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Adolescent self and socio-emotional development Essays

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Adolescent self and socio-emotional development

Socio-emotional processes are defined by John Santrock in Adolescence as ‘the changes in an individuals personality, relationships with others and social contexts’ (Santrock, 2010, p. 15). During socio-emotional development, changes occur in relationships and personality within social contexts the individual exists in; Adolescents are experiencing and discovering their identity and the experience of emotions and finding meaning within the adolescent social world. This period of development occurs during a persons adolescence, which is the stage of transition from childhood to adulthood. This period should not be considered a singular period, but has 3 phases in which the adolescent is …show more content…

The individuals says: ‘In some ways I feel like I don’t have a personality, I feel like I am school, soccer or music- just what ever I do’ (Wurf, 2012). Santrock discusses the idea of the changing social development context in which the social field changes. Within the case study, the adolescent exists within an educational setting where extra-curricula activities are heavily weighted as your identity. Santrock explains that often adolescents are ’aware of the school as a social system and maybe motivated to conform and adapt to the system’ (Santrock, 2010, p. 359). In this case study, it may be apparent that the individual feels as though he must participate in extra-curricular activities to fit in, however the individual feels dissatisfied with this outcome, as he feels as though people perceive him purely for his interests. This example highlights some identity confusion as the individual is unsure of how society recognises his identity. This is further evident when the individual states: ‘I know sometimes I act a bit” (Wurf, 2012). The individual is enacting in psychosocial moratorium where during adolescence, the individual explores personality and role experimentation within their identity (Santrock, 2010, p. 144). The individual in the case study may

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