Major Role The Adolescent example essay topic

Bio social During adolescence an individual must figure out his or her gender role in society. I believe that the role one plays in society is determined by nature and nurture working together. Social influences as well as biological all work in a cycle that brings forth the outcome of the adolescent. Cognitive The adolescent must decide how to solve problems in more of a systematic way. Instead of having a broad view of most situations the individual looks at all of the directions on could take before making a choice, questioning authority in many cases. The adolescent must establish there thinking in a pre operational state or a concrete state.

Psychosocial The adolescent must establish an identity in the world. This is where one must figure out their true role to society and set goals. I agree with Erikson in the fact that this should be a period of establishing social and vocational skills to determine what the individual wants to get out of life. Some may develop earlier than others depending on how their social clock is structured. Nurture plays a major role in where the adolescent will establish his or her background. Adolescence is a period where humans go through many different changes at a rapid pace.

Everyone's social clock is different so therefore some individuals may stay in a phase longer or progress faster than others. The following summary will explain my personal views on the age norms that society expects from the adolescent. I agree with both Freud and Erikson on their theories involving adolescence because both contain valuable information that apply to how one acts. Freud states in his psychosexual theory that the genital stage (12-older) is a period where puberty reawakens and the main goal is to establish sexual maturity and reproduce. The truth is that adolescence wants to explore their sexuality but don't initially want to reproduce and suffer the consequences in most cases.

The id overcomes the ego and superego to satisfy the sexual hormones that run out of control in the adolescent. I think that the id definitely has the most control in the adolescent stage. The ego and superego are forming but not fully developed until later in life. Human nature is to learn from experience and these egos are built on experience. Erikson's view with the psychosocial theory also has much to do with adolescence. Though sexual identity play a major role the adolescent must establish his or her role to society.

Erikson explains with the fifth step of identity vs. role confusion (12-20 yrs.) This is the main reason teens go through more than one job a month on average, change their appearance constantly, and experiment with drugs. I believe the basic teenage mentality is to find out what's out there? They want to try everything good and bad. Nurture plays a role in their choices though, for example, a kid that was raised with an alcoholic father who abused him is less likely to drink alcohol or try drugs because he or she has already suffered the consequences and knows the outcome of alcohol abuse.

Some may stay confused about their Identity and may stay in this stage well into early adulthood depending on their parents to survive besides taking care of themselves. Others may progress fast and end up supporting themselves as well as their families at a young age. So the nature of the situation could also speed or slow down the cycle. Although many different things contribute to the development of the adolescent, I believe that the way one is nurtured will build morals and foretell the outcome of his or her future.