Growing Up : Adolescence And Personality Shifts

Adolescence is popularly known to be a very tumultuous stage in a person’s life. In the adolescent stage (also coined the identity vs. role confusion stage by theorist Erik Erikson) bodies are changing rapidly, emotions are unfamiliar and unexplainable, and refraining from succumbing to peer pressure is more challenging than ever.

Examining the evidence for personality change in middle adulthood requires the assessment of a broad scope of individuals throughout the course of a lifetime to accurately identify specific characteristic changes during middle adulthood. This research details proposed personality trait changes in both men and women participants in middle adulthood. The majority of participants are of the middle age which generally includes adults between the ages of forty and sixty; however, references to participants of all ages are identified. The assessment individuals across a lifespan are essential to denote specific changes in personality during middle

In modern-day society, there are numerous people who take pleasure in separating themselves from the typical standards of society; however, there are also people who feel uncomfortable expressing themselves in the own, distinctive ways. Because they feel this way, many adolescents believe that by camouflaging themselves into their peer’s behaviors and beliefs that they will fit in with social norm, accepted beliefs and behaviors in a social group or society, and the reason why they have this mentality, is because of the lack of confidence to express their ideas in their own unique ways. The belief that students and kids have to live up to social norms, are implemented on them by social influences, more specifically, their peers.

Adolescence describes the transitional stage in a teenager’s life, from childhood to adulthood, where an individual evolves physically, psychologically, emotionally, cognitively and socially. It is a defined social category that is expressed through immaturity and unpredictability and allows an individual to learn and discover their sense of self and identity. The idea of adolescence came into perspective after children were expected to take on adult roles as soon as they were mature enough to, going straight from puberty to adulthood. As society changed and moulded, so did the ideas about life stages, which is evident in Erikson’s theory.

According to Erikson’s theory, as the individual transits into adolescence, he or she begins to express the high interest in understanding and trying to make sense of the self and its qualities. This process includes self-awareness, self-conscious and self-examination ( Brinthaupt & Lipka, 2012). Porfeli, Lee & Vondracek (2013) believed that in the early to middle adolescence, the individuals are struggling to identify the balance between developing a unique individual identity while still being accept by the general society. Therefore, it explains the reason why individual may develop high consciousness towards to criticism in social environment. Simultaneously, Hoffnung, M., Hoffnung, R. J., Pause, Jeffrey, Burton, Hine (2013) stated that adolescences are able to evaluate self identity from multiple perspectives as well as able to take others opinions into

Adolescent is a disconcerting time when there are many life changes emotionally, physically, socially and psychologically. There are unrealistic expectations which lead to disappointment and rejection. The maturity level of adolescents makes them feeling life is not fair and things will never change to benefit them. Erikson’s identity vs. role confusion is an example of how developing into owns identity can be challenging, especially when learning how to transition into adulthood. Adolescence is one of the most importance stages in life where the mind and body goes through varies changes. When changes cause impairment or interfere with activities of daily living it results in

Erik Erikson is identified as a private, complicated man who lacked a formal academic training and came to America as an immigrant in the 1930s. His ideas of the identity development became influential to different theorist such as Lawrence Kohlberg, Carol Gilligan and Bruno Bettelheim who often reference from his work Erikson rarely referenced his work to others with the exclusion of Freud, and he often did not support his theories with empirical evidence, even though his work has become well known (Friedman, 1999).

Young people don’t maintain the same personality, feelings and views throughout their life. At some point in their life, which very often starts during adolescence, they start looking for their true identity. The transition into becoming a more mature person may be very exciting and very uncertain at the same time. It is a process that involves many changes shaped by the family, friends, environment, community and culture. Young people become more independent, dream of living their life the way they always wanted to, they explore the world, look for new possibilities. At the same time they still ponder their personal identity, are vulnerable and easily influenced by others. They take on new responsibilities, face new challenges and make mistakes.

Broderick and Blewitt (2015) state how Erikson’s theory addresses the human characteristics such as maturity, cognitive changes, motor skills, attitudes, behaviors, and expectations throughout development. All these characteristics are concerns clients confront professional counselors about. Depending on the age, counselors can study the personality theory to indicate the significant event the client is experiencing. An example of a significant event would be a 17-year-old male who feels unsure towards his beliefs and desires. This stage is called “Identity Verses Role Confusion”. Broderick and Blewitt (2015) explain that this stage is where an adolescent might feel confused about their career path, which social group to associate with, and

Adolescence is considered a difficult time of life and one in which a number of changes occur as the individual achieves a certain integration of different aspects of personality. One approach to the cognitive and emotional transitions made at different times of life is to consider how the changes in, say, adolescence are linked to a continuum of change beginning in childhood and continuing throughout life. Some theorists, such as Piaget, were interested primarily in the transitions of childhood and youth, while others, such as Erikson, saw all of life as a series of transitions and offered a continuum of stages covering all of life.

Dr. Whitbourne refers to the well-known psychologist Erik Erikson throughout the article. First, the author explained Erikson’s personality stages that express valid stages from the time one is born to the time they die. However, what was mainly focused on was the fifth crisis, “Identity Achievement vs. Identity Diffusion,” which described the personality deviations from the beginning of adolescence. The author affirmed that this stage is the timeframe where teens being to experience major personality changes which are mostly linked to puberty. Dr. Whitbourne, further informed readers about the causes of these changes by stating that “Teenagers experience rapid changes in body build, hormones, emotions, and cognitive abilities. Perhaps

The study taken on personality traits ranged from the age of 21 years thru 60 years old. Both sexes studied the two traits Conscientiousness and Agreeableness statics became greater than before in

“To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly” quoted by Henri Bergson. As we all know life contains many stages of development. Infancy, Toddlers, Child, Adolescents, Emerging adults, and Adult. These stages all contain advancements, difficulties, and changes in everyone’s life. What is so unique about these stages in life is that everyone goes through them but, they are gone through differently. Like a snowflake, every individual’s stage period is different than their peers. One of the most complex times in people’s lives lies in the stage point of Adolescents. This is the time for developing an individual and unique persona, and for some this may be a more difficult process than what others may experience.

In entering adolescence, people heavily contemplate their ego identity. In the early 1900s, theorist Erik Erikson believed in eight stages of ego development from birth to death. For the purpose of this paper I have

Adolescence is the distinct transitional stage between childhood and adulthood in human development, extending primarily over the teenage years and terminating legally when the age of majority is reached (Rathus, 2014). However in some instances, this biological, cognitive, social and emotional maturity may not be reached until a later stage and may be dictated by gender. Adolescence is characterised by rapidly changing and unpredictable behaviour (Freud, as cited in Rathus 2014), heightened and unstable emotions (Hall, as cited in Rathus 2014), disturbances in identity, the gradual development of one’s moral reasoning (Kohlberg, as cited in Rathus, 2014) and the gradual establishment of one’s independence. Several of these changes may occur at differing phases in adolescent growth. This development is categorized into three separate stages; early adolescence, middle adolescence, and late adolescence. Early Adolescence, commencing from the ages of eleven or twelve until the age of fourteen, comprises of several features such as rapid biological development and maturity, heightened stress levels and limited coping capabilities. On the other hand, middle adolescence, from the approximate age of fourteen to sixteen, involves the gradual cease of biological change, an increase in coping strategies and declined stress levels. Furthermore, late adolescence, commencing from the age of sixteen until the age of eighteen or nineteen, encompasses physical maturity, whereby the