Week 6 Adolescent Psychology

Adolescent Psychology

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Adolescent Psychology

One of the most important concerns regarding adolescent development is that if it is based on genes, the environment, or the individual construction. It has always been quite important for the psychologist, because genes, as well as environment, impact the development of the individuals. My thoughts on the matter are that adolescent development is the results of the genetic as well as environmental impacts. The genes of human beings play an important role in defining, as well as laying the foundation of the physical changes of adolescents. The time of the onset of puberty may be impacted by the genetic constructs of adolescents. On the other hand, the ideology and reaction of the individual towards puberty may be influenced by the environmental forces. The individual construction can also play an important role in this regard by defining the attitude of the person towards the development in their body, as well as the outer world (Dick, Adkins, Sally, & Kuo, 2016).

Nature vs. nurture debate is one of the most topics of psychology, which shed light on the main influencers of adolescent development. The main point of the debate is that the physical developments during adolescence, which includes puberty, change in height, change in voice and the change in the physique can be influenced by the genetic composition of the individual (Reiss, & Hetherington, 2009). On the other hand, the ideological development, as well as attitude and perceptions of the adolescents are greatly influenced by the environmental factors. Moreover, some of the later developments like attitude and perception may also be influenced by individual construction. So, it cannot be said that the adolescent development is solely based on the genetics or the environmental factors or even the individual construction, because it is the result of the combination of all the aspects (Newman, & Newman, 2017).

Psychological adolescent development is greatly influenced by the education they receive in the schools, due to which most of the psychologist argue that to promote advanced psychological adolescent development, secondary schools should facilitate access to all sources of information to students. Most of the times, the children below the age of puberty are not provided by the advanced education which can impact their psychological development. They are provided with basic knowledge, which hinders the details and makes them curious about the bigger picture. In some cases, it becomes the source of their confusion as well. In order to ensure better psychological development of the adolescent, they should be provided with all sources of information. It is also important because of the fact that it would enable the young children to become aware of the physical, as well as psychological developments in their own personality and not become confused by them (Caskey, & Anfara, 2014).

Early adolescence is the period of physical and emotional changes for the individuals. If the adolescents are provided with all sorts of education, this period can not only become less confusing for them, however, they would be more aware of their changes, which would also help them to identify any exception in their situation (Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor, & Schellinger, 2011). Moreover, it would also help them to understand the world and its working in a more detailed manner. Allowing the adolescent to get access to all sorts of information and education would also prove beneficial for their advanced psychological development in the way that it would provide them the information and awareness about the psychological and psychical development, which would improve their experience of going through the changes (Schall, Wallace, & Chhuon, 2016).

References

Caskey, M., & Anfara, V. A. (2014). Developmental characteristics of young adolescents. Association for Middle Level Education.

Dick, D. M., Adkins, A. E., Sally, I., & Kuo, C. (2016). Genetic influences on adolescent behavior. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 70, 198-205.

Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., & Schellinger, K. B. (2011). The impact of enhancing students’ social and emotional learning: A meta‐analysis of school‐based universal interventions. Child development, 82(1), 405-432.

Newman, B. M., & Newman, P. R. (2017). Development through life: A psychosocial approach. Cengage Learning.

Reiss, D., & Hetherington, E. M. (2009). The relationship code: Deciphering genetic and social influences on adolescent development (Vol. 1). Harvard University Press.

Schall, J., Wallace, T. L., & Chhuon, V. (2016). ‘Fitting in’in high school: how adolescent belonging is influenced by locus of control beliefs. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 21(4), 462-475.