Development Stages in Middle
and Late Adolescence
Adolescence – Between Childhood and
Adulthood
Adolescents develop physically, cognitively, psychologically, socially and
spiritually.
The ages during adolescence may be bracketed as follows (Corpus et al. 2010):
Early Adolescence – ages around 10 to 13 years
Middle Adolescence – ages from 14 to 16 years
Late Adolescence - ages from 17 to 20 years
Age of adolescence are differ in definition from each American psychologist.
Erikson’s Eight Stages of Personality Development
Stage: Infancy (from birth to 18 months)
Influential Figure: Parents
Conflict or Crisis to be Resolved: Trust vs. Mistrust
Favorable Results
Being able to trust others when primary caregiver (usually the mother provide
caring, attention and love.
Unfavorable Results
Mistrusting others, withdrawal or estrangement
Stage: Early Childhood (18 months to 3 years)
Influential Figure: Parents
Conflict or Crisis to be Resolved: Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt
Favorable Results
Develop self-control and physical skills, and sense of independence without losing self-esteem
Ability to cooperate and to express oneself
Develops feeling autonomy
Unfavorable Results
Compulsive self-restraint or compliance
Willfulness and defiance
Failure will result in feelings of shame and doubt
Stage: Late Childhood (Pre-School) (3 – 5 years)
Influential Figure: Parents and Teachers
Conflict or Crisis to be Resolved: Initiative vs. Guilt
Favorable Results
Learns that being assertive, using power and being purposeful can influence their environment
Develops sense of purpose
Starts to evaluate one’s behavior
Unfavorable Results
When using too much power and control, might experience disapproval resulting in lack of self-confidence and sense of
guilt
Pessimism, fear of being wrongly judged
Stage: School Age (6 – 12 years)
Influential Figure: Parents and Teachers
Conflict or Crisis to be Resolved: Industry vs. Inferiority
Favorable Results
Learns how to cope with the school environment and its demands
Learn how to create, develop and manipulate
Develops a sense of competence and perseverance
Unfavorable Results
Loss of hope, sense of being mediocre
Develops feelings of inferiority
Withdrawal from school and peers
Stage: Adolescence (12 – 20 years)
Influential Figure: Teachers and Significant Others
Conflict or Crisis to be Resolved: Identity vs. Role Confusion
Favorable Results
Develops a sense of self and identity
Plans to actualize one’s abilities
Develops the ability to stay true to oneself
Unfavorable Results
Feeling of confusion, indecisiveness and anti-social behavior
Weak sense of self
Stage: Young Adulthood (20 – 25 years)
Influential Figure: Friends
Conflict or Crisis to be Resolved: Intimacy vs. Isolation
Favorable Results
Develops a strong need to form intimate, loving relationships with a group of people or with another person
Develops strong relationships
Learns commitment to work and with another person or group
Unfavorable Results
Impersonal, weak relationships
Avoidance of relationship, career or lifestyle commitments
May result in isolation and loneliness
Stage: Adulthood (25 – 65 years)
Influential Figure: Community
Conflict or Crisis to be Resolved: Generativity vs. Stagnation
Favorable Results
Creates or nurtures things that will outlast them, either by having children or creating a positive change
that benefits others.
Creativity, productivity, feeling of usefulness and accomplishment, and concern for others
Unfavorable Results
Self-indulgence, self-concern, or lack of interests and commitments
Shallow involvement in the world, pessimism
Stage: Maturity (65 years to death)
Influential Figure: Community
Conflict or Crisis to be Resolved: Integrity vs. Despair
Favorable Results
Sense of fulfillment as one looks back in one’s life and develops feeling of wisdom
Acceptance of worth and uniqueness of one’s own life
Acceptance of the inevitability of death and transitioning
Unfavorable Results
Sense of loss, contempt for others
May result in regret, bitterness and despair
Adolescence: Identity vs. Role Confusion
Identity is the concept of an individual about himself/herself and
is often referred to as “self-identity”. It a self-belief of what the
individual thinks and feels about himself/herself. Roles
oftentimes for part of this self-identity
Birth order in the family
Nature of work
Occupation or title
Academic and social standing
Self-identity is molded through various interactive experiences around
himself/herself:
Their family and community
His/her responses in terms of thinking, attitude and behavior to external stimuli
How others perceive him/her
Role confusion is the negation of self-identity, in a sense that there is
confusion over one’s self-concept or the absence or lack of such concept.
Havighurst’s Developmental Task for Adolescents
1. The adolescent must adjust to a new physical sense of self.
2. The adolescent must adjust to new intellectual abilities.
3. The adolescent must adjust to increased cognitive demands at
school.
4. The adolescent must develop expanded verbal skills.
5. The adolescent must develop a personal sense of identity.
6. The adolescent must establish adult vocational goals.
7. The adolescent must establish emotional and psychological
independence from his or her parents.
8. The adolescent must develop stable and productive peer
relationships.
9. The adolescent must learn to manage his or her sexuality.
10. The adolescent must adopt a personal value system.
11. The adolescent must develop increased impulse control and
behavioral maturity.
Piaget’s Cognitive Development: Formal Operators
What makes us human in mind is our ability to
process formal operations that allow us to
philosophize, innovate, create, imagine,
hypothesize, deduct, and criticize externally and
internally, overtly or covertly.
The Challenges of Middle and
Late Adolescence
Challenges During Adolescence
1. Attitudes and behavior toward sexuality and sexual
relationships
2. Academic concerns
3. Group belongingness
4. Health and nutrition
5. Developing or Regaining Self-Esteem
6. Roles
7. Material Poverty
8. Parents Working Abroad
9. Career Choice
10. Relationships
11. Values and Beliefs
12. Other Challenges
Defining Responsibilities and Expectations
In defining your responsibilities, your self-
identity should be made clear to you. By
defining your responsibilities, your values
should be clearly defined too. Your role in
society should also be defined in order to
define your responsibilities.
1. You are a citizen of the world and of the Philippines
2. You are a resident of your city, town, and barangay
3. You are a member of your family and probably have
siblings and a set of parents
4. You are a student in a local public or private high
school
5. You are a friend to somebody, and this relationship
may be romantic or friendly
6. You are probably a member of an informal friendly
group or student organization
7. You are a child of the universe
8. Lastly, you are you and you have responsibilities to
yourself as your own personal caregiver
