Adolescence& The Life Cycle

The Life Cycle: an 8-Stage Process

• Infancy• Childhood• Adolescence• Young adulthood• Marriage (mating)• Parenthood• Mid-life• Old age

• Barring an early death, it is possible that everyone will go through this cycle

• One must successfully complete developmental tasks in order to move to the next stage

• The life cycle and developmental stage schema is how social scientists explain human progress from infancy to adulthood

Developmental Tasks: Adolescent/Young Adult Edition

• Gaining independence from parents/guardians• Choosing a direction in life• Acquiring suitable education and/or

employment• Experiencing love and intimacy• Finding a suitable life partner

Developmental Tasks: Adolescent/Young Adult Edition

American professor Robert Havighurst identified three more tasks:• Accepting one’s masculine or

feminine physique• Developing healthy

relationships with peers (both sexes)

• Desiring and achieving socially responsible behaviour

Failure to complete these tasks can lead to:• An inability to meet

social roles and expectations

• Increased anxiety• Social disapproval• Mental illness• Suicide

What is Adolescence?• Nowadays seen as a period of transition• Signalled by Mother Nature: sexual

maturation is the most obvious sign of the transition from childhood to adulthood• How long this transition period lasts

depends on socio-cultural characteristics• Usually only recognized by developed

societies

The Emergence of Adolescence

• Economic origins in the 1890s• Technological improvements left room only

for adults in the workplace• Youth ended up on the streets, where they

started getting into trouble• Social workers and missionaries start focusing

on inner-city youth: juvenile homes spring up• 1908: Juvenile Delinquents Act becomes law

The Juvenile Delinquents Act• “…every juvenile delinquent shall be treated,

not as a criminal, but as a misdirected and misguided child.”• Created a separate juvenile court system to try

all cases involving children• Any child over the age of 14 and accused of an

indictable offence, such as murder or treason, was to be transferred to an ordinary court• Transfers were at the discretion of a juvenile

court judge

source: http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/pi/icg-gci/jj2-jm2/sec02.html

The Juvenile Delinquents Act

• Young persons detained pending a hearing had to be placed in detention homes or shelters exclusively for juveniles

• Proceedings were to be private, and neither the names of the accused nor their parents could be published

• Provided greater sentencing options and placed restrictions on the punishment of young children

• With the exception of juveniles transferred to adult courts, no convicted youth could be put in custody in any place “in which adults are or may be imprisoned”

source: http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/pi/icg-gci/jj2-jm2/sec02.html

From JDA to YOA

• The Young Offenders Act replaced the Juvenile Delinquents Act in 1984• YOA delays adult justice to 18•Why? Belief that youth can still be

rehabilitated

Adolescence inPre-Industrial Societies• Specifically, hunter-gatherer societies• Children required to mature quickly• Short transition period, if any• A girl becomes a woman when she reaches

menarche; occasion marked with a coming-of-age ceremony• A boy becomes a man when he kills his first

buck and participates in a ceremony

Adolescence inPre-Industrial Societies• Coming-of-age ceremonies are

elaborate• Serve as a “heads-up” to the

community• Help to ensure the group’s survival

and continued cohesion through the transmission of traditions

Adolescence in Our SocietyWhat are our coming-of-age ceremonies and rites of passage?• Sweet 16, debut, bar or bat mitzvah, quinceañera,

others?• Getting a driver’s license• Prom• Graduation from high school, post-secondary• Obtaining the rights to vote and drink• Engagement, bachelor/ette, stag & doe parties• Weddings

Psychologists on Adolescence

• Jean Piaget: 4 stages of cognitive development – how we know, remember, think, and communicate• Adolescence: when one begins to think

more abstractly and to see oneself as a separate being

14

• Erik Erikson: 8 stages of psychosocial development – individual thought and behaviour in relation to others. One challenge associated with each stage; a crisis must be overcome• Challenge for adolescence: establish a personal

identity

• Lawrence Kohlberg: 3-level, 6-stage theory of moral development – how we learn to do and think what is right• Ideally, one achieves full internalization by

the end of adolescence

Theories of Adolescent Dev’t• G. Stanley Hall: coined the term adolescence, saw

it as a period of emotional upheaval – storm and stress (sturm und drang)

• David Elkind: adolescence as a period of immature thinking processes, extreme indecisiveness due to exaggerated self-confidence, idealism, criticism, and egocentrism

• Allison Davis: adolescence as a period of socialized anxiety –tension and discomfort that can motivate and influence behaviour

Theories of Adolescent Dev’t• Edward Spranger: adolescence sees the

development of dominant value direction – the values and worldview that the teen will carry into adulthood

• Leta Stetter Hollingworth: movement from adolescence to adulthood is a gradual process, not one of upheaval

• Kurt Lewin: adolescence as a time of changing social group membership. Teens are unclear about their roles, since they are in transition from childhood to adulthood

Important Terms• Developmental task: an experience that develops a skill

needed to move on to the next developmental stage in the life cycle. Ex. choosing a direction in life; helping grown children to leave home and establish their own lives; adjusting to retirement.

• Internalization: when a person’s behaviour stops being externally dictated and starts being internally driven (based on personal values, ethics, standards, beliefs, etc.)

• Menarche: a woman’s first menstruation.• Schema: a theory or idea organized into a model or outline.

We use schemas to organize our ideas about life and the world. Schema-building continues until adulthood.