Adolescence Being Culturally Constructed

The peer reviewed article “Ethnic and Racial Identity During Adolescence into Young Adulthood: An Integrated Conceptualization” is a well written article on the struggle that people of color face when coming face to face with their identity in social situations. Umana-Taylor, Quintana, Lee, Cross, Rivas-Drake, Schwartz and Seaton (2014) analyzed ethnic and racial identity or ERI and how it relates to important developments and issues from early childhood well on into young adulthood. They worked to find the most important milestones during the development or ERI as well (Umana-Taylor et. al 2014). This paper will consist of the information given from the article and how I’ve dealt with my own ERI.

In the book, Age of Opportunity: Lessons from the New Science of Adolescence, the author, Lawrence Steinberg, starts out the first chapter by explaining how we once thought that the brain was mostly done maturing by adolescence, but with new research we are learning that the brain continues to develop into one’s twenties. He goes on to say that children are hitting puberty earlier in life and placing them “at significantly greater risk for a host of physical, mental, and behavioral problems, including depression, delinquency, and even cancer” (9). The reason why children are going through puberty is based on a mix on environmental and genetic influences. The more nourished and fed you are the higher chance of you going through puberty earlier. Although this was the case in 1850-1950, the continuing decline of age in puberty today, is due to more troubling reasons. The five mains reasons for today is: 1. Obesity 2. Artificial light 3. Endocrine disruptors 4. Premature birth 5. Family stress. Steinberg explains how adolescent is a time of neuroplasticity and the longer period of adolescence can have good consequences or severely negative consequences, depending on if they’re in a stimulating environment or a toxic environment.

I was born on April 23, 1994 in Brampton, Ontario. I have lived in Brampton my entire life. I completed my undergraduate degree at University of Toronto, and now I am here at York University completing my BEd. I am someone who values helping others above anything else, which is why my dream has always been to become a teacher. This is something that I will accomplish, and nothing will stop me from achieving my dreams!

From 1707-1763, The British colonies in America were breaking away from British norms but still not quite to the stage of rebellion. Colonists were in the stage between the birth of the colonies and American independence- an adolescent era. In 1707 to 1763, the British colonies of America showed adolescent qualities by establishing their own identity in their culture, government, and societal views.

“A lot of people think that addiction is a choice. A lot of people think it 's a matter of will. That has not been my experience. I don 't find it to have anything to do with strength.”

What observations would you make regarding the cognitive, moral, and social-emotional developmental manifestations of the teen’s reactions occurring here.

1. In the article Denaturalizing Adolescence, Lesko defines adolescence in reference to teens between the ages of 12-17 (p. 156). She talks about the characteristics of adolescence; that we have framed within our society. They are seen as "hormonally driven, peer-oriented, and identity seeking" by the majority of adults (Lesko, 140). According to her adolescence was created in the 19th century during industrialization. Adolescents were ‘coming of age' into this "important, powerful, uncontrollable change" (Lesko, 148) and they needed to be disciplined. It was believed that the characteristics of adulthood were a direct reflection of the society around them; as teens couldn't make a decision for themselves.

Adolescence is both a social and cultural construct as well as biological one, it is the developmental period where one transition from being a child to adult and face biological, psychological, and social challenges. This challenging, and important time in between childhood and adulthood has caused a lot of interest in the psychological field and a number of theories have been developed in order to try and explain the different stages of development. One of the most significant models of psychosocial development was created by Erikson (1963) and the stage related to adolescents is known as the “Identity vs. Role-Diffusion”, where the one is in constant pursuit of a coherent sense of self during the teenage years. When the teenager is unable to put together aspects of themselves they experience role-diffusion. Later on Elkind (1967) introduced his theory of adolescent egocentrism, explaining the increase in preoccupation with oneself during the teenage years. Kohlberg (1969) quickly followed up with his theory of moral development, in order to examine how adolescents develop their ability to solve ethical dilemmas. Another challenge teenagers need to face is mental health. The psychological part of striving for independence, while still struggling with identity formation and having poor coping strategies can have serious consequences and lead to mental illnesses, such as depression which is a growing concern among youths. This essay will further examine to what extent

During the adolescent years, the main goal is for the male/female to find their identity and seek to answer the questions of “Who am I?”, “What is my purpose in life?” “Why do I believe what I believe?” Berger, 2014 states that there are four fields to forming ones identity, which include: religious beliefs, political, career choices and lastly sexual identity. For many children, finding an identity does not come easily, in fact it may not be revealed until later years when one is an adult, or perhaps could one go their whole life and never fully understand their true selves? A lot of these identity roles and perceptions become forced onto adolescents through education or parental and peer influences. High school is such a difficult time. It is a time where self-esteem decreases and a heightened sense of judgment appears. Particularly females wonder whether their outfits, makeup, hair or romantic interests are going to be socially acceptable by other females. My nine year old daughter, although not even in middle school yet, is already wanting to buy clothing that matches that of her friends and told me just the other day that “her legs were too fat!” This is a child that in no way is

The movie thirteen is a raw psychodrama directed by Catherine Hardwicke is based on the life of a young teenage girl, Tracy Freeland whom catapults from pre adolescence/childhood to a wild and rebellious thirteen year old girl. Filmed in Los Angeles, Tracey and her mother’s relationship are put to the test when she befriends Evie. Evie is a popular girl from junior high school who introduces her to the world of sex, drugs and self-mutilation. We see a physical and psychological change in Tracey almost overnight, as her kinship with Evie transforms into a toxic relationship. Tracey’s early traumatic life experiences, manifests into a co-morbidity of depression and borderline personality disorder that affects her ability to cope with an

After analyzing my results from the chart, I confirmed that I there is little diversity present in my experiences with teenagers. Most of the teenagers I interacted with were similar to me, African American living in an urban area. I have had a few opportunities to interact with diverse teenagers, but I never developed a close relationship with them. As a result, I’m not surprised that I know very little about teens from other groups, for I know that I don't interact with them enough to get to know them well. Regarding the teens that I have developed close relationships with, I believe that they are exceptional as in they are not the stereotypical black teens from an inner-city area.

Mainly, there is a lack of research on contingent SE in adolescence, especially in early/mid adolescence. In addition, in most of the very few studies where contingent SE actually has been investigated in samples of adolescents, only sample means were reported, since age differences were outside the scope of these studies (e.g., Bos et al., 2010; Wouters et al., 2013).With regard to the development and reorganization of contingent SE, adolescence might prove to be a critical stage because of the changes in awareness of one’s self and others’ reactions to it (Burwell and Shirk, 2006). Furthermore, adolescents are faced with many developmental tasks and challenges, such as creating a stable identity, acquiring a set of values, disturbances in

Knowing who are and who's you are is extremely important in getting through life. I truly believe that young women need to know who they are in terms of societies standards and that it is not the end all be all of who they are as a person. Knowing ones cultural identity can better help us know where we come from as a country as well as within our smaller sub-cultures. Being an woman of African decent it is very important for me to know who I am terms of family history and African heritage. Many children don't know where their families come from and very few care to know. In not knowing these things they lack the knowledge of why some are more privileged than they are.

From an article Adolescent Culture- The Creation Of The Teenager, Diana West, states, “The word “teenager” was not really used until 1941. In virtually every other culture in the history of the world prior to late 20th century Western Culture, kids became adults. No so anymore. They now become teenagers, or, to put it in more sociologically acceptable terms, they become adolescents.” Since we live in a society that is so multicultural individual teens have different background cultures that affect the adolescent’s development. “Culture has a strong influence on development, behavior, values and beliefs. Teens who come from different backgrounds are influenced by different cultural norms and parental expectations that stem from different attitudes

The intricate nature of youth means that while some argue it is a universal stage of life, it is seen by many as a formation of sociocultural elements. Social construction can be defined as something that has been shaped by the values, interests or practices of a culture or society and this is evident in the youth demographic through its revolution in recent years. The markings of youth are social in formulation; highlighting the way in which young people have been influenced by differing trends and movements. Youth is a transitional phase, its age bracket extending and blurring; transcending global divides and traditions. Thus, it is the social context that surrounds youth which suggests that it is not a universal stage of life. Ultimately, the idea of youth when viewed in a historical and cultural context as well as in relation to other socially influenced concepts such as adulthood, can be observed as a social construction.