What Have You Learned?

1. Question 16.1

   What is Erikson’s fifth psychosocial crisis, and how is it resolved during adolescence?

   According to Erik Erikson, life’s fifth psychosocial crisis is identity versus role confusion. The complexities of finding one’s own identity are the primary task of adolescence. He said this crisis is resolved with identity achievement, when adolescents have reconsidered the goals and values of their parents and culture, accepting some and discarding others, forging their own identity.

2. Question 16.2

   How does identity foreclosure differ from identity moratorium?

   Identity foreclosure occurs when, in order to avoid the confusion of not knowing who they are, young people accept traditional roles and values. A more mature shelter is the moratorium, a time-out that includes some exploration, either in breadth or in depth.

3. Question 16.3

   Why is identity foreclosure considered a less mature option than identity achievement?

   In foreclosure, a young person accepts, without question, the values, beliefs, and lifestyle of his or her parents. Alternatively, the person may choose a path opposite of traditional or family values, still in an effort to delay deciding for oneself. Foreclosure is comfortable. For many, it is a temporary shelter, a time for commitment to a particular identity, soon followed by more exploration. Identity achievement is the result of a more mature strategy, when adolescents reconsider the goals and values of their parents and culture, accepting some and discarding others, forging their own identity.

4. Question 16.4

   Why is it premature for today’s adolescents to achieve their vocational identity?

   Choosing a future career made sense for teenagers a century ago, when most girls became housewives and most boys became farmers, small businessmen, or factory workers. Today, there are tens of thousands of careers, and no teenager can be expected to choose among them. Vocational identity takes years to establish, and most jobs demand quite specific skills and knowledge that are best learned on the job.

5. Question 16.5

   What role do parents play in the formation of an adolescent’s religious and political identity?

   For most adolescents, their religious identity is similar to that of their parents and community. Few adolescents totally reject religion if they’ve grown up following a particular faith, especially if they have a good relationship with their parents. Most adolescents question specific beliefs as their cognitive processes allow for more reflective, less concrete assumptions. There is no “crisis of faith,” per se, unless unusual circumstances create it. Parents also influence their children’s political identity. More adults in the 21st century in the United States are saying they are independent rather than affiliating with a political party. Their teenage children reflect this new independence; some proudly say they do not care about politics, actually echoing their parents without realizing it.

6. Question 16.6

   What assumptions about sexual identity did most adults hold 50 years ago?

   Fifty years ago, Erikson and other theorists thought of the two sexes as opposites. They assumed that adolescents who were confused about sexual identity would soon adopt “proper” male or female roles. Adolescence was once a time for “gender intensification,” when people increasingly identified as male or female—no longer.

7. Question 16.7

   Why do parents and adolescents often bicker?

   Adolescents are establishing their independence and asserting their autonomy while parents still want to maintain some control over their adolescents’ lives. Each generation misjudges the other: Parents think their offspring resent them more than they actually do, and adolescents imagine their parents want to dominate them more than they actually do. Unspoken concerns need to be aired so both generations better understand each other. Some bickering may indicate a healthy family, since close relationships almost always include conflict.

8. Question 16.8

   When is parental monitoring a sign of a healthy parent-adolescent relationship, and when is it not?

   When parental monitoring grows out of a warm, supportive relationship, children are likely to become confident, well-educated adults who avoid drugs and risky sex. However, parental monitoring may be harmful when it derives from suspicion instead of from a warm connection.

9. Question 16.9

   How does the influence of parents and non-parent adults differ for adolescents?

   The fact that parent–adolescent relationships are pivotal does not mean that they are peaceful. Parents often encourage and even recruit other adults to help convey information and to influence their adolescents. Adults such as clergy, school counselors, and political leaders may heavily influence religion, vocation, and political choice. Non-parent family members are able to discuss “taboo” topics with a teen. Links between teenagers and relatives are especially common in developing nations and immigrant groups.

10. Question 16.10

    How does the influence of peers and parents differ for adolescents?

    Disputes between parents and adolescents are common because the adolescent’s drive for independence, arising from biological as well as psychological impulses, clashes with the parents’ desire to maintain control. Adolescents rely on peers to help them navigate the physical changes of puberty, the intellectual challenges of high school, and the social changes of leaving childhood. For every adolescent, peer opinions and friends are vital. Adults sometimes fear peer pressure; that is, they fear that peers will push an adolescent to use drugs, break the law, or do other things their child would never do alone. But peers are more helpful than harmful, especially in early adolescence, when biological and social stresses can be overwhelming. Each young person must fashion his or her own identity, distinct from that of either society or parents. For this, peers may be pivotal.

11. Question 16.11

    Why do many adults misunderstand the role of peer pressure?

    Sometimes adults conceptualize adolescence as a time when peers and parents are at odds, or worse, as a time when peer influence overtakes parental influence. However, healthy communication and support from parents make constructive peer relationships more likely.

12. Question 16.12

    What is the role of parents, peers, and society in helping an adolescent develop an ethnic identity?

    Peers may be particularly helpful for adolescents of minority and immigrant groups as they strive to achieve ethnic identity, attaining their own firm (not confused or foreclosed) understanding of what it means to be their ethnicity. The larger society provides stereotypes and prejudice, and parents ideally describe ethnic heroes and reasons to be proud.

13. Question 16.13

    How do friendships differ during adolescence and adulthood?

    Teenagers select friends whose values and interests they share, abandoning former friends who follow other paths. Then friends facilitate destructive or constructive behaviors. It is easier to do wrong or right with friends. Peer facilitation helps adolescents act in ways they are unlikely to act on their own. Adults are not as susceptible to peer facilitation.

14. Question 16.14

    When is an adolescent romance healthy, and when is it not?

    It is a healthy part of development most of the time, but is unhealthy for those who have long-term relationships, as those tend to be adolescents who are emotionally unstable.

15. Question 16.15

    How does culture affect the development of sexual orientation?

    Culture determines the norms and standards associated with sexual orientation. Adolescents are aware of these norms and standards, which can influence the acceptance and expression of their own sexual orientation. Worldwide, many gay youths date members of the other sex to hide their orientation, and they are at higher risk for binge-drinking, suicidal thoughts, and drug use. Hiding one’s orientation is less common in communities in which same-sex partnerships are accepted, especially when parents affirm their offspring’s sexuality.

16. Question 16.16

    From whom do adolescents usually learn about sex?

    Adolescents learn about sex from the media, their peers, and their families, as well as their religious institutions. They also receive instruction from teachers at school.

17. Question 16.17

    What variations are there in sex education in schools, and how does this affect adolescent sexual behavior?

    Some high schools provide comprehensive education, free condoms, and medical treatment; some teach abstinence as the only sexual strategy for adolescents; others provide nothing. If they begin early, many sex-education programs successfully delay the age at which adolescents become sexually active, and they increase condom use. But some programs have no impact. Students taught abstinence-only and students taught comprehensive sex education have similar sexual activity rates, although the comprehensive sex education students know slightly more about preventing disease and pregnancy.

18. Question 16.18

    What is the difference between adolescent sadness and clinical depression?

    It is typical for an adolescent to be momentarily less happy and more angry than younger children. Clinical depression moves beyond sadness that is typical of adolescence and encompasses feelings of deep sadness and hopelessness that disrupts all normal regular activities.

19. Question 16.19

    Why do many adults think adolescent suicide is more common than it is?

    1) The rate, low as it is, is much higher than it appeared to be 50 years ago. 2) Statistics on “youth” often include emerging adults aged 18 to 25, whose suicide rates are higher than those of adolescents. 3) Adolescent suicides capture media attention, and people of all ages make the logical error called base rate neglect. 4) Parasuicides may be more common in adolescence than later.

20. Question 16.20

    How can rumination contribute to gender differences in depression and suicide?

    A cognitive explanation for gender differences in depression focuses on rumination—talking about, remembering, and mentally replaying past experiences. Girls ruminate much more than boys, and rumination often leads to depression. For that reason, close mother–daughter relationships may be depressing if the pair ruminate about the mother’s problems.

21. Question 16.21

    Why are cluster suicides more common in adolescence than in later life?

    Because they are not logical and analytical, adolescents are particularly affected when they hear about a suicide, either through the media or from peers. This makes them susceptible to cluster suicides, a term for the occurrence of several suicides within a group over a brief span of time.

22. Question 16.22

    What are the similarities between life-course-persistent and adolescence-limited offenders?

    Both involve antisocial behaviors and may result in criminal records. Most juvenile delinquents are adolescence-limited offenders, adolescents whose criminal activity stops by age 21. They break the law with their friends, facilitated by their chosen antisocial peers. More boys than girls are in this group. The other kind of delinquents are life-course-persistent offenders, people who break the law before and after adolescence as well as during it. Their law breaking is more often alone than as part of a gang, and the cause of their problems is neurological impairment.

23. Question 16.23

    Why are psychoactive drugs particularly attractive in adolescence?

    Hormonal surges, the brain’s reward centers, and cognitive immaturity make adolescents particularly attracted to the sensations produced by drugs.

24. Question 16.24

    Why are psychoactive drugs particularly destructive in adolescence?

    Adolescents’ immature bodies and brains make drug use especially hazardous. Many researchers find that drug use before maturity is particularly likely to harm body and brain growth. However, adolescents are especially likely to deny that they ever could become addicted to drugs. Few adolescents notice when they or their friends move past use to abuse and then to addiction. Each drug is harmful in a particular way. Psychoactive drugs can damage the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, both of which are still developing during adolescence. In addition, the younger the adolescent user, the less likely he or she is to comprehend the risks related to drug abuse. Cigarettes, alcohol and, prescription medicines can be as addictive and damaging as marijuana, cocaine, and heroin.