Scientific Research of Adolescence - Essay Example

Introduction The emergence of the field of study regarding adolescence has developed into a deep understanding of the cognitive, behavioral, and perception of adolescence. Many social scientists have pursued to evaluate the different phenomena associated with adolescence behavior which led to a significant influence in most review of literatures. The concept of adolescence has connoted various degrees and levels of stressful events which occur in the life of an individual. Many of which reflects the negative experiences and explanations to the life of an individual going through different changes in his or her life. The paper is about these different theories and research understanding the transitions to adolescence and how it affects an individual. Moreover, the study aims to provide an analysis as to how these concepts are conceived, and how it truly reflects adolescence transition. Brief Background In the research context, many social scientists have affirmed adolescence transition being a stressful phase in one’s life. Through various research and experiments made, conclusions were evidently presented to lean into a generalization that adolescence experience many changes in their life which consequently affects their cognitive and behavior. In the realm of research, this led to the emergence of a specific field of study which greatly intends to provide more explanations regarding the human development phase wherein a particular age group defies more stressful experiences. Adolescence Transition During early life transitions, individuals experience major changes in different psychological and behavioral functions. Transitions occur primarily as an offset to another stable state in human development. (Durkin, 1995) The period of early adolescence is characterized by the onset of puberty at which acute and rapid biological changes affects the emotional and social relationships of individuals. In this particular field of study in psychology, social scientists determine the factors which affect the integration of the individual in the social world and the relationships that provide experiential learning to the individual. During puberty, an adolescent will experience not only physical changes but shall be affected emotionally and psychologically with these changes. This can include feelings and relationships that may result to conflicts and emotional distancing of the child to his or her parents as attributed by Paikoff & Brooks-Gunn (1991). As a result of the transition towards maturity, changes in the cognitive and thinking patterns are also reflected in social relationships of the individual. Social scientists has long attributed the transition period from child to adolescence as a distress period which determines the different but interwoven learning of the individual and his or her surroundings. There is physical development entailed during puberty, the hormonal changes for example in females with the onset of the menstruation period, and the introduction of sexual issues and concerns. (Durkin, 1995) Albeit normative in nature, this period is a stressful one for some adolescence and has implications for their general well-being. The transition requires major adjustments, acquisition of new skills and the knowledge to understand life experiences. Adolescence Issues: A Period of Great Distress Adolescence is a period considered wherein profound transformations in emotional, cognitive and behavioral systems occur. Despite the rapid phase at which this transition happens, there is an increase emotional distress experience by most individuals going through the process. Holmbeck et al. in 1995 stratified the period of adolescence which entails ages 11-21. The early stages of adolescences is said to be between the age of 11 and 14, the middle during 15 and 18 years, and late adolescence during 19 to 21. An adolescent goes through multiple and difficult transitions during this phase of development which includes puberty, the transitions involving parent and child relationships, school, peers and cognitive and emotional abilities. (Holmbeck et al., 1995) Aside from discussing the implications of moral development which arises from the cognitive development process pegged primarily on Kohlbergian ideas, the social relationships of individuals also asserts a significant role during the adolescence transitions. (Durkin, 1995) In this aspect, issues within family relationships, gender, ideology and culture play a vital role in molding the conception of one’s self. As many social scientists has explored, a child’s primary exposure and extensive introduction to moral regulations which affects his cognitive processes begins within the family. Holmbeck et al. (1995) has specifically quantified the age group to which adolescence transition is to be observed. This is crucial in providing other measures to understand their behavior. However, as Durkin (1995) mentions, the perception of adolescence as a distress period is brought by many other factors not just age. He emphasized the role of historical context in this assumption. Many traditional societies have pre-conceived this idea brought by many supernatural explanations and misconceptions. For example, the onsets of pubertal changes which can be explained by biological conditions of human development, have been often associated with traits such as punishment, an unnatural circumstance or even provoke fear among both men and women who experience changes. We can not change what history made people to believe, but we can understand that through such historic misconceptions, the concrete perception of adolescence as a distress period became established. Adolescence Research Research on adolescence transitions has grown of interest over the past years brought by trends observed in the interest area. One of which is the influence of ecological perspective on human development as attributed by Bronfenbrenner in 1979. The improvement methodologies studying adolescence transition has also significantly improved the study of adolescence transition. The new methods formed included not just biological models and explanations, but placed those findings in a social context to understand the behavioral aspect of adolescent development. The Criticism in Adolescence Research The goal to provide an explanation on how the period of transition to adolescence as a distress phase for an individual has focused on describing, explaining, predicting and exploring the problematic behavior of adolescence has become a pursuit in the field for many years already. The constant and critical criticism on this matter is mentioned by Dornbusch et al. in 1991. The researchers emphasize on “de-dramatizing” the transition phase and emphasize that the attribution to the transition phase is not a period of normative disturbances, but rather a phase by which adolescence grow to become more mature in social, emotional or behavioral difficulties. (Dornbusch et al., 1991) Selected past research has made assertions that there is the existing misconception of the transition to adolescence phase as a period of distress to individuals. Starting with Hall’s conclusion in 1904, the misconception that adolescence is an inherently period of difficulty ignited the interest to focus on the problems aspect during this transition. Several main influences in this field of study arose from Erikson’s 1968 theory of adolescent identity development and Piaget’s theory of formal operation which provided a landscape for adolescence research during the 1970’s and 1980’s. Adolescence Distress The perception that adolescence transition is a distress period has evolved from studying the problems encountered during the phase, to a pursuit to suggest the normative side to such transition period. The realized need to de-link adolescence transition to much negative behavior has become popular in recent research due to other factors which contributes to adolescent cognitive and behavior. The main point being is that the adolescence phase should not be taken as a formative distress stage, but rather should be understood in biological and psychological context. Major attribution to the stress in adolescence transition is due to the increase in bickering and fighting between parents and teenagers during early adolescence year although there still lacks formal consensus as to why this happens. One significant reason that can be mentioned is asserted by Silverberg and Steinberg (1990) which entailed the adolescent’s individuation and autonomy-striving efforts against parents. (Silverberg & Steinberg, 1990) This holds true because as individuals become more understanding and aware of what is happening around them, they form their own identities and realizations. Puberty also influenced the distress period in adolescence transition. Several studies notes that aside from the biological changes which influence the “stress” period during adolescence transition phase, the quality of family and peer relationships also brings an amount of pressure to the individual. (Morris & Steinberg, 2001) One respect that adolescence transition focuses on is the effects of puberty in adolescent moods and the role of hormonal changes in emotional and cognitive development. Studies attempted to establish a connection between the direct and indirect effects of hormones to adolescent moods. Brooks-Gunn & Reiter (1990) maintains that the characterization of adolescence transition with “raging hormones” is an exaggerated explanation. (Brooks-Gunn and Reiter, 1990) Although during early adolescence, Buchann et al. (1992) concludes in their study that fluctuations in hormones or the biological changes of an adolescent is associated with greater irritability and aggression among males, and depression among females. (Buchann et al., 1992) It must be noted that there is still no evidence on psychological difficulties which arise directly from hormonal changes during puberty. Bodily changes of adolescence has more significant role in development of depression and disorder among girls (Wichstrom, 1999). Conclusion Adolescence transition has long been founded on the belief that it is a distress period for an individual. However, as many researches generated the evidence to back it up, others have failed to give significant attribution to other aspects such as biological and psychological at the normative stage. It is a distress stage because adolescence transition is full of changes in all aspect. It requires special attention since these changes are indeed difficult to an individual. Both women and men experience these changes because human development entails the formation of personality and own identity influenced by social factors. However, there is much hope in the development of understanding adolescence transition considering the misconception it was based upon. The pursuit to understand human development entails considering all factors which can determine the period in between such phases. Works Cited: Bronfenbrenner U. (1979) The Ecology of Human Development. Cambridge,MA:Harvard Univ. Press Brooks-Gunn J, Graber JA, Paikoff RL. (1994) Studying links between hormones and negative affect: models and measures. J. Res. Adolescent. 4:469–86 Brooks-Gunn J, Reiter EO. (1990) The role of pubertal processes. See Feldman & Elliot 1990, pp. 17–53 Buchanan CM, Eccles JS, Becker JB. (1992) Are adolescents victims of raging hormones: evidence for activational effects of hormones on moods and behaviour at adolescence. Psychol. Bull. 111:62–107 Buhrmester D. (1990) Intimacy of friendship, interpersonal competence, and adjustment during preadolescence and adolescence. Child Dev. 61:1101–11 Dornbusch SM, Petersen AC, Hetherington EM. (1991) Projecting the future of research on adolescence. J. Res. Adolescent. 1:7–17 Durkin, K. (1995) Developmental Social Psychology: from Infancy to Old Age. Oxford: Blackwell. Chapter 15: Adolescence I: Transitions. Pp. 505-533 Erikson, E. (1968) Identity, Youth, and Crisis. New York: Norton Feldman SS, Cauffman E. (1999) Your cheatin’ heart: attitudes, behaviours, and correlates of sexual betrayal in late adolescents. J. Res. Adolesc. 9:227–52 Hall GS. (1904) Adolescence. New York: Appleton Holmbeck GN. (1996) A model of family relational transformations during the transition to adolescence: parent-adolescent conflict. In Transitions Through Adolescence: Interpersonal Domains and Contexts, ed. J Graber, J Brooks-Gunn, A Peterson, pp. 167–99. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum Morris, A. & Steinberg, L. (2001) Adolescent Development. Annual Review of Psychology. 52: 83-110 Silverberg SB, Steinberg L. (1990) Psychological well-being of parents with early adolescent children. Dev. Psychol. 26:658– 66 Wichstrom L. (1999) The emergence of gender difference in depressed mood during adolescence: the role of intensified gender socialization. Dev. Psychol. 35:232–45 Read More