Erik Erikson - Identity vs. Role Confusion in Adolescents

Hello!

There was a topic I wished to elaborate a bit more on from my previous post, that being Erikson's stage of Identity vs. Role Confusion that supposedly occurs alongside and through adolescence. I find this topic very relevant due to my intentions to teach in the 6-12 grade range, and also lends relevance to concepts from my Adolescent Psychology course here at the college.

Anyways!

We often see an adolescent doing something, and think..."Damn kids these days." Am I right?
Wait...what? So if we saw someone in their twenties doing the same thing, would we say "Damn younger adults these days."? No...probably not. Lets use an example. We see a 22 year old male walking with a similarly aged girl in the mall, holding hands and laughing. We might admire them, think they look like a good couple, think how happy they look. You know, normal stuff. Now, picture a pair of 16 year olds in the mall, holding hands and laughing just like the other couple. Would we think the same thing? Chances are (If you're going with societies norms) You would think "Ah, young love. It's too bad it can't last." Or "It's a shame theyll just break up anyways." We might even think something like "Ugh, They're way to young for that, theyre probably sexually active too, and look how overly affectionate they are, have some respect!"

Is this fair?

Adolescents are often pegged negatively and discriminated against like any other social group, based on generalizations that have been gleaned from pop culture, case studies that stand out, and our own biases. BUT I digress, to tie back into Erikson, adolescene is a time of finding who we are, what we stand for, and what we want to become. It is an incredibly critical period in development, and sometimes it is more difficult than others. The role confusion can sometimes lead to inconsistency in adolescents as well as experimentation and impulsive behaviours. These are all things that feed into the ideas that ALL adolescents have very little idea about the world around them, and that they are ignorant. This is far from true, since most adolescents are actually attempting to learn more about the world around them, and their place in it for those critical few years of their lives.

I believe this is again, all very relevant to education as we must keep in mind, as teachers, that our students will not alyays know exactly what they need, want, or can be. It is our job as teachers to be patient with them, and attempt to help them the best they can with this transition.

/End Ranting

Check out this National Geographic article, it's good stuff!
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/print/2011/10/teenage-brains/dobbs-text

Zach