Hello and hope you are doing well. In the preschool and primary grades, most children have a positive view of themselves and believe they can achieve tasks that are too difficult for them. They also make generalizations about people such as dumb, smart, friendly, good looking etc. In the early adolescence children show increased abstract descriptions of people such as cool, nerd, beautiful etc. When students enter the middle school, the positive view lowers probably due to puberty or factors of having to change schools.
(Younger children struggle to have complex thinking of who someone is.)
Two dilemmas occur during the early adolescence that should be noted. Students believe that they are the center of attention and are being watched by an imaginary audience. I sometime think that this is true no matter what age as sometimes we worry too much over what people think and think we are being very focused on. The other dilemma is that students believe that they are totally unique called a personal fable. During this stage students may think they are above reality and take foolish risks such as experimenting with drugs and alcohol. Late adolescence is a brighter picture as they have overcame the double whammy (good phrase by Dr. Ormrod) of puberty and a new school setting. They tend to have more positive self-concepts and better mental health.
With their abstract thinking they notice that their feelings are different so much they may wonder who they are. A student writes that he doesn't understand how he can be cheerful with his friends, then come home and feel anxious, and then getting frustrated and sarcastic with his parents. The student wonders who he really is. Eventually around 11th grade students integrate the multifaceted qualities they have and realize their sense of self. This process of putting together all their qualities forms their identity, a self-constructed view of who they are, what things they find important and what goals they want to accomplish in life. Groups can play a role such as a team or an informal group at school. To find their identity they will experiment with different groups of people. An early developmentalist named Erik Erikson proposed that people find an overall sense of identity be the end of adolescence. However, many current developmental theorists disagree and suggest that identity may continue to work for a long time after.
(The question "Who am I?" is one faced by adolescence
and may take considerable time to see.)
Even by the end of high school students have a little idea of what role they will play in society. Sometimes social skills are more important for students than the academic side. Those who have good social skills have a tendency to excel in school work. Peers often provide necessary social and emotional support. During the preschool years they are merely a source of recreation. They can provide comfort and safety from bullies. When students have to adjust to puberty they rely more on their friends than parents in times of confusion and trouble. This could be important because a child may have an unstable home and need their advice. Girls will share their innermost feelings (the preoccupation of physical appearance and concern about the opposite sex for example) and realize that their problems are similar, hopefully eliminating the personal fable they go through. Peers are socialization agents. They determine what options are good for recreation and what is cool. As you'd imagine, these could be negative such as smoking cigarettes on the corner.
A false impression is that peer pressure is bad but to use a nice word from the author, it's a mixed bag. Some peers promote abstinence, being trustworthy and fairness. As you'd imagine, the other contents could be promoting criminal activity, drugs, and aggression. A problem is that there could be an inconsistency between influences from peers, family and school which could exacerbate social skills and grades. The influence of peer pressure is underrated despite what is commonly believed. According to the textbook, most children stick to their beliefs and values that their parents have instilled in them and don't let peer pressure deter them. They tend to stick with those who have the same standards they have. Maybe this is a generalization. We've read in the last paragraph that when children in puberty rely more on peers rather than parents so it's not exactly true that children stick with the values and beliefs that parents gave them.
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