Adolescent self and socio-emotional development

Socio-emotional processes are defined by John Santrock in Adolescence as ‘the changes in an individuals personality, relationships with others and social contexts’ (Santrock, 2010, p. 15). During socio-emotional development, changes occur in relationships and personality within social contexts the individual exists in; Adolescents are experiencing and discovering their identity and the experience of emotions and finding meaning within the adolescent social world. This period of development occurs during a persons adolescence, which is the stage of transition from childhood to adulthood. This period should not be considered a singular period, but has 3 phases in which the adolescent is …show more content…

Growth in identity during adolescence occurs within three developmental stages. Adolescence can be broken up into early adolescence at approximately 11-13 years of age, middle adolescence at 14-16 years of age and late adolescence at 17-19 years. During each stage, commons trends occur indicating the individual’s growth and development. During early adolescent development, individuals struggle with sense of identity (Stages of Adolescent Development, 2008). Early adolescents are trying to discover what makes them who they are, which is often shaped by external influences. During Middle stage adolescence, adolescents are more self-involved in evaluating themselves and their identity. This is seen in online networking sites such as Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter where 46.4% of all users are between the ages of 13-25, where the minimum age of sign up is at 13 (Burbary, 2011). The sign up age is consistent with Erikson’s eight stages of developmental identity, where at stage 5, individuals seek to find out who they are (Erikson, 1968). Social networking sites are egocentrically designed in which the user is able to focus on themselves through pictures, statuses, and presenting a form of self. Often individuals change ‘between abstract thought high expectations and poor self-concept’ (Stages of Adolescent Development, 2008). The case study exemplifies this stage