Personal

Development
Developmental Stages in
the Middle and Late
Adolescence
At the end of this lesson, you can:

▪ classify various developmental tasks

according to the developmental stage; and
▪ list ways on how to become responsible
adolescents prepared for life
 Growing up is never easy considering the various developmental
tasks that you need to learn to prepare yourself to the challenges of
life. According to Robert Havighurst, these developmental tasks
refer to the specific knowledge, skills, attitudes, and functions
that a person needs to acquire and, in turn, be able to
demonstrate at certain periods in his or her life. Knowing your tasks
is very important for this will serve as your guide in doing things that
are expected of you. Now, please reflect to the following questions
below:
a. What are your tasks at home?
b. At school?
c. At the community?
 What’s New

Activity1: BEFORE AND NOW…

The objective of this activity is to help you discover what life was before
and compare it with your present life as a teenager. By uncovering the
differences, you may be able to understand how generations evolve and be
able to describe the characteristics of the modern generations. Your answers
may be based from their life style, courting style, playing, studying and
others. Write your answers below .
There are different principles of development:
1. Sequential - This principle of development happens in a fixed
sequence. One good example of this is the development of a fetus.
Inside the mother's womb, the fetus will first develop organs before
being able to have limbs. A person cannot skip stages and
milestones in his life to fast forward and reach the end.

2. Individualized - This principle of development puts emphasis to

one's development being influenced by his/her genes and
environment. Therefore, a person will not likely to develop in
exactly the same way as someone else will. Although there are a lot
of similarities across different adolescents, one must keep an open
mind that there will always be differences and exceptions to the
rule.
3. Gradual - The idea of development, like the development of a
tree, does not happen instantly. It does not happen overnight but
instead, it occurs in a gradual manner. Just think about your hair
after you had your new and trendy haircut, it will slowly grow back
after a few weeks.

4. Holistic - In this principle of development, the person must be

looked at as a whole person - physically, cognitively and
socioemotionally - to be able to understand one's development. For
example, a change in a person's physical look, such as the
appearance of pimples on the face, can trigger feelings of insecurity
and isolation from others.
 The Developmental Tasks in Adolescence
According to Robert Havighurst, the developmental tasks during adolescence
are as follows:
1. Achieving new and more mature relations with age mates of both sexes
2. Achieving a masculine or feminine social role
3. Accepting one’s physique and using one’s body effectively
4. Achieving emotional independence from parents and other adults
5. Preparing for marriage and family life
6. Preparing for economic career
7. Acquiring a set of values and an ethical system as a guide to behavior-
developing ideology
8. Desiring, accepting, and achieving socially responsible behavior.

These developmental tasks are mastered by teenagers in a sequential

order, following three stages in the adolescence period, namely: early
adolescence, middle adolescence, and late adolescence (Kimmel and Weiner,
 ✓ Early Adolescence (this happens when you are 10-13
years old)
At this stage you may experience rapid growth and various
changes. Your primary developmental tasks at this stage
involves the following:

▪ Adapting to biological and mental development

▪ Accept one’s physique and use one’s body effectively
▪ Embrace the fact that you are physically maturing
already and know how to take care of your body
▪ Already sexually capable of reproduction
▪ You need to be comfortable with the way you look.
✓ Middle Adolescence (this occurs around 14-16 years
old)
Your primary tasks as a teenager in this period are as follows:
▪ Achieving new and more mature relations with age
mates of both sexes
▪ Achieving a masculine or feminine social role
▪ Achieving emotional independence from parents and
other adults
▪ Becoming more adept in social settings and more
capable of establishing intimate relationship
▪ Attraction that you feel to another person- learning to
handle heterosexual relationships, dating, and sexuality.
 ✓ Late Adolescence
This starts when you are 17 years old until you have shown a sense
of consistency in your personal identity in relation to people around you,
and you have begun to form some fairly definite social roles, value
systems, and life goals (Kimmel and Weiner, 1995). The tasks expected
of you at this stage are the following:

Already formed attitudes, learned skills, and established

relationships that will give you bases of ascertaining what kind of a
person you are or what kind of life you want to lead.

▪ Focused on planning and preparing for marriage and family life,

preparing for an economic career, on acquiring a set of values and an
ethical system as a guide to behavior or ideology, and on desiring
and achieving socially responsible behavior.
 It is true that growing up has never been easy and adolescence is
full of challenges because it is a stage of “becoming” rather than
of “being”. You need to work hard to master these
developmental tasks and the challenge is to maintain a positive
attitude towards those responsibilities that you will be taking
into. Do not take it as a difficult task but rather take it as an
opportunity for you to grow. What is important is you are
learning in each task, improve the things that are not well done,
and embrace the things undone.
 Adolescents in the 21st Century

Your parents and grandparents lived in a world characterized by

a culture of hard work. To illustrate further this said culture,
imagine how your parents or grandparents cook for food before,
the ways and preparations in cooking is never easy since there
was no stove available. Imagine cooking before with a long
process from getting woods to producing heat. Unlike today,
where there are available stove, oven or butane for easy cooking
process. You also have instant noodles, instant coffee mix, and
instant sauces. More so, you have fast food outlets, computers,
gadgets, internet, e-books, and among others that make things
easier and more convenient and accessible.
Another observation in today’s
generation is in the courtship style.
Unlike before that there was harana,
the boys will really go to the house of
the girl to ask permission from the
parents to allow the boy to court the
girl. Now, because of the onset of
telecommunication, it seems that
courtship is done instantly, and virtual
relationship come into existence.
Having a relationship through text or
computer is now embraced by the new
generation. Hence, the culture of instant result in today’s
generation is visible.
 In addition, materialism characterizes the youth of today. How do
you react when you see your classmate having the latest gadget,
having a new pair of branded shoes, bag, or apparel? Are you not
admiring that person? Are you not envious of him or her? Do you
also wish that hopefully you have those things as well? These
material possessions become status symbols for adolescents
nowadays. According to Hurlock (1982), status symbol are prestige
symbols that tell others that the owner is of higher status (e.g., in
socioeconomic and in achievements) than other people. These
symbols become the bases of their security, of being accepted, and
of their personality. However, being materialistic results in
prioritizing image rather than working on one’s inner beauty and
holistic value as a person. That is one thing that teenagers should be
extra careful because they might be too materialistic and forget self-
respect self- value.
 Taking charge or assuming responsibility is the ability to choose your own
responses (Convey, 2004) to encountered circumstances. This means that you are
responsible and accountable of your behavior, without making excuses or
blaming others for your mistakes. Successful people take full responsibility of
their actions. They take charge to realize their goals, act with motivation and
determination, and correct their mistakes to stay on track of their goals. Now,
listen to this call for responsibility! Start looking yourself and work on the
following building blocks of responsibility by Feiden (1991):

1. A strong sense of self-esteem. The most important building block of

responsibility is high self-esteem, which should be a positive belief in oneself.
2. The capacity for empathy. The ability to put oneself in another’s shoes so
that you understand what he/she is going through.
3. Knowing right from wrong. Taking accountability of your actions means
facing the consequences of your actions.
4. Developing good judgement. Ability to make good decisions make you
rooted to integrity and strong personal values.
 What I have Learned
Activity 3: MY SELF-ASSESSMENT
Complete the table below to assess your own level of development as a
senior high school student.

What are the What are the What are the

expected tasks you expected tasks you expected tasks you
have successfully have partially have not accomplished?
accomplished? accomplished?
Write at least three (3)
tasks…

Source: DepEd Personal Development Module page 20

 What’s More

Activity 2: MY PERSONAL TIMELINE

A personal timeline portrays the influential events and happenings of a

person’s life so that he can understand where he has gone wrong and right in the
past. It helps to plan the future in a better constructive way.
Using a bond paper, write the major events in your life and the significant people
in your life. You may add your age, specific dates and places. You may draw the
timeline horizontally, vertically, diagonally or even using ups and down
depending on your imagination. Be creative in your representations. You may also
use symbols, figures and drawings. Think of a title for your personal timeline.
You may use crayons or art materials depending on the available resources or just a
simple paper and pen may be fine. You can also go for the personal timeline website
template samples available online. The link is
https://www.template.net/business/timeline-templates/personal-timeline-template/