How many stages can a person's life be divided into?
From a psychological point of view, the German-American psychologist Erik Homburger Erikson proposed that a person's life should go through eight stages of psychosocial evolution, that is, psychosocial development. These stages include four stages of childhood, one stage of adolescence and three stages of adulthood.
Eight stages of psychological development*: pre-infancy (0-1 years), late infancy (2-3 years), early childhood (3-6 years), childhood (7-12 years), puberty (12-18 years), early adulthood (18-30 years), mid-adulthood (30-50 years), and late adulthood (over 50 years).
*Different scholars have defined the names and ages of Erikson's individual development stages differently, and this article takes the definition given in the book "Youth Psychology--- a Comparative Study of Youth Psychology in China and Japan" by Zhang Risheng
Source: Verywellmind
01
The vital "identity of self"
In Erikson's view, the development of personality is a gradual process in which everyone experiences a fixed sequence of biological, psychological, and social time. Moreover, there are specific psychosocial tasks waiting to be completed at different stages, each building on the previous stage, and the eight stages are closely linked.
In adolescence, the main social task of adolescents is to establish "ego identity." In a nutshell, self-identity refers to the self-affirmation of individuals and the thinking and choice of some major issues related to self-development, such as ideals, occupations, values, outlook on life, etc. in the pursuit of self-development. [1]
Erickson emphasizes that depending on the degree of completion of the stage development, the individual will form two extreme qualities, close to the positive end, which will form a positive quality, and in adolescence, this quality is "self-identity", and on the contrary, it will fall into the "identity crisis".
Therefore, if "self-identity" cannot be established during adolescence, the tasks at this stage need to take longer to complete. That is to say, some people even spend a lot of time reflecting on themselves and completing tasks in the previous stage of life even in the early stages of adulthood.
The process of establishing "self-identity" during adolescence necessarily involves the past, present, and future dimensions of the individual. As a key node in communication, transformation and connection between the four childhoods and the three adulthoods, the importance of adolescence is self-evident.
02
Adolescent physiological development
To understand adolescents, it is necessary to understand the characteristics of their physiological development.
From a physiological point of view, puberty is a period of transition from a child to an adult, and it is also a period when the human body development is complete. Studies have shown that in a person's life, there are two stages of rapid body growth and significant changes in the proportion of various parts of the body, one is during prenatal development and the first half of life, and the other is puberty. [2] The rapid growth and development of puberty is called adolescent growth spurt.
Source: Youaremom
The principle behind this is that when the body develops to a certain stage, the human brain (hypothalamus) releases a special hormone, gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), which allows the body to begin pubertal changes. When GnRH reaches the pituitary gland (a pea-like gland located below the brain), the gland releases two other adolescent hormones: luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) into the bloodstream, which works through the bloodstream in different parts of the body.
All of these new chemicals will promote a teen's transformation into an adult with hormone levels up to adult levels.
Puberty usually begins between the ages of 7 and 13 for girls and between the ages of 9 and 15 for boys. Due to the degree of physical development, the onset of puberty is generally up to 5 years apart. It is precisely because of this that adolescents often have psychological problems such as distress, inferiority, insecurity, and anxiety because of their "differences".
The brain is very different during adolescence
Although Erikson's theory of human development summarizes puberty as 12-18 years old, according to the director of the UCLA Developmental Neuroscience Laboratory: The current findings suggest that the brain completes puberty around the age of 25. During this time, different areas of the brain are changing at different rates whenever something new is learned. [3]
Director of the UCLA Laboratory of Developmental Neuroscience
Describes the changes that the brain produces during puberty
Source: Source: universityofcalifornia
In a nutshell, the brain does three main things during puberty:
BRAIN
1. Pruning of neurons and synaptic connections
2. Increase in myeline
3. Release of dopamine and establishment of reward mechanisms
Synapses are the sites where functional connections occur between neurons and are key to the transmission of information.
During puberty, there will be a significant decline in gray matter in the brain, which is an extremely important stage of development. The gray matter of the brain contains synapses, and removing unnecessary synapses is like removing the withered branches of a green plant, removing the synapses that are not necessary for the existence of any, and the valuable synapses can grow better.
Neurons and synapses
Source: vision.org
Myelin is a fatty substance that wraps around synapses. During puberty, myelin in the brain accumulates, which improves the efficiency of brain signaling. When nerve signals repeatedly pass through neurons, glial cells produce myelin. The more nerve signals pass through, the more myelin wraps around synapses, allowing information to be transmitted faster and more frequently, and myelin is better at coordinating with other brain cells. Myeloid cells form the brain's white matter, which expands during adolescence. This could explain why teens are so good at adapting and learning. [4]
Source: aviornutritionals
Dopamine acts both as a hormone and as a neurotransmitter. There are many transmission paths in the brain, each of which connects different parts of the brain and is responsible for stimulating different cognitive and behavioral sensations.
One of these pathways is called the mesolimbic pathway, also known as the reward pathway. It is connected by the ventral cover area of the midbrain and the basal ganglia of the forebrain. These areas are responsible for emotional, addictive, stimulating pleasures. Studies have found that dopamine secretion peaks during puberty, so adolescent children are more sensitive to rewards. As a result, adolescent children tend to be more likely to indulge in something.
Adolescent brain reward centers are more active in receiving rewards than in children and adults
Source: universityofcalifornia
In addition, different parts of the brain tend to develop to varying degrees, with areas that control emotions— the limbic system maturing earlier, while areas that control behavior and decision-making— the prefrontal cortex maturing much later. The prefrontal cortex is the last part of the brain to mature and often takes 25-30 years of age to fully develop, so teens process information with amygdalas in the limbic system, which is why teens sometimes produce deep and complex emotions that they can't fully control.
The effects of the adolescent brain on adolescents are also pros and cons.
On the one hand, the developmental characteristics of the brain show that the brain has a strong plasticity at this stage, which can make adolescents have stronger learning ability and adaptability, and it is easier to establish good habits.
On the other hand, these characteristics will also make adolescents more likely to have negative emotions and traits such as impulsiveness, risk-taking, irritability, and irritability, so that they are addicted to bad things, and the bad habits formed at this stage are often difficult to correct.
03
Factors that influence the establishment of "self-identity"
The influence of family factors plays an important role in the development of adolescents in establishing self-identity. [5] Studies have shown that parents have a great influence on the establishment of adolescent self-identity, and adolescents who are closely related to their parents will have lower rates of risky behaviors.
Among them, the Parenting Style directly acts on the parent-child interaction process. It has an important impact on the development of children in many aspects. Many studies have consistently concluded that children in families that live in warm, responsive, parental democratic rather than punitive management, and consistent parenting tend to have positive developmental outcomes. Children who grow up in authoritative parenting develop better in terms of ability, academic achievement, social development, self-development, and mental health than children in other parenting styles.
Source: daydaynews
The second factor is the school factor, the school's educational philosophy and educational model, educational environment have a decisive role in the formation of adolescent self-identity.
For example, if the school education concept is too one-sided, focusing only on grades and examinations, and ignoring the cultivation of personality, psychological quality and social maladaptation, it will lead to adolescents falling into the "identity crisis". At the same time, schools also need to guide students in terms of learning motivation, if only to find a single goal of finding a job as a learning motivation, it will lead to students lack of desire to try and explore.
Peer relationships and friendships are important influencing factors that have been indispensable from the beginning of school age, and individuals seek a sense of belonging by finding and selecting friends with common interests and values who can share experiences and exchange emotions. As a result, adolescents often need to determine their self-worth through experience and support from their partners through early adolescence self-confusion.
Source: reachout
Popular culture also has an important impact on teenagers, in the Internet age, teenagers are often able to contact different types of information, and they often lack the ability to judge all kinds of information, so if they absorb negative and negative information, not only will they form too negative values, but also lead them to make behaviors that are not conducive to physical health and even social development.
04
epilogue
In the face of difficult problems such as "who am I" and "what do I want to do", even adults are difficult to find answers, and it is naturally more difficult for teenagers who are still in the development stage to sort out their thinking.
In this period of seeking independence and finding their own identity, what parents need to do is to understand, tolerate, encourage and guide, tolerate their bad temper and behavior at this stage, encourage them to know themselves and constantly try, and guide them to establish correct values and ideals.
But at the same time, parents also need to realize that "self-identity" is what people are looking for and establishing throughout their lives, and people at different stages need to establish "self-identity" at this stage. However, in adolescence, this kind of exploration is the most obvious and profound.
With the support and encouragement of parents, schools and friends, I wish that every teenager in a confused period can find himself and rush to a better future.
bibliography:
[1] Talk about flowers. Research on self-identity of college students[D]. Hohai University.
[2] https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/puberty.html
[3] https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/evolutionary-advantage-teenage-brain
[4] https://letstalkscience.ca/educational-resources/stem-in-context/understanding-teen-brain
Shi Chunmei. Research on self-identity and developmental mental health education of college students[D]. Hefei University of Technology.