PSYC 230-01, Principles of Development: Adolescence and Young Adulthood, Spring 2007

Abstract

A. Content/Knowledge Objectives Students will be expected to acquire a familiarity with current theories of adolescence and early adult development, and to evaluate the evidence relevant to them. This will involve • Learning concepts, terminology, and methods used by researchers in this area • Learning to evaluate theories and evidence critically, and to participate in discussions about the important questions in the field. • Learning to apply the theory and research we cover to matters of social and educational policy that affect the welfare of adolescents. B. Student Skills to be Developed The assignments and the use of class time in this course focus on exercising skills and dispositions required of professionals in adolescent psychology. These include: • Learning to formulate your own questions and hypotheses in professionally sophisticated formats, and learning to find relevant information for addressing those questions. Students will be encouraged to give special attention to course material that stimulates their own interests and questions. • The ability to contribute to a productive discussion both by expressing your own ideas and by facilitating the development and expression of others' ideas. Students should be mindful of preparing themselves to join an important national discourse concerning the well-being and the education of our youth. • The ability to find and evaluate a body of scientific research relevant to a well-defined question, and to write a review of those findings in standard professional style. C. Recurring Themes There are three major themes that will continually come into focus throughout this course. These will come into our conversations as we consider every aspect of development. (1) Most theorists recognize that the primary psychological tasks of adolescence are organized around the development of something we call ‘identity.’ We will be occupied frequently with considerations of what we mean by identity development, and of how this construct relates to the various ‘problems’ of adolescence and to our efforts to improve the well-being and the education of our youth. (2) It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that gender and sexuality are pre-eminent features in the world of adolescence. Although some theorists believe that gender identity is established years earlier, no one disputes the notion that the adoption of gendered roles and coming to terms with sexuality and gender are critical challenges for this part of the life cycle. Many of the experiences, opportunities, and outcomes of adolescent development may be different in interesting ways for girls and boys, and few topics in adolescent development can be understood without considering how they relate to questions of gender and sexuality. (3) We will find that ‘adolescence’ has very different meanings depending on the socio-cultural and historical context. We will examine ways that adolescent development is influenced by (a) media messages and general beliefs about what teens are like and how they can be expected to behave, and (b) cultural norms that specify the appropriate times for economic independence, marriage, childbearing, etc. The experiences, opportunities, and outcomes of adolescent development vary markedly and in interesting ways for individuals in different ethnic and racial groups and for teens with different cultural traditions. We must be careful not to talk about “adolescent development” without asking “Which adolescents?”