The age between 13 years and 19 years

Teenagers represent the period between the ages of 13 and 19 when a person transitions from childhood to adulthood. Both cognitive and physical changes occur during adolescence. When a child is under the age of thirteen, psychosocial and material changes will occur during the pre-teen years, between the ages of nine and twelve (Gunnar & Collins, 2013). Females develop adolescent traits at a younger age than males. Adolescence may be a time of bot exploration and disorientation, depending on how it is treated. Self-identity and independence issues can arise as a result of the change. Many teens fail to balance between their friends and their schoolwork (Gunnar & Collins, 2013). In most instances, those in adolescence can be influenced by their peers to follow certain orientations on drug abuse, sexuality and how to generally embrace social life. Generally, romantic interests and peer groups tend to be of essence as one navigates their journey to adulthood. This paper applies Erik Erikson’s psychosocial theory to explain the behaviour of people in their adolescence. The paper also gives the psycho-social- emotional tasks that adolescents face as well as gives the interventions that can be taken on adolescents to promote their health.

Erik Erikson’s psychosocial theory and Adolescence

Erikson’s characterizes adolescence as a stage of Ego identity versus role confusion. At this developmental stage, individuals try to get a sense of self identity through exploring their values as well as what they believe in (McLeod, 2013). Adolescent stage is a stage of confusion whereby one has to link between the ethics of adulthood and morality learnt in childhood. It is the stage in which one explores their environment and checks on what they expected in their future in terms of relationship, family and career. Erikson claims that adolescence is given two identities, the occupational identity and the sexual identity.

Adolescence is meant to model an individual to take certain self-identity as well as social role. Individuals who successfully undergo adolescence acquire the virtue fidelity. They are able to accept their surrounding in every way because they are able to adapt to the changes that come with adolescence (McLeod, 2013). Individuals who have not successfully passed the adolescence stage suffer from identity crisis. They try out many political and educational activities to help them find the area in which they fit.

Psycho-social emotional tasks for adolescents

Everyone has to accomplish certain tasks at adolescence to help them embrace fidelity after adolescence. The tasks include, being able to fit in, to stand out and to measure up.

Standing out

Adolescents are expected to explore their abilities and talents in order to define their personality and pursue autonomy. Being able to stand out would help in defining the career and relationship behaviours that one is likely to embrace.

Fitting in

Relationships become more important to individuals during adolescence. They are charged with the responsibility of ensuring that they are able to fit in various peer groups in which they can identify with.

Measuring up

It is the responsibility of people to ensure that that they develop competence. Competence enables them to have independent lives as they enter their adulthood.

Interventions involving direct care to adolescents as clients

It has been estimated that over 1.2 million of adolescents die yearly. The leading causes of adolescent deaths include road traffic injuries, suicide, respiratory infections, drowning and diarrhoeal diseases. More than half of the mental disorders that are experienced during adulthood begin by the age of 14 (Gunnar & Collins, 2013). The methods that could be used to help curb the high mortality and morbidity rates among the adolescents include documentation of the progress of the adolescent health to determine the exact place where the change in health status occurs. A psychologist can produce an evidence based guideline for the adolescents to follow in order to avoid the health complications that affect them. Psychologists can give adolescents advice on STIs and early pregnancy complications.















References

Carr, A. (2015). The handbook of child and adolescent clinical psychology: A contextual approach. Routledge.

Gunnar, M. R., & Collins, W. A. (Eds.). (2013). Development During the Transition to Adolescence: The Minnesota Symposia on Child Psychology (Vol. 21). Psychology Press.

McLeod, S. (2013). Erik Erikson. Retrieved August, 9, 2013.