Question:
Creativity peaks in early adulthood. In my own therapeutic techniques and beliefs, creativity is a significant resource within my clients to tap into and gives a sense of well-roundedness, purpose and therapeutic outlet. Discuss the positive outcomes of creativity with early adults and then brainstorm on different creative techniques to use with clients. Remember, creativity is vast so don't define it by painting alone. This is a chance to tap into your own creative side!
Answer:
One of the most positive outcomes of creativity is achieving the “flow” and the refreshing sense of self that comes with it. This heightened state of pleasure when we are immersed in mental challenges that absorb us can help boost self-esteem, because it makes you feel good about yourself. The process of creativity is very rewarding too, as you are absorbed into whatever you are doing, you reach a peaceful, tranquil state of mind where your daily stresses are forgotten, if not unloaded. We may not realize how daily stress have taxed on our mental well-beings, and how they hang in our minds that prevent us from enjoying the moment. Being creative can help us to reach a place where stresses are put out of your mind.
Creative therapy includes drawing, painting, playing musical instrument, dancing, writing, etc., but I find one creative project especially rewarding, i.e. home DIY creative projects. It involves creative thinking to utilize limited materials available from home improvement stores or the nature, to beautify or optimize the use of space in your apartments. A lot of housewives, especially in the US because of large homes or houses, are self-administering this therapy to themselves. It gives them not only pleasure but also a sense of purpose and contribution to their families.
Arts and crafts are a big thing here in the US. It is not only therapeutic to do alone, but also strengthens our social support system as many people like to get together to do crafts.
Further thoughts:
What are some unique artistic ways? It is important to seek their strengths, and being creative is as vast as the differing personalities of your future patients.
Answer 2:
I believe in Creative Intelligence, some might call it "Multiple Intelligence", which basically encompasses 8 categories of creative intelligence.
Below are the following 8 categories:
1) Social / Interpersonal
- Asking clients to create Events to socialize, share ideas and discussions.
2) Music Therapy
Asking client to indulge in music in a way to change their moods.
3) Spatial Therapy
- I think Art and Crafts, or what Michelle talked about will fit this category.
Examples : Paint, draw, design web pages, design rooms, make cards, create logos, map out routes, mind mapping
4) Bodily-Kinesthetic Therapy
Get the clients to involve in sports
5) Logical-Mathematical Therapy
Examples: Solve problems, balance checkbooks, create schedules, budget money
6) Intrapersonal Therapy
Keep a personal journal, read alone, meditate, study to answer personal questions. Basically it is asking the client to find the answer on his/her own.
7) Naturalistic Therapy
Like a forensic scientist, get the client to collect things from Mother Nature. Nature helps stir insights and connections.
8) Verbal-Linguistic Therapy
Ask the client to Tell stories, write essays, participate in interviews, converse easily with peers if he/she is really good at languages.
Creative intelligence can be defined as believing that there is always an answer, or perhaps a different answer -- an answer that no one has thought of it yet. Creative intelligence is looking for answers that haven't been found before. We have to find out the client's interest and strengths and giving them the appropriate therapy.
Answer 3:
Creativity in adults fosters unique ideas and solution in the college and workplace. Creative children outperform other in the school. It is same for creative adult in the work. I cite Walt Disney as an example to manifest how important creativity is. Though experienced rejection and setbacks in his early life, Disney turns his simple idea to a timeless empire of cartoons.
If a client comes to my room and remains silent for lengthy time, creative techniques may be utilized to proceed the session. I recommend House-tree-person test (HTP) if the client feel ease to draw on the paper. HTP provides understanding of his/her personality via interpretation of drawing and responses to questions.
The second technique is playing cards. It can be great for clients with little rapport at the beginning of the session.
Group A cards – animals or insects. The client chooses which card represents his/her parent and explains why he/she chooses to understand the relationship among them. The process is repeated for other members in the Genogram
Group B cards – Moods or facial expression. The client chooses which card represents his mood right now and explains why he/she chooses to understand what affects emotion.
However, no therapeutic technique will work until the therapeutic alliance has been established. So if a client refuses to talk, rapport is the first order of business, then back to therapy. HTP is a great tool, but is a psychological assessment, not just drawing. If you use it, as with all psychological assessment protocols, we have to be absolutely sure that we are using it as intended rather than just as a creative tool.
Answer 4:
I have also seen, been involved with theodrama. This is a theological expression through drama, getting at issues. I have only been involved with it as a participant not as the counsellor/therapist. But very interesting what can emerge.
On the lines of creativity, what I wonder if Donica is also getting at is, how creative are we. There is an expression, "we can only lead someone as far as we ourselves have gone," (may be another word other than lead but not sure), anyway the point is, how creative are we and how much creativity are we open too? I don't know about you all but I have very limited creative opportunities/experiences, due to busyness of life.
Answer 5:
I personally believe everyone has a creative side to them, just because one may not have the time to explore it does not mean it doesn't exist within them. You bring up a really good point, being well rounded is difficult with a busy schedule, but is very important for overall mental and physical well being. Part of being a responsible psychologist is self-care so that you are at your best mental health state to counsel patients. We must learn to be well rounded much more than any other profession for this reason.
Further thoughts: How creative are you? Not do you have time, but if you did have time, what are your creative talents that you would want to express and have experienced up to now in your life?
Answer 6:
Just because one may not have the time to explore it does not mean it doesn't exist within them." Creativity is there and it may need to be encouraged or unearthed. Self-care is imperative!
I have always been a more sporty person, but even now find squeezing that into the schedule a challenge. That being said, I enjoy doing arty things with my kids. Believe it or not, just playing with them in this manner can stimulate some creative juices. Whether it is making cards, decorating cookies, building things, or making scrap books from holidays it can be 'restful' and fun. Creating and hosting theme events, parties for big and small can also be alot of fun. In the past, I have also been involved directing a puppet team and drama teams.
The second therapy has been used in the field and proved successful when we help some problematic children in a local school. They refuse talking to us but love to "play" cards. The rapport is then built up!
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Binge drinking and Substance abuse among Early Adults in the Lifespan Development Psychology
Question:
Binge drinking and substance abuse is highest among the early adult age range. Discuss why this occurs and the negative impact substance abuse has on the physical, emotional and cognitive development.
Answer :
Early adulthood is the period in which individuals explore the environment and develop identity. Even though this process starts with adolescence, but it intensifies during early adulthood because of need to be independence not only psychologically but financially. This is a transition from a protected environment to a totally impersonal, unfamiliar, and highly competitive society. As they feel the stress to grow up quick, they also see a side of the world that they are not aware of when they are younger, probably due to their cognitive ability limitation in understanding the reality in a more reflective and relativistic term as suggested by Piaget. Binge drinking and substance abuse are viewed as a way out during this stressful and confusing period.
Social pressure also plays an important role as to why binge drinking and substance abuse is highest among early adulthood. As they are still figuring out who they are, they do not know where they stand on these issues, it is very easy for them to succumb to social pressure when they are trying to fit in. Crazy spring breaks, wet T-shirt contests, etc. are over-hyped, the media has nonetheless helped to promote the craze. Binge drinking and substance abuse are major features of these college social activities.
Binge drinking and substance abuse compromise individual’s judgment, thus early adults are more prone to unprotected, casual sex, which may lead to the contraction of STIs, emotional distress (especially for those who regret afterwards), and difficult to concentrate in class, which affect academic performance.
Further thoughts:
There is a debate on the appropriate legal age to drink. Here in the US, one can legally drink at 21 years old. You can begin to drive at 16 years, are considered a legal adult at age 18, and are drafted into the military at age 18, all of which come great responsibilities. Do you think age 21 to drink is appropriate considering the other age limits or do you think it should be set earlier or later? What is the legal age to drink in Hong Kong?
Answer 2:
I think there maybe some loopholes in HK laws. There is no legal age to drink in HK, but there is legal age to BUY the alcoholic drink is 18. As far as i'm aware of, there's actually no official drinking age. Or maybe legal drinking age means legal buying age. If that is so, seems like only Taiwan is prohibiting people to DRINK under age of 18.
Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_drinking_age ,different countries have set the drinking age differently with different definitions of "Drinking Age".
Further thoughts:
Now that the drinking age has been clarified...Do you think it should be changed in Hong Kong or USA? In early adulthood, are we ready for the responsibility that one must take with alcohol? What are the cognitive issues of substance abuse?
Answer 3: It seems that 21 is rather late to be legally able to drink, especially since many of the Universities, at least in Canada and my guess the US too, have drinking as the focus of their frosh week. These are 18 year olds, so what is being promoted/encouraged by the student body is drinking which is illegal. Isn't it an ethical issue? The inconsistency never sat well with me. Promoters of beer companies, promoting something that is illegal. It really makes a mockery out of the law.
Statistic shows that one out of nine individuals who drinks continues to a path of alcoholism. It is extremely disturbing. Essentially if youth develop poor patterns of drinking, these habits can carry on into adulthood. Essentially it would seem they are not mature to handle drinking, because they are not mature to handle their emotional well being, they don't really know themselves yet.
Answer 4:
It is quite a debate that I do not have an answer to. So far, we understand that there are estimations as to what abilities and what tasks would be accomplished by certain biological age, but it also emphasizes individual variability. I believe this applies here too. Each individual's cognitive ability is different, and achieving certain level of cognitive ability does not necessarily proportionate to their age. An age limit, 18 or 21, is an ambiguous division. It maybe applicable in one case, but not another. I believe the most important thing is to prepare and education people as early as teenagers about alcoholism. As in the case of the use of condom, from the research in the textbook, early sex education does not bring about early sexual behaviors, instead it increases the practice of safe sex. In the case of educating abstinence in adolescents, it brings about the opposite effect as stated in the textbook, because adolescence is the age of exploration, if not rebellion. What do you think?
Answer 5:
Early adulthood is a stage of life marked by change and exploration. It is the first time to make decision all by themselves. Adults may choose to reside with peers instead of their parents. They go to college, start to work full-time, or involve in romantic relationships. Parental doctrine subsides and peer influence rises. Drinking alcohol is a way to show how they fit into the world (peer pressure, of course).
During young adulthood, the stress and frustration due to failures in college and work will further lead to unhealthy behaviors, such as smoking and drinking. They hang out in the evening more frequently and consume more alcoholic with friends than that with family.
It is quite difficult to set the legal minimum drinking age. Some countries like Italy and Belgium lower the age limit to 16. In my opinion, as long as the adults take responsibility for the consequences of his action, they can drink legally. However, do they really know it? I doubt it! The death toll due to drinking soars in HK and other countries. Thus, apart from legislation and law enforcement, I support massive education efforts about the perils of driving after drinking.
The cognitive impairments in chronic substance abusers include the damage to attention, information processing speed, memory and problem solving.
There are also three dysfunctional beliefs to make abusers engage in substance abuse.
1) Anticipatory – They feel like superman after taking it.
2) Relief-oriented – Drugs relieve any uncomfortable emotion
3) Facilitative or permissive – No risk to substance abuse. They can overcome the negative effect.
People are different and there are young 18 year olds, and old (mature) 18 year olds. So true. This makes setting an age for drinking a challenge. It is tricky.
I think it is when you start comparing drinking age to other 'adult' privileges. For example, when can you register for a gun in the USA? (I don't know but is it at a drinking age, or a driving age)
I think education for drinking is important. Teens need to be informed at some level of consequences and implications. The book talk about environment being a huge factor in drinking, but perhaps reasons why people drink, not just experimental and rebellion, perhaps some personal issues.
I grew up near a small town and binge drinking took many kids lives. They either were killed in car accidents or some actually got alcohol poisoning and went into a coma. This wasn't that uncommon.
Challening Questions:
So should the laws be changed to fit the culture or should it be upheld instead? Should illegal substances be legalized since the law is consistently broken (which it is here in the US)? There is no right or wrong answer, but there are issues on both sides of the coin. This gets a bit off topic, but changing a law due to it being consistently broken or mocked at could have serious consequences towards other laws and the respect towards the legal system as a whole for social order.
So if the law is changed to 18 in Canada and the US, how do you think that will impact young adult drinking? Is there an epidemic in HK for alcohol abuse between 18 and 21 year olds? Are parents doing justice to their children if this is the case? By the age of 18, parenting is over for most. If they have not learned to make decisions for themselves by that age, they will have difficulty being out in the world without a much needed skill. So how can parents help their children in the delicate balance of cognitive decision making and making mistakes while they are growing up? It is just as important, if not more, than any other cognitive skill learned during childhood and adolescence.
Answer 6:
It is vital that parents provide a 'safe' place for 'children' to make decisions, to fail and to succeed. It is also imperative that they reap the consequences of their decisions, good ones and bad ones. There is a need for the 'child' to feel empowered in their decision making efforts. Providing an environment for healthy development of self esteem, identity, and autonomy is important. Also, the ability to develop good conflict resolution skills and problem solving skills are important.
It is very vital to let children and adolescence bear the consequence for their own actions but as we have discussed so far, in the safe environment. It is a difficult challenge for parents to strike the balance point. Again, which parenting style I will adopt.
When I reached 18, I went and my friends of same age to celebrate in bar and drank a lot. My mum didn't know it! :Ｐ
I did many things at 18 that my mother didn't know (and that I would never admit to!) But I agree that children and adolescents need to have room to make mistakes, as a young adult, those lessons should have been learned before they embark into the world on their own. The above discussions hit a key word..."empowerment". Children who make mistakes are disciplined by their parents. Young adults who make mistakes are disciplined by the legal system. Big difference!
Binge drinking and substance abuse is highest among the early adult age range. Discuss why this occurs and the negative impact substance abuse has on the physical, emotional and cognitive development.
Answer :
Early adulthood is the period in which individuals explore the environment and develop identity. Even though this process starts with adolescence, but it intensifies during early adulthood because of need to be independence not only psychologically but financially. This is a transition from a protected environment to a totally impersonal, unfamiliar, and highly competitive society. As they feel the stress to grow up quick, they also see a side of the world that they are not aware of when they are younger, probably due to their cognitive ability limitation in understanding the reality in a more reflective and relativistic term as suggested by Piaget. Binge drinking and substance abuse are viewed as a way out during this stressful and confusing period.
Social pressure also plays an important role as to why binge drinking and substance abuse is highest among early adulthood. As they are still figuring out who they are, they do not know where they stand on these issues, it is very easy for them to succumb to social pressure when they are trying to fit in. Crazy spring breaks, wet T-shirt contests, etc. are over-hyped, the media has nonetheless helped to promote the craze. Binge drinking and substance abuse are major features of these college social activities.
Binge drinking and substance abuse compromise individual’s judgment, thus early adults are more prone to unprotected, casual sex, which may lead to the contraction of STIs, emotional distress (especially for those who regret afterwards), and difficult to concentrate in class, which affect academic performance.
Further thoughts:
There is a debate on the appropriate legal age to drink. Here in the US, one can legally drink at 21 years old. You can begin to drive at 16 years, are considered a legal adult at age 18, and are drafted into the military at age 18, all of which come great responsibilities. Do you think age 21 to drink is appropriate considering the other age limits or do you think it should be set earlier or later? What is the legal age to drink in Hong Kong?
Answer 2:
I think there maybe some loopholes in HK laws. There is no legal age to drink in HK, but there is legal age to BUY the alcoholic drink is 18. As far as i'm aware of, there's actually no official drinking age. Or maybe legal drinking age means legal buying age. If that is so, seems like only Taiwan is prohibiting people to DRINK under age of 18.
Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_drinking_age ,different countries have set the drinking age differently with different definitions of "Drinking Age".
Further thoughts:
Now that the drinking age has been clarified...Do you think it should be changed in Hong Kong or USA? In early adulthood, are we ready for the responsibility that one must take with alcohol? What are the cognitive issues of substance abuse?
Answer 3: It seems that 21 is rather late to be legally able to drink, especially since many of the Universities, at least in Canada and my guess the US too, have drinking as the focus of their frosh week. These are 18 year olds, so what is being promoted/encouraged by the student body is drinking which is illegal. Isn't it an ethical issue? The inconsistency never sat well with me. Promoters of beer companies, promoting something that is illegal. It really makes a mockery out of the law.
Statistic shows that one out of nine individuals who drinks continues to a path of alcoholism. It is extremely disturbing. Essentially if youth develop poor patterns of drinking, these habits can carry on into adulthood. Essentially it would seem they are not mature to handle drinking, because they are not mature to handle their emotional well being, they don't really know themselves yet.
Answer 4:
It is quite a debate that I do not have an answer to. So far, we understand that there are estimations as to what abilities and what tasks would be accomplished by certain biological age, but it also emphasizes individual variability. I believe this applies here too. Each individual's cognitive ability is different, and achieving certain level of cognitive ability does not necessarily proportionate to their age. An age limit, 18 or 21, is an ambiguous division. It maybe applicable in one case, but not another. I believe the most important thing is to prepare and education people as early as teenagers about alcoholism. As in the case of the use of condom, from the research in the textbook, early sex education does not bring about early sexual behaviors, instead it increases the practice of safe sex. In the case of educating abstinence in adolescents, it brings about the opposite effect as stated in the textbook, because adolescence is the age of exploration, if not rebellion. What do you think?
Answer 5:
Early adulthood is a stage of life marked by change and exploration. It is the first time to make decision all by themselves. Adults may choose to reside with peers instead of their parents. They go to college, start to work full-time, or involve in romantic relationships. Parental doctrine subsides and peer influence rises. Drinking alcohol is a way to show how they fit into the world (peer pressure, of course).
During young adulthood, the stress and frustration due to failures in college and work will further lead to unhealthy behaviors, such as smoking and drinking. They hang out in the evening more frequently and consume more alcoholic with friends than that with family.
It is quite difficult to set the legal minimum drinking age. Some countries like Italy and Belgium lower the age limit to 16. In my opinion, as long as the adults take responsibility for the consequences of his action, they can drink legally. However, do they really know it? I doubt it! The death toll due to drinking soars in HK and other countries. Thus, apart from legislation and law enforcement, I support massive education efforts about the perils of driving after drinking.
The cognitive impairments in chronic substance abusers include the damage to attention, information processing speed, memory and problem solving.
There are also three dysfunctional beliefs to make abusers engage in substance abuse.
1) Anticipatory – They feel like superman after taking it.
2) Relief-oriented – Drugs relieve any uncomfortable emotion
3) Facilitative or permissive – No risk to substance abuse. They can overcome the negative effect.
People are different and there are young 18 year olds, and old (mature) 18 year olds. So true. This makes setting an age for drinking a challenge. It is tricky.
I think it is when you start comparing drinking age to other 'adult' privileges. For example, when can you register for a gun in the USA? (I don't know but is it at a drinking age, or a driving age)
I think education for drinking is important. Teens need to be informed at some level of consequences and implications. The book talk about environment being a huge factor in drinking, but perhaps reasons why people drink, not just experimental and rebellion, perhaps some personal issues.
I grew up near a small town and binge drinking took many kids lives. They either were killed in car accidents or some actually got alcohol poisoning and went into a coma. This wasn't that uncommon.
Challening Questions:
So should the laws be changed to fit the culture or should it be upheld instead? Should illegal substances be legalized since the law is consistently broken (which it is here in the US)? There is no right or wrong answer, but there are issues on both sides of the coin. This gets a bit off topic, but changing a law due to it being consistently broken or mocked at could have serious consequences towards other laws and the respect towards the legal system as a whole for social order.
So if the law is changed to 18 in Canada and the US, how do you think that will impact young adult drinking? Is there an epidemic in HK for alcohol abuse between 18 and 21 year olds? Are parents doing justice to their children if this is the case? By the age of 18, parenting is over for most. If they have not learned to make decisions for themselves by that age, they will have difficulty being out in the world without a much needed skill. So how can parents help their children in the delicate balance of cognitive decision making and making mistakes while they are growing up? It is just as important, if not more, than any other cognitive skill learned during childhood and adolescence.
Answer 6:
It is vital that parents provide a 'safe' place for 'children' to make decisions, to fail and to succeed. It is also imperative that they reap the consequences of their decisions, good ones and bad ones. There is a need for the 'child' to feel empowered in their decision making efforts. Providing an environment for healthy development of self esteem, identity, and autonomy is important. Also, the ability to develop good conflict resolution skills and problem solving skills are important.
It is very vital to let children and adolescence bear the consequence for their own actions but as we have discussed so far, in the safe environment. It is a difficult challenge for parents to strike the balance point. Again, which parenting style I will adopt.
When I reached 18, I went and my friends of same age to celebrate in bar and drank a lot. My mum didn't know it! :Ｐ
I did many things at 18 that my mother didn't know (and that I would never admit to!) But I agree that children and adolescents need to have room to make mistakes, as a young adult, those lessons should have been learned before they embark into the world on their own. The above discussions hit a key word..."empowerment". Children who make mistakes are disciplined by their parents. Young adults who make mistakes are disciplined by the legal system. Big difference!
Difficulties that the Early Adult faces when Transitioning from High School to College
Question:
What are some of the difficulties that the early adult faces when transitioning from high school to college? Also, discuss the cognitive and social developments of early adults in their college years. This is something we have all experienced, if you feel comfortable, please share some of you own experiences.
Answer:
One of the major difficulties experienced during the transition from high school to college is the process of identity exploration which takes place during a time of instability and change in our immediate surroundings - school, love relationship and perhaps work for some college students. Other difficulties include top dog phenomenon and adaptation to a larger, more impersonal school structure and peers with greater geographical, cultural and ethical backgrounds, experience even more intensive competition in school work.
It is not uncommon to hear that college students feel depressed, overwhelmed and mentally exhausted. The most common stressors in their lives include grades and competition, career and future success, intimate relationship, finances, parental conflicts and roommate problems.
In terms of cognitive developments, early adults are more realistic and pragmatic in their thinking. Their understanding of the world gradually move away from absolutist to reflective, relativistic thinking. That is they are more open to diverse opinions and learn that there is not necessarily absolute right or wrong in the world.
Piaget’s theory of formal operational thought is the final cognitive stage, which characterizes both adolescents and adults. Some theorists suggest a new stage of postformal thought, which characterizes adults’ understanding of how situational factors and emotions can influence thinking. For instance, a solution optimal for the same problem in one situation may not be applicable to the same problem in another situation. However, it is still in debate as to whether this postformal stage is qualitatively more advanced than the formal operational stage.
In terms of my own experience, my college life was relatively stress-free. I was not so much overwhelmed by study. It felt like something big was ahead of me. The age of possibility was more a key theme of my college life than identity exploration. I was relatively late in developing Piaget’s formal operational stage in terms of reflective and relativistic thinking. I believe this is due to my encounter of a lot of the challenges in social development came after my college life, such as roommate conflicts, finances parental conflicts, etc.
Further Question:
What is the process in moving from a absolutist to reflective style of thinking? Do they wake up and find they are reflective? No, so lets talk about how that actually happens to go from an absolute right or wrong (also known as black and white thinking) thought process to a more open and diverse way of thinking as Michelle so wonderfully stated.
Answer 2:
Emerging adults are processing so much all at once. Moving to college is a huge learning curve in so many levels. I can eat at the cafeteria as many french fries as I want, however, I will pay the price by my clothes not fitting by Christmas break. I can pull as many all nighters as I want, wear what I want, and essentially hang out with who I want. College students are being reminded of the consequences of their behaviour and they are needing to make decisions for themselves not just because they have adopted what significant others have said.
During this stage the emerging adult is testing out their particular world view, as they meet others they are starting to recognize their worldview is subjective. They are meeting people who think differently than they do, they are being challenged with what they thought to be correct. The level of education emerging adults achieve especially influences how they will maximize cognitive potential.
Answer 3:
The process is a very steep learning curve. It does not jump from a stage of absolutist thinking to realistic, relativistic thinking. As early adults are thrust into a world full of new people and new things to learn, they are forced to adapt fast, through trial and error, to transform into understanding the world with realistic expectations, this is part of the adaptive thinking and behavior that adults need to learn in order to fit in the bigger society.
Question for all:
Discuss "Trial and Error", that is a large part of the learning process.
What are some of the difficulties that the early adult faces when transitioning from high school to college? Also, discuss the cognitive and social developments of early adults in their college years. This is something we have all experienced, if you feel comfortable, please share some of you own experiences.
Answer:
One of the major difficulties experienced during the transition from high school to college is the process of identity exploration which takes place during a time of instability and change in our immediate surroundings - school, love relationship and perhaps work for some college students. Other difficulties include top dog phenomenon and adaptation to a larger, more impersonal school structure and peers with greater geographical, cultural and ethical backgrounds, experience even more intensive competition in school work.
It is not uncommon to hear that college students feel depressed, overwhelmed and mentally exhausted. The most common stressors in their lives include grades and competition, career and future success, intimate relationship, finances, parental conflicts and roommate problems.
In terms of cognitive developments, early adults are more realistic and pragmatic in their thinking. Their understanding of the world gradually move away from absolutist to reflective, relativistic thinking. That is they are more open to diverse opinions and learn that there is not necessarily absolute right or wrong in the world.
Piaget’s theory of formal operational thought is the final cognitive stage, which characterizes both adolescents and adults. Some theorists suggest a new stage of postformal thought, which characterizes adults’ understanding of how situational factors and emotions can influence thinking. For instance, a solution optimal for the same problem in one situation may not be applicable to the same problem in another situation. However, it is still in debate as to whether this postformal stage is qualitatively more advanced than the formal operational stage.
In terms of my own experience, my college life was relatively stress-free. I was not so much overwhelmed by study. It felt like something big was ahead of me. The age of possibility was more a key theme of my college life than identity exploration. I was relatively late in developing Piaget’s formal operational stage in terms of reflective and relativistic thinking. I believe this is due to my encounter of a lot of the challenges in social development came after my college life, such as roommate conflicts, finances parental conflicts, etc.
Further Question:
What is the process in moving from a absolutist to reflective style of thinking? Do they wake up and find they are reflective? No, so lets talk about how that actually happens to go from an absolute right or wrong (also known as black and white thinking) thought process to a more open and diverse way of thinking as Michelle so wonderfully stated.
Answer 2:
Emerging adults are processing so much all at once. Moving to college is a huge learning curve in so many levels. I can eat at the cafeteria as many french fries as I want, however, I will pay the price by my clothes not fitting by Christmas break. I can pull as many all nighters as I want, wear what I want, and essentially hang out with who I want. College students are being reminded of the consequences of their behaviour and they are needing to make decisions for themselves not just because they have adopted what significant others have said.
During this stage the emerging adult is testing out their particular world view, as they meet others they are starting to recognize their worldview is subjective. They are meeting people who think differently than they do, they are being challenged with what they thought to be correct. The level of education emerging adults achieve especially influences how they will maximize cognitive potential.
Answer 3:
The process is a very steep learning curve. It does not jump from a stage of absolutist thinking to realistic, relativistic thinking. As early adults are thrust into a world full of new people and new things to learn, they are forced to adapt fast, through trial and error, to transform into understanding the world with realistic expectations, this is part of the adaptive thinking and behavior that adults need to learn in order to fit in the bigger society.
Question for all:
Discuss "Trial and Error", that is a large part of the learning process.
Various Aspects of Peer Relations in Adolescence that Correlates Both Healthy and Deficit Issues
Question:
Peer groups, both dating and friendships, are a significant time for a socially developing adolescent. Discuss the various aspects of peer relations (ie. social skills, peer pressure, dating/sexual, substance abuse, academics, etc.) in adolescence. These may include mental health issues related to a healthy AND deficit in a social support system.
Answer:
Adolescents, like adults, respond most strongly to the beliefs and expectations of people they respect and admire and of people they interact with regularly. Peer pressure does not come equally from everyone who is of the same age. Nor do
those whose opinions matter appear out of nowhere. Adolescents often choose as their friends peers with beliefs and values like their own. As a result, what looks like peer influence is often similarity among like-minded peers who selected each other because they were similar.
Peer groups often establish unstated norms for their members' behavior that distinguish them from other peer groups. For example, most high schools have cliques of athletes, musicians, serious students, socially oriented or popular students, rebels, and outsiders. These groups have different statuses, forming a prestige hierarchy. The peer groups with the highest status are often the "jocks" and the popular crowd, distinguished by expensive clothing and attractive physical appearance. How adolescents view the status of their own peer group as compared to other groups can affect their self-esteem (Santrock, 2001; Steinberg & Morris, 2001).
While adults sometimes chide adolescents for not valuing academic achievement and pro-social behavior, the so-called peer culture in most high schools accurately reflects the place of celebrities in sports and entertainment in our society. Peer relationships occur on a one-to-one basis, as well as in groups. One-to-one peer relationships are most likely to form between adolescents who see each other as similar in some ways; for example, having the same interests... Peers who choose each other for pairs or groups can reinforce their similarities. And sometimes their influence on each other can be in opposition to parents’ influences and to adult societal values. Above and beyond what may be considered “curiosity” or “experimentation,” many youth report pressure to engage in risky and addictive behaviors which leads to mental health issues such as drinking alcohol, smoking, using illegal drugs, and engaging in sexual activities. Some peer groups actively discourage striving to succeed in school and otherwise conforming to conventional behavioral expectations. However, peers may also cultivate values that adults readily label positive: hard work, academic achievement, loyalty and other forms of prosocial behavior (Santrock, 2001).
Peer influences also depend on an individual’s place within peer networks. Some individuals are generally popular and well liked. Popular youth have close peer relations, and tend to be friendly, intelligent, and funny. They tend to want to conform to the expectations of those who make them popular. Other youth elicit strong but divergent reactions — they are well liked by some of their peers and strongly disliked by others. They have to choose which peers to try to please. Still others are unpopular; they are widely ignored or actively disliked. They will be influenced by the rejection of some of their peers and usually find solace, and another source of influence, in the company of other rejected youth.
Further Question:
In regards to adolescents choosing peers with beliefs and values of their own, what do you think about culturally melting pot cities that have a wide diversity of familial values, practices and beliefs within school districts? There are some similar ethnic students that group together but not all. How do you account for those adolescents with an ethnic diverse peer group in regards to shared values and beliefs?
Answer 2:
A bi-cultural identity is developed most of the time (388, Santrock). They identity some way with their ethnic group, and in other ways with their peer culture. I believe this is a very health development as teenagers learn to appreciate different cultures as they grow up. Usually these teenagers grow up to become more culturally sensitive and tolerance of others with different opinions.
As in the case for adolescents with an ethnic diverse peer group but shared values and beliefs, this is a very common phenomenon in New York as I observe. They identify with their parents ethnically and celebrate ethnic festivals, but at school they learn from their peers and the society about the mainstream culture, and thus develop shared values and beliefs. It is interesting how I myself learn to think a lot more like the mainstream western culture - individualistic and assertive, even though I worked with people from very different ethnic backgrounds for the short few years I lived in New York. I believe the shared values and beliefs from peer groups actually stick better than ethnic cultural identity. What do you think?
Answer 3: I think this is also evident with new immigrants and refugees new to a country. The children often want to related to their peers and their new culture, but trying to fit in. But this can create a lot of tension in the home. I feel sorry for both parties, mom and dad are trying to maintain cultural identity, but their child is trying to fit in and soon the distance starts.
Questions for all:
So far we have discussed acculturation, and it is stressful on family systems as parents are more rooted in the primary culture and children, particularly adolescents, want to "fit in" to the new culture and tend to adapt more quickly. Do you think it is possible to maintain the primary culture and adapt to the new culture too or does one have to choose? Why?
Peer groups, both dating and friendships, are a significant time for a socially developing adolescent. Discuss the various aspects of peer relations (ie. social skills, peer pressure, dating/sexual, substance abuse, academics, etc.) in adolescence. These may include mental health issues related to a healthy AND deficit in a social support system.
Answer:
Adolescents, like adults, respond most strongly to the beliefs and expectations of people they respect and admire and of people they interact with regularly. Peer pressure does not come equally from everyone who is of the same age. Nor do
those whose opinions matter appear out of nowhere. Adolescents often choose as their friends peers with beliefs and values like their own. As a result, what looks like peer influence is often similarity among like-minded peers who selected each other because they were similar.
Peer groups often establish unstated norms for their members' behavior that distinguish them from other peer groups. For example, most high schools have cliques of athletes, musicians, serious students, socially oriented or popular students, rebels, and outsiders. These groups have different statuses, forming a prestige hierarchy. The peer groups with the highest status are often the "jocks" and the popular crowd, distinguished by expensive clothing and attractive physical appearance. How adolescents view the status of their own peer group as compared to other groups can affect their self-esteem (Santrock, 2001; Steinberg & Morris, 2001).
While adults sometimes chide adolescents for not valuing academic achievement and pro-social behavior, the so-called peer culture in most high schools accurately reflects the place of celebrities in sports and entertainment in our society. Peer relationships occur on a one-to-one basis, as well as in groups. One-to-one peer relationships are most likely to form between adolescents who see each other as similar in some ways; for example, having the same interests... Peers who choose each other for pairs or groups can reinforce their similarities. And sometimes their influence on each other can be in opposition to parents’ influences and to adult societal values. Above and beyond what may be considered “curiosity” or “experimentation,” many youth report pressure to engage in risky and addictive behaviors which leads to mental health issues such as drinking alcohol, smoking, using illegal drugs, and engaging in sexual activities. Some peer groups actively discourage striving to succeed in school and otherwise conforming to conventional behavioral expectations. However, peers may also cultivate values that adults readily label positive: hard work, academic achievement, loyalty and other forms of prosocial behavior (Santrock, 2001).
Peer influences also depend on an individual’s place within peer networks. Some individuals are generally popular and well liked. Popular youth have close peer relations, and tend to be friendly, intelligent, and funny. They tend to want to conform to the expectations of those who make them popular. Other youth elicit strong but divergent reactions — they are well liked by some of their peers and strongly disliked by others. They have to choose which peers to try to please. Still others are unpopular; they are widely ignored or actively disliked. They will be influenced by the rejection of some of their peers and usually find solace, and another source of influence, in the company of other rejected youth.
Further Question:
In regards to adolescents choosing peers with beliefs and values of their own, what do you think about culturally melting pot cities that have a wide diversity of familial values, practices and beliefs within school districts? There are some similar ethnic students that group together but not all. How do you account for those adolescents with an ethnic diverse peer group in regards to shared values and beliefs?
Answer 2:
A bi-cultural identity is developed most of the time (388, Santrock). They identity some way with their ethnic group, and in other ways with their peer culture. I believe this is a very health development as teenagers learn to appreciate different cultures as they grow up. Usually these teenagers grow up to become more culturally sensitive and tolerance of others with different opinions.
As in the case for adolescents with an ethnic diverse peer group but shared values and beliefs, this is a very common phenomenon in New York as I observe. They identify with their parents ethnically and celebrate ethnic festivals, but at school they learn from their peers and the society about the mainstream culture, and thus develop shared values and beliefs. It is interesting how I myself learn to think a lot more like the mainstream western culture - individualistic and assertive, even though I worked with people from very different ethnic backgrounds for the short few years I lived in New York. I believe the shared values and beliefs from peer groups actually stick better than ethnic cultural identity. What do you think?
Answer 3: I think this is also evident with new immigrants and refugees new to a country. The children often want to related to their peers and their new culture, but trying to fit in. But this can create a lot of tension in the home. I feel sorry for both parties, mom and dad are trying to maintain cultural identity, but their child is trying to fit in and soon the distance starts.
Questions for all:
So far we have discussed acculturation, and it is stressful on family systems as parents are more rooted in the primary culture and children, particularly adolescents, want to "fit in" to the new culture and tend to adapt more quickly. Do you think it is possible to maintain the primary culture and adapt to the new culture too or does one have to choose? Why?
Underlying Issues in Adolescents' Disorders such as Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa
Questions:
What are the underlying issues in adolescents' disorders such as Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa? Why are these disorders greatest in the adolescent age range?
Answer:
In terms of eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia, this is a huge issue as it relates to self esteem, self worth, self image, and self value. Adolescents are looking to discover who they are and what they are to be about. The media, schools, peers and family all play a role in helping the youth discover who they are, and the bar is set very high. Often the youth is looking for a sense of control, and eating is an area that they have control over, they have so little control over other areas in their lives.
I have known of youth who have really struggled with this in their lives and it can be so debilitating, even as they have moved into adulthood.
However I also have local friends who have really struggled with family pressure. One particular friend went into accounting, and did the whole banking industry scene, because it paid a lot of money. She hated it. It was the furthest thing from her desires, she now has set up a business and is a designer, in a family business. Two other friends one who studied to be a PE teacher, and the other a linguist, are doing, you guessed it, the family business.
Perhaps different families have different expectations, and it may also depend on which child in the family. ie male first born may have more expectations? Just a thought
Further thoughts: How does birth order impact the family system?
Answer 2:
Adolescents focus more on their physical changes occurring in their bodies. They may not know how to use cognitive skills to protect themselves from emotional upset due to peep pressure or mass media. Apart from that, inherited biological predisposition and cultural factors also contribute to the development of eating disorders.
What are the underlying issues in adolescents' disorders such as Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa? Why are these disorders greatest in the adolescent age range?
Answer:
In terms of eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia, this is a huge issue as it relates to self esteem, self worth, self image, and self value. Adolescents are looking to discover who they are and what they are to be about. The media, schools, peers and family all play a role in helping the youth discover who they are, and the bar is set very high. Often the youth is looking for a sense of control, and eating is an area that they have control over, they have so little control over other areas in their lives.
I have known of youth who have really struggled with this in their lives and it can be so debilitating, even as they have moved into adulthood.
However I also have local friends who have really struggled with family pressure. One particular friend went into accounting, and did the whole banking industry scene, because it paid a lot of money. She hated it. It was the furthest thing from her desires, she now has set up a business and is a designer, in a family business. Two other friends one who studied to be a PE teacher, and the other a linguist, are doing, you guessed it, the family business.
Perhaps different families have different expectations, and it may also depend on which child in the family. ie male first born may have more expectations? Just a thought
Further thoughts: How does birth order impact the family system?
Answer 2:
Adolescents focus more on their physical changes occurring in their bodies. They may not know how to use cognitive skills to protect themselves from emotional upset due to peep pressure or mass media. Apart from that, inherited biological predisposition and cultural factors also contribute to the development of eating disorders.
Pros and Cons of the difficult balance between Autonomy and attachment in the Socioemotional Development in Adolescence
Question:
Adolescents is a time where autonomy and attachment are difficult to balance. Discuss the pros AND cons of establishing independence and sustaining familial attachment.
Answer 1:
Cons:
As adolescents push for more autonomy and responsibility, conflicts between parents and adolescents escalate, heated emotional exchange is common, which hurts family relationship. It is not uncommon to hear, especially from mothers, who complain how their feelings are hurt by their teenage kids. From childhood to adolescence, teenagers’ increasing needs for autonomy sometimes are being considered as disrespectful of parental authority. Parents often find it frustrating as their teenage kids are slipping away from their control, while teenagers may see parents’ behaviors as overbearing and become even more motivated to detach from family.
Pros:
This negotiation of independence and autonomy between parents and adolescents is also an essential element that helps the transition from childhood to adolescence. Familial attachment is especially important as proper parental guidance can aid adolescents in effectively tackling the developmental challenge of establishing a sense of identity. As teenagers trying to establish independence, the parent-adolescent conflict usually involves trivial everyday events of family life. This active, mature negotiation of responsibility serves as a positive developmental function as teenagers learn to express disagreement and reason with their parents. As parents respond positively in these negotiation process, teenagers will become more comfortable in the future to discuss developmental matters with parents as they earn their trust in teenagers through relinquishing responsibilities to them gradually.
In short, proper parental guidance is essential for the developmental process in which adolescents establish independence and familial attachment. Negligence in providing parental guidance and monitoring teenagers’ development can lead to detrimental peer relations or even drug use, however overbearing parents can also push teenagers toward the same direction as teenagers may feel that their voices are ignored by their parents. Thus it is a very delicate balance to strike. I realize even the tone of voice can make a big difference in how teenagers perceive your intention, whether you are trying to control them or convince them. Have you encountered similar situations?
Question for Psychologists:
As a budding Psychologist, how would you counsel parents who seek your services regarding their "out of control teens?"
Answer 2:
Thanks to the person sharing Answer 1...for the comprehensive response. I totally agree with them. I would like to add that as adolescence, when they try to gain independence, they want more freedom. They think that what they are doing is based on personal choice and not parents' choice. Hence that is where conflict arises. Parents want to choose for the kid while the kid thinks that parents are being too over-controlled, hence lack of freedom. So there is good and bad in this area. In this case, the pros and cons are as follow :-
Pros: Adolescence learn to be independent.
Cons: Adolescence might make a bad decision.
The key issue is how to deal with this issue, how do we interact with the adolescent child in a way that he/she gains independence and at the same time, is guided to make right decisions as perceived by the parents. I guess this is also the question Donica is asking...how to deal with the "out of control teens" who want to gain independence and lesser attachment...at the same time parents want their kids to make accurate and wise choices.
In answer to the question for psychologists, personally...I think it is all about communication. How the parents communicate with the adolescent child. Parents should give more praises (positive statements) to the child and praise them in decisions that were done well. With that, the child will have a good self-esteem. Once this is achieved, parents can give suggestions to the kid how he/she can improve in the areas they didn't do that well. I would consider this as a sandwich approach where the extremes of the bread are praises (Positive remarks) while the inside are constructive suggestions (Counter-the-negative remarks). Instead of shouting and screaming at the kid at their bad stuff only or focusing too much on their bad, I think using the sandwich approach might be better.
Further Thoughts: Great job on the above issues....In reversal, how would you counsel the adolescent on risky behaviors? What are some risky behaviors and are they always maladaptive?
Answer 3:
Some risky behaviors include substance abuse, juvenile delinquency, sexual problems, and school related problems. The major causes of these risky behavior is that adolescents are confused as they fail to develop their identities. During this vulnerable stage, they may encounter many failures as they cannot measure up to the demands of various social roles imposed on them by the society and/or parents. Without proper counseling from teachers and parents to guide them through facing these perceived failures, they attempt to establish an identity that is deviant to socially acceptable roles.
I believe as this is a learning stage, adolescents may have acted out, but they are still capable of learning with proper guidance and counseling. I will go about by giving unconditional empathy for the adolescent to express his/her difficulties encounter as a teenager, such as peer pressure, parent negligence, lack of social support, etc. As I gain his/her trust, I go on to explain how those social roles imposed on them are not set in stone. This is especially true in Hong Kong where parents have a very narrow expectation for their children, i.e. perform well academically. I use the term "narrow" is because they fail to recognize that "performing well academically" is not the only way to a successful life. Teenagers need to understand that as much as the parents to have an open-mind about the world that they live in. Being a chef, or a plumber, can live a live as happy, if not happier than rich people. There are a lot of studies on happiness, I will explain to the teenagers that they can be the master of their lives that they have options, as long as they are a responsible citizens.
Food for thought:
The above are really some good points, and from an individualistic society perspective, it can be agreed on your take of happiness. But knowing Hong Kong is a collective society, I wonder how you would support the adolescent to communicate to their parents that they prefer to be a plumber instead of a doctor or lawyer? Do you think their future employment happiness would out weight their familial unhappiness? There really is no right or wrong answer here, just some "food for thought."
Answer 4:
As mentioned earlier, the risky behaviors include drinking, driving, indulgent sexual practices and malignant eating pattern. They are not all maladaptive if they are in some ways that are congruent with cultural, legal and societal expectations. For example, driving and drinking are important experiences that may benefit the social activities in the adulthood.
If an adolescent with a risky behavior (e.g. substance abuse) requests for my intervention, I will build rapport with him first. On the one hand, I will inquire his history of abuse and his mood after taking substance. On the other hand, I will work with his family, friends or medical personnel in order to understand more genetic factors contributing to chemical dependence. Both positive experiences and negative consequences associated with abuse will be shown to make him aware of what are ignored before. Some assessment instruments such as the Addiction Severity Index (ASI) and Abuse Subtle Screening Instrument (SASSI) are utilized to obtain more information and review results with him. I also explore situational stress factors that induce him to chemical dependence. Then, I encourage the client and family members to develop a written aftercare plan to avoid relapse and to support-long term sobriety. The plan will include how to overcome obstacles and what social activities to replace substance abuse related activities. At last, same as "Answer 2" saying, family support is very vital in the recovery. I will recommend the family to reinforce for any effort and improvement.
Adolescents is a time where autonomy and attachment are difficult to balance. Discuss the pros AND cons of establishing independence and sustaining familial attachment.
Answer 1:
Cons:
As adolescents push for more autonomy and responsibility, conflicts between parents and adolescents escalate, heated emotional exchange is common, which hurts family relationship. It is not uncommon to hear, especially from mothers, who complain how their feelings are hurt by their teenage kids. From childhood to adolescence, teenagers’ increasing needs for autonomy sometimes are being considered as disrespectful of parental authority. Parents often find it frustrating as their teenage kids are slipping away from their control, while teenagers may see parents’ behaviors as overbearing and become even more motivated to detach from family.
Pros:
This negotiation of independence and autonomy between parents and adolescents is also an essential element that helps the transition from childhood to adolescence. Familial attachment is especially important as proper parental guidance can aid adolescents in effectively tackling the developmental challenge of establishing a sense of identity. As teenagers trying to establish independence, the parent-adolescent conflict usually involves trivial everyday events of family life. This active, mature negotiation of responsibility serves as a positive developmental function as teenagers learn to express disagreement and reason with their parents. As parents respond positively in these negotiation process, teenagers will become more comfortable in the future to discuss developmental matters with parents as they earn their trust in teenagers through relinquishing responsibilities to them gradually.
In short, proper parental guidance is essential for the developmental process in which adolescents establish independence and familial attachment. Negligence in providing parental guidance and monitoring teenagers’ development can lead to detrimental peer relations or even drug use, however overbearing parents can also push teenagers toward the same direction as teenagers may feel that their voices are ignored by their parents. Thus it is a very delicate balance to strike. I realize even the tone of voice can make a big difference in how teenagers perceive your intention, whether you are trying to control them or convince them. Have you encountered similar situations?
Question for Psychologists:
As a budding Psychologist, how would you counsel parents who seek your services regarding their "out of control teens?"
Answer 2:
Thanks to the person sharing Answer 1...for the comprehensive response. I totally agree with them. I would like to add that as adolescence, when they try to gain independence, they want more freedom. They think that what they are doing is based on personal choice and not parents' choice. Hence that is where conflict arises. Parents want to choose for the kid while the kid thinks that parents are being too over-controlled, hence lack of freedom. So there is good and bad in this area. In this case, the pros and cons are as follow :-
Pros: Adolescence learn to be independent.
Cons: Adolescence might make a bad decision.
The key issue is how to deal with this issue, how do we interact with the adolescent child in a way that he/she gains independence and at the same time, is guided to make right decisions as perceived by the parents. I guess this is also the question Donica is asking...how to deal with the "out of control teens" who want to gain independence and lesser attachment...at the same time parents want their kids to make accurate and wise choices.
In answer to the question for psychologists, personally...I think it is all about communication. How the parents communicate with the adolescent child. Parents should give more praises (positive statements) to the child and praise them in decisions that were done well. With that, the child will have a good self-esteem. Once this is achieved, parents can give suggestions to the kid how he/she can improve in the areas they didn't do that well. I would consider this as a sandwich approach where the extremes of the bread are praises (Positive remarks) while the inside are constructive suggestions (Counter-the-negative remarks). Instead of shouting and screaming at the kid at their bad stuff only or focusing too much on their bad, I think using the sandwich approach might be better.
Further Thoughts: Great job on the above issues....In reversal, how would you counsel the adolescent on risky behaviors? What are some risky behaviors and are they always maladaptive?
Answer 3:
Some risky behaviors include substance abuse, juvenile delinquency, sexual problems, and school related problems. The major causes of these risky behavior is that adolescents are confused as they fail to develop their identities. During this vulnerable stage, they may encounter many failures as they cannot measure up to the demands of various social roles imposed on them by the society and/or parents. Without proper counseling from teachers and parents to guide them through facing these perceived failures, they attempt to establish an identity that is deviant to socially acceptable roles.
I believe as this is a learning stage, adolescents may have acted out, but they are still capable of learning with proper guidance and counseling. I will go about by giving unconditional empathy for the adolescent to express his/her difficulties encounter as a teenager, such as peer pressure, parent negligence, lack of social support, etc. As I gain his/her trust, I go on to explain how those social roles imposed on them are not set in stone. This is especially true in Hong Kong where parents have a very narrow expectation for their children, i.e. perform well academically. I use the term "narrow" is because they fail to recognize that "performing well academically" is not the only way to a successful life. Teenagers need to understand that as much as the parents to have an open-mind about the world that they live in. Being a chef, or a plumber, can live a live as happy, if not happier than rich people. There are a lot of studies on happiness, I will explain to the teenagers that they can be the master of their lives that they have options, as long as they are a responsible citizens.
Food for thought:
The above are really some good points, and from an individualistic society perspective, it can be agreed on your take of happiness. But knowing Hong Kong is a collective society, I wonder how you would support the adolescent to communicate to their parents that they prefer to be a plumber instead of a doctor or lawyer? Do you think their future employment happiness would out weight their familial unhappiness? There really is no right or wrong answer here, just some "food for thought."
Answer 4:
As mentioned earlier, the risky behaviors include drinking, driving, indulgent sexual practices and malignant eating pattern. They are not all maladaptive if they are in some ways that are congruent with cultural, legal and societal expectations. For example, driving and drinking are important experiences that may benefit the social activities in the adulthood.
If an adolescent with a risky behavior (e.g. substance abuse) requests for my intervention, I will build rapport with him first. On the one hand, I will inquire his history of abuse and his mood after taking substance. On the other hand, I will work with his family, friends or medical personnel in order to understand more genetic factors contributing to chemical dependence. Both positive experiences and negative consequences associated with abuse will be shown to make him aware of what are ignored before. Some assessment instruments such as the Addiction Severity Index (ASI) and Abuse Subtle Screening Instrument (SASSI) are utilized to obtain more information and review results with him. I also explore situational stress factors that induce him to chemical dependence. Then, I encourage the client and family members to develop a written aftercare plan to avoid relapse and to support-long term sobriety. The plan will include how to overcome obstacles and what social activities to replace substance abuse related activities. At last, same as "Answer 2" saying, family support is very vital in the recovery. I will recommend the family to reinforce for any effort and improvement.
Identity and Self-Esteem towards the Socioemotional Development in Adolescence in Lifespan Developmental Psychology
Question: Identity and self-esteem have many facets and both have a significant impact on our mental health at all developmental stages, but particularly during the adolescent years. Discuss the aspects of self-esteem and identity in adolescents.
Answer:
Studies found that self-esteem is particularly high during childhood for both boys and girls, but dropped considerably during adolescence. When compare between adolescent girls and boys, girls have slightly more negative self-esteem than boys. Some explains this discrepancy quoting girls’ negative body images during pubertal change, and that their greater interests in social relationships yet with negative social rewards.
In terms of identity, according to Erikson’s fifth developmental stage – identity vs identity confusion characterized individual’s experience during adolescence. During this stage, adolescents are faced with a psychosocial crisis during which individuals explore alternatives in identity development. Psychosocial moratorium is a special feature of adolescence’s journey in search of identity as coined by Erikson. It affords adolescents the freedom to try out different identities and relatively free of responsibilities. One important aspect of identity is that it reorganizes throughout life, which means identity establishes, and it changes as we grow up.
During this trial and error in identity searching, youth who successfully cope with conflicting identities will discard undesirable roles and emerge with a new sense of self – a healthy identity. They are more adaptive and flexible with high self-esteem. This affords the individuals a high degree of openness to changes in their environments, both social and personal. As such they can effectively cope with numerous reorganizations of identity through life, thus provides more stability in their mental health.
On the contrary, youth who fails to establish a healthy identity will suffer from identity confusion, which develops into either extremes a) individual withdraw, isolating from family and peers, or b) immerse in the world of peers, succumb to peer pressure and lose their identity in the crowd. These individuals are more prone to instability in mental health. Because of their confusion, they are more prone to risky behaviors to overcompensate their need to establish a sense of identity.
Therefore, I believe it is important that sufficient counseling both from family and school is very important to provide proper guidance for young adolescents as they go through this vulnerable period in their development. It is also a very delicate issue as to how we provide those guidance as parents and teachers. On one hand we need to make sure that our message are clearly conveyed to young adolescents, on the other hand we need to be careful of our tone to make sure we do not antagonize them and lose their trust.
Further Thoughts:
Have you noticed differences in self-esteem between Hong Kong adolescents and other country adolescents?
Answer:
I think HK Adolescents are generally reserved compared with other countries like the US. One of the contributing factors I think is due to the lack of peer interaction in HK. This is probably due to adolescents that do not have the the opportunity to socialize with his/her peers (for whatever reasons), their identity is damaged, as Erikson's terms "Identity Confusion", and hence low self-esteem,
Another possible reason is whether they could describe themselves as a role that they play in, whether they are playing the role of student, athlete, son, daughter...etc. If they play the role well, then they will have positive self-esteem. Otherwise if they cannot achieve the desirable characteristics of each role, their self-esteem will be somewhat damaged. As Santrock points out "whether they describe themselves when they are with their mother, father, close friend, romantic partner, or peer. They also can differ whether they describe themselves in the role of student, athlete, or employee (Santrock, 172).
From what I observe in the HK, for instance, the student role that HK adolescents play, they have very high pressure at school. They have pressure from teacher, parents to do well in their academics, to get really good grades. Hence if they do not fulfil it, according to the above findings, I guess they will develop low self-esteem. But in the case of other countries, perhaps the intensity of expectations of obtaining higher grades is not that high as compared to HK, hence non-HK adolescents self-esteem will be generally higher.
Further Thoughts:
Who determines if the adolescent plays the role well? Is self-esteem an internal or external locus of control?
Answer:
Locus of Control refers to one's perception about the underlying causes of events in one’s life. For example, internal locus of control means that you believe that events result from your own actions and behaviors; external locus of control means that you believe events result from some external forces bigger than you, such as god, fate or some powerful forces of the universe.
The relationship between self-esteem and other variables have been extensively researched, among them internal locus of control. A quote from Chubb, Fertman and Ross (1997), high self-esteem has been correlated with academic success in high school (O'Malley & Bachman, 1979), internal locus of control, higher family income, and positive sense of self-attractiveness (Griffore, Kallen, Popovich, & Powell, 1990).
Please see the article below:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2248/is_n125_v32/ai_19417322/
These findings make sense to me because self-esteem is a product of evaluations of self-concepts on a wide range of domains of one’s life. If we have an internal locus of control, it means that we take credit for the events that happen to us in our life, we are encouraged to expand our effort in the direction the produce favorable results, this positive reinforcement helps to build self-esteem as we grow up.
In terms of who determines if adolescents play the roles well, it is a tricky question. As Piaget (372, Santrock) mentioned, adolescents is characterized with egocentrism in this stage. On one hand, they strive to develop a sense of uniqueness and invincibility. On the other hand, their decision-making ability is far from perfect, so are grown-ups. It is a critical learning period for the adolescents to learn what roles and how well they play in that particular role, such as being a student or a responsible teenager. With the two opposing forces – adolescents’ desire to make decision on their own and the limitation in ability and experience to make optimal decisions, it is important that parents, teachers and guardians to provide some frameworks for the adolescents to learn on their own whether they play the role well or not. Forcing judgments or boundaries on teenagers seem not to be an effective strategy to me. What do you think?
Further Thoughts: The article from the link above was interesting as female mean scores slightly increased with grade level while male mean scores slightly decreased with grade level. What do you attribute that to?
Answer 3:
Adolescence is a time of opportunity and growth. They explore their identities and roles. Through this process of experimentation, learning and development, young people “lay down the foundations for physical, psychological and social maturity” (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), 2002a).
During this stage, adolescence attempts to some sorts of high-risk behaviors such drinking, driving, pre-marital sexual activities and substance abuses. All may result in serious and irreversible consequences for themselves and other people. Teenagers in Hong Kong also exhibit no difference from developed countries. The recent report shows that there are substance abuse issues in 95% of secondary schools in HK. Thus, HK government launched a variety of activities in order to educate adolescence away from drugs.
Adolescence is a period of transition. The difficulties with relationships or academic achievement can result in emotional and behavioral issues (Adlaf et al., 2002). However, a close relationship between parent and adolescent can alter the situation. Parents with good parenting skills can be a strong source of support for adolescents to play the role well. The evidence is well documented. (E.g. Parker, J. & Benson, M. (2004). Parent-adolescent relations and adolescent functioning: Self-esteem, substance abuse, and delinquency.)
In 1954, Julian B. Rotter developed the concept of Locus of control. It refers to the extent to which individuals believe that they can control events that affect them. A person with internal locus of control believes that he is competent in particular field or in general. He never plays the victim’s role. In order to achieve this goal, he works hard to develop capability and knowledge. If possible, he also takes note of favorable information which creates positive outcomes in the future. Thus, self-esteem is internal locus of control.
In my opinion, adolescents in developing and developed countries are affected by the behaviors of the adults in the neighborhood. They are all exposed to excess alcohol consumption and unsafe sexual behaviors. Adolescents in 3rd world countries (refer to very rural communities) are “luckier” not to have chance to contact drugs owing to financial constraint. I search over the internet about the study in Vietnam for reference.
Kaljee, L. M. et al (2005). Alcohol use and HIV risk behaviors among rural adolescents in Khanh Hoa Province Viet Nam. Health Education Research 2005 20(1): 71-80.
http://her.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/20/1/71
Answer 4:
For one thing, I think puberty plays a role, as girls are on average two years earlier than boys to go through puberty. Girls have a longer period to settle in her body image during adolescence, while boys lack behind may experience lower self-esteem and also more external locus of control because physical change is out of their control.
Answer 5:
It is rather scary some of the issues that youth are facing in developing countries. The consequences and implications of some of these issues are very serious. It seems the lack of good communication and education is vital in helping them as they deal with issues related to smoking, STD's, unwanted pregnancies, poverty, HIV and the list goes on.
http://www.dcp2.org/file/10/DCPP-AdolescentHealth.pdf
Further Thoughts:
One thing I noticed about the article's risky behaviors that are not typical for most is war violence. How do you think living in the middle of a war zone impact the adolescent socially, physically and psychologically?
Adolescents in developed countries are also no longer relative healthy group. You can also see these risk behaviors prevailing in Hong Kong and other metropolitan.
It is well known that alcohol increases sexually engaging behaviors, particularly in adolescent populations.
Questions for Therapists:
As a therapist, how would you counsel the teen who has identified himself or herself as HIV positive and is engaging in unprotected sex with partners who are not aware of his or her HIV status? This is also an ethical issue, please respond in both the HK and US ethical and legal requirements for psychologists.
Answer 6:
It is a really an ethical issue. In some countries, if you contract HIV and still have sex with others, you will be charged with murder. There is no such case in HK so far.
Back to the room. I think the client is on the verge of collapse if he hear about the news. I have to deal with his emotion, such as anger, depression and hopeless. Especially, suicidal idea and physical assault to sex partners.
Once settled, I have to address the future relationship with his partner.
1) How to do look it another way. Some days are odd but tomorrow is another day.
2) Make a choice. If you still in love with your partner, will you put her in danger?
3) Finally, how to take care of yourself.
There are some thoughts. However, it is still up to him to disclose the illness to his partner.
Question for all:
What if your HIV adolescent client is not in a committed relationship and just having casual sex? Committed or not, Is it just up to your client to tell the unknowing partners of his/her HIV status?
Answer:
Studies found that self-esteem is particularly high during childhood for both boys and girls, but dropped considerably during adolescence. When compare between adolescent girls and boys, girls have slightly more negative self-esteem than boys. Some explains this discrepancy quoting girls’ negative body images during pubertal change, and that their greater interests in social relationships yet with negative social rewards.
In terms of identity, according to Erikson’s fifth developmental stage – identity vs identity confusion characterized individual’s experience during adolescence. During this stage, adolescents are faced with a psychosocial crisis during which individuals explore alternatives in identity development. Psychosocial moratorium is a special feature of adolescence’s journey in search of identity as coined by Erikson. It affords adolescents the freedom to try out different identities and relatively free of responsibilities. One important aspect of identity is that it reorganizes throughout life, which means identity establishes, and it changes as we grow up.
During this trial and error in identity searching, youth who successfully cope with conflicting identities will discard undesirable roles and emerge with a new sense of self – a healthy identity. They are more adaptive and flexible with high self-esteem. This affords the individuals a high degree of openness to changes in their environments, both social and personal. As such they can effectively cope with numerous reorganizations of identity through life, thus provides more stability in their mental health.
On the contrary, youth who fails to establish a healthy identity will suffer from identity confusion, which develops into either extremes a) individual withdraw, isolating from family and peers, or b) immerse in the world of peers, succumb to peer pressure and lose their identity in the crowd. These individuals are more prone to instability in mental health. Because of their confusion, they are more prone to risky behaviors to overcompensate their need to establish a sense of identity.
Therefore, I believe it is important that sufficient counseling both from family and school is very important to provide proper guidance for young adolescents as they go through this vulnerable period in their development. It is also a very delicate issue as to how we provide those guidance as parents and teachers. On one hand we need to make sure that our message are clearly conveyed to young adolescents, on the other hand we need to be careful of our tone to make sure we do not antagonize them and lose their trust.
Further Thoughts:
Have you noticed differences in self-esteem between Hong Kong adolescents and other country adolescents?
Answer:
I think HK Adolescents are generally reserved compared with other countries like the US. One of the contributing factors I think is due to the lack of peer interaction in HK. This is probably due to adolescents that do not have the the opportunity to socialize with his/her peers (for whatever reasons), their identity is damaged, as Erikson's terms "Identity Confusion", and hence low self-esteem,
Another possible reason is whether they could describe themselves as a role that they play in, whether they are playing the role of student, athlete, son, daughter...etc. If they play the role well, then they will have positive self-esteem. Otherwise if they cannot achieve the desirable characteristics of each role, their self-esteem will be somewhat damaged. As Santrock points out "whether they describe themselves when they are with their mother, father, close friend, romantic partner, or peer. They also can differ whether they describe themselves in the role of student, athlete, or employee (Santrock, 172).
From what I observe in the HK, for instance, the student role that HK adolescents play, they have very high pressure at school. They have pressure from teacher, parents to do well in their academics, to get really good grades. Hence if they do not fulfil it, according to the above findings, I guess they will develop low self-esteem. But in the case of other countries, perhaps the intensity of expectations of obtaining higher grades is not that high as compared to HK, hence non-HK adolescents self-esteem will be generally higher.
Further Thoughts:
Who determines if the adolescent plays the role well? Is self-esteem an internal or external locus of control?
Answer:
Locus of Control refers to one's perception about the underlying causes of events in one’s life. For example, internal locus of control means that you believe that events result from your own actions and behaviors; external locus of control means that you believe events result from some external forces bigger than you, such as god, fate or some powerful forces of the universe.
The relationship between self-esteem and other variables have been extensively researched, among them internal locus of control. A quote from Chubb, Fertman and Ross (1997), high self-esteem has been correlated with academic success in high school (O'Malley & Bachman, 1979), internal locus of control, higher family income, and positive sense of self-attractiveness (Griffore, Kallen, Popovich, & Powell, 1990).
Please see the article below:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2248/is_n125_v32/ai_19417322/
These findings make sense to me because self-esteem is a product of evaluations of self-concepts on a wide range of domains of one’s life. If we have an internal locus of control, it means that we take credit for the events that happen to us in our life, we are encouraged to expand our effort in the direction the produce favorable results, this positive reinforcement helps to build self-esteem as we grow up.
In terms of who determines if adolescents play the roles well, it is a tricky question. As Piaget (372, Santrock) mentioned, adolescents is characterized with egocentrism in this stage. On one hand, they strive to develop a sense of uniqueness and invincibility. On the other hand, their decision-making ability is far from perfect, so are grown-ups. It is a critical learning period for the adolescents to learn what roles and how well they play in that particular role, such as being a student or a responsible teenager. With the two opposing forces – adolescents’ desire to make decision on their own and the limitation in ability and experience to make optimal decisions, it is important that parents, teachers and guardians to provide some frameworks for the adolescents to learn on their own whether they play the role well or not. Forcing judgments or boundaries on teenagers seem not to be an effective strategy to me. What do you think?
Further Thoughts: The article from the link above was interesting as female mean scores slightly increased with grade level while male mean scores slightly decreased with grade level. What do you attribute that to?
Answer 3:
Adolescence is a time of opportunity and growth. They explore their identities and roles. Through this process of experimentation, learning and development, young people “lay down the foundations for physical, psychological and social maturity” (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), 2002a).
During this stage, adolescence attempts to some sorts of high-risk behaviors such drinking, driving, pre-marital sexual activities and substance abuses. All may result in serious and irreversible consequences for themselves and other people. Teenagers in Hong Kong also exhibit no difference from developed countries. The recent report shows that there are substance abuse issues in 95% of secondary schools in HK. Thus, HK government launched a variety of activities in order to educate adolescence away from drugs.
Adolescence is a period of transition. The difficulties with relationships or academic achievement can result in emotional and behavioral issues (Adlaf et al., 2002). However, a close relationship between parent and adolescent can alter the situation. Parents with good parenting skills can be a strong source of support for adolescents to play the role well. The evidence is well documented. (E.g. Parker, J. & Benson, M. (2004). Parent-adolescent relations and adolescent functioning: Self-esteem, substance abuse, and delinquency.)
In 1954, Julian B. Rotter developed the concept of Locus of control. It refers to the extent to which individuals believe that they can control events that affect them. A person with internal locus of control believes that he is competent in particular field or in general. He never plays the victim’s role. In order to achieve this goal, he works hard to develop capability and knowledge. If possible, he also takes note of favorable information which creates positive outcomes in the future. Thus, self-esteem is internal locus of control.
In my opinion, adolescents in developing and developed countries are affected by the behaviors of the adults in the neighborhood. They are all exposed to excess alcohol consumption and unsafe sexual behaviors. Adolescents in 3rd world countries (refer to very rural communities) are “luckier” not to have chance to contact drugs owing to financial constraint. I search over the internet about the study in Vietnam for reference.
Kaljee, L. M. et al (2005). Alcohol use and HIV risk behaviors among rural adolescents in Khanh Hoa Province Viet Nam. Health Education Research 2005 20(1): 71-80.
http://her.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/20/1/71
Answer 4:
For one thing, I think puberty plays a role, as girls are on average two years earlier than boys to go through puberty. Girls have a longer period to settle in her body image during adolescence, while boys lack behind may experience lower self-esteem and also more external locus of control because physical change is out of their control.
Answer 5:
It is rather scary some of the issues that youth are facing in developing countries. The consequences and implications of some of these issues are very serious. It seems the lack of good communication and education is vital in helping them as they deal with issues related to smoking, STD's, unwanted pregnancies, poverty, HIV and the list goes on.
http://www.dcp2.org/file/10/DCPP-AdolescentHealth.pdf
Further Thoughts:
One thing I noticed about the article's risky behaviors that are not typical for most is war violence. How do you think living in the middle of a war zone impact the adolescent socially, physically and psychologically?
Adolescents in developed countries are also no longer relative healthy group. You can also see these risk behaviors prevailing in Hong Kong and other metropolitan.
It is well known that alcohol increases sexually engaging behaviors, particularly in adolescent populations.
Questions for Therapists:
As a therapist, how would you counsel the teen who has identified himself or herself as HIV positive and is engaging in unprotected sex with partners who are not aware of his or her HIV status? This is also an ethical issue, please respond in both the HK and US ethical and legal requirements for psychologists.
Answer 6:
It is a really an ethical issue. In some countries, if you contract HIV and still have sex with others, you will be charged with murder. There is no such case in HK so far.
Back to the room. I think the client is on the verge of collapse if he hear about the news. I have to deal with his emotion, such as anger, depression and hopeless. Especially, suicidal idea and physical assault to sex partners.
Once settled, I have to address the future relationship with his partner.
1) How to do look it another way. Some days are odd but tomorrow is another day.
2) Make a choice. If you still in love with your partner, will you put her in danger?
3) Finally, how to take care of yourself.
There are some thoughts. However, it is still up to him to disclose the illness to his partner.
Question for all:
What if your HIV adolescent client is not in a committed relationship and just having casual sex? Committed or not, Is it just up to your client to tell the unknowing partners of his/her HIV status?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)