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Virtual Child Ages 11-16 Essay

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Maureen Gillespie PSY 206 – Dr. Greenspan Montgomery County Community College April 15, 2013 Assignment #2 Adolescence is defined as the transition between childhood and adulthood. Many changes happen at this stage. Adolescence involves things such as puberty, greater independence, and a time when someone begins to construct their identity. Identity means their life value and goals including a secure sense of who they are in terms of sexual, vocational, and moral ethics. In the next few paragraphs I will be discussing my Virtual Child, Maeve as she went through adolescence (ages 11- 16). I am going to delve into the different changes I saw in her and how they relate to theories proposed by Piaget, Erikson, Marcia, and Gardner. Each …show more content…

At one point, as an act of defiance, she ran off with her boyfriend and they both got matching tattoos. During the times when she was feeling down, she wouldn’t talk much, but always knew she could. But, when Maeve was ready to talk, she was confident in herself and what she stood for. While her decisions weren’t always that irresponsible, we still found that we didn’t always agree with her. But for Maeve, she seemed to know she was in a trial and error phase of growing up and had to see what worked for her. We had to let her develop that. Much like Maeve’s trial and error phase, Erikson’s theory of identity versus role confusion explains psychological conflict of adolescence. This theory states that this conflict is resolved positively when adolescents achieve an identity after a period of exploration and inner soul searching. If a young person’s earlier conflicts were resolved negatively or if society limits their choices to ones that do not match their abilities and desires, they may appear shallow, directionless, and unprepared for the challenges of late adulthood. (p. 314). Maeve luckily didn’t make many choices that were resolved negatively. These social and emotional changes weren’t always easy for the rest of the family to deal with, but they were a part of her growth. With us there to provide nurturing support, she was able to develop her own healthy identity after her period of “soul searching.” Researchers commonly evaluate progress in

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