The Role Of Identity Formalities In Adolescents

Gender roles put an idea into children’s brains about the way society dictates how men and women should or should not act. These stereotypes can be harmful, as they often lead to sexism and misogyny. While gender roles may deem what is appropriate for each gender, they can also set expectations of people in society, some of which can be unachievable. This can put a pressure on young children that can follow them through their education and career. Gender-based stereotypes are also dangerous in the sense that if someone refuses to conform to traditional gender ideals, most of the time, they are ridiculed and harassed.

“The emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of a women begins when the doctor says, ‘It's a girl!’” Women are forced to conform to a set place in society, and the pressure they feel to conform starts when they are born.

The impact of social and cultural norms on the way an adolescent shapes and perceives identity has come under greater scrutiny in recent years. Although societies differ in the specific nature of the attributes associated with maleness and femaleness, each society attempts to communicate the gender norms to children and adolescents through various mechanisms.

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

Kidwell, Dunham, and Richard (1995) investigated Erikson’s theory that adolescent identity exploration is associated with a variety of symptoms, such as fluctuations in ego strength, mood swings, rebelliousness, and heightened physical symptoms. They sampled a total of 82 high school students (43 males, 39 females) between the ages of 14 and 17. These students were academically superior high school students who attended the Florida State University Summer Science and Mathematics Camp during the summers of 1988 (30 students) and 1989 (52 students). The minimum requirements for admission to the program included percentile ranks of 90 or more on standardized

A very informative article on the study of the gender roles children feel stressed to conform to. The article provides insights in how children interpret each other’s masculine and feminine behaviors. When children are informed of how each gender feels the same, it relieves the pressure, thereby allowing the children to be more at ease with one another and exhibit their true behaviors. The stereotype of gender roles produces health risks such as eating disorders and low-level bullying.

This internal physical change for a female usually sets them apart and has enormous affects how the female adolescence view themselves and how they are viewed by others in their social environment psychologically and socially. This point in a young female life cycle going through physical and biological changes their emotional feelings and self-confidence will be challenged by how they are viewed by peers and society. In the Proctor and Gamble videos brought out an important issue how females losses their confidence during their early adolescence phase in their lives through natural biological process of menarche. The videos refers to the negative stereotype terminology “like a girl” that is used in a male dominated society under the pretense that females are being considered inferior for their physical fitness capabilities activities such as throwing a ball, fighting, or running to distinguish themselves unequal’s to the male gender. In these videos, Proctor and Gamble shows how this transformation period for adolescence females abruptly comes to them in a negative aspect in their capabilities to socialize and be treated fairly among the male gender in society. All along the physical and cognitive development of the female gender are led to believe it is okay to play and act like boys until you hit puberty stage in life. The natural biological clock change that

The topic on whether Athletics and Academics benefit each other is something that seems to come up in conversations frequently. A lot of people underestimate is athletes can be as successful as non-athletes because we have so much on our plates. Student athletes are required to devote up to 25 hours per week when their sport is in season, miss numerous classes for university competitions, and deal with fatigue and injuries as a result of their athletic participation. These factors detract from the realistic likelihood of academic success, which in turn affects their academic motivation to succeed. In Herbet D. Simans, Derek Van Rheenen, and Martin V. Covington, Academic Motivation and the Student Athlete, the purpose of this study was to employ self-worth theory to explore the academic motivation of student athletes. It was hypothesized that a fear of academic failure and the relative commitment to athletics was found to play important roles in the academic motivation of both revenue and non-revenue student athletes. Most people believe that athletic success requires an individual to work hard, be self-disciplined, exhibit perseverance and determination, be able to concentrate, stay focused, and so forth. Students who chose to be student-athletes usually know all the ins and outs of being such. Student-Athletes have a lot to hold on their shoulders but it is also their choice to do so.

Being a male or a female is the most important determinant of the person’s directions and interests in his/her life. To possess and exhibit the suitable gender characteristics is not an easy mission. The rules of this mission are either inherited or placed by the society. Even though no specific person organizes those rules, the society expects everyone to obey. Gender rules may be strict, and they may put the person under unfavorable pressure. Nevertheless, most people accept them, and maintain their gender characteristics involuntarily. Males and females differ in almost all characteristics. They are different in the way they express their feelings, and in the way they react in response to most situations. Gender differences can be

Our society and culture have, over time, carved out specific gender roles that provide a certain identity for us from a very young age. It influences what is expected and accepted by girls and women, or boys and men. How you are raised, and how you are conditioned by society may contribute to your perception of these roles and how you do or do not function within them. I will use this image to discuss the expectations (physical and behavioral) of girls and how it affects them later in life.

Personal identity formation is one of the main foundations of youth development, which is crucial to understand youth while working with them in the MODEL program. Adolescents generally depend on various social-psychological styles to figure out their own identity style (Crocetti, Erentaite, & Zukauskiene, 2014). Youth rely on these different styles to pursue growth and refine themselves, encrypting their own relevant data (Crocetti, Erentaite, & Zukauskiene, 2014). The identity styles can be “information-oriented, normative, and diffuse-avoidant” (Crocetti, Erentaite, & Zukauskiene, 2014, p. 1818). It will depend on how youth adjust to the various identity styles to impact the active contribution to their societies (Crocetti, Erentaite, & Zukauskiene, 2014). These identity styles reflect on positive youth development based on the “Five C’s Model, which include Competence, Confidence, Character, Connection, and Caring” (Crocetti, Erentaite, & Zukauskiene, 2014). Information-oriented identity style individuals are personally thoughtful and efficiently discover and assess self-significant data (Berzonsky, 2011). Individuals with a normative identity style naturally embrace regulations and beliefs from significant others and automatically adapt to their desires (Berzonsky, 2011). Last but not least, adolescents with a diffuse-avoidant identity style dawdle and defer managing personality issues for as long as they can (Berzonsky, 2011). The

Human development is a perpetual process that commences with our conception and proceeds until the point where we breathe our last breath. While we remain more stagnant during certain times of our lives, there are others that are loaded with rapid change. One of these periods is adolescence, in which teenagers develop psychosocially, cognitively, and morally. They must undergo these dramatic changes that set a frame for the rest of their lives.

Gender expectations have developed throughout several generations, slowly becoming more and more unreachable. A woman is expected to act one way, and a man is to act the opposite. The rules, that are expected to be followed, have been set by people who neglect their own family and friends in order to enforce their opinions onto someone who wishes to fill the shoes of the opposite gender, or take on the opposite role as part of their identity. Gender roles have begun to take over the lives of children who are at the age of impressionability. These expectations have reached the point of guiding the color of the package on a childrens toy to one gender, and putting the same product on the shelves, the only difference being the color that is typically for one gender or the other.

If students are encouraged at a young age to defy gender stereotypes, then there is a greater likelihood that they will be able to overcome them in their adult lives as well. Young women in particular need to be encouraged so that they can eventually achieve equal numbers in leadership roles with males. As educators, it will be necessary to think about gender when dealing with students, particularly in higher education. By either encouraging or discouraging female students

In the teenage years this idea of conforming to gender expectations continues. Teenage girls are supposed to be quiet, polite, and dainty. While boys are supposed to be loud, physical, and aggressive. A recent study done with fourteen year olds found that fourteen year old boys believe that girls their age should be less intelligent than them. Pereira, who conducted the study, found over the three month period that girls start to downplay their