When the word Adolescent comes to mind I picture a teen putting on makeup for the first time, or a young boy in Walgreens confused on what condom pack to purchase. The word adolescent can be used to insinuate a child’s age, whereas the term adolescence can suggest beings that are still figuring life out and maturing as a person. According to Jillian Wojcik, ‘adolescent is the period of growth between childhood, and adulthood” varying on the individual. I find myself speaking first hand on the topic of adolescence because I myself am in that transitioning stage.
Growing up, we have our parents holding our hands and teaching us morality and how to function as a citizen that benefits to society. Besides the physical development of the growing body, I believe the definition of the term adolescence includes self-reliance. Meaning the soul searching one goes through as they try and find their true selves. Including sexuality and sexual preference, figuring out financial stability, consequences of choices we make, experimenting within pop culture, and essentially how to operate without the constant harboring of one’s parents.
The popular term “spreading your wings” comes to mind as one learns day to day what kind of person they are and want to be by the challenges they are met with and how to deal with them. Being an adolescent does not, in my opinion, target a specific age group. As human beings’ certain events shape the development of one’s need to emerge into adulthood. Whether it be a traumatic event, forcing one to “grow up” quicker than their peers. Or a mentally enlightening event where one discovers certain likes or dislikes that mold the future path they are to take.
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The first theory I am going to explore belongs to the Psychologist Otto Rank, who believed adolescence was the need for independence. According to Rosalyn M. King, Otto Rank stated that sexuality wasn’t the strongest role in adolescence but one’s “will” was. From what I took from this theory, Rank believed that as we grew in age, our will to go against authority grew too. Attitudes and personalities begin to form, and the struggle between dependency and independency start to form.
Comparing his theory to my life I believe I can apply this to a point in my life during high school where I started feeling the need to procure things on my own, whether it be clothes or gadgets or little objects I wanted that my parents had no interest in obtaining for me. Also I felt as though I had to test the lessons my parent taught me for my own satisfaction. Going against certain things they warned me from because I thought I knew best. Because of those feelings, during the eleventh grade I got my first job and started to make my own money.
Which to me, was extremely liberating knowing that I didn’t have to rely on anyone else to do what I wanted. At the same token I began partaking in activities in which if I were to be caught there would be extreme consequences for. At the time the only thing that mattered to me was the fact that I felt I could do as I pleased because I had the means to make it happen. Once I got a taste of that independence I only wanted to move forward in that direction.
In addition, the second theory I will be examining is from Psychologist James Marcia who believed adolescence goes hand in hand with identity development. James believed that it was based on two essential variables which were crisis and commitment. ‘Crisis refers to times during adolescence when the individual seems to be actively involved in choosing among alternative occupations and beliefs.’. ‘Commitment refers to the degree of personal investment the individual expresses in an occupation or belief’ (Marcia, 1967, p. 119).
James has four categories of an identity status: Identity diffused or identity confused, Foreclosure, Moratorium, and Identity achieved. The status I believe I am in is the Identity Achieved. Identity Achieved is properly defined as: “Individuals who have experienced crises but have resolved them on their own terms, and as a result of the resolution of the crisis, had made a personal commitment to an occupation, a religious belief, a personal value system; and, has resolved their attitude toward sexuality.” I believe I in fact achieved this status this year.
During my evolvement from my teenage years to my more adult years I dealt with certain individuals in my life that had a hand in leading me down a negative path, but also taught me as who and what I do not want to be in life. In fact, I changed and am still changing how I carry myself and my attitude towards others. Learning not to let negative events cloud my perspective on life and others around me. As well as not putting labels on sexuality when it comes to what makes me happy, but who makes me happy and challenges me to be better. Most of all my comfortableness in my own skin and the decisions I make.
