Discuss the extent to which adolescence can be defined as a period of ‘storm and stress’.

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  • Adolescence - a period of storm and stress (Hall, 1904)?
    • No
      • Marcia (1980) identity status
        • Diffusion - hasn't made a commitment
        • Foreclosure - willing to commit without serious consideration
        • Moratorium (crisis stage)  - considers alternatives to commitments
        • Achievement of identity - resolved crisis and found identity
        • Searching for an identity could be a stressful time but is rewarding
          • Not necessarily storm and stress period if adolescents achieve identity
      • Piaget's formal operational stage
        • Consider all possible combinations in relation to the whole problem
        • Reason about a hypothetical situation
        • Acquire more advanced cognitive thinking in adolescence
          • Some authors (including Wellman & Gelman, 1998) suggest that many of these cognitive skills are acquired before adolescence
            • Later changes are not developmental - adolescent thinking changes quantitatively
    • Yes
      • Hormonal effects
        • Hormonal bursts involving emotional extremes of despair and ecstasy
        • Testosterone causes rapid arousal of emotions, mainly in males
        • Oestrogen fluctuates causing mood variation of sadness/happiness, mainly in girls
      • Elkind
        • Egocentrism - only able to see the world through one's own perspective
          • Leads to distorted perceptions of how other judge them - conflict
        • Imaginary audience - others are as interested in them as they are in themselves
          • Could lead to stress over one's appearance, eating etc.
      • Another aspect of adolescent thinking is invincibility
        • They are special so won't get addicted/harmed
          • Lead to more risk taking behaviour

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