Development Stages in Middle

ADOLESCENCE: BETWEEN CHILDHOOD AND ADULTHOOD

and Late Adolescence
As adolescents develop physically, they also develop cognitively, psychologically, socially, and spiritually. The ages during adolescence may
be bracketed as follows (Corpuz, Lucas, Borabo, and Lucido 2010):
• Early adolescence – ages around 10 to 13
• Middle adolescence – ages from 14 to 16
• Late adolescence – ages from 17 to 20
American psychologists differ slightly with their age definitions of adolescence. Feist and Rosenberg (2012) pegged early adolescence at
age 11 or 12, and late adolescence at about of age 18. Hence, in America, a child is usually out of the house by the 18 because this is the
age of how they define young adulthood. This age definition of adolescence is not a cut-and-dried rule as some persons mature ahead of
others, or some experience delayed maturity due to many factors like genetics, environment, or even economic conditions.

ERIKSON’S EIGHT STAGES OF PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Erik Erikson’s eight stages of psychosocial development define each stage of human development with a crisis or a conflict. Each crisis or
conflict either gets resolved or may be left unresolved, resulting in favorable or unfavorable outcomes.
In referring to these eight stages of development espoused by Erikson, it is important to know that the stages and their corresponding
developmental crisis may overlap.
CONFLICT OR
INFLUENTIAL
STAGE CRISIS TO BE POSSIBLE RESULTS FROM RESOLVING CONFLICT OR CRISIS
FIGURE
RESOLVED
FAVORABLE RESULTS UNFAVORABLE RESULTS

Infancy • Being able to trust others when the • Mistrusting others, withdrawal,
Trust versus primary caregiver (usually the or estrangement
(from birth to Parents
Mistrust mother) provides care, attention,
18 months) and love
• Develops self-control and • Compulsive self-
physical skills, and sense of restraint or compliance
Early Childhood independence without losing self- • Willfulness and defiance
Autonomy versus esteem
(18 months to Parents • Failure will result in feelings of
Shame and Doubt Ability to cooperate and to express
3 years) • shame and doubt
oneself
• Develops feeling of autonomy

• Learns that being assertive, using • When using too much

power, and being purposeful can power and control, might
Late Childhood influence their environment experience disapproval
Parents and Initiative versus
(Preschool) Develops sense of purpose resulting in lack of self-
Teachers Guilt confidence and sense of guilt
(3–5 years) • Starts to evaluate one’s behavior
• • Pessimism, fear of being
wrongly judged
• Learns how to cope with the • Loss of hope, sense of being
school environment and its mediocre
demands • Develops feelings of inferiority
School Age (6–12 Parents and Industry versus • Learns how to create, develop,
• Withdrawal from school and
years) Teachers Inferiority and manipulate
peers
• Develops a sense of
competence and
perseverance

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 • Develops a sense of self and • Feeling of confusion,
Teachers and Identity versus identity indecisiveness, and antisocial
Adolescence (12–20 Plans to actualize one’s abilities behavior
Significant Role •
years)
Others Confusion Develops the ability to stay true to • Weak sense of self
• oneself

• Develops a strong need to form • Impersonal, weak relationships

intimate, loving relationships Avoidance of relationship,
Young with a group of people or with • career, or lifestyle
Intimacy versus another person commitments
Adulthood Friends
Isolation Develops strong relationships May result in isolation and
(20–25 years)
• Learns commitment to work with • loneliness
another person or group

• Creates or nurtures things that will • Self-indulgence, self-

outlast them, either by having concern, or lack of
Generativity children or creating a positive interests and
Adulthood (25–65 change that benefits others commitments
Community versus
years)
Stagnation Creativity, productivity, feeling of • Shallow involvement in the
usefulness and accomplishment, world, pessimism
•
and concern for others

• Sense of fulfillment as one looks • Sense of loss, contempt for

back in one’s life and develops others
feeling of wisdom • May result in regret, bitterness,
Maturity Integrity versus Acceptance of worth and and despair
Community •
(65 years to death) Despair uniqueness of one’s own life
Acceptance of the inevitability of
death and transitioning
•

ADOLESCENCE: IDENTITY VERSUS ROLE CONFUSION

Identity is the concept of an individual about himself or herself and is often referred to as “self-identity” that is influenced and molded by their
external environment. These may include the manner by which they interact with people. Identity is a self-belief of what the individual thinks
and feels about himself. Roles oftentimes form part of this self-identity, such as birth order in the family, the nature of work, occupation or
title, and academic and social standing. Identity is also influenced by how others perceive an individual.
Role confusion is the negation of self-identity, in a sense that there is confusion over one’s self-concept or the absence or lack of such a
concept. Role confusion affects an individual’s relationship with others, because there is no clear definition of what he or she is and how he
or she relates to others.

CHANGES DURING ADOLESCENCE

The adolescent’s physiological transitioning is very pronounced at this stage. Puberty kicks in and is fueled by the hormonal changes that
are occurring and pushing the adolescent toward sexual maturation. At this stage, the brain also continues to develop. Cognitive growth
among adolescents is usually marked by the way they are able to comprehend abstract concepts, such as freedom and human rights.
Experimentation is a common activity among adolescents as they search for their identity. They want to be treated as adults, and they see
adult behavior as something to emulate. Unfortunately, they also mimic negative behaviors, like smoking and drinking, which are perceived
as marks of manhood in some cultures such as ours.
Socializing among male and female adolescents also occurs in this phase. In this digital era, online friendships abound—thanks to social
networking sites and platforms.
Sexual curiosity also happens in this stage. However, due to their underdeveloped cognitive and affective capacities and education of the
matter, this curiosity sometimes ends up in disaster, such as teenage pregnancies and contracting sexually transmitted diseases.

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ADOLESCENCE AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOR
Every culture has a representation of how their adolescent population behaved over the decades. For example, in the USA, the term
“teenage rebellion” was popularized in the 1950s with the Beat movement at its forefront. Popular rebel teen stars, such as James Dean and
writer Jack Kerouac became the icons of that era.

Authentic Beat style as seen at the Co-Existence Bagel shop in San Francisco in the 1950s
(photo from “The Beats” by Mike Evans) Right, hip style helped to sell products like Apache stockings.
Local teenagers copied their American counterparts. It was the era of the “Lo’ Waist Gang,” where actors wore tight-fitting jeans and
pompadour hairstyles slopped with pomade.

“Lo’ Waist Gang“ “Rebel Without a Cause”

Movie Poster Movie Poster

In the 1960s and 1970s, it was the hippie movement and flower power that became the trademark of the
generation of adolescents and young adults. The use of psychedelic drugs and other hypnotic
substances were popular; thus, supporting the theories about adolescence and the curiosity that they
were going through. Social issues also became the popular themes of this era, with the anti-war
movement against the war in Vietnam where the slogan “Make Love, Not War” became popular.

The gathering at Woodstock in upstate New York where the hippies got together for three days amidst music, drugs, and sex, also became
one of the enduring symbols that immortalized this generation.

On the local scene, social and political activists, mostly high school and college students, were in the midst of the political turmoil that
dominated the Philippines before and during martial law.

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 Student Protesters Rock Festival scene in Antipolo, 1970

While there were activist students marching around the streets of Manila, other young Filipinos went up to the hills of Antipolo, Rizal to hold
their own version of Woodstock, dubbed as the Antipolo Rock Festival held in 1970.
Toward the new millennium, the new adolescents who were born from 1977 to 1994 became known as the Generation Y, popularly known
as “millennials.” This generation was born in the midst of a great technology boom; hence, they were also the previous generation who were
referred to as “digital immigrants,” having migrated from non-digital to digital technology (Schroer n.d.).
The social lives of the millennials are driven by technology and their social interactions are dictated by their use of social media networks,
mobile phones, and other gadgets.
An interesting social phenomenon that took over the world in the last couple of years was the “selfie and groupie” phenomenon. People’s
penchant to take their solo pictures, or in settings with interesting “Instagrammable” backgrounds, which also included taking pictures of food
or drinks they are about to consume and uploading these to their social networking sites, continues to remain popular not just among young
people but even among their elders. This phenomenon has cut across age boundaries creating an impact on the way people see themselves
today. The use of Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, WhatsApp, and Reddit, six of the more popular social networking sites and apps,
shows the way young and old alike live today, but more driven by the younger generations of millennials and Generation Z members.

The millennials were soon taken over by the next generation, popularly known as the
“Generation Z,” those born between 1995 to 2012 (Schroer, n.d.). This latest group of young
people are the most connected to the Internet who have lived most of their lives in a digital world,
who are more aware of what is going on in the world, especially on global issues like climate
change and environmental degradation. The poster person for this generation might as well be
Greta Thunberg, popularly known as a climate activist, whose popularity started from the time
she took to the Parliament in Stockholm in Sweden with a sign, “School Strike for Climate,” and
eventually made it to the UN Climate Action Summit in New York on August, 2019 where she
gave a moving speech to global leaders to do something about the climate. She was named
TIME 2019 Person of the Year for her exemplary action. Greta also attended the World
Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on January 21–24, 2020, together with about 3,000
participants in 117 countries, to put pressure on world leaders to commit to ending the global
economy, which is based on the use of fossil fuel (crude oil extracted from underground).

SKILLS AND TASKS APPROPRIATE FOR MIDDLE AND LATE ADOLESCENCE

What do Filipino adolescents need to learn in terms of developmental tasks and skills in order for them to grow into well-rounded young
adults? Let us first take a look at what American society more or less expects from their adolescents to learn, according to a study conducted

4 PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
by the Work-Life Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, titled “Raising Teens Project” (Simpson 2012). The study enumerated
ten desirable developmental tasks every adolescent in America should develop:
1. Adjust to sexually maturing bodies and feelings.
2. Develop and apply abstract thinking skills
3. Develop and apply a new perspective on human relationships.
4. Develop and apply new coping skills in areas such as decision-making, problem-solving, and conflict resolution.
5. Identify meaningful moral standards, values, and belief systems
6. Understand and express more complex emotional experiences.
7. Form friendships that are mutually close and supportive.
8. Establish key aspects of identity.
9. Meet the demands of increasingly mature roles and responsibilities.
10. Renegotiate relationships with adults in parenting roles.

Now, let us examine the developmental tasks a Filipino adolescent needs to learn. Filipino authors Corpuz et al. (2010) in their book, Child
and Adolescent Development, identified similar developmental tasks for Filipino adolescents. These are:
1. Developing occupational skills
2. Self-reliance
3. Ability to manage their finances
4. Social responsibility
5. Mature work orientation
6. Personal responsibility
7. Positive attitude toward work