of self-esteem for adolescents:
the Self-Perception Profile for Adolescents.
• It assesses eight domains in addition to “global self worth”
• scholastic competence
• athletic competence
• social acceptance
• physical appearance
• behavioral conduct
• close friendship
• romantic appeal
• job competence

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 Measuring Self-Esteem
Some assessment experts argue that a
combination of several methods should be used
in measuring self-esteem.
• In addition to self-reporting, ratings of an adolescent’s
self-esteem by others and observations of the
adolescent’s behavior in various settings could provide
a more complete and accurate self-esteem picture.

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 Self-Esteem: Perception and Reality
Self-esteem reflects perceptions that do not
always match reality.

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 Parent–Adolescent Relationships
• Strives for autonomy:
– Emotional component: self-reliance
– Behavioral component: independent decision making
• Deidealizes parents
• Effective parenting:
– Warm, supportive ties
– Balancing autonomy-granting with monitoring
 Variations in Parent–Child Relationships
• Societies valuing interdependence: autonomy as
self-endorsed decision making
• Can be challenging for youths from families/cultures
emphasizing obedience to authority:
– Critical parents may prompt adolescent distancing
– Most maintain healthy balance between family and new
country’s values
 Reorganized Parent–Adolescent Relationship
• Conflict facilitates adolescent’s identity and
autonomy:
– Signals parents to adjust parenting style
– Harmonious interaction increases by mid- to late
adolescence
• Type of shared activities more important than
quantity of time spent
Characteristics of Adolescent Friendships
• Fewer “best friends”
• Value intimacy, mutual understanding,
loyalty
• Most important source of social support
• Tend to be similar and become more so:
– Identity status
– Educational aspirations
– Political beliefs © bikeriderlondon/Shutterstock

– Deviant behavior
• Cooperation and mutual affirmation increase
 Benefits of Adolescent Friendships
• Opportunities to explore the self
• Opportunities to deeply understand another
• Foundation for future intimate
relationships
• Helpful in managing stress
• Greater empathy, sympathy, and
prosocial behavior
• Improved attitudes toward and
involvement in school
© oliveromg/Shutterstock
 Cliques and Crowds
• Cliques:
– Small tightly knit groups: 5–7
– Similar in family background,
attitudes, and values
– More important to girls
• Crowds: © Robbi/Shutterstock

– Larger: composed of several cliques

– Membership based on reputation, stereotype
– Affiliations reflect abilities and interests (e.g., “brains,”
“jocks,” “populars,” “nonconformists”) or express ethnicity
 Emotional Development
Significant hormonal changes occur.
• Some emotional fluctuations of early adolescence may
be related to variability in hormone levels during this
period.
• Associated with an increase in negative emotions.

Environmental experiences may contribute more to

the emotions of adolescence than do hormonal
changes.

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 Emotional Competence
In adolescence, individuals are more likely to
become aware of their emotional cycles.
• This new awareness may improve their ability to cope
with their emotions.

However, many adolescents do not effectively

manage their emotions.

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 Emotional Competence
Emotional competence includes:
• Being aware that the expression of emotions plays a
major role in relationships.
• Adaptively coping with negative emotions by using
self-regulatory strategies that reduce the intensity and
duration of such emotional states.
• Understanding the inner emotional states do not have
to correspond to outer expressions.
• Being aware of one’s emotional states without being
overwhelmed by them.
• Being able to discern others’ emotions.

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 Emotional Intelligence
• Emotional intelligence includes a set of five specific abilities
1. Awareness of our own feelings and bodily signals, being able to
identify our own emotions, and make distinctions
2. Ability to self-regulate emotions, especially negative emotions
(toward self & others), and to manage stress
3. Ability to stay motivated, controlling one’s impulses, directing
attention and effort, delay gratification, and stay on task toward goals
4. Empathy - Ability to decode social and emotional cues of others
5. Social Skills - Ability to influence and guide others without incurring
anger, resentment

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 Emotion Regulation
The ability to effectively manage and control one’s
emotions is a key dimension of positive outcomes
in adolescent development.

As they age, adolescents are more likely to:

• Improve their use of cognitive strategies for regulating
emotion.
• Modulate their emotional arousal.
• Become more adept at managing situations to minimize
negative emotion.
• Choose effective ways to cope with stress.

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 Depression in Adolescence
• Most common psychological
problem: 15–20% have had one
or more major episodes
• Twice as many girls as boys:
gender difference sustained
throughout lifespan

© Jochen Schoenfeld/Shutterstock
Factors Related to Adolescent Depression
• Moderately heritable
• Parental depression and associated maladaptive
parenting
• Genetic and hormonal risk factors combine with
stressful experiences
Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development
• Presented hypothetical dilemmas involving conflict
between two moral values: not stealing vs. saving a
dying person
• What determines moral maturity:
– The way an individual reasons about a moral dilemma
– Not the content of the response
• Moral understanding promoted by:
– Actively grappling with moral issues
– Gains in perspective taking
Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development
Stage 1: Punishment and obedience
Preconventional
level
Stage 2: Instrumental purpose

Stage 3: “Good boy–good girl” (morality of

interpersonal cooperation; ideal reciprocity)
Conventional level
Stage 4: Social-order-maintaining

Stage 5: Social contract

Postconventional or
principled level
Stage 6: Universal ethical principle