Basic Childhood and Adolescent Development
By
Mindy Nance, LCSW
There are many different theories on human development; nevertheless, theorists agree that development during childhood is the most significant; particularly the first two years of life. Thus, if the first years of life are interrupted or disturbed then serious damage could be done affecting adolescence and adulthood. This is the case for many of the youth we work with. Many were raised in very neglectful and abusive environments, explaining their distorted sense of life styles and leisure activities (criminal behaviors, sexual offenses, drug abuse, etc.). It is important to not only be aware of this concept, but to also be sensitive to a client’s personal behaviors and reactions concerning the abuse or neglect and how it effects their development as an adolescent.
A particular theory on child development that parallels with our sex offender therapy is:
PIAGET’S STAGES OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Stage 1: Sensory-motor (birth-two years old)
This stage focuses on behaviors, which babies naturally perform and that are unlearned. This includes behaviors such as sucking, crying, grasping, wetting, etc. This stage includes other basic activities babies perform when first learning how to participate in life. Normal behavior includes such things as touching a ball, pushing a spoon repeatedly off the high chair tray to be picked up, goal directed behaviors such as taking a lid off a toy box and retrieving a toy inside, dropping a toy just to observe the effect; and last, learning that an object does not cease to exist when it is out of sight.
Stage 2: Pre-operational (2-7 years old)
This stage involves the development of imagination, description of objects, and identifying colors and other adjectives. Furthermore, stage 2 is a very self-involved stage known as egocentric (the child focuses mostly just on himself and not on others). The child is not yet able to think logically. They see things around them from only their point of view. Normal behavior includes language development, questioning, investigating new things, and creating their own explanation for confusing experiences. Play begins to constitute a major part of the preschooler’s life and is a valuable aspect of the child’s cognitive, social and emotional growth. Some of our lower functioning youth are in this stage even though they are much older than seven. Many of the clients will never grow out of this stage, often needing to be institutionalized their whole lives.
Stage 3: Concrete Operations (7-11 years old)
At this point, the child is able to reason about concrete aspects of the environment. He will be able to understand concepts such as the following idea: Water poured from one vial to a vial of a different shape does not change the quantity (Conservation). It is at this stage of concrete operations that they can add, subtract and multiply. The child too can mentally begin to reverse the directions of thoughts, such as trace his route to school. Normal behavior includes socialized language and generally viewing the world in a more logical way. Play becomes a significant role in the child’s world. It creates an atmosphere of harmony, they learn how to delay gratification, empathy, and further expand the child’s imagination and creativity. This may be the highest level of cognitive development some of our youth will ever attain.
Stage 4: Formal Operations (11-16 years old and on to adulthood)
In this stage, the individual is able to reason about things in the abstract, the future and the hypothetical. They develop the ability to reason among several concepts at once. Their thought is more reasonable, flexible and systematic. It is this stage that a child develops all the mental tools for living a functional life. Normal behavior includes the codification of rules, code of morality, progress through cooperation and mutual respect. Many people even outside of our clients do not make it to this stage at all.
It is imperative we as YHA staff communicates with the youth at their individual stage of development; best focusing on concrete concepts rather than abstract ideas. For example, it is important to discuss things with the youth and help them make goals which are short term and attainable. Further, it is important to refer to things visible and specific. Other ways to interact with the clients are through tangible objects and other concepts that are familiar to the youth. Discussing theories or philosophies, with hopes of helping them, is not only recommended unless it is evident the youth is higher functioning, but further not effective.
The most important concept to remember about Piaget’s theory is these stages are useless to apply to our youth if they do not feel safe and secure in YHA custody.
A good framework to explain this is Maslow Hierarchy of Needs.
Abraham Maslow viewed humans as having tremendous potential for personal development. He believed it was human nature for people to strive to be the best they could. He viewed human nature as basically being good, and striving of self-actualization as a positive process leading people to identify their abilities, striving to develop them, to feel good as they become themselves, and to be beneficial to society. Nevertheless, he believed most people would never attain Self Actualization. The above graph is identified as a hierarchy of needs, which motivates human behavior. When people fulfill their most elemental needs, they strive to meet those on the next level, and so forth, until they reach their highest point. In the above graph, these needs are the following:
- Physiological Needs: food, water, oxygen, sleep, and so on.
- Safety Needs: safety, security, stability, and freedom from fear, anxiety threats, and chaos.
- Belongingness and Love Needs: intimacy and affection provided by friends, family, and lovers.
- Self-Esteem Needs: self-respect, respect of others, achievement, attention, and appreciation.
- Cognitive Needs: knowledge, understanding, goodness, justice, beauty, and order
- Self-Actualization: the sense that one is fulfilling one’s potential and is doing what one is individually suited for and capable of doing. A fully developed actualized person displays high levels of all of the following characteristics: acceptance of self, of others, and of nature, seeks justice, truth, order, unity, and beauty, has problem-solving abilities, is self-directed; has freshness of appreciation, has a richness of emotional responses, has satisfying and changing relationships with other people, is creative, and has a right sense of moral values.
As YHA staff, it is necessary and beneficial to remember Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. If at any time, our youths physical needs are not being met, or if our youth does not feel safe, then they will not be able to apply to their lives the therapy we teach them. Thus, mental health staff (all of you reading this) has the most important role at YHA, which is the following: providing a safe, secure, harmless, and reliable home setting for our youth. Please remember the things you say and do to the youth are far more influential to their lives than you think. You could make or break their success in the home. Therefore, never underestimate your role as a staff member at YHA. You, as staff are the most important asset to YHA. It is you, the staff who set the daily mood and tone of the YHA home! However, be aware this does not mean staff cannot be consistent or firm with the youth concerning rules, norms, and regulations of the home. But, it must be done with respect and in a way the youth maintains feeling safe and secure. Ironically, establishing a respectful, strict and firm environment will in turn, create a safe and secure environment in itself.
Biological Development in Adolescence
Adolescence
Adolescence is the time of life between childhood and adulthood. The word is derived from the Latin verb adolescere, which means, “to grow into maturity.” Adolescence should be differentiated from puberty, which is more specific. Adolescence might be considered a cultural concept that refers to a general time during life. Puberty, on the other hand, is a physical concept that refers to the specific time during which people mature sexually and become capable of reproduction.
Puberty
Puberty is the period when a person becomes physically mature and able to reproduce. It is marked by the sudden enlargement of the reproductive organs and sexual genitalia and the development of secondary sex characteristics (Tanner, 1967).
Girls begin the changes of puberty somewhere between eight and thirteen years of age. Boys generally start about two years later than girls. Girls reach their full adult height by about seventeen years of age, and boys by about twenty-one years of age (Roche and Davila, 1970).
The two-year age difference in beginning puberty causes more than its share of problems for adolescents. Girls tend to become interested in boys before boys begin noticing that girls are alive. One dating option for girls involves older boys of the middle or late teens. This can serve to substantially raise parental anxiety. An option for boys is to date girls who tower over them.
There is a wide age span for both boys and girls when puberty begins. Although in general there is a two year difference between the sexes, there are also substantial individual differences that must be taken into account. In other words, one boy may begin puberty four years earlier than another.
Acting as a catalyst for all of these changes is in increase in the production of hormones. Hormones are chemical substances secreted by the endocrine glands. Among other things, they stimulate growth of sexual organs and characteristics. Each hormone targets a specific area or areas and stimulates growth. For example, testosterone directly affects growth of the penis, facial skin, areas in the brain and even cartilage in the shoulder joints (Tanner, 1971). In women the uterus and vagina respond to the female hormones of estrogen and progesterone (Garrison, 1973).
There is some evidence that hormonal production during adolescence is associated with increased aggression in boys and both increased aggression and depression in girls (Brooks-Gunn, 1988).
The Growth Spurt
The initial entrance into puberty is typically characterized by a sharp increase in height. During this spurt, boys and girls typically grow between 2 and 5 inches (Tanner, 1970). Prior to the growth spurt, boys tend to be 2 percent taller than girls. However, since girls start the spurt earlier, they tend to be taller, to weigh more, and to be stronger than boys during ages eleven to thirteen years. By the time both sexes have completed the spurt, boys once again are larger than girls by about 8 percent (Papalia and Olds, 1992).
Adolescents tend to have unequal and disproportionate growth. Most adolescents have some features that look obviously disproportionate. The head, hands and feet reach adult size and form first, followed by the legs and arms. Finally, the body’s trunk reaches its full size. A typical result of this unequal growth is motor awkwardness and clumsiness. Until the growth of bones and muscles stabilizes, and the brain adjusts to an essentially new body, awkward bursts of motion and misjudgments of muscular control will result.
Erickson’s Psychosocial Theory of Development
Each stage of human development presents its characteristic crisis. Coping well with each crisis makes an individual better prepared to cope with the next. Although specific crisis are most critical during particular stages, related issues continue to arise throughout a person’s life. For example, the conflict to trust versus mistrust is especially important in infancy. Yet, children and adults continue to struggle with whether or not to trust others.
Resolution of each crisis is an ideal, not necessarily a reality. The degree to which crisis in earlier stages are resolved will affect a person’s ability to resolve crisis in later stages. If an individual doesn’t learn how to trust in stage 1, that person will find it very difficult to attain intimacy in stage 6.
During each psychosocial stage, the individual must seek to adjust to the stresses and conflicts involved in these crisis. The search for identity is a crisis that confronts people during adolescence.
Although Erickson’s psychosocial theory addresses development throughout the life span, it is included here because of the importance of identity formation during adolescence. The stages are described in “Erickson’s Eight Stages of Development.”
Erickson’s Eight Stages of Development
Stage Crisis Age Important Event
1. Basic trust versus basic mistrust Birth to 18 months Feeding
2. Autonomy versus shame and doubt 18 months – 3 yrs. Toileting
3. Initiative versus guilt 3 to 6 years Locomotion
4. Identity versus inferiority 6 to 12 years School
5. Identity versus role confusion Adolescence Peer relationship
6. Intimacy versus isolation Young adult Love relationship
7. Generate versus stagnation Maturity Parenting and creating
8. Ego integrity versus despair Old age Reflecting on and accepting life
Stage 1: Basic Trust versus Basic Mistrust
For infants up to eighteen months of age, learning to trust others is the overriding crisis. To develop trust one must understand that some people and some things can be depended on. Parents provide a major variable for such learning. For instance, infants who consistently receive warm, loving care and nourishment learn to trust that these things will be provided to them. Later in life, people may apply this concept of trust to friends, an intimate partner, or their government.
Stage 2: Autonomy versus Shame and Doubt
Children strive to accomplish things independently. They learn to feed themselves and to use the toilet. Accomplishing various tasks and activities provide children with feelings of self-worth and self-confidence. On the other hand, if children of this age are constantly downtrodden, restricted, or punished, shame and guilt will emerge instead. Self-doubt will replace the self-confidence that should have developed during this period.
Stage 3: Initiative versus Guilt
Such children are extremely active physically. The world fascinates them and beckons them to explore it. They have active imaginations and are eager to learn. Preschoolers who are encouraged to take initiative to explore and learn are more likely to assimilate this concept for use later in life. They will be more likely to feel confident in initiating relationships, pursuing career objectives, and developing recreational interests. Preschoolers, who are consistently restricted, punished, or treated harshly, are more likely to experience the emotion of guilt. They want to explore and experience, but they are not allowed to. Instead of learning initiative, they are likely to feel guilty about their tremendous desires to do so many things. In reaction, they may become “passive spectators” who follow the lead of others instead of initiating their own activities and ideas.
Stage 4: Industry versus Inferiority
Children in this age group need to be productive and succeed in their activities. In addition to play, a major focus of their lives is school. Therefore, mastering academic skills and material is important. Those who do learn to be industrious by expending energy master activities. Comparison with peers becomes exceptionally important. Children, who experience failure in school, or even in peer relations, may develop a sense of inferiority.
Stage 5: Identity versus Role Confusion
Adolescence is a time when young people explore who they are and establish their identity. It is the transition period from childhood to adulthood when people examine the various roles they play (for example, child, sibling, student, catholic, native American, basketball star, or whatever), and integrate these roles into a perception of self, an identity. Some people are unable to integrate their many roles and have difficulty coping with conflicting roles; they are said to suffer from role confusion. Such persons are confused; their identity is uncertain and unclear.
Stage 6: Intimacy versus Isolation
Young adulthood is characterized by a quest for intimacy and involves more than the establishment of a sexual relationship. Intimacy includes the ability to share with and give to another person without being afraid of sacrificing one’s own identity.
Implications of Identity Formation in Adolescence
Achieving genital maturity and rapid body growth signals young people that they will soon be adults. They, therefore, begin to question their future roles as adults. The most important task of adolescence is to develop a sense of identity, a sense of “Who I Am.” Making a career choice is an important part of this search for identity.
The primary danger of this period, according to Erickson, is identity confusion. This confusion can be expressed in a variety of ways. One way is to delay acting like a responsible adult. Another way is to commit oneself to poorly thought-out courses of action. Still another way is to regress into childishness to avoid assuming the responsibilities of adulthood. Erickson views the cliquishness of adolescence and its intolerance of differences as defenses against identity confusion. Falling in love is viewed as an attempt to define identity. Through self-disclosing intimate thoughts and feelings with another, the adolescent is articulating and seeking to better understand his/her identity. Through seeing the reactions of a loved one to one’s intimate thoughts and feelings, the adolescent is testing out values and beliefs and is better able to clarify a sense of self.
The crisis of identity versus role confusion is best resolved through integrating earlier identifications, present values, and future goals into a consistent self-concept. A sense of identity is achieved only after a period of questioning, reevaluation, and experimentation. Efforts to resolve questions of identity may take the young person down paths of emotional involvement, overzealous commitment, alienation, rebellion, or playful wandering.
Many adolescents are idealistic. They see the evils and negatives in our society and in the world. They cannot understand why injustice and imperfection exists. They yearn for a much better life for themselves and for others and have little understanding of the resources and hard work it takes for advancements. They often try to change the world and their efforts are genuine. If society can channel their energies constructively, their contributions can be meaningful. Unfortunately, some become disenchanted and apathetic after being continually frustrated with obstacles.
Importance of Achieving Identity
Adolescents and young adults struggle with developing a sense of who they are, what they want out of life, and what kind of people they want to be. Arriving at answers to such questions is among the most important tasks people face in life (Glasser, 1972). Without answers, a person will not be prepared to make such major decisions as to which career to select; deciding whether, when, or whom to marry; deciding where to live; and deciding what to do with leisure time. Unfortunately, many people muddle through life and never arrive at well-thought-out answers to these questions. Those who do not arrive at answers are apt to be depressed, anxious, indecisive, and unfulfilled.
