Emotional development

Key knowledge:
Definitions and characteristics of development -emotional

Key skill:
Describe the developmental changes that characterise the transition from
youth to adulthood
 Emotional Development
Definition: Relates to experiencing the
full range of emotions, and increasing
complexity relating to the expression of
emotions, the development of self
concept and resilience.
 Emotional development
As individuals age, they experience a range of emotions and learn ways to deal
with them appropriately.
Which emotions do you feel take more time to develop the skills to learn to deal
with them?

Aspects of emotional development include:

• Self-concept
• Experiencing full range of emotions
• Learning appropriate ways of expressing emotions
• Building resilience
Emotional Development: Self concept
Self concept:
Relates to how individuals see
themselves and develops over time
as they experience various aspects
of life.

It is about the ideas individuals have

of themselves, who they are, who
they want to be, what they value
and what they believe others think
of them.
Emotional development: Experiencing the full range of
emotions
Young children experience the basic emotions of happiness and anger one at a time. As they develop they can experience
mixed emotions at once. With age, emotional development includes the ability to recognise emotions and how to respond
appropriately to them.
Emotional Development: expressing
emotions
 Emotional Development: expression of
emotions

It takes time to develop appropriate ways of responding to emotions. Desire, guilt and jealousy and disappointment are
examples of emotions that can be expressed in various ways.
 Emotional development: Resilience
Resilience: relates to the ability to effectively deal with adverse or negative
events that occur throughout life.

Events that require resilience could include:

• Death of a loved one
• Relationship breakdown
• Financial stress
• Job loss
 Emotional development: Resilience
Strategies to promote resilience:
• Making time to relax
• Meditation
• Goal setting
• Talking to others
• Positive self-talk

People with good levels of resilience experience better emotional health and
wellbeing.
Emotional changes as youth transition to adulthood
Self concept:
As young people transition to adulthood
they develop values and beliefs and
understand who they are as people. As
self concept develops youth become les
concerned of what others think of them.
Emotional changes as youth transition to adulthood

Experiencing full range of emotions:

With increased independence, individuals take on more responsibility
and consequently experience a range of emotions both positive and
negative.

Youth is a time of changing the nature of relationships to often becoming

more intimate and experiencing a range of emotions such as love and
lust.
Expressing emotions:
Older youth develop an understanding of how to recognise and
appropriately express and regulate their emotions.
Emotional changes as youth transition to adulthood
Resilience:
Life experience through this stage often leads to greater resilience and
coping strategies.
The level of resilience will usually continue to develop throughout
adulthood.