Communication, Identity, And Emotion In Adolescents And Middle Years Essay.

Stimulus Article

The paper will discuss the three themes associated with adolescents and middle years, including communication, identity and emotion. Communication is the fifth theme. The theme is called communication and not language since through infants do not know the language they need to speak in, they still communicate. The other reason for calling the theme communication and not language is that language does not exist in the vacuum. Identity is the other theme chosen for discussion in the paper. Adolescents often suffer from identity crises. There is often a difference between the real self and the self that one wants to achieve. This disparity creates even more stress for adolescents. Emotion is the other theme discussed in the paper which discusses emotional experiences. There have been various psychological influences that are affecting adolescent behaviour. They experience vital emotional, psychological and physiological adjustments as they pass through the transition phase of being a child to adulthood, and this phase is termed the adolescent period. The paper will discuss further in detail the psychological influences which affect them. Due to peer pressure, adolescents often show various behaviours like addition or self-harming. They also usually take risk-taking behaviour, explained in articles (Young, 2018). Attachments bind every member of the society together, leading to the development of a complex and concrete person-person relationship. The other aspects that affect the psychological part of an adolescent include culture and societal influences. The other factors discussed in the paper that affect the psychological impacts on adolescent behaviour consist of the increased ability to introspect and develop the ability to consider others' points of view. It is said that kids who control their impulses are better in their personal, professional and social performances. Aggression behaviour often develops in the adolescent phase. They also often become defiant to their parent's opinion, and this behaviour is usually due to psychological influences.

Stimulus Article

The influence of peer pressure affects every adolescent's decision making, emotions and development. According to research, kids who are better at managing their impulses gradually develop better academic performances and personal and social achievements when they grow older. There are two impulse control mechanisms like 'cool-control' and 'hot-control'. Owing to these controls, they often show different development trajectories. If this can influence the educational interventions, then the machine can be used effectively to reduce the adolescent's risk-taking behaviour as peers often encourage the adolescents to take up risk-taking behaviours. Findings have concluded that adolescents often show heightened sensitivity toward emotional stimuli due to immature connections between the prefrontal cortex and emotional brain regions. Thus, they fail to over-rule inappropriate impulses. It is often deduced that poor decision making affects the high mortality rate among adolescents. Moreover, they are prone to suicidal ideations, often due to poor mental health conditions like depression and anxiety. The paper discussed a reach conducted on 56 students who belonged to the age group of 10 years and 48 adolescents around the age of 13. The research also included 56 young children who belonged to the age group of 21. They had completed two different tests of inhibitory control. They had to respond by naming the colour by writing the name of the colour with a pen of different ink. For example, they had to write ‘red’ using the blue ink pen. Such mismatch between ink colour and the real colour, which is to be named, needs inhibitory control. It needs to exercise inhibitory control to avoid using a word's meaning. It was detected that on an emotion controlling task, the performance of the adults was better than the adolescents and the performance of the adolescents did better than the young children. Thus, the performance level varied with age (Young 2018).

Identity and middle year

According to Pamela Gallagher, developing identity in an individual is a complex process. The process takes place throughout childhood. Identity development includes the development of an individual’s character trait, and it also determines how one acts. It also creates a difference between self and others. Identities at this stage are of different types as they include gender identity and social identity. It is not enough for the child to only know the nationality he belongs to but knowing the national group and the ethnic group is also important. This knowledge will help them to attribute the different levels of importance that are associated with national identity. Both children and adults hold stereotypes about typical characters of people of their nationality. They might not always believe the concepts. However, they will be aware of them. It intent see that children often show greater linking for the people who belong to the national group compared to internationality. Children develop the idea that certain criteria help each individual to belong to a certain nationality. For example, children in America hardly refer to the people’s use of language. 

According to Piaget, Cognitive development theory concerning national identity develops and stays in the children’s understanding at 7-8 and 10-11 years. Middle childhood sees an increased rate of positive regard towards national identity. However, some children show ingroup favouritism at the age of 6. Social identity can also explain the development of national identity in children. This theory can produce a sense of positive self-worth in the children to foster positive psychological behaviours.  Cognitive development theory proposes that developmental changes in the sense of national identity result from a change in the child’s general cognitive capacity. 

According to Lee Farrington-Flint, in the adolescent age, among the youth, identity is fluid. Identity is dynamic, and it changes depending on the context. Sexual identity forms another important stage at this stage and they are very curious to explore their sexual identity. 

It is the phase when the issue of identity formation becomes even more acute, according to many psychologists. Erikson has been the most important theorist who explained identity formation among adolescents. The theory proposed by Erikson is based on a model named the ‘Identity Status Model’. Through his theory, he proposed that the life cycle can be divided into eight stages and each stage can be characterised by crisis followed by resolution. He proposed that the adolescence period proposes a break from the past phases like early or late childhood. It is a transition phase between childhood and adulthood. It is that phase when the youth are characterised to be running away from their parents and they have been looking for support and affirmation from their peers. Their peers form the most important part of their life. They look for support from their peers. Although the theory has proposed support to define the stage’ identity formation, the theory is also criticised for not paying much attention to gender (Farrell, Thompson & Mehari 2017). The theory has not explained much if there is any difference in how the genders behave. Thus, Bingham and Stryker have proposed a theory that dedicated the theory and explained the importance of self-esteem among girls at their adolescent age and covered the gap created by Erik Erikson.   

Identity in adolescent

Marcia had claimed that young people had to make active commitments based on their choices and achieve their identity. According to Marcia, there are four identity states foreclosure, diffusion, achievement and moratorium.  ‘Identity Status Model’ differs from that of Erikson’s. Marcia does not explain the three stages as linear development as youth can move in and out from the stages throughout their development stage. 

According to Heather Montgomery and John Oates, A child's emotional development can face instability and crisis, and they can even face psychological and physical risks owing to their exposure to poverty. Different children react to similar stimuli. Thus, poverty can be reacted differently by different children of a similar age. 

As discussed in week 12, Emotion in middle childhood, according to Bronfenbrenner, children might show complex interactions with the people in the environment around them. If there are problems in any part of the ecosystem, children are likely exposed to risks. Risks may come to children in any form which includes trauma due to extreme hardships at an early age. This has a direct impact on the children. Different forms of risks form different levels of risks to every child and they tend to respond to the stress in different ways. Adults have an important role in helping them face hardships and cope with the situation with ease. If the parents can help the children cope with the challenges, they will be able to avoid negative psychological impacts on themselves. Although risks are harmful to the child's psychological makeup, some form of stress is beneficial for the child. 

According to Heather Montgomery and John Oates, Insecure attachment at an early stage can prove to be inflicting challenges and long-term psychological challenges or damage to children's psyche. Reactive Attachment Disorder was detected among the children adopted from institutions in the UK. They had a poor attachment with their parents and thus, many of them suffered from the disorder. Studies have also shown that  atypical parenting can lead to negative psychological effects on the psyche of the mind of the children. Strong genetic components also create disorganised attachment. A child’s resilience depends on his or her age and maturity level.

According to Ben Wellens, developing a mature range of emotional coping strategies are needed to ensure positive psychological behaviour among adolescent. This is a developmental process that begins with the interactions between infants and caregivers. Thus, this stage needs acute attention and care from the caregivers. Certain difficulties might crop up at this stage if the bond at this stage with the parental figures is not strong like risk-taking behaviours. Such behavioural changes are associated with changes in brain development. The risk-taking behaviour under the influence of peer pressure is very common at this stage. They seek more independence and desire to take up responsibility like an adult. They often have adjustment issues as they pass through adolescence, like peer pressure, depression, anxiety and drug use. Peer pressure is a vital source of adolescent behaviour. Due to peer pressure, adolescents often show various behaviours like addition or self-harming. They seek more independence and desire to take up responsibility like an adult. They often have adjustment issues as they pass through adolescence, like peer pressure, depression, anxiety and drug use. Peer pressure is a vital source of adolescent behaviour. Due to peer pressure, adolescents often show various behaviours like addition or self-harming. Peer pressure can lead to all sorts of harmful behaviours using social media. One of the most detrimental effects of peer pressure is the development of eating disorders. Through the use of social media, peers and social media influencers promote a faulty image of a perfect body type, thereby pressurising adolescents to skip meals or have unhealthy eating habits which are harmful to the body. Many adolescents, in the process, develop in them a clinical condition of eating disorders like Bulimia Nervosa to attain the criteria of perfect body image. They develop a faulty body image and try to attain the perfect body image (Chung et al. 2021).

Emotion in middle childhood

According to Paul Ibbotson, language can be used to express stories and have conversations. Thus, communication is an important stage of development in middle childhood. Communication can be challenging for them as it might be difficult to make a relevant conversation to the context. Children at this stage also learn to develop the skills to communicate using coordination skills. They learn to communicate while having coordination between all that they speak. They learn to initiate a topic and elaborate on it. They also learn the skill to add to the communication by adding inputs. They can respond appropriately to the questions and clarify by confirming what was heard in the past. They also learn the skills of effective storytelling. Their conversation can shift from observation to decontextualised discussions. Children at an early stage develop a sense of humour based on their physical acts and where unusual aspects are present in incongruous ways. More verbal humour and ambiguity or use of puns can be detected at the age of 4. Around this stage, one learns to understand the difference between a conversation aimed at making fun or one with a pun included in it. They learn the intention of the conversation. Children with autism also understand the sense of humour though they have particular difficulty with jokes. The effective two-way communication between the child and parent marks the development of humour in the children. The middle childhood stage understands the comparison between two terms used even when they belong to different categories. At the early age of two years, begin to use metaphors. By the age of 8, they will develop the ability to understand complex and abstract analogies. Research in lying in the middle childhood stage gives insight into the intelligence and moral understanding of the child.  Thus, promoting a strong and positive parent-child bond is important to promote a healthy psychological environment and behaviour in the child.

According to Lee Farrington-Flint, with age, the mode of communication in adolescents change. With the advent of technology, communication uses social media or smartphones. Communication can be between two or more people. Technology is available to reduce the social cues in communication like eye gaze or gestures. According to Vygotsky, social media and technology can facilitate the potential to reframe social exchanges.  Erikson stated that adolescence marks the shift of individuals from relatively stable to consistent identities. Adolescents make social exchanges through social media which allows their exploration of identity and experimentation. Social media promotes self-esteem. 

Parents still play an important role in the night time to help adolescents deal with their bedtime depressive symptoms. The various types of parental rules influenced the bedtime sleep duration of adolescent sleep. Adolescents need to obtain adequate sleep to attain sound mental health and decrease the rate of insufficient sleep. Children who receive effective parenting reflect the learning when they, in turn, become parents. If there is effective interpersonal communication between the parents and the children, adolescents are more likely to create a more effective bond with their peers and learn socially unacceptable behaviours. If they can identify with their parents, they can develop a more impressive parent-child relation, and that can influence the positive psychological; behaviour on the part of the child as media also acts as a major psychological influence on adolescent behaviour. Adolescents spend over 7.5 hours per day using social media. They have often been exposed to age-inappropriate materials on social media, and this might influence their behaviour adversely, like that of teen sexuality. This might increase the likelihood of increasing the likelihood of involving in such behaviour. Youth might be at risk of engaging in sexual intercourse prematurely. Evidence of researchers support the correlational relation between exposure to sexual content at a premature age, and the data varies with the racial and ethnic community of the child  (Bleakley et al. 2011).

The flaws the article by Emma Young could have is that she used research in her article which has used a small sample size to conduct the research. The other flaw that the paper might have are that it did not much discuss the adverse effect of the mental health of the youth due to poor decision making. The role of major psychological influences was not discussed in detail. Technology can also affect the adolescent's mental health and cause suicidal ideation and self-harm behaviour due to the feeling of depression and anxiety. People owing to poor mental health often tend to spend more time online. When they face social comparison, their mental health is affected. They suffer more from depression and anxiety due to social comparisons on the technological platform. Such discussions could have been included in the article. Although the article discussed the self-control of children and adolescents, it was not much discussed. A secure attachment in the adolescent period leads to higher self-esteem and social competence in the person. The teenage period is also marked by better psychological adjustments when they have a secure attachment style with their parents. This phase is often characterised by having more close friends than closeness with their parents. Thus, when they have an older experience of insecure attachment in childhood, they are prone to social incompetence and aggression. They have lower self-control and autonomy. This leads to them undertaking risky behaviour or addictive behaviour. The risky behaviour often includes passive or direct suicide ideation among them. If adolescents experience a lack of acceptance from their parents, they might develop insecure interpersonal relationships. It has well narrated the emotional aspect of the adolescents. However, the cause was not much discussed. Adolescents often show heightened sensitivity toward emotional stimuli due to immature connections between the prefrontal cortex and emotional brain regions. Thus they fail to over-rule inappropriate impulses.

Conclusion

Thus, it can be concluded from the above discussion that there are various psychological influences on adolescent behaviour. The adolescent period marks the transition period from childhood to young adulthood. They grow during this time both in terms of physical and psychological aspects. Attachment behaviour often addresses the topic of discussion of the paper.  However, the paper could only three themes like communication, emotion and identity. All these factors lead to developing both positive and negative adolescent behaviours. The aspects are compared with both middle childhood and adolescents. When the parental bond is effective, adolescents show positive behaviour and when that is weak due to any reason, they tend to seek more approval from peers who often teach positive life lessons while also proving to be a negative influence on them. The bond marks the coping strategies used by adolescents. Thus, parental bond needs to be strong. Faulty coping strategies needs to be encouraged not to be used. There is a difference in which genders respond to coping strategies owing to insecure attachment conditions. Insecurely attached children show avoidant strategies while coping with stress and thus secure attachment with parents needs to be ensured. At the same time, girls are using more of an ambivalent strategy when exposed to ambivalent strategies. This difference also promotes the adaptive responses that each gender might take in their different sex roles in adulthood. A strong attachment behaviour system needs to be developed to ensure secure base for the children to grow and prosper. Due to peer pressure, adolescents often get involved in detrimental adolescent behaviour like substance abuse, addiction, delinquency and many more. Too much technology and media usage should be avoided. Any sources in the media often share information that is detrimental to the mental health of adolescents who are suffering from mental health disorders or depression. 

References

Chung, A. et al. (2021) ‘Adolescent Peer Influence on Eating Behaviors via Social Media: Scoping Review’, Journal of medical Internet research, 23(6), pp. e19697–e19697. doi:10.2196/19697.

Farrell, A.D., Thompson, E.L. & Mehari, K.R. 2017, "Dimensions of Peer Influences and Their Relationship to Adolescents' Aggression, Other Problem Behaviors and Prosocial Behavior", Journal of Youth and Adolescence, vol. 46, no. 6, pp. 1351-1369.

Young, E. (2018) 'New insights into teen risk-taking – their "hot" inhibitory control is poorer than children's', The British Psychological Society Research Digest, 1 February.

Bleakley, A. et al. (2011) ‘Using the Integrative Model to Explain How Exposure to Sexual Media Content Influences Adolescent Sexual Behavior’, Health education & behavior, 38(5), pp. 530–540. doi:10.1177/1090198110385775.