UNDERSTANDING

ADOLESCENT
3 CATEGORIES OF
ADOLESCENCE
 WET
DREAMS

MENARCHE
What We THOUGHT we knew about Adolescence
• G. Stanley Hall (1904), of Clark University,
founded the study of adolescence.
• Hall defined adolescence as a period of
universal and inevitable, biologically-based
“storm and stress.”
• According to Hall, Anna Freud, and Erik
Erikson, adolescence was a period of crisis
and disturbance.
• These ideas resulted in the view that
adolescents were "broken" or in danger of
becoming "broken.”

• For almost all of the 20th century most

research about adolescence was based on
this DEFICIT conception of young people.
Research Contradicts the Stereotypes of the
Teenage Years

• Most young people do NOT have a stormy

adolescent period.
• Although adolescents spend increasingly
more time with peers than with parents,
most adolescents still value their
relationships with parents enormously.
• Most adolescents have core values that are
consistent with those of their parents.
– (e.g., about the importance of education in
one’s life, about social justice, and about
spirituality)

• Most adolescents select friends who share

these core values.

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As early as the 1960s, research began
to show that the deficit model was NOT
in fact true:
•There are problems that occur during
adolescence. BUT there are problems that
occur in infancy, childhood, and adulthood as
well.
•All age periods have challenges, and the fact
that there are life problems in the teenage years
does not in and of itself make it an especially
challenging period.

•Adolescents who do have an especially stormy

decade also tend to have had a problematic
childhood as well.
•The stereotypes of adolescent problems
evaporate in the light of actual research.

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So what specifically are the teens
going to be transitioning into?
And how can parents and other
adults support them?

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DON'T PLAY THE GAME OF I.C.E.
With Fr. Jerry Orbos SVD
 Changes in Adolescence:

• Biological Transitions
– Puberty
• Cognitive/Brain Transitions
– Emergence of abstract thought
• Social and Psychosocial Transitions
– Changes in social status (peer groups;
privileges, etc.)

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 MAJOR PSYCHOSOCIAL
DEVELOPMENTS:
– Identity
– Autonomy
– Intimacy
– Sexuality
– Achievement
– Psychosocial Challenges
– Relationships (family and peers)

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 Social Media and Identity
• As of January 2023, the number of social media users in
the Philippines was 84.45 million
• 30.6% of teen social media users have Facebook Average
age of joining: 18-24 years old.

Potential for positive and negative experiences

• Teens describe it as “stressful” and “helpful.”
• How can it be both?
(feeling connected, getting positive and negative feedback,
heightened social comparison, bullying)

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 Social changes: What to expect
• While there are many, many social changes for teens,
the most substantial is the progression towards
becoming independent from parents- this is called
autonomy.

• Teens still value their relationships with their parents

and actually hold core values in line with their parents.
They are more susceptible to peer pressure for more
daily aspects like dress, music, leisure activities, etc.
(teens report finding comfort in knowing they can go to parents for advice and support,
they do not want to break away entirely, they just want to become their own person!)

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STEINBERG’s 10 Basic Principle of Good Parenting
1. What you do matters
2. You cannot be too loving
3. Be involved in your child’s life
4. Adapt your parenting to fit your child
5. Establish rules and set limits
6. Help foster your child’s independence
7. Be consistent
8. Avoid Harsh Discipline
9. Explain your rules and decisions
10. Treat your child with respect

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