Adolescence & the human individual

Developmental tasks of adolescence centre on individuation, autonomy, and identity formation (Hill and Holmbeck, 1986). The exploration and independence seeking that are characteristic of adolescence also increase young persons' vulnerability to risk. Adolescence is marked by increased rates of drug and alcohol experimentation, sexual activity, delinquency, and suicide attempts (Tankanishi, 1993).

For example, a study of 680 high school students revealed that over four-fifths had consumed alcohol, over two-thirds had used marijuana, nearly one-half had engaged in sexual intercourse, and over one-third reported engaging in unprotected sexual relations (Irwin, 1993).

Antisocial activities are also prevalent among adolescents; nearly one-third of a sample of 2411 14- and 15-year-old adolescents sampled from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth reported shoplifting and nearly one-half reported being involved in a physical confrontation with other adolescents (Windle, 1990).

Adolescent risk behaviour may affect adjustment and well-being. Longitudinal studies have shown that adolescent substance use predicts increased physical health problems, higher levels of emotional distress, increased family problems, as well as increased problems with interpersonal relationships and decreases in social relations.

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(Newcomb, 1994). Several theories have been proposed as to why some adolescents engage in risk taking behaviours.

The adolescent fable that "it cannot happen to me: is the basis of the risk-taking behaviour common to adolescents and is a viable explanation for sexual experimentation and other risk-taking behaviours such as alcohol and drug use. As such, this sense of egocentric invulnerability maintains risk-taking behaviour, which is seen as a normative part of adolescent development. Influences pertinent to adolescents include the formation of identity, including sexual identity, and interpersonal needs such as acceptance by a peer group.

The peer group become increasingly important as role models.

Adolescents are more likely to adopt a modelled behaviour if it results in outcomes they value. Additionally, the model needs to have admired status and be similar to the observer, and the behaviour needs to have functional value in the adolescent's world (Berk, 2000). As soon as adolescents begin to date, they are subject to new pressures to which their reactions can be unreasonable and excessive. They soon come to into conflict with their parents and often with the mores of the community. Their interest in social relations may become so extreme, that all other phases of life suffer.

Most theoretical views regard adolescent romance as a subset of peer relationships, perhaps because from early to middle adolescence young people spend increasing time within mixed-sex peer groups. Indeed, the formation of dyadic relationships with romantic partners becomes increasingly important during these periods. A romantic relationship between two adolescent partners may assume a variety of forms, ranging from those which parallel "close relationships" to those typical for "casual dating" or "exclusive dating" relationships (Shulman and Seiffe- Krenke, 2001).

Although adolescents' romantic relationships are often short in duration, they are, nonetheless, characterised as very intimate and intense. Sullivan (1953) and Erikson (1959) both speculated that individuals who do not venture into dating in early and middle adolescence would not be sufficiently prepared for the developmental task of forming intimate relationships during late adolescence and early adulthood. Connolly and Goldberg (1999) suggest that peer relationships and friendships contribute to the development and success of romantic relationships.

Adolescents themselves typically report that romantic partners, like friends, are sources of intimacy, companionship, and support during adolescence. Achieving closeness and autonomy are central processes in the psychological development of adolescent relationships with significant others (Connolly and Goldberg, 1999). Developmental theorists consider the achievement of closeness as a process that underlies interpersonal interactions which are conducted in a warm, friendly, and mutually fulfilling manner (Shulman and Knafo, 1997).

As adolescents grow older, romantic relationships are increasingly apt to take the lead over relationships with parents and friends with respect to characteristics that reflect closeness and quality. Sanderson and Cantor (1995) pointed out that adolescents differ with respect to the goals they pursue in romantic relationships. Some adolescents focus on achieving and maintaining intimacy in their heterosexual relationships. For others, romantic relationships serve the goal of establishing identity.

However, the fusion of both goals is important, i. e. an independent identity must be developed and this identity must be merged with others in intimate relations. Although dating and beginning heterosexual relationships are normative, age-typical tasks for adolescents, not all adolescents are able to deal with these tasks easily. In fact, there are great differences with respect to the intensity and developmental speed with which adolescents approach such tasks (Cantor, Acker, and Cook-Flannagan, 1992).

Experienced adolescents were more likely to seek the advice of friends, to take risks, and do things to make themselves stand out in the crowd. These findings suggest that being "experienced" may generate both adaptive and non-adaptive responses, which may, in the long run, result in different pathways of romantic development. Over involvement with dating at age sixteen, as defined by dating a large number of people in the past year was associated with more psychological and behavioural problems, and a significant decline in psychological functioning between early and mid adolescence.

The characteristics of adolescents can create major implications and limitations on the counselling process, due to the extremity of the changes that are occurring in the individual. The adolescent is feeling vulnerable, insecure, unsure of who he is, feeling the need to revolt, prejudiced, uncompromising, and extremely influenced by his peers. Therefore, the normal processes that may occur during therapy have to be altered to better suit the needs of the adolescent.

It has been found that in counselling, young women seem better able to articulate, capture and describe the depth and intensity of their problems and associated feelings they experience, while young men seem to have less ability to describe their feelings and less comfort in talking about what bothers them. Young men are more difficult to engage in discussions about problems that affect them, and less likely to respond on a feeling level than young women. Being the mother of two children, aged twenty-one and nineteen years of age, I am aware of how a youth's characteristics would impact on our session.

I have never had a problem dealing with adolescents, as I am consistently interacting with teenagers on a regular basis. Therefore, I am familiar with the problems that might be addressed during therapy; such as the fear of disclosure, inability to see problem behaviours, and their view that counselling is punitive. As a result, I would use various micro skills that I have acquired over numerous years to make sure the counselling environment was as comfortable for the adolescent as possible, therefore allowing them to discuss their problems.