Lesson 4 The Challenges Of Middle And Late Adolescence 2w3x2x

Lesson 4

The Challenges of Middle and Late Adolescence

Major Challenges faced by adolescents (SHS) 1. Self-Esteem 2. Physical Appearance 3. Group Belongingness 4. Relationships 5. Sexuality and Sexual Relationships 6. Academic concerns 7. Choosing the right course and career path 8. Socio-emotional challenges Self-Esteem It is one’s subjective evaluation of his/her own worth. It is about believing in oneself, having confidence in one’s own value as a person, and seeing oneself in a positive way. Physical Appearance It is the thing that other people notice about a person. Experts encourage to celebrate physical beauty as one’s own and not dictated by society or the media. Confidence It is the most attractive quality of an individual. Group belongingness It is a warm sense of comfort when one can identify with a group of people with similar interests and values. Relationships It requires a person to be emotionally mature-to be rational in thought and behavior. Romantic relationships These relationships are highly intense and emotional and people do not usually think with reason and objectivity.

Sexuality and Sexual Relationships Responsibility means learning to control and limit one’s sexual expression and being aware of the consequences of his/her sexual behaviors before deciding to engage in any sexual act. Academic Concerns Procrastination It means internal distraction and one’s worst enemy. Fear of Failure Too much anxiety may hinder a person to do his/her best and too little anxiety also inhibits a person’s performance. Grades They help a person achieve the goals of academic excellence and further studies. *What really matters and what people will are one’s character and attitude. *The most important lesson learned in school is how one learns. Choosing the right course and career path It may seem like the biggest and most important decision to make at this point in one’s life. Socio-Emotional Challenges Grief It means deep sadness caused especially by someone’s death. Other socio-emotional struggles 

Anxiety, depression, bipolar disorders, trauma, eating disorders, substance abuse and attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder

Anxiety It is the sense of impending doom without a factual basis.

Depression It is manifested by a person who loses interest in most things that excites him/her and experiences drastic changes in appetite and sleep. Panic attack It is displayed by feelings of panic, fear, uneasiness, nervousness, or agitation and maybe some accompanying physiological effects. Self-Awareness and Meeting Life Challenges Modern psychology presents different approaches for people to better understand themselves. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) An Austrian neurologist who provided a more in-depth view of knowing oneself and espoused the psychoanalytic theory Psychoanalytic theory The mind can be viewed as an energy system which is divided into three levels of awareness. Three levels of awareness 1. Conscious mind It holds all the things that we are aware of and contains the thoughts that we are currently aware of but we deal with only a tiny percentage of all the information stored in our mind. 2. Subconscious or preconscious level It carries the mental elements that are not conscious, but of which we can be aware if we choose to attend to them and holds the information that are easily retrievable. 3. Unconscious level It bears all our drives and instincts that are repressed and are difficult to retrieve. It holds the vast majority of thoughts and is responsible for much of our everyday behavior.

Slip of the tongue or Freudian slips These are the words that sneak into sentences that sound similar but have a different meaning from the intended word. It is an evidence that humans have an unconscious. Iceberg model for the Three Levels of Mental Life (Ciccarelli & White, 2011) Tip- Conscious- the smallest part but the most visible Examples: Thoughts and perceptions Below the surface -Preconscious- can be seen only with effort Examples: Memories and stored knowledge Buried down into the deep sea- Unconscious- the biggest region Examples: Fears, Violent motives, Immoral urges, Selfish needs, Shameful experiences, Irrational wishes, Unacceptable sexual desires Human Behavior results from the interaction of the three provinces of the Mind. (Sigmund Freud) Three provinces of the Mind 1. Id or the “it” or Pleasure Man Its main goal is to satisfy one’s wants and needs immediately and to avoid pain at all cost. Ex. A person with a pleasure-seeking personality 2. Ego or the “I” It serves as the Decision Maker when it comes into play and attempts to bring balance by being more realistic. It aims to satisfy the id in ways that would not anger the superego. Ex. A psychologically healthy person 3. Superego or the “over-I” or Moral Man Its concern is to regulate what should and should not be done. It is also known as the conscience and strives for the ideal principle of perfection at all times.

It is the final province in which the feelings of guilt and inferiority are included. Ex. A person who is ridden by guilt or inferiority *Fear and guilt happens when id, superego and ego clash and fail to reconcile. Defense Mechanisms These are coping strategies that help relieve and protect oneself from unpleasant feelings like fear and guilt that works at the unconscious level. It is also defined as a temporary solution set and manage by the ego to survive. Denial One believes that a threatening experience or the unacceptable idea never took place. Freud’s Defense Mechanisms 1. Repression Negative feelings, thoughts or memories are forced into the unconscious 2. Reaction Formation Person adopts a feeling or behavior which is the opposite of an unacceptable feeling or thought 3. Displacement Unacceptable urges are redirected to other people or objects 4. Regression Reverting to earlier, safer, or more secure patterns of behavior 5. Projection The person attributes their unwanted thoughts and feelings to an external object, usually another person. 6. Sublimation Redirecting negative urges or emotions into socially-acceptable actions

Adler’s way of Meeting Challenges Alfred Adler He believed that in life people are motivated either strive for success or to strive for superiority because of one’s feelings of inferiority. Striving for Personal Superiority It is unhealthy as it aims to achieve a superior position over others. Inferiority Complex It means too much feelings of inferiority that may lead people to strive for personal gain. Striving for Success It is healthy since it seeks success for all of humanity and people who are motivated with this cause have high social interest. Social Interest It means community feeling or a feeling of oneness with humanity. (Adler’s term) Maladjustments These happen due to lack of social interest of some individuals Two external factors of maladjustments 1. Pampered style of life Pampered people are spoiled by their parents and feel indulged believing that they are entitled to be the first in everything. 2. Neglected style of life Neglected people feel unloved or unwanted that they are unable to cooperate with others and overestimate difficulties. Safeguarding tendencies It serves as protection against anxiety.

Two common types of safeguarding tendencies 1. Excuses These hinders one’s ability to succeed by not taking charge of your actions and not being able for each decision made. 2. Aggression Objectivity is often tossed out the window. Two forms of Aggression 1. Depreciation One put others down to make him/herself feel better 2. Accusation One blame another for one’s frustrations * The socio-cultural perspective reminds us that although humans are biological beings, one cannot ignore the strong influence of society and culture. (Adler’s view) A Psychospiritual Dimension to the Self: Carl Jung Carl Jung He theorized that the personal unconscious rules one’s being. Personal unconscious It is made up of all the repressed experiences of an individual. Individuation or Self-realization It is a process of integrating all our opposite poles to become a whole and complete person after fully accepting and embracing our personal unconscious. Archetypes These are ancient images that originate from repeated experiences of man’s early ancestors. They are part of the collective unconscious and beyond the personal unconscious.

Collective unconscious It is one’s inherited tendencies from past generations that affect how one reacts when experiencing something that touches him/her. It is mostly the same for people in all cultures and shape many attitudes, behaviors and dreams. Jung’s Archetypes 1. Persona The side of our personality that we show to the world 2. Shadow Qualities we consider negative and we attempt to hide from the world 3. Anima The feminine side of men (irrational moods and feelings) 4. Animus The masculine side of women (irrational thinking and illogical opinions) 5. Great Mother Represents the idealized qualities of the mother figure (fertility, nourishment, comion) 6. Wise Old Man The archetype of wisdom, meaning and experience 7. Hero The unconscious image of a powerful person who conquers evil, but has a tragic flaw 8. Self The most comprehensive of all archetypes; it unites the other archetypes; represents the strivings for completeness and perfection Expressing One’s Feelings about Other’s Expectations Learning how to express one’s feelings is easy when there is working self-awareness.

Dreamwork It is a dream narrative that is interpreted based on the symbols they represent. Manifest content What you when you wake up from a dream Latent content The underlying meaning of dreams

UNIT 2

ASPECTS OF PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

Lesson 5

Coping with Stress in Middle and Late Adolescence

Stress The subjective experience of distress in response to perceived environmental problems It is the challenging stimuli or things that happen to people and a person’s response to what happens to him. It is characterized by feelings of tension. frustration, sadness, worry and withdrawal. Sources of Stress and its Effects Specific adolescent challenges 1. Managing new roles and responsibilities 2. Identifying personal strengths and weaknesses and refining skills to coordinate and succeed in these roles 3. Finding meaning and purpose in the roles acquired 4. Assessing and making necessary life changes and coping with these changes What stresses SHS students? Common sources of stressors from HOME and SCHOOL 

Break up with boyfriend/girlfriend

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Increased arguments with parents and between parents

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Pressure of expectations from self and others

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Change in parents’ financial status

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Serious illness or injury of a family member

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Pressure at school from teachers, coaches, grades and homework

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Relationships with family and friends

Health and behavioral problems Internalizing difficulties (deep sadness and intense fear) Externalizing behaviors (aggression and antisocial acts)

Internalizing disorders These are mental problems that arise from coping with difficulties by turning against oneself. (ex. anxiety and depression) Externalizing behaviors Frustration and disappointments acted out in aggressive behaviors against other people. (ex. temper outbursts, anger, irritability, or different forms of abuse) *Erikson (1968) identity crisis (need to be independent and crave for peer approval) Family/Marital Conflict and Academic-related stress, Romantic Relationships The Positive Side of Stress: Eustress Eustress It is the kind of stress that is helpful in promoting one’s growth and development by providing sufficient challenges that allow one to become more resourceful and show initiative in problem-solving. Distress It is also known as bad stress and may include negative changes in behavior like “feeling sick”. Coping Strategies and Personal Ways of Coping with Stress Coping or Coping Style It is the way people try to deal with problems including the problem of handling the typically negative emotions stress produces. Two broad dimensions of coping Problem-focused coping It means dealing with the actual problems posed by a stressful situation. It is objective and geared toward fixing what is out of order.

Emotion-focused coping It is more subjective as it considers the difficulties challenging the feeling states of individual. It puts immediate importance to reducing distress and re-establishing calmness or peace rather than resolution. Avoidance coping It is what happens when one would rather ignore the stressors or fantasize being in a different non-stressful circumstance. Appraisals The evaluation of what effect an event can have on one’s well being Types of Appraisals Appraisal of Loss The harm has already happened Appraisal of Threat An anticipation of harm that could be brought about in the future Appraisal of Challenge Sees the opportunity for the stressful event to turn into a positive outcome resulting to healthier way of coping (ex. Problem solving) Feelings of fear, escape, withdrawal and seeking applied as coping strategies for more threatening stressor is appraised Controllability The extent to which one can handle or control a situation or problem High controllability (active strategies and problem solving) Low controllability (withdrawal, use of mental or cognitive distraction, seek social or respond to reduce emotional distress) Withdrawal Moving away from others

Self- efficacy It refers to the individual’s beliefs about one’s capacity to exercise influence over events that affect his/her life. (Bandura, 1977) Social It refers to social assets, social resources or social networks that people may use or turn to when they need advice, help and protection. Personal Ways of Coping with Stress Stress management It refers to a set of techniques that people can use to be able to manage their stressors. Some suggestions 

Tackle the problem.

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Create a stress journal or include the topic in your personal journal

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Develop a stress relief toolbox

Stress Tip Sheet of the American Psychological Association: 

Understand how you stress.

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Identify your sources of stress.

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Learn your stress signals.

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Recognize how you deal with stress.

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Find healthy ways to manage stress

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Take care of yourself

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Reach out for