9.1.

Identity and Self-Esteem

Learning Objectives

​ •
​ How do adolescents achieve an identity?
​ •
​ What are the stages and results of acquiring an ethnic identity?
​ •
​ How does self-esteem change in adolescence?

Dea was born in Seoul of Korean parents but was adopted by a Dutch couple in Michigan when
she was 3 months old. Growing up, she considered herself a red-blooded American. In college,
however, Dea realized that others saw her as an Asian American, an identity about which she had
never given much thought. She began to wonder, “Who am I really? American? Dutch
American? Asian American?”

Like Dea, do you sometimes wonder who you are? Identity refers to the attitudes, behaviors, and
values that make a person unique. Adolescents strive to achieve an identity that will allow them
to participate in the adult world. In this section we’ll learn more about how adolescents like Dea
search for an identity.

The Search for Identity

According to Erik Erikson’s (1968) theory, adolescents face a crisis between identity and role
confusion. They must balance the desire to try out many possible selves and the need to select a
single self. Adolescents who achieve a sense of identity are well prepared to face the next
developmental challenge: establishing intimate relationships. In contrast, teenagers who are
confused about their identity remain isolated and respond to others stereotypically.

Adolescents use the hypothetical reasoning skills of the formal operational stage to experiment
with different selves and learn about possible identities. Experimentation is often career oriented.
Some adolescents may envision themselves as rock stars; others may imagine being professional
athletes or best-selling novelists. Other testing is romantically oriented. Teens may fall in love
and imagine living with the loved one. Still other exploration involves religious and political
beliefs (Harre, 2007; Lopez, Huynh, & Fuligni, 2011). Teens give different identities a trial run
just as you might test-drive different cars before selecting one. By fantasizing about their future,
adolescents begin to discover who they will be.

As part of their search for an identity, adolescents often try on different roles, for example,
imagining what life might be like as a rock star.
As adolescents strive to achieve an identity, they often progress through different phases or
statuses, shown in Table 9.1. Unlike Piaget’s stages, these four phases do not form a sequence.
Most young adolescents are in states of diffusion or foreclosure, in which they are not exploring
alternative identities. They are avoiding the crisis or have resolved it by taking on an identity
suggested by others. However, as individuals move

beyond early adolescence and into young adulthood and have more opportunity to explore
alternative identities, achievement and moratorium become more common (Meeus et al., 2010).

Table 9.1 Identity Statuses

Status Definition Example

Diffusion The individual is overwhelmed by Larry hates the idea of deciding

the task of achieving an identity and what to do with his future, so he
does little to accomplish the task. spends most of his free time playing
video games.

Foreclosure The individual has a status For as long as she can remember,
determined by adults rather than by Sakura’s parents have told her that
personal exploration. she should be an attorney and join
the family law firm. She plans to
study prelaw in college, though
she’s never given the matter much
thought.
 Moratorium The individual is examining Brad enjoys almost all of his
different alternatives but has yet to high-school classes. Some days he
find one that’s satisfactory thinks it would be fun to be a
chemist, some days he wants to be a
novelist, and some days he’d like to
be an elementary-school teacher He
thinks it’s a little weird to change
his mind so often, but he also enjoys
thinking about different jobs.

Achievement The individual has explored Throughout middle school, Efrat

alternatives and has deliberately wanted to play in the WNBA.
chosen a specific identity. During 9th and 10th grades, she
thought it would be cool to be a
physician. In 11th grade, she took a
computing course and everything
finally “clicked”—she’d found her
niche. She knew that she wanted to
study computer science in college.

During the search for identity, adolescents reveal a number of characteristic ways of thinking.
The self-absorption that marks the teenage search for identity is referred to as adolescent
egocentrism (Elkind, 1978). Unlike preschoolers, adolescents know that others have different
perspectives on the world. Adolescents are simply more interested in their own feelings and
experiences than in anyone else’s experiences. In addition, as they search for an identity, many
adolescents wrongly believe that they are the focus of others’ thinking. A teen who spills food on
herself may imagine that all her friends are thinking only about the stain on her blouse and how
sloppy she is. Many adolescents feel that they are actors watched constantly by their peers, a
phenomenon known as the imaginary audience.

Adolescents often believe that others are constantly watching them, a phenomenon known as
imaginary audience; as a result, they’re often upset or embarrassed when they make obvious
mistakes or blunders, such as spilling food or drink.
Adolescent self-absorption is also demonstrated by the personal fable, teenagers’ tendency to
believe that their experiences and feelings are unique and that no one has ever felt or thought as
 they do. Whether the excitement of first love, the despair of a broken relationship, or the
confusion of planning for the future, adolescents often believe they are the first to experience
these feelings and that no one else can understand their emotions (Elkind & Bowen, 1979).
Adolescents’ belief in their uniqueness also contributes to an illusion of invulnerability: the
belief that misfortune happens only to others. Teens think they can have sex without becoming
pregnant or contracting a sexually transmitted disease or that they can drive recklessly without
being in an auto accident.

As adolescents make progress toward achieving an identity, adolescent egocentrism, imaginary

audiences, personal fables, and the illusion of invulnerability become less common. What
circumstances help adolescents achieve identity? Parents are influential (Marcia, 1980).
Adolescents are most likely to establish a well-defined identity in a family atmosphere in which
parents encourage children to explore alternatives on their own but do not pressure or provide
explicit direction (Koepke & Denissen, 2012; Smits et al., 2010). In contrast, when

parents set rules with little justification and enforce them without explanation, children are more
likely to remain in the foreclosure status. These teens are discouraged from experimenting
personally; instead, their parents simply tell them what identity to adopt.

Human Development in Action

As a high-school counselor, plan a presentation for parents that describes the unique features of
adolescents’ thinking.

Beyond parents, peers are also influential. When adolescents have close friends that they trust,
they feel more secure exploring alternatives (Doumen et al., 2012). The broader social context
also contributes (Bosma & Kunnen, 2001). Exploration takes time and access to resources, which
may not be available to adolescents living in poverty (e.g., they can’t explore because they drop
out of school to support themselves and their family). Finally, personality matters: Teens who are
more open to experience and are more agreeable (friendly, generous, and helpful) are more likely
to achieve an identity (Crocetti et al., 2008).

Ethnic Identity
Roughly one third of the adolescents and young adults living in the United States are members of
ethnic minority groups, including African, Asian, Latino, and Native Americans. These
individuals typically develop an ethnic identity: They feel part of their ethnic group and learn
the special customs and traditions of their group’s culture and heritage (Phinney, 2005).
Achieving an ethnic identity seems to occur in three phases (Phinney, 1989). Initially,
adolescents have not examined their ethnic roots, often because they’re not interested. In the
second phase, adolescents like Dea (from the vignette) begin to explore the personal impact of
their ethnic heritage. The curiosity characteristic of this stage is captured in the comments of a
teenage African American girl who said, “I want to learn more about our history—back in
Africa, in slavery, and during the Civil Rights movement. Going to the Black Cultural Center is
one way I can find out about myself.” Part of this phase involves learning cultural traditions; for
example, many adolescents learn to prepare ethnic food.

Part of the search for an ethnic identity involves learning cultural traditions, such as learning how
to prepare foods associated with one’s ethnic group.
In the third phase, individuals achieve a distinct ethnic self-concept. One Asian American
adolescent explained his ethnic identification like this: “I was born in LA, but my parents grew
up in Mexico and came here when they were teenagers like me. I love hearing them talk about
their lives there, and I’m proud that I can speak Spanish with my cousins who live in Mexico.
But I’m also proud to be an American and like to learn about my country’s heritage.”

Adolescents benefit from a strong ethnic identity; they tend to have higher self-esteem, to enjoy
their interactions with family and friends more, and to be happier (Mandara et al., 2009;
Rivas-Drake et al., 2014). In addition, adolescents with a strong ethnic identity are less affected
by discrimination—they maintain their self-worth after experiencing racial or ethnic
discrimination (Neblett, Rivas-Drake, & Umaña-Taylor, 2012; Tynes et al., 2012).

Self-Esteem in Adolescence
Self-esteem is normally high in preschool children but declines gradually during the early
elementary-school years as children compare themselves with others. By the beginning of
adolescence, self-esteem has usually stabilized—it neither increases nor decreases in these years
(Harter, Whitesell, & Kowalski, 1992). However, self-esteem sometimes drops when children
move from elementary to middle or junior high school (Twenge & Campbell, 2001). Apparently,
when students from different elementary schools enter the same middle or junior high school,
they know where they stand compared with their old elementary-school classmates but not
compared with students from other elementary schools. Thus, peer comparisons begin anew, and
self-esteem often suffers temporarily. As a new school becomes familiar and students gradually
adjust to the new pecking order, self-esteem again increases.

These changes in overall level of self-esteem are accompanied by another important change:
Self-esteem becomes more differentiated as children enter adolescence (Boivin, Vitaro, &
Gagnon, 1992). Youth are able to evaluate themselves in more domains as
 they develop, and their evaluations in each domain are increasingly independent. For example, a
9-year-old may have high self-esteem in the academic, social, and physical domains, but a
15-year-old might have high self-esteem in the academic domain, moderate self-esteem in the
social domain, and low self-esteem in the physical domain.

During adolescence, the social component of self-esteem becomes particularly well

differentiated. Adolescents distinguish self-worth in many different social relationships. A
teenager may, for example, feel positive about her relationships with her parents but believe that
she’s a loser in romantic relationships (Harter, Waters, & Whitesell, 1998).

Influences on Adolescents’ Self-Esteem

What factors contribute to adolescents’ self-esteem? Heredity contributes, indirectly. Genes help
to make some youth smarter, more sociable, more attractive, and more skilled athletically.
Consequently, such youth are more likely to have greater self-worth because they are competent
in so many domains. In other words, genes lead to greater competence, which fosters greater
self-worth (Harter, 2012; Neiss, Sedikides, & Stevenson, 2006).

Children’s and adolescents’ self-worth is also influenced by how others view them. Parents
matter—even to adolescents. Children are more likely to view themselves positively when their
parents are affectionate toward them and involved with them (Behnke et al., 2011; Ojanen &
Perry, 2007). Parents’ discipline also counts. Children with high self-esteem generally have
parents who have reasonable expectations for their children and are willing to discuss rules and
discipline with their children (Laible & Carlo, 2004). Parents who fail to set rules are telling their
children that they don’t care—they don’t value them enough to go to the trouble of creating rules
and enforcing them. That said, when adults use inflated praise—saying “You played that song
amazingly well!” when their playing was mediocre—children with low self-esteem tend to shy
away from challenges because they’re afraid they won’t succeed (Brummelman et al., 2014).

Peers’ views are important too. Children’s and particularly adolescents’ self-worth is greater
when they believe that their peers think highly of them (Molloy, Ram, & Gest, 2011). Maddy’s
self-worth increases, for example, when she hears that Pedro, Matt, and Michael think she’s the
smartest girl in the eighth grade.

Thus, children’s and adolescents’ self-worth depends on whether they are competent at
something they value and are valued by people who are important to them. By encouraging
children to find their special talents and by being genuinely interested in their progress, parents
and teachers can enhance the self-esteem of all students.

The Myth of Storm and Stress

 According to novelists and filmmakers, the search for identity is a struggle, a time of storm and
stress for adolescents. Although this view may make for best-selling novels and hit movies, in
reality, the rebellious teen is vastly overstated. Adolescents generally enjoy happy and satisfying
relationships with their parents (Steinberg, 2001). Most teens love their parents and feel loved by
them. And they embrace many of their parents’ values and look to them for advice (Güngör &
Bornstein, 2010; Offer et al., 1988).

Parent–child relations do change during adolescence. As teens become more independent, their
relationships with their parents become more egalitarian. Parents must adjust to their children’s
growing sense of autonomy by treating them more like equals (Laursen & Collins, 1994). This
growing independence means that teens spend less time with their parents, are less affectionate
toward them, and argue more often with them about matters of style, taste, and freedom
(Shanahan et al., 2007; Stanik, Riina, & McHale, 2013). Although adolescents do have more
disagreements with parents, these disputes are usually relatively mild—bickering, not all-out
shouting matches—and usually concern an adolescent’s personal choices (e.g., hairstyle,
clothing), autonomy, and responsibilities (Chen-Gaddini, 2012; Erhlich, Dykas, & Cassidy,
2012). These changes are natural by-products of an evolving parent–child relationship in which
the “child” is nearly a fully independent young adult (Steinberg & Silk, 2002).

Before you think that this portrait of parent–child relationships in adolescence is too good to be
true, recognize that for a minority of families (roughly 25%), parent–child conflicts in
adolescence are more serious and are associated with behavior problems for teens (Ehrlich et al.,
2012). These more harmful conflicts are more common among adolescents who don’t regulate
their emotions well (Eisenberg et al., 2008), and they often predate adolescence—as children,
these adolescents were prone to conflict with their parents (Steeger & Gondoli, 2013; Steinberg,
2001).

9.2. Romantic Relationships and Sexuality

Learning Objectives

​ •
​ Why do teenagers date?
​ •
​ Why are some adolescents sexually active? Why do so few use contraceptives?
​ •
​ What determines an adolescent’s sexual orientation?
 ​ •
​ What circumstances make dating violence especially likely?

For 6 months, 15-year-old Gretchen has been dating Jeff, a 17-year-old. She thinks she is truly in
love and imagines being married to Jeff. They have had sex a few times, each time without
contraception. It sometimes crosses Gretchen’s mind that if she gets pregnant she could move
into her own apartment and begin a family.

The fires of romantic relationships have long warmed the hearts of American adolescents. As
with Jeff and Gretchen, romance often leads to sex. In this section we explore adolescent dating
and sexual behavior. As we do, you’ll better understand Gretchen’s reasons for having
unprotected sex with Jeff.

Romantic Relationships
The social landscape adds a distinctive landmark in adolescence—romantic relationships. These
are uncommon during elementary school, but by high school, roughly two thirds of U.S.
adolescents have had a romantic relationship within the previous 1½ years, and most have been
involved in a romance lasting nearly a year (Carver, Joyner, & Udry, 2003).

Adolescent romantic relationships build on friendships and offer companionship, as well as an

outlet for sexual exploration.
Romantic relationships build on friendships. Like friends, romantic partners tend to be similar in
popularity and physical attractiveness. And a best friendship serves both as a prototype for and a
source of support during ups and downs of close relationships (Collins, Welsh, & Furman, 2009).
What’s more, romantic relationships change over time in ways that resemble changes in
friendship: for younger adolescents, romantic relationships offer companionship (like that
provided by a best friend) and an outlet for sexual exploration. For older adolescents, intimacy,
trust, and support become important features of romantic relationships (Shulman & Kipnis,
2001).

It’s tempting to dismiss teen romances as nothing more than “puppy love,” but they are often
developmentally significant (Collins et al., 2009). On the one hand, adolescents involved in a
romantic relationship are often more self-confident and have greater self-esteem. And
high-quality adolescent romances are associated with positive relationships during adulthood. On
the other hand, adolescents in romantic relationships report more emotional upheaval and
conflict (Joyner & Udry, 2000). In addition, early dating with many partners is associated with
problems in adolescence (e.g., drug use and lower grades) and with less satisfying romantic
relationships in adulthood (Collins, 2003).
Sexual Behavior
We’ve already seen that sexual exploration is an important feature of romantic relationships for
younger adolescents. By the end of high school, about two thirds of American adolescents will
have had intercourse at least once (Eaton et al., 2008). No single factor predicts adolescent
sexual behavior. Instead, adolescents are more likely to be sexually active when they acquire
(from parents and peers) permissive attitudes toward sex, when their parents don’t monitor their
behavior, when their peers approve and they believe their peers are also having sex, when they
are more physically mature, and when they drink alcohol regularly (Belsky et al., 2010; Hipwell
et al., 2010; Zimmer-Gembeck & Helfand, 2008). What’s more, adolescents exposed to harsh
environments (e.g., living in poverty) start sex at younger ages, but adolescents with better
executive functioning start at older ages (Carlson, Mendle, & Harden, 2014; Khurana et al.,
2012).

Although most boys and girls have sex at some point during adolescence, sexual activity has
different meanings for boys and girls (Brooks-Gunn & Paikoff, 1993). Girls tend to describe
their first sexual partner as “someone they love,” but boys describe their first partner as a “casual
date.” In other words, for boys, sexual behavior is viewed as recreational and self-oriented; for
girls, sexual behavior is viewed as romantic and is interpreted through their capacity to form
intimate interpersonal relationships (Steinberg, 1999; Walsh et al., 2011).

Teenage Pregnancy and Contraception

Adolescents’ sexual behavior is troubling because many diseases are transmitted through sexual
intercourse. Such sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), which include chlamydia, syphilis, and
herpes, can have serious complications if left untreated. Adolescents’ sexual behavior is also
worrisome because, among American adolescent girls who have ever had intercourse,
approximately one in six becomes pregnant, yielding nearly a half million babies with teenage
moms. African American and Hispanic American adolescents are the most likely to become
pregnant (Ventura et al., 2008).

Teen pregnancy is common because sexually active teens often do not use birth control
consistently or correctly (Guttmacher Institute, 2013). Why? Several factors contribute (Gordon,
1996). First, many adolescents are ignorant of basic facts of conception, and many believe that
they are invulnerable—that only others become pregnant. Second, some teenagers do not know
how to use or where to obtain contraceptives, and others are embarrassed to buy them (Ralph &
Brindis, 2010). Third, for some adolescent girls, like Gretchen from the opening vignette,
becoming pregnant is appealing (Phipps et al., 2008). They think having a child is a way to break
away from parents, gain status as an independent-living adult, and have “someone to love them.”
The best way to reduce adolescent sexual behavior and teen pregnancy is with comprehensive
sex education programs (Kirby & Laris, 2009). These programs teach the biological aspects of
sex and emphasize responsible sexual behavior or abstaining from premarital sex. They also
include discussions of the pressures to become involved sexually and ways to respond to this
pressure. A key element is that in role-playing sessions, students practice strategies for refusing
to have sex. Youth who participate in programs like these are less likely to have intercourse;
when they do have intercourse, they are more likely to use contraceptives. In contrast, there is
little evidence that focusing solely on abstinence reduces sexual activity.

Sexual Orientation
For most adolescents, dating and romance involve members of the opposite sex. However, in
early and mid-adolescence, roughly 15% of teens experience a period of sexual questioning,
during which they sometimes report emotional and sexual attractions to members of their own
sex (Carver, Egan, & Perry, 2004). For most adolescents, these experiences are simply a part of
the larger process of role experimentation common to adolescence. However, about 5% of
teenage boys and girls identify their sexual orientation as gay or lesbian (Rotherman-Borus &
Langabeer, 2001).

About 5% of adolescents identify themselves as gay or lesbian.

The roots of sexual orientation are poorly understood, but modern theories suggest that attraction
to same-sex individuals comes about differently in males and females (Diamond, 2007). For
males, genes and hormones may lead some boys to feel “different” during early adolescence;
these feelings lead to an interest in gender-atypical activities and, later, attraction to other males.
For females, the path to same-sex attraction is less predictable. Attraction to other females
usually does not emerge until mid- or late adolescence and, in some cases, not until middle or old
age. What’s more, for many lesbian women, same-sex attraction grows out of deep feelings for a
particular woman that, over time, extends to other females.

Gay and lesbian adolescents face many challenges. Their family and peer relationships are often
disrupted (Pearson & Wilkinson, 2013), and they endure verbal and physical attacks (Duncan &
Hatzenbuehler, 2014). Given these problems, it’s not surprising that gay and lesbian youth often
experience mental health problems, including depression and anxiety (Burton, Marshal, &
Chisolm, 2014). In recent years, social changes have helped gay and lesbian youth respond more
effectively to these challenges, including more (and more visible) role models and more centers
for gay and lesbian youth. These resources are making it easier for gay and lesbian youth to
understand their sexual orientation and to cope with the many other demands of adolescence;
most end up as well adjusted as heterosexual youth (Saewyc, 2011).

Dating Violence
 As adolescents begin to explore romantic relationships and sex, many teens experience violence
in dating, including physical violence (e.g., being hit or kicked), emotional violence (e.g., threats
or bullying), or sexual violence (being forced to engage in sexual activity against one’s will).
Roughly 25% of adolescents report these experiences; these youth often don’t do well in school
and frequently have mental health and behavioral problems (Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, 2008).

Several factors make teenage boys and girls more likely to perpetrate dating violence. Parents
contribute: Teens are more likely to be violent during dating when their parents’ discipline is
harsh or inconsistent and when their parents don’t monitor their behavior. Peers matter as well:
Dating violence is more common when teens believe that their peers condone dating violence
and when they know peers who are in abusive relationships. Finally, teens are more likely to
commit dating violence when they’re antisocial, aggressive, and not successful in school (Foshee
& Reyes, 2012).

Because dating violence leads to many harmful consequences for victims, including depression,
antisocial behavior, and substance abuse, scientists have devised programs to prevent dating
violence. One of these, “Families for Safe Dates,” is described in the Spotlight on Research
feature.

9.3. The World of Work

Learning Objectives

​ •
​ How do adolescents select an occupation?
​ •
​ What is the impact of part-time employment on adolescents?

When 15-year-old Aaron announced that he wanted an after-school job at the local supermarket,
his mother was delighted, believing that he would learn much from the experience. Five months
later, she had her doubts. Aaron had lost interest in school, and they argued constantly about how
he spent his money.

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” Children are often asked this question in fun.
Beginning in adolescence, however, it takes on special significance because work is such an
important element of the adult life that looms on the horizon. In this section we’ll see how
 adolescents begin to think about possible occupations. We also look at adolescents’ first
exposure to the world of work, which usually occurs in the form of part-time jobs like Aaron’s.

Career Development
In most developed nations, adolescence is when youth face the challenge of selecting a career.
According to a theory proposed by Donald Super identity is a primary force in an adolescent’s
choice of a career (Super, 1976, 1980). At about age 13 or 14, adolescents use their emerging
identity as a source of ideas about careers, a process called crystallization. Teenagers use their
ideas about their own talents and interests to limit potential career prospects. A teenager who is
extroverted and sociable may decide that working with

people would be the career for him. Decisions are provisional, and adolescents experiment with
hypothetical careers, trying to envision what each might be like.

In the specification stage of career development, adolescents try to learn more about different
careers, sometimes by serving as an apprentice.
At about age 18, adolescents enter a new phase. During specification, individuals further limit
their career possibilities by learning more about specific lines of work and by starting to obtain
the training required for a specific job. The extroverted teenager who wants to work with people
may decide he’s well suited for a career in sales. The teen who likes math may have learned
more about careers and decided she’d like to be an accountant. Some teens may begin an
apprenticeship as a way to learn a trade.

The end of the teenage years or the early 20s marks the beginning of the third phase. During
implementation, individuals enter the workforce and learn firsthand about jobs. In this phase,
people learn about responsibility, productivity, getting along with co-workers, and altering their
lifestyle to accommodate work. This period is often unstable; individuals may change jobs
frequently as they adjust to the reality of life in the workplace.

The Real People feature shows these three phases in one young woman’s career development.

Real People Applying Human Development: The Life of Lynne: a Drama in Three Acts

Act 1: Crystallization. In high school, Lynne was treasurer of several school organizations and
enjoyed keeping the financial records. By the end of her junior year, Lynne decided that she
wanted to study business in college, a decision that fit with her good grades in English and math.
Act 2: Specification. Lynne was accepted into the business school of a state university. She
decided that accounting fit her skills and temperament, so this became her major. During the
summers, she worked as a cashier at Target. This helped pay for college and gave her experience
in the world of retail sales.

Act 3: Implementation. A few months after graduation, Lynne was offered a junior accounting
position with Walmart. Her job required that she work Tuesday through Friday, auditing Walmart
stores in several nearby cities. Lynne liked the company car, the feeling of independence, and
especially the pay. However, she often found it awkward to deal with store managers, many of
whom were twice her age and sometimes intimidating. She was coming to the conclusion that
there was more to a successful career as an accountant than simply having the numbers add up
correctly.

The Life of Lynne illustrates the progressive refinement that takes place in a person’s career
development. An initial interest in math and finance led to a degree in business, which led to a
job as an accountant, with its accompanying upsides and downsides.

Personality-Type Theory
Super’s (1976, 1980) work helps explain how self-concept and career aspirations develop hand
in hand, but does not explain why particular individuals are attracted to a specific line of work.
Explaining the match between people and occupations has been the aim of a theory devised by
John Holland (1985, 1987, 1996). According to Holland’s personality-type theory, people find
work fulfilling when the important features of a job fit the worker’s personality. Holland
identified six prototypic personalities relevant to the world of work. Each one is best suited to a
specific set of occupations, as indicated in the right-hand column of Table 9.2. Most people do
not match any one personality type exactly. Instead, their work-related personalities are a blend
of the six. When people have jobs that match their personality type, they are more productive
employees and have more stable career paths (Holland, 1996; Nye et al., 2012). For example,

an enterprising youth is likely to be successful in business because he enjoys positions of power

in which he can use his verbal skills.

Table 9.2 Personality Types in Holland’s Theory

Personality Description Careers

Type
 Realistic Individuals enjoy physical labor and Mechanic, truck driver, construction
working with their hands; they like worker
to solve concrete problems.

Investigative Individuals are task oriented and Scientist, technical writer

enjoy thinking about abstract
relations.

Social Individuals are skilled verbally and Teacher, counselor, social worker
interpersonally; they enjoy solving
problems using these skills.

Conventional Individuals have verbal and Bank teller, payroll clerk, traffic
quantitative skills that they like to manager
apply to structured, well-defined
tasks assigned to them by others.

Enterprising Individuals enjoy using their verbal Business executive, television

skills in positions of power; status, producer, real estate agent
and leadership.

Artistic Individuals enjoy expressing Poet, musician, actor

themselves through unstructured
tasks.

Of course, there’s more to job satisfaction than the match between personality type and important
features of a job. Even when people are well matched to a job, some find the work more
satisfying than others because of a host of factors, including pay, stress in the workplace, and
frequency of conflicts between work and family obligations (Hammer et al., 2005). Nevertheless,
the person–job match is a good place to start thinking about a vocation.
 According to Holland’s personality-type theory, people are satisfied with a job when it matches
their personality; for example, adolescents with an enterprising personality type enjoy working in
business because this allows them to use verbal skills in positions of leadership.
Combining Holland’s work-related personality types with Super’s theory of career development
gives a comprehensive picture of vocational growth. Super’s theory explains the developmental
progression by which individuals translate general interests into a specific career, and Holland’s
theory explains what makes a good match between specific interests and specific career

Part-Time Employment
Today, about 75% of U.S. high-school seniors have a part-time job (Bachman et al., 2011).
About two thirds of these youth work in retail, and half of those working in retail are employed
in the food and beverage industry (U.S. Department of Labor, 2000). Most adults praise teens for
working, believing that early exposure to the workplace teaches adolescents self-discipline,
self-confidence, and important job skills (Snedeker, 1982). However, for most adolescents,
part-time work is often harmful, for several reasons.

●​ School performance suffers. When students work more than approximately 20 hours per
week, they become less engaged in school and are less likely to be successful in college
(Bachman et al., 2013; Monahan, Lee, & Steinberg, 2011).
●​ Mental health and behavioral problems arise. Adolescents who work long hours—more
than 15 or 20 hours a week—are more likely to experience anxiety, depression, and
reduced self-esteem. Many adolescents find themselves in jobs that are repetitive and
boring but stressful, circumstances that undermine self-esteem and breed anxiety.
Extensive part-time work frequently leads to substance abuse and frequent problem
behavior, such as theft and cheating in school (Monahan et al., 2011; Monahan,
Steinberg, & Cauffman, 2013).
●​ Teens learn bad habits for handling money. Working adolescents spend most of their
earnings on themselves: to buy clothing, snack food, or cosmetics and to pay for
entertainment. Few working teens set aside much of their income for future goals, such as
a college education, or use it to contribute to their family’s expenses (Shanahan et al.,
1996b). Thus, for many teens, working part time provides unrealistic expectations about
how income can be allocated (Darling et al., 2006; Zhang, Cartmill, & Ferrence, 2008).

Human Development in Action

 Suppose that you are a high-school guidance counselor and have been asked to prepare a set of
guidelines for students who want to work part time. What would you recommend?

The message that emerges repeatedly from research on part-time employment is hardly
encouraging. Like Aaron, the teenager in the vignette, adolescents who work long hours at
part-time jobs do not benefit from the experience. However, part-time employment can be a good
experience when students limit the number of hours of work. Most students could easily work 5
hours weekly without harm, and many could work 10 hours weekly. Another key is the type of
job. When adolescents have jobs that allow them to use their skills (e.g., bookkeeping,
computing) and acquire new ones, self-esteem is enhanced and they learn from their work
experience (Staff & Schulenberg, 2010; Vazsonyi & Snider, 2008). Yet another factor is the link
between work and school: Teens often benefit from apprenticeships or internships that are linked
to school so that work experiences complement classroom experiences (Symonds, Schwartz, &
Ferguson, 2011). A final factor is how teens spend their earnings. When they save their money or
use it to pay for clothes and school expenses, their parent–child relationships often improve
(Shanahan et al., 1996a).

When adolescents work long hours in a part-time job, they often have trouble juggling the
demands of work, school, and sleep.
Finally, summer jobs typically do not involve conflict between work and school. Consequently,
many of the harmful effects associated with part-time employment during the school year do not
hold for summer employment. Such employment sometimes enhances adolescents’ self-esteem,
especially when they save part of their income for future plans (Marsh, 1991).

9.4. The Dark Side

Learning Objectives

​ •
​ Why do teenagers drink and use drugs?
​ •
​ What leads some adolescents to become depressed? How can depression be
treated?
​ •
​ What are the causes of juvenile delinquency?
Rod was looking forward to going to the senior prom with Peggy, his long-time girlfriend, and
then going to college with her in the fall. Then, without a hint that anything was wrong in their
relationship, Peggy dropped Rod and moved in with the drummer of a local rock band. Rod was
stunned and miserable. Without Peggy, life meant so little. Some days Rod wondered whether he
should just kill himself to make the pain go away.

Some young people do not adapt well to the demands and responsibilities of adolescence and
respond in ways that are unhealthy. In this last section of this chapter we look at three problems,
often interrelated, that create the “three Ds” of adolescent development: drug use, depression,
and delinquency. As we look at these problems, you’ll understand why Rod feels so miserable
without Peggy.

Drug Use
Teenage Drinking
Teen use of illicit drugs like cocaine and methamphetamine often makes headlines, but most
adolescents avoid drugs except for alcohol. About two thirds of U.S. high-school seniors have
drunk alcohol within the past year, and nearly half report that they’ve been drunk (Johnston et
al., 2011).

Teens are more likely to drink when drinking is an important part of parents’ social lives—for
example, stopping at a bar after work—and when parents are relatively uninvolved in their
teenager’s life or set arbitrary or unreasonable standards for their teens (Epstein et al., 2013;
Schelleman-Offermans, Knibbe, & Kuntsche, 2013). Also, they’re more likely to drink when
peers do. Finally, teens who report frequent life stresses—problems with parents, with
interpersonal relationships, or at school—more often drink (Chassin et al., 2003).

Adolescents often drink because peers encourage them to.

Because teenage drinking has many causes, no single approach can eliminate alcohol abuse.
Adolescents who drink to reduce their tension can profit from therapy designed to teach them
more effective means of coping with stress. School-based programs that are
interactive—featuring student-led discussion—can be effective in teaching the facts about
drinking and strategies for resisting peer pressure to drink (Caria et al., 2011; Longshore et al.,
2007). Stopping teens from drinking before it becomes habitual is essential because adolescents
who drink are at risk for becoming alcohol dependent, depressed, or anxious as adults (Cable &
Sacker, 2008; Trim et al., 2007).

Teenage Smoking
Approximately one third of American teens experiment with cigarette smoking during their
teenage years (Johnston et al., 2011). As was true for teenage drinking, parents and peers are
influential in determining whether youth smoke. When parents smoke, their

teenage children are more likely to smoke too. But the parent–child relationship also
contributes: Teens are less likely to smoke when they experience supportive parenting (Foster et
al., 2007). Like parents, peer influences can be direct and indirect. Teenagers more often smoke
when their friends do and when the school norm approves of smoking (Fujimotor, Unger, &
Valente, 2012; Kumar et al., 2002).

Because teenage smoking leads to health problems, school-based programs have been created to
reduce teenage smoking (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2000). In these
programs, schools have no-smoking policies for all students, staff, and school visitors. In
addition, students learn the health and social consequences of smoking and effective ways to
respond to peer pressure to smoke.

Depression
The challenges of adolescence can lead some youth to become depressed (Fried, 2005). When
suffering from depression, adolescents have pervasive feelings of sadness, are irritable, have
low self-esteem, sleep poorly, and are unable to concentrate. About 5 to 15% of adolescents are
depressed; adolescent girls are more often affected than boys, probably because social challenges
in adolescence are often greater for girls than for boys (Dekker et al., 2007; Hammen &
Rudolph, 2003; Mezulis et al., 2014).

Unhappiness, anger, and irritation often dominate the lives of depressed adolescents. They
believe that family members, friends, and classmates are not friendly to them (Cole & Jordan,
1995), and they are often extremely lonely (Mahon et al., 2006). Rather than being satisfying and
rewarding, life is empty and joyless for depressed adolescents.

Depression is often triggered when adolescents experience a serious loss, disappointment, or

failure, such as when a loved one dies or a much-anticipated date turns out to be a fiasco
(Schneiders et al., 2006). Think back to Rod, the adolescent in the vignette at the beginning of
this section. His girlfriend had been the center of his life. When she left him unexpectedly, he felt
helpless to control his destiny.

Adolescents sometimes become depressed when they feel as if they’ve lost control of their lives.
Many adolescents experience negative events like these, but most don’t become depressed.
Why? One contributing factor is temperament: Children who are less able to regulate their
emotions are, as adolescents, more prone to depression (Karevold et al., 2009). Another factor is
a belief system in which adolescents see themselves in an extremely negative light.
Depression-prone adolescents are, for example, more likely to blame themselves for failure (Cole
et al., 2011). Thus, after the disappointing date, a depression-prone teen is likely to think, “I
acted like a fool,” instead of placing blame elsewhere by thinking, “Gee. He was a real jerk!”

Parents and families can also put an adolescent at risk for depression. Adolescents more often
become depressed when their parents are emotionally distant and uninvolved and when family
life is stressful due to economic disadvantage or marital conflict (Karevold et al., 2009; Yap,
Allen, & Ladouceur, 2008). And because African American and Hispanic American adolescents
more often live in poverty, they’re more often depressed (Brown, Meadows, & Elder, 2007).
Finally, when parents rely on punitive discipline—hitting and shouting—adolescents often resort
to the negative attributions (e.g., blaming themselves) that can lead to depression (Lau et al.,
2007).

Heredity also plays a role, putting some adolescents at greater risk for depression (Haeffel et al.,
2008; Petersen et al., 2012). Neurotransmitters may be the underlying mechanism: Some
adolescents may feel depressed because lower levels of neurotransmitters make it difficult for
them to experience happiness, joy, and other pleasurable emotions (Kaufman & Charney, 2003).

Treating Depression
To treat depression, some adolescents take antidepressant drugs designed to correct the
imbalance in neurotransmitters. However, drug treatment has no lasting effects—it only works
while people are taking the drugs—and it has been linked to increased risk of suicide (Vitiello &
Swedo, 2004). Consequently, psychotherapy is a better choice for treating depressed adolescents.
One common approach emphasizes cognitive and social skills—adolescents learn how to have
rewarding social interactions and to interpret them appropriately. These treatments are effective
(Weisz, McCarty, & Valeri, 2006), and depressed adolescents do need help; left untreated,
depression can interfere with performance in school and social relationships and may lead to
recurring depression in adulthood (Nevid. Rathus, & Greene, 2003; Rudolph, Ladd, & Dinella,
2007).

Preventing Teen Suicides

Roughly 10% of adolescents report having attempted suicide at least once, but only 1 in 10,000
commits suicide. Suicide is most frequent in older adolescent boys, particularly among Native
American teenage boys (Anderson & Smith, 2005). Few suicides are truly spontaneous; in most
cases, there are warning signals (Atwater, 1992), including threats of suicide, preoccupation with
death, and loss of interest in activities that were once important. When teens show these
symptoms, they should not be ignored. Instead, someone should stay with the teen, who should
seek professional help. Therapy is essential to treating the feelings of depression and
hopelessness that give rise to thoughts of suicide (Capuzzi & Gross, 2004).

Delinquency
Adolescents are responsible for much of the criminal activity committed in the United States
(Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2010). Some of this activity is relatively mild:
Adolescent-limited antisocial behavior refers to relatively minor criminal acts by adolescents
who aren’t consistently antisocial. These youth may become involved in petty crimes, such as
shoplifting or using drugs, but may be careful to follow all school rules. However, their
antisocial behavior is short lived, usually vanishing in late adolescence or early adulthood
(Moffitt, 1993; Moffitt & Caspi, 2005).

Aggressive teens see the world as a hostile place and typically respond aggressively by default.
A second form of delinquent behavior is far more serious and, fortunately, much less common.
Life-course persistent antisocial behavior refers to antisocial behavior that emerges at an
early age and continues throughout life. These individuals may start with hitting at 3 years of age
and progress to shoplifting at age 12 and then to car theft at age 16 (Odgers et al., 2008). Perhaps
only 5% of youth fit this pattern of antisocial behavior, but they account for most adolescent
criminal activity.

Several forces contribute to this type of antisocial and delinquent behavior (Vitulano, 2005).
Twin studies make it clear that heredity contributes: Identical twins are usually more alike in
their levels of physical aggression than are fraternal twins (Brendgen et al., 2006; Lacourse et al.,
2014). Some children apparently inherit factors that place them at risk for aggressive or violent
behavior, such as temperament: Youngsters who are temperamentally difficult, overly emotional,
or inattentive are, for example, more likely to be aggressive (Joussemet et al., 2008; Xu, Farver,
& Zhang, 2009).

Cognitive skills also play a role in antisocial behavior. Adolescent boys often respond
aggressively because they are not skilled at interpreting other people’s intentions. Without a clear
interpretation in mind, they respond aggressively by default. That is, aggressive boys far too
often think, “I don’t know what you’re up to, and when in doubt, attack” (Crick & Dodge, 1994;
Crozier et al., 2008; Fontaine et al., 2009). Antisocial adolescents are often inclined

to act impulsively, and they often are unable or unwilling to postpone pleasure (Fontaine, 2007).
Seeing a new iPad or a car, delinquent youth are tempted to steal it simply so that they can have
it right now. When others inadvertently get in their way, delinquent adolescents often respond
without regard to the nature of the other person’s acts or intentions.
 Antisocial behavior is often related to inadequate parenting. Adolescents are more likely to
become involved in delinquent acts when their parents use harsh discipline or don’t monitor
effectively (Gershoff, 2013; Lee, Altschul, & Gershoff, 2013; Vieno et al., 2009). Parents may
also contribute to delinquent behavior if their marital relationship is marked by constant conflict.
When parents constantly argue and fight, their children are more likely to be antisocial
(Cummings et al., 2006; Feldman, Masalha, & Derdikman-Eiron, 2010).

Aggressive and antisocial behavior is more common among children living in poverty than
among children who are economically advantaged (Williams, Conger, & Blozis, 2007). Living in
poverty is extremely stressful for parents and often leads to the very parental behaviors that
promote aggression—harsh discipline and lax monitoring (Shaw & Shelleby, 2014). In addition,
children living in poverty-stricken neighborhoods are more often exposed to violence, and such
exposure leads to antisocial behavior (Bingenheimer, Brennan, & Earls, 2005).

Human Development in Action

Imagine that you are a social worker. Plan a workshop for law-enforcement officials in which
you describe the factors that predispose some adolescents to antisocial behavior.

Many factors contribute to make some adolescents prone to violent behavior. When risk factors
mount up in children’s lives, they are at ever-greater risk for aggressive behavior (Vaillancourt et
al., 2013). Efforts to prevent children from taking a developmental path that leads to antisocial
behavior in adolescence begin early. One successful intervention program is Fast Track (Bierman
et al., 2013; Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group, 2011), which is designed to teach
academic and social skills to elementary-school children plus life and vocational skills to
adolescents. In addition, parents are taught skills for effective childrearing and, later, how to stay
involved with their children and to monitor their behavior. At 12th grade—2 years after the
program had ended—aggressive and destructive behavior among children who were at highest
risk in kindergarten was cut in half compared to similar high-risk children assigned to a control
condition.

In the Linking Research to Life feature, we show how human development research has been
used to decide appropriate punishment for adolescent offenders.