Deck 16: Seciton 1: Adolescence: Psychosocial Development

Question 1

Define and give an example of both gender identity and gender role.

Answer 1

Gender identity is a relatively broad term that indicates a person's acceptance of being a male or a female. During adolescence, many teens identify with their biological gender and come to feel at ease with being male or female. However, some experience confusion about whether they are heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual. And a transgender individual struggles to identify with his or her biological gender, feeling trapped in the "wrong" body.
Gender roles are a subcategory of gender identity, and refer to specific patterns of behavior that apply to males and females. Gender roles once meant that only men were employed; they were providers and women were housewives and mothers. Today many women are employed, but especially in sports, gender roles are still followed: Boys don't do ballet and girls don't play football.

Question 2

Describe the four-stage sequence of male-female relationships during childhood and adolescence as described by Dexter Dunphy. Identify whom young adolescents select as romantic partners.

Answer 2

Dexter Dunphy described a four-stage sequence of male-female relationships during childhood and adolescence. First, kids hang out in groups of friends that are exclusively one gender (such as all girls). Next, kids form a loose association of girls and boys, with public interactions within a crowd. Third, small mixed-sex groups of the advanced members of the crowd form; and finally, couples form, with private intimacies.
Romantic partners, especially in early adolescence, are selected not for their individual traits but for the traits that peers admire. This is why adolescent romantic partners tend to have less in common in both personality and attitudes than adult couples.

Question 3

A new acquaintance claims that he "fell in with the wrong crowd" in adolescence and as a result engaged in many delinquent activities he wouldn't have otherwise done. Evaluate this claim based on what you learned from the chapter.

Answer 3

Peers are often beneficial, but they can also lead one another into trouble. For example, peers sometimes provide deviancy training, whereby one person shows another how to rebel against social norms; gangs are a perfect example of deviancy training. Peer facilitation helps adolescents act in ways that they are unlikely to act on their own. Peer facilitation includes negative behaviors (such as spray-painting graffiti or shoplifting) and positive behaviors (such as trying out for a team or studying).
Innocent teens are not corrupted by deviant friends. Adolescents choose their friends and models-not always wisely, but never randomly. Teenagers select friends whose values and interests they share, abandoning former friends who follow other paths. These friends then promote destructive or constructive behaviors.

Question 4

Define suicidal ideation and parasuicide. How do the rates of suicidal ideation, parasuicide, and completed suicide compare for adolescent males and females in the United States?

Question 5

Identify at least four factors that may have contributed to the decrease in adolescent crime in the United States and many other nations over the past 20 years.

Question 6

What is rumination, and how does it relate to depression and suicide in adolescent girls?

Question 7

Describe the types of conflict that are most common between parents and adolescents and when it peaks and dissipates. Discuss what this conflict might indicate about the family.

Question 8

James Marcia identified three specific ways in which young people cope with the identity crisis before they reach identity achievement. Name and describe all three.

Question 9

Identify three sources for information about sex during adolescence. What kind of information does each source provide?

Question 10

Discuss at least two problems caused by alcohol, two problems caused by tobacco, and two problems caused by marijuana use in adolescents.