Psychological Identity During Adolescence

I was influenced most developmentally by my parent’s divorce and my support systems during my adolescence. My parents’ divorce was a pivotal influence on my development as it created stress in my life that I had to learn to cope with. Their separation caused a strain on my family, and due to their fighting I no longer felt the same safety and comfort at home I did before. I began going to parties with my peers, and I started to use alcohol as a way to cope. Developmentally, I may or may not have had the skills to recognize my behavior was risky, but as a teenage novelty seeker I partook anyways. I developed this poor coping skill, and later in life I had to unlearn it. Although this experience was not pleasant and hampered my development of …show more content…
The influence of my support system greatly impacted my development, as it allowed me to not be overcome by the stresses in my life, and in fact thrive developmentally.
My psychological identity during adolescence greatly influenced my psychological and social development. I was able to develop the functions of psychological identify, and therefore develop an understanding of my roles and go through the process of individuation. Concerning the functions of psychological identity, I found a structure for understanding who I was through journaling. Writing journal entries helped me self-evaluate and self-explore, therefore allowing me to understand myself on a deeper level. Furthermore, I developed meaning and direction through commitments and goals due to my involvement in sports. During my adolescence I was a member of basketball, track, and cross country teams, and this involvement taught me how to commit to a task and accomplish personal goals. For example, each year of high school I aimed to get faster in cross country and qualify for higher level competitions, and due largely to my psychological identity development, I was able to mental and physical hone my skills to …show more content…
During my biological maturation into adolescence, as my brain began to develop the ability to think more formally, I was influenced greatly by school (Hutchison, 2013). In high school I was enrolled in honors courses, which challenged me to think more abstractly and critically. My teachers would allow my fellow students and I to engage in debates, and we were given challenging and stimulating assignments. Instead of tests with questions straight from a book, many of my teachers tested us in more abstract ways by having us critically assess a situation. I was also involved in chess club, which I believe forced me to think more abstractly and analytically. These experiences at school forced my brain to practice nonconcrete thinking, and I believe they allowed me to develop at a more advanced pace. School involvement allowed me to move from Piaget’s concrete operational stage, where I thought more literally and concretely, to the formal operational stage (Hutchison, 2013). The opportunities I was afforded in high school were pivotal to my cognitive development and my success in Piaget’s formal operational