Chapter 12: Emotional and Social Development in Adolescence

These findings raise the question of whether Kohlberg's highest level represents a culturally specific way of thinking—one limited to Western societies that emphasize individualism and an appeal to an inner, private conscience. At the same time, a review of over 100 studies confirmed an age-related trend consistent with Kohlberg's Stages 1 to 4 across diverse societies (Gibbs et al., 2007). A common morality of justice is clearly evident in the dilemma responses of people from vastly different cultures.

A central assumption of the cognitive-developmental perspective is that moral understanding should affect moral action. According to Kohlberg, mature moral thinkers realize that behaving in line with their beliefs is vital for creating and maintaining a just social world (Gibbs, 2014). Consistent with this idea, higher-stage adolescents more often act prosocially by helping, sharing, and defending victims of injustice and by volunteering in their communities (Carlo et al., 2011; Comunian & Gielen, 2000, 2006). Also, they less often engage in cheating, aggression, and other antisocial behaviors (Raaijmakers, Engels, & van Hoof, 2005; Stams et al., 2006). Yet the connection between more mature moral reasoning and action is only modest. As we have seen, moral behavior is influenced by many factors besides cognition, including the emotions of empathy, sympathy, and guilt; individual differences in temperament; and cultural experiences that affect moral decision making. Compared with children, adolescents increasingly say they would feel negatively after committing a moral transgression and positively after acting morally (Krettenauer et al., 2014). Moral decisions and anticipated emotions become better coordinated over time, contributing to gains in teenagers' motivation to act morally. Moral identity—the degree to which morality is central to self-concept—also affects moral behavior (Hardy & Carlo, 2011). In a study of low-SES African-American and Hispanic teenagers, those who emphasized moral traits and goals in their self-descriptions displayed exceptional levels of community service (Hart & Fegley, 1995). And when 10- to 18-year-olds rated moral traits on the basis of whether each reflected the kind of person they wanted to be, those with a stronger moral ideal self were viewed by their parents as more ethical and altruistic in behavior (Hardy et al., 2012). Researchers are identifying factors that strengthen moral identity. Certain parenting practices—inductive discipline (see page 213 in Chapter 8) and clearly conveyed moral expectations—augment adolescents' moral identity (Patrick & Gibbs, 2011). Also, opportunities to enact moral behaviors through community service enhance adolescents' self-understanding, thereby contributing to a stronger moral identity and, in turn, to moral motivation (Matsuba, Murzyn, & Hart, 2014).

Parent-Adolescent Relationships

A variety of changes within the adolescent support autonomy. In Chapter 11, we saw that puberty triggers psychological distancing from parents. In addition, as young people look more mature, parents give them more independence and responsibility (McElhaney et al., 2009). Gradually, adolescents make decisions more effectively, and an improved ability to reason about social relationships leads teenagers to deidealize their parents, viewing them as "just people." Consequently, they no longer bend as easily to parental authority.

Identity Status and Psychological Well-Being

A wealth of research verifies that both identity achievement and moratorium are psychologically healthy routes to a mature self-definition. Long-term foreclosure and diffusion, in contrast, are maladaptive. Although young people in moratorium are at times anxious and depressed about finding commitments, they resemble identity-achieved individuals in using an active, information-gathering cognitive style to make personal decisions and solve problems: They seek out relevant information, evaluate it carefully, and critically reflect on their views (Berzonsky, 2011). Individuals who are identity-achieved or exploring tend to have higher self-esteem, are more open to alternative ideas and values, feel more in control of their lives, are more likely to view school and work as feasible avenues for realizing their aspirations, and are more advanced in moral reasoning and more concerned with social justice (Berzonsky et al., 2011; Crocetti et al., 2013). But an exception to these favorable outcomes exists: If exploration becomes ruminative—excessively concerned with making the right choice so the young person makes no choice at all—it is associated with distress and poor adjustment (Beyers & Luyckx, 2016). Because foreclosure involves commitment, it offers a sense of security (Meeus et al., 2012). Although typically low in anxiety and highly satisfied with life, foreclosed individuals display a dogmatic, inflexible cognitive style, internalizing the values and beliefs of parents and others without deliberate evaluation and resisting information that threatens their position (Berzonsky, 2011; Berzonsky et al., 2011). Most fear rejection by people on whom they depend for affection and self-esteem. Long-term diffused individuals are the least mature in identity development. They typically use a diffuse-avoidant cognitive style in which they avoid dealing with personal decisions and problems and, instead, allow current situational pressures to dictate their reactions (Berzonsky, 2011; Crocetti et al., 2013). Taking an "I don't care" attitude, they entrust themselves to luck or fate and tend to go along with the crowd. As a result, they often experience time management and academic difficulties, are low in self-esteem and prone to depression, and, of all young people, are the most likely to commit antisocial acts and to use and abuse drugs (Meeus et al., 2012). Often at the heart of their apathy is a sense of hopelessness about the future.

Influences on Identity Development

Adolescent identity formation begins a lifelong, dynamic process in which a change in either the individual or the context opens up the possibility of reformulating identity. A wide variety of factors influence identity development. Identity status, as we have just seen, is both cause and consequence of personality characteristics. Adolescents who assume that absolute truth is always attainable tend to be foreclosed, while those who doubt that they will ever feel certain about anything are more often identity-diffused. Young people who are curious, open-minded, rational, and persistent in the face of obstacles, are likely to be in a state of moratorium or identity achievement (Berzonsky et al., 2011; Schwartz et al., 2013). Parenting practices are associated with identity statuses. Young people who feel attached to their parents but also free to voice their own opinions tend to have committed to values and goals and are on their way to identity achievement (Crocetti et al., 2014; Luyckx, Goossens, & Soenens, 2006). Foreclosed teenagers often have close bonds with parents but lack opportunities for healthy separation. And diffused young people report the lowest levels of parental support and of warm, open communication (Arseth et al., 2009). Interaction with diverse peers through school and community activities encourages adolescents to explore values and role possibilities (Barber et al., 2005). In one study, 15-year-olds with warm, trusting peer ties were more involved in exploring relationship issues (Meeus, Oosterwegel, & Vollebergh, 2002). They thought seriously about what they valued in close friends and in a life partner. Schools and communities can help by offering rich and varied opportunities for exploration. Supportive experiences include classrooms that promote high-level thinking, teachers and counselors who encourage low-SES and ethnic minority students to go to college, elective classes and extracurricular and community activities that enable teenagers to pursue their interests and talents, and vocational training that immerses adolescents in the real world of adult work (Hardy et al., 2011; McIntosh, Metz, & Youniss, 2005; Sharp et al., 2007). Culture strongly influences an aspect of mature identity not captured by the identity-status approach: constructing a sense of self-continuity despite significant personal changes. In one study, researchers asked Native Canadian and cultural-majority 12- to 20-year-olds to describe themselves in the past and in the present and then to justify why they regarded themselves as the same continuous person (Lalonde & Chandler, 2005). Most cultural-majority adolescents used an individualistic approach: They described an enduring personal essence, a core self that remained the same despite change. In contrast, Native Canadian youths took an interdependent approach that emphasized a constantly transforming self, resulting from new roles and relationships. They typically constructed a coherent narrative in which they linked together various time slices of their life with a thread that explained how they had changed in meaningful ways. Finally, societal forces also are responsible for the special challenges faced by lesbian, gay, and bisexual youths (see Chapter 11) and by ethnic minority adolescents in forming a secure identity (see the Cultural Influences box above). Applying What We Know on page 334 summarizes ways that adults can support adolescents in their quest for identity.

Parenting Practices

Adolescents who gain most in moral understanding have parents who engage in moral discussions, encourage prosocial behavior, insist that others be treated respectfully and fairly, and create a supportive atmosphere by listening sensitively, asking clarifying questions, and presenting higher-level reasoning (Carlo, 2014; Pratt, Skoe, & Arnold, 2004). In one study, 11-year-olds were asked what they thought an adult would say to justify a moral rule, such as not lying, stealing, or breaking a promise. Those with warm, demanding, communicative parents were far more likely than their agemates to point to the importance of ideal reciprocity: "You wouldn't like it if I did it to you" (Leman, 2005).

Coordinating Moral, Social-Conventional, and Personal Concerns

Adolescents' moral advances are also evident in their reasoning about situations that raise competing moral, social-conventional, and personal issues. In diverse Western and non-Western cultures, concern with matters of personal choice strengthens during the teenage years—a reflection of adolescents' quest for identity and increasing independence (Rote & Smetana, 2015). As young people firmly insist that parents not encroach on the personal arena (dress, hairstyle, diary records, friendships), disputes over these issues increase. As they enlarge the range of issues they regard as personal, adolescents think more intently about conflicts between personal choice and community obligation—for example, whether, and under what conditions, it is permissible to restrict speech, religion, marriage, group membership, and other individual rights. When asked if it is OK to exclude a child from a peer group on the basis of race or gender, fourth graders usually say exclusion is always unfair. But by tenth grade, young people, though increasingly mindful of fairness, indicate that under certain conditions—in intimate relationships (friendship) and private contexts (at home or in a small club), and on the basis of gender more often than race—exclusion is OK (Killen et al., 2002, 2007; Rutland, Killen, & Abrams, 2010). In explaining, they mention the right to personal choice as well as concerns about effective group functioning. As adolescents integrate personal rights with ideal reciprocity, they demand that the protections they want for themselves extend to others. For example, older high school students are more likely than their younger counterparts to believe that lesbian and gay youths have the right to be free of discrimination in school, and they justify with moral reasoning: "We should treat others as we wish to be treated ourselves" (Horn & Heinze, 2011). And with age, teenagers increasingly defend the government's right to limit individual freedom to engage in risky health behaviors, such as smoking and drinking, in the interest of the larger public good (Flanagan, Stout, & Gallay, 2008). Similarly, adolescents are increasingly mindful of the overlap between moral imperatives and social conventions. Eventually they realize that violating strongly held conventions—showing up at a wedding in a T-shirt, talking out of turn at a student council meeting—can harm others, either by inducing distress or by undermining fair treatment. As their grasp of fairness deepens, young people understand that many social conventions have moral implications: They are vital for maintaining a just and peaceful society (Nucci, 2001). Notice how this understanding is central to Kohlberg's Stage 4, which is typically attained as adolescence draws to a close.

Paths to Identity

Adolescents' well-organized self-descriptions and differentiated sense of self-esteem provide the cognitive foundation for forming an identity. Through interviews or questionnaires, researchers commonly evaluate progress in identity development on two key criteria derived from Erikson's theory: exploration and commitment. Their various combinations yield four identity statuses, summarized in Table 12.1: identity achievement, commitment to values and goals following a period of exploration; identity moratorium, exploration without having reached commitment; identity foreclosure, commitment in the absence of exploration; and identity diffusion, characterized by lack of both exploration and commitment. Identity development follows many paths. Some young people remain in one status, whereas others experience multiple status transitions. And the pattern often varies across identity domains, such as sexual orientation, vocation, and religious and political values. When assessed periodically between the mid-teens and mid-twenties, many young people change from "lower" statuses (foreclosure or diffusion) to higher ones (moratorium or achievement), but nearly as many remain stable, and some move in the reverse direction (Kroger, 2012; Kroger, Martinussen, & Marcia, 2010; Meeus et al., 2010). The process of identity formation typically involves exploring a range of alternatives, making provisional commitments, engaging in in-depth evaluation of one's choices, and—if those choices fit poorly with one's capacities and potentials—refocusing on possible alternative commitments (Crocetti & Meeus, 2015; Luyckx et al., 2011). Consequently, young people often cycle between in-depth exploration and reconsideration—which can involve intense uncertainty and, thus, temporary diffusion—before eventually arriving at enduring commitments. Because attending college offers expanded opportunities to explore values, career options, and lifestyles, college students usually make more identity progress than they did in high school (Klimstra et al., 2010; Montgomery & Côté, 2003). After college, many young people continue to sample a broad range of life experiences before making clear commitments. Those who go to work immediately after high school graduation generally settle on a self-definition earlier. But if non-college-bound youths encounter obstacles to realizing their occupational goals because of lack of training or vocational choices, they are at risk for identity foreclosure or diffusion (Eccles et al., 2003).

Further Challenges to Kohlberg's Theory

Although much evidence is consistent with the cognitive-developmental approach to morality, Kohlberg's theory has faced major challenges. The most radical opposition comes from researchers who—referring to wide variability in moral reasoning across situations—claim that Kohlberg's stage sequence inadequately accounts for morality in everyday life. These investigators favor abandoning Kohlberg's stages for a pragmatic approach to morality (Krebs, 2011). They assert that everyday moral judgments—rather than being efforts to arrive at just solutions—are practical tools that people use to achieve their goals. To benefit personally, they often must advocate cooperation with others. But people often act first and then invoke moral judgments to rationalize their actions, regardless of whether their behavior is self-centered or prosocial (Haidt, 2013). And sometimes people use moral judgments for immoral purposes—for example, to excuse their transgressions. Is the pragmatic approach correct that people strive to resolve moral conflicts fairly only when they themselves have nothing to lose? Supporters of the cognitive-developmental perspective point out that people frequently rise above self-interest to defend others' rights. Also, adolescents and adults are well aware of the greater adequacy of higher-stage moral reasoning, which some people act on despite highly corrupt environments. And individuals who engage in sudden altruistic action may have previously considered relevant moral issues so thoroughly that their moral judgment activates automatically, triggering an immediate response (Gibbs, 2014; Gibbs et al., 2009). In these instances, people who appear to be engaging in after-the-fact moral justification are actually behaving with great forethought. In sum, the cognitive-developmental approach to morality has done much to clarify our profound moral potential. And despite opposition, Kohlberg's central assumption—that with age, humans everywhere construct a deeper understanding of fairness and justice that guides moral action—remains powerfully influential.

Family Circumstances

As Franca and Antonio's experience with Louis reminds us, adult life stress can interfere with warm, involved parenting and, in turn, with children's adjustment during any period of development. But parents who are financially secure, not overloaded with job pressures, and content with their marriages usually find it easier to grant teenagers appropriate autonomy and experience less conflict with them (Cowan & Cowan, 2002). When Franca and Antonio's work stress eased and they recognized Louis's need for more involvement and guidance, his problems subsided. Among the minority of families with seriously troubled parent-adolescent relationships, most difficulties began in childhood (Collins & Laursen, 2004). Think back to family conditions considered in earlier chapters that pose challenges for adolescents—for example, economic hardship, divorce, single parenthood, blended families, and child maltreatment. Teenagers who develop well despite family stressors continue to benefit from factors that fostered resilience in earlier years: an appealing, easy-going disposition; a parent who combines warmth with high expectations; and (especially if parental supports are lacking) bonds with prosocial adults outside the family who care deeply about the adolescent's well-being (Luthar, Crossman, & Small, 2015).

Peer Relations

As adolescents spend less time with family members, peers become increasingly important. In industrialized nations, young people spend most of each weekday with agemates in school as well as much out-of-class time together. In the following sections, we will see that adolescent peer relationships can be both positive and negative. At their best, peers serve as critical bridges between the family and adult social roles.

Friendship and Adjustment

As long as adolescent friendships are high in trust, intimate sharing, and support and not characterized by relational aggression or attraction to antisocial behavior, they contribute to many aspects of psychological health and competence into early adulthood (Bagwell & Schmidt, 2011; Furman & Rose, 2015), for several reasons: Close friendships provide opportunities to explore the self and develop a deep understanding of another. Through open, honest communication, friends become sensitive to each other's strengths and weaknesses, needs and desires—a process that supports the development of self-concept, perspective taking, and identity. Close friendships provide a foundation for future intimate relationships. Conversations with teenage friends about sexuality and romance, along with the intimacy of friendship itself, may help adolescents establish and work out problems in romantic partnerships (Connolly & Goldberg, 1999). Close friendships help young people deal with the stresses of adolescence. Supportive friendships promote empathy, sympathy, and prosocial behavior. As a result, friendships contribute to involvement in constructive youth activities, avoidance of antisocial acts, and psychological well-being (Barry & Wentzel, 2006; Lansford et al., 2003). Close friendships can improve attitudes toward and involvement in school. Close friendships promote good school adjustment, academically and socially (Wentzel, Barry, & Caldwell, 2004). Teenagers who enjoy interacting with friends at school may begin to view all aspects of school life more positively.

Gender Differences in Friendship Quality

Ask several adolescents to describe their close friendships. You are likely to find that emotional closeness is more common between girls than boys (Hall, 2011). Girls frequently get together to "just talk," and their interactions contain more self-disclosure and supportive statements. In contrast, boys more often gather for an activity—usually sports and competitive games. Boys' discussions usually focus on accomplishments and involve more competition and conflict (Brendgen et al., 2001; Rubin, Bukowski, & Parker, 2006). Boys do form close friendship ties, but the quality of their friendships is more variable. When ethnically diverse boys from low-income families were asked to describe their friendships, African Americans, Asian Americans, and Hispanics mentioned closeness, mutual support, and self-disclosure more often than their white counterparts. But as ethnic minority boys transitioned from mid- to late adolescence, many reported a decline in friendship closeness (Way, 2013). Their remarks revealed that masculine stereotypes—to be tough and unemotional—interfered with these bonds. But perhaps because of cultural valuing of emotional expressiveness between male friends, Hispanic boys were more likely than others to resist conforming to gender stereotypes (Way et al., 2014). Such resistance, by permitting boys to benefit from the supportiveness of intimate friends, is consistently related to better adjustment. Friendship closeness, however, can have costs. When friends focus on deeper thoughts and feelings, they tend to coruminate, or repeatedly mull over problems and negative emotions, with girls doing so more than boys. Corumination, while contributing to high friendship quality, also triggers anxiety and depression—symptoms more common in girls (Hankin, Stone, & Wright, 2010; Rose et al., 2014). And when conflict arises between intimate friends, more potential exists for one party to harm the other through relational aggression—for example, by divulging sensitive personal information to outsiders. Partly for these reasons, girls' closest same-sex friendships tend to be of shorter duration than boys' (Benenson & Christakos, 2003).

The Conventional Level

At the conventional level, individuals regard conformity to social rules as important, but not for reasons of self-interest. Rather, they believe that actively maintaining the current social system ensures positive relationships and societal order. Stage 3: The "good boy-good girl" orientation, or the morality of interpersonal cooperation. The desire to obey rules because they promote social harmony first appears in the context of close personal ties. Stage 3 individuals want to maintain the affection and approval of friends and relatives by being a "good person"—trustworthy, helpful, and nice. The capacity to view a relationship from the vantage point of an impartial, outside observer, which requires recursive thought (see page 249 in Chapter 9), supports this new approach to morality. Individuals now understand ideal reciprocity: They express the same concern for the welfare of another as they do for themselves—a standard of fairness summed up by the Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." An individual favoring Heinz stealing might explain, "Your family will think you're a decent, caring husband if you do." Stage 4: The social-order-maintaining orientation. At this stage, the individual takes into account a larger perspective—that of societal laws. Moral choices no longer depend on close ties to others. Instead, rules must be enforced in the same evenhanded fashion for everyone, and each member of society has a personal duty to uphold them. The Stage 4 individual believes that laws should never be disobeyed because they are vital for ensuring societal order and cooperation between people. Arguing against Heinz stealing, a person might say, "Heinz has a duty like everyone else to obey the law. If he's allowed to break the law because of a tough situation, others will think they can, too. We'll have chaos, not a law-abiding society."

The Preconventional Level

At the preconventional level, morality is externally controlled. Children accept the rules of authority figures and judge actions by their consequences. Behaviors that result in punishment are viewed as bad, those that lead to rewards as good. Stage 1: The punishment and obedience orientation. Children find it difficult to consider two points of view in a moral dilemma. As a result, they overlook people's intentions and focus on fear of authority and avoidance of punishment as reasons for behaving morally. To the Heinz dilemma, an individual who opposes stealing the drug might say, "If you steal, you'll either be sent to jail or have to live in fear of the police finding you." Stage 2: The instrumental purpose orientation. Children become aware that people can have different perspectives in a moral dilemma, but at first this understanding is concrete. They view right action as flowing from self-interest and understand reciprocity as equal exchange of favors: "You do this for me and I'll do that for you." They might argue that Heinz should steal the drug because "then he'll still have his wife to keep him company."

Prevention and Treatment of delinquency

Because delinquency has roots in childhood and results from events in several contexts, prevention must start early and take place at multiple levels (Frey et al., 2009). Positive family relationships, authoritative parenting, high-quality teaching in schools, and communities with healthy economic and social conditions go a long way toward reducing adolescent antisocial acts. Lacking resources for effective prevention, many U.S. schools have implemented zero tolerance policies, which punish all disruptive and threatening behavior, usually with suspension or expulsion. Yet often these policies are implemented inconsistently: Low-SES minority students are two to three times more likely to be punished, especially for minor misbehaviors. No evidence exists that zero tolerance reduces misconduct (Reppucci, Meyer, & Kostelnik, 2011; Teske, 2011). To the contrary, some studies find that these policies heighten high school dropout and antisocial behavior. Treating serious offenders requires an intensive, often lengthy approach, also directed at the multiple determinants of delinquency. In a program called multisystemic therapy, counselors combined family intervention with integrating violent youths into positive school, work, and leisure activities and disengaging them from deviant peers. Compared with conventional services or individual therapy, random assignment to the intervention led to improved parent-adolescent relationships and school performance, a dramatic drop in number of arrests that persisted for two decades after treatment, and—when participants did commit crimes—a reduction in their severity (see Figure 12.3). Multisystemic therapy also helped limit family instability once youth offenders reached adulthood, as measured by involvement in civil suits over divorce, paternity, or child support (Henggeler et al., 2009; Sawyer & Borduin, 2011). Efforts to create nonaggressive environments—at the family, community, and cultural levels—are needed to help delinquent youths and to foster healthy development of all young people.

Depression

Depression—feeling sad, frustrated, and hopeless about life, accompanied by loss of pleasure in most activities and disturbances in sleep, appetite, concentration, and energy—is the most common psychological problem of adolescence. About 15 to 20 percent of U.S. teenagers have had one or more major depressive episodes, a rate comparable to that of adults. Five percent are chronically depressed—gloomy and self-critical for many months and sometimes years (American Psychiatric Association, 2013; Tharpar et al., 2012). Serious depression affects only 1 to 2 percent of children, who are less likely than their adolescent counterparts to remain depressed when reassessed at older ages, including into adulthood (Carballo et al., 2011). In industrialized nations, depression increases sharply from ages 12 to 16. Teenage girls are twice as likely as boys to report persistent depressed mood—a difference sustained throughout the lifespan (Hyde, Mezulis, & Abramson, 2008).

Factors related to adolescent suicide

Despite girls' higher rates of depression, the number of boys who kill themselves exceeds the number of girls by a ratio of over 4 to 1. Girls make more unsuccessful suicide attempts and use methods from which they are more likely to be revived, such as a sleeping pill overdose. In contrast, boys more often choose techniques that lead to instant death, such as firearms or hanging (Esposito-Smythers et al., 2014). Gender-role expectations may contribute; less tolerance exists for feelings of helplessness and failed efforts in males than in females. Perhaps because of greater support from extended families, African Americans, Asian Americans, and Hispanics have slightly lower suicide rates than European Americans. Recently, however, suicide has risen among African-American adolescent boys; the current rate approaches that of European-American boys. And Native-American youths commit suicide at rates two to six times national averages (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015k). High rates of profound family poverty, school failure, alcohol and drug abuse, and depression probably underlie these trends. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youths also are at high risk, attempting suicide three times as often as other adolescents. Those who have tried to kill themselves report more family conflict, problems in romantic relationships, and peer victimization (Liu & Mustanski, 2012). Suicide tends to occur in two types of young people. The first group includes adolescents who are highly intelligent but solitary, withdrawn, and unable to meet their own standards or those of important people in their lives. Members of a second, larger group show antisocial tendencies (Spirito et al., 2012). Besides being hostile and destructive toward others, they turn their anger and disappointment inward. Suicidal adolescents often have a family history of emotional and antisocial disorders and suicide. In addition, they are likely to have experienced multiple stressful life events, including economic disadvantage, parental divorce, frequent parent-child conflict, and abuse and neglect (Kaminski et al., 2010). Triggering events include parental blaming of the teenager for family problems, the breakup of an important peer relationship, or the humiliation of having been caught engaging in antisocial acts. Why does suicide increase in adolescence? In addition to the rise in depressed mood, teenagers' improved ability to plan ahead is a major factor. Although some act impulsively, many young people take purposeful steps toward killing themselves. Other cognitive changes also contribute. Belief in the personal fable (see Chapter 11) leads many depressed young people to conclude that no one could possibly understand their intense pain.

The Family

Development at adolescence involves striving for autonomy—a sense of oneself as a separate, self-governing individual. Adolescent autonomy has two vital aspects: (1) an emotional component—relying more on oneself and less on parents for support and guidance, and (2) a behavioral component—making decisions independently by carefully weighing one's own judgment and the suggestions of others to arrive at a personally satisfying, well-reasoned course of action (Collins & Laursen, 2004). Nevertheless, relationships with parents remain vital for helping adolescents become autonomous, responsible individuals.

Self Understanding

During adolescence, the young person's vision of the self becomes more complex, well-organized, and consistent. Compared with children, adolescents evaluate an increasing variety of aspects of the self. Over time, they construct a balanced, integrated representation of their strengths and limitations.

Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development

Early work by Piaget on the moral judgment of the child inspired Lawrence Kohlberg's more comprehensive cognitive-developmental theory of moral understanding. Kohlberg used a clinical interviewing procedure in which he presented European-American 10- to 16-year-old boys with hypothetical moral dilemmas—stories involving a conflict between two moral values—and asked them what the main actor should do and why. Then he followed the participants longitudinally, reinterviewing them at 3- to 4-year intervals over the next 20 years. The best known of Kohlberg's dilemmas, the "Heinz dilemma," pits the value of obeying the law (not stealing) against the value of human life (saving a dying person): In Europe a woman was near death from cancer. There was one drug the doctors thought might save her. A druggist in the same town had discovered it, but he was charging ten times what the drug cost him to make. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together half of what it cost. The druggist refused to sell the drug for less or let Heinz pay later. So Heinz became desperate and broke into the man's store to steal the drug for his wife. Should Heinz have done that? Why or why not? (paraphrased from Colby et al., 1983, p. 77) Kohlberg emphasized that it is the way an individual reasons about the dilemma, not the content of the response (whether or not to steal), that determines moral maturity. Individuals who believe Heinz should take the drug and those who think he should not can be found at each of Kohlberg's first four stages. Only at the two highest stages do moral reasoning and content come together in a coherent ethical system (Kohlberg, Levine, & Hewer, 1983). Given a choice between obeying the law and preserving individual rights, the most advanced moral thinkers support individual rights (in the Heinz dilemma, stealing the drug to save a life).

Warning Signs of Suicide

Efforts to put personal affairs in order—smoothing over troubled relationships, giving away treasured possessionsVerbal cues—saying goodbye to family members and friends, making direct or indirect references to suicide ("I won't have to worry about these problems much longer"; "I wish I were dead")Feelings of sadness, despondency, "not caring" anymoreExtreme fatigue, lack of energy, boredomNo desire to socialize; withdrawal from friends and familyEasily frustratedVolatile mood swings—spells of crying or laughing, angry outburstsInability to concentrate, distractibilityDecline in grades, absence from school, discipline problemsNeglect of personal appearanceSleep change—loss of sleep or excessive sleepinessObtaining a weapon or other means of self-harm, such as prescription medications

Supporting Healthy Identity Development

Engage in warm, open communication. Initiate discussions that promote high-level thinking at home and at school. Provide opportunities to participate in extracurricular activities and vocational training programs. Provide opportunities to talk with adults and peers who have worked through similar identity questions. Provide opportunities to explore ethnic heritage and learn about other cultures in atmosphere of respect.

Erikson's Theory: Identity versus Role Confusion

Erikson (1950, 1968) was the first to recognize identity as the major personality attainment of adolescence and as a crucial step toward becoming a productive, content adult. Constructing an identity involves defining who you are, what you value, and the directions you choose to pursue in life. One expert described it as an explicit theory of oneself as a rational agent—one who acts on the basis of reason, takes responsibility for those actions, and can explain them (Moshman, 2011). This search for what is true and real about the self drives many choices—vocation, interpersonal relationships, community involvement, ethnic-group membership, and expression of one's sexual orientation, as well as moral, political, and religious ideals. Although the seeds of identity formation are planted early, not until late adolescence and early adulthood do young people become absorbed in this task. According to Erikson, in complex societies, young people often experience an identity crisis—a temporary period of distress as they experiment with alternatives before settling on values and goals. They go through a process of inner soul-searching, sifting through characteristics that defined the self in childhood and combining them with emerging traits, capacities, and commitments. Then they mold these into a solid inner core that provides a mature identity—a sense of self-continuity as they move through various roles in daily life. Once formed, identity continues to be refined in adulthood as people reevaluate earlier commitments and choices. Erikson called the psychological conflict of adolescence identity versus role confusion. If young people's earlier conflicts were resolved negatively or if society limits their choices to ones that do not match their abilities and desires, they may appear shallow, directionless, and unprepared for the challenges of adulthood. Current theorists agree with Erikson that questioning of values, plans, and priorities is necessary for a mature identity, but they no longer describe this process as a "crisis." In fact, Erikson himself did not believe that the adolescent's inner struggle need be severe to form a clear, unified identity (Kroger, 2012). For most young people, identity development is not traumatic and disturbing but, rather, a process of exploration followed by commitment. As young people try out life possibilities, they gather important information about themselves and their environment and move toward making enduring decisions (Moshman, 2011). In the following sections, we will see that adolescents go about the task of defining the self in ways that closely match Erikson's description.

Identity development among ethnic minority adolescents

For teenagers who are members of minority groups, ethnic identity—a sense of ethnic-group membership and the attitudes, beliefs, and feelings associated with that membership—is central to the quest for identity. As minority youths develop cognitively and become more sensitive to feedback from the social environment, they become painfully aware of how their ethnicity and race compromise their life chances. This discovery complicates their efforts to develop a sense of cultural belonging and a set of personally meaningful goals. In many immigrant families from cultures that value interdependent qualities, adolescents' commitment to obeying their parents and fulfilling family obligations lessens the longer the family has been in the immigrant-receiving country. This circumstance induces acculturative stress—psychological distress resulting from conflict between the minority and the host culture (Phinney, Ong, & Madden, 2000). When immigrant parents tightly restrict their teenagers through fear that assimilation into the larger society will undermine their cultural traditions, their youngsters often rebel, rejecting aspects of their ethnic background. At the same time, discrimination can interfere with the formation of a positive ethnic identity. In one study, Mexican-American youths who had experienced more discrimination were less likely to explore their ethnicity (Romero & Roberts, 2003). Those with low ethnic pride showed a sharp drop in self-esteem in the face of discrimination. With age, many minority young people strengthen their ethnic identity. But because the process of forging an ethnic identity can be painful and confusing, others show no change, and still others regress (Huang & Stormshak, 2011). Adolescents whose family members encourage them to disprove ethnic stereotypes of low achievement or antisocial behavior typically surmount the threat that discrimination poses to a favorable ethnic identity. These young people manage experiences of unfair treatment effectively, by seeking social support and engaging in direct problem solving (Scott, 2003). Also, minority adolescents whose families have taught them the history, traditions, values, and language of their ethnic group are more likely to forge a favorable ethnic identity (Douglass & Umaña-Taylor, 2015; Else-Quest & Morse, 2015). Interacting with same-ethnicity peers is also vital. Ethnic identity progress tends to be similar among same-ethnicity friends, and it can be predicted by the frequency with which they talk about ethnic and racial issues (Syed & Juan, 2012). In a study of Asian-American adolescents, contact with other Asians strengthened positive feelings about their own ethnic group in a mostly white or a racially mixed school but not in a mostly Asian school (Yip, Douglass, & Shelton, 2013). Ethnic identity concerns become especially salient in racially diverse settings. How can society help minority adolescents resolve identity conflicts constructively? Here are some relevant approaches: Promote effective parenting, in which children and adolescents benefit from family ethnic pride yet are encouraged to explore the meaning of ethnicity in their own lives. Ensure that schools respect minority youths' native languages and right to high-quality education. Foster contact with peers of the same ethnicity, along with respect between ethnic groups. A strong, secure ethnic identity is associated with higher self-esteem, optimism, academic motivation, and school performance, and with more positive peer relations and prosocial behavior (Ghavami et al., 2011; Rivas-Drake et al., 2014). For teenagers faced with adversity, ethnic identity is a powerful source of resilience. Forming a bicultural identity—by exploring and adopting values from both the adolescent's subculture and the dominant culture—offers added benefits. Biculturally identified adolescents tend to be identity-achieved in other domains, to have a more secure ethnic identity, and to have especially positive relations with members of other ethnic groups (Basilio et al., 2014; Phinney, 2007). In sum, achievement of ethnic identity enhances many aspects of emotional and social development.

The Four Identity Statuses

Identity achievementHaving explored alternatives, identity-achieved individuals are committed to clearly formulated self-chosen values and goals. They feel a sense of psychological well-being, of sameness through time, and of knowing where they are going.When asked about her willingness to give up pursuing her chosen occupation if something better came along, Lauren responded, "Well, I might, but I doubt it. I've thought long and hard about law as a career. I'm pretty certain it's for me." Identity moratoriumMoratorium means "delay or holding pattern." These individuals have not yet made definite commitments. They are in the process of exploring—gathering information and trying out activities, with the desire to find values and goals to guide their lives.When asked whether he had ever had doubts about his religious beliefs, Ramón said, "Yes, I guess I'm going through that right now. I just don't see how there can be a God and yet so much evil in the world." Identity foreclosureIdentity-foreclosed individuals have committed themselves to values and goals without exploring alternatives. They accept a ready-made identity chosen for them by authority figures—usually parents but sometimes teachers, religious leaders, or romantic partners.When asked if she had ever reconsidered her political beliefs, Emily answered, "No, not really, our family is pretty much in agreement on these things." Identity diffusionIdentity-diffused individuals lack clear direction. They are not committed to values and goals, nor are they actively trying to reach them. They may never have explored alternatives or may have found the task too threatening and overwhelming.When asked about his attitude toward nontraditional gender roles, Justin responded, "Oh, I don't know. It doesn't make much difference to me. I can take it or leave it."

Factors Related to Delinquency

In adolescence, the gender gap in physical aggression widens. Although girls account for about one in five adolescent arrests for violence, their offenses are largely limited to simple assault (such as pushing and spitting). Serious violent crime is mostly the domain of boys (U.S. Department of Justice, 2015). SES and ethnicity are strong predictors of arrests but only mildly related to teenagers' self-reports of antisocial acts. The difference is due to the tendency to arrest, charge, and punish low-SES ethnic minority youths more often than their higher-SES white and Asian counterparts (Farrington, 2009; Hunt, 2015). Difficult temperament, low intelligence, poor school performance, peer rejection in childhood, and association with antisocial peers are linked to chronic delinquency (Laird et al., 2005). How do these factors fit together? One of the most consistent findings is that delinquent youths, regardless of ethnicity and SES, experience parenting that is low in warmth, high in conflict, and characterized by harsh, inconsistent discipline and weak control and monitoring (Deutsch et al., 2012; Harris-McKoy & Cui, 2013). Our discussion on pages 219-220 in Chapter 8 explained how ineffective parenting can promote and sustain children's aggression, with boys—who are more active and impulsive—more often targets of parental anger, physical punishment, and inconsistency. When these child temperamental traits combine with emotionally negative, inept parenting, aggression rises sharply during childhood, leads to violent offenses in adolescence, and persists into adulthood (see the Biology and Environment box on the following page). Teenagers commit more crimes in poverty-stricken neighborhoods with poor-quality schools, limited recreational and employment opportunities, and high adult criminality (Leventhal, Dupéré, & Brooks-Gunn, 2009). In such neighborhoods, adolescents have easy access to deviant peers, drugs, and firearms and are likely to be recruited into antisocial gangs, whose members commit the vast majority of violent delinquent acts. Schools in these locales typically fail to meet students' developmental needs (Chung, Mulvey, & Steinberg, 2011). Large classes, weak instruction, rigid rules, and reduced academic expectations and opportunities are associated with higher rates of lawbreaking, even after other influences are controlled.

Culture

In cultures that place a high priority on interdependence, autonomy remains a central adolescent motive, but teenagers conceive of it differently than in Western nations. Rather than equating it with independent decision making, they view autonomy as self-endorsed decision making—engaging in actions that are consistent with authentic personal values. In an investigation of adolescents from both urban and rural regions of China, self-endorsed motives for both independent and "dependent" decision making (following parents' advice) were related to high self-esteem and a positive outlook (Chen et al., 2013). Chinese adolescents often accept their parents' decisions because they value parents' opinions, not because they feel pressured to comply. Immigrant parents from cultures that emphasize obedience to authority have greater difficulty adapting to their teenagers' push for independent decision making, often reacting strongly to adolescent disagreement. And as adolescents acquire the Western host culture's language and are increasingly exposed to its individualistic values, immigrant parents may become even more critical, prompting teenagers to rely less on the family network for social support (Yau, Tasopoulos-Chan, & Smetana, 2009). The resulting acculturative stress is associated with a decline in self-esteem and a rise in anxiety, depressive symptoms, and deviant behavior, including alcohol use and delinquency (Park, 2009; Suarez-Morales & Lopez, 2009; Warner et al., 2006). But most adolescents from immigrant families attain sufficient psychological separation from their parents to enable healthy psychological development (Fuligni & Tsai, 2015). At the same time, they sustain the strong sense of family obligation instilled by their home culture, flexibly balancing those commitments with the pursuit of autonomy valued in their new society.

Changes in self concept

In describing themselves, adolescents unify separate traits ("smart" and "curious") into more abstract descriptors ("intelligent"). But at first, these generalizations are not interconnected and are often contradictory. For example, 12- to 14-year-olds might mention opposing traits—"intelligent" and "clueless," "extrovert" and "introvert." These disparities result from the expansion of adolescents' social world, which creates pressure to display different selves in different relationships. As adolescents' awareness of these inconsistencies grows, they frequently agonize over "which is the real me" (Harter, 2012). Gradually, cognitive changes enable teenagers to combine their traits into an organized system. Their use of qualifiers ("I have a fairly quick temper," "I'm not thoroughly honest") reveals an increasing awareness that psychological qualities can vary from one situation to the next. Older adolescents also add integrating principles that make sense of formerly troublesome contradictions. "I'm very adaptable," said one young person. "When I'm around my friends, who think what I say is important, I'm talkative; but around my family I'm quiet because they're never interested enough to really listen to me" (Damon, 1990, p. 88). Compared with school-age children, teenagers place more emphasis on social virtues, such as being friendly, considerate, kind, and cooperative. Among older adolescents, personal and moral values also appear as key themes. As young people revise their views of themselves to include enduring beliefs and plans, they move toward the unity of self that is central to identity development.

Cliques and Crowds

In early adolescence, peer groups (see Chapter 10) become increasingly common and tightly knit. They are organized into cliques—groups of about five to seven members who are friends and, therefore, usually resemble one another in family background, attitudes, values, and interests (Brown & Dietz, 2009). At first, cliques are limited to same-sex members. Among girls but not boys, being in a clique predicts academic and social competence. Clique membership is more important to girls, who use it as a context for expressing emotional closeness (Henrich et al., 2000). By midadolescence, mixed-sex cliques are common. Among Western adolescents attending high schools with complex social structures, often several cliques with similar values form a larger, more loosely organized group called a crowd. Unlike the more intimate clique, membership in a crowd is based on reputation and stereotype, granting the adolescent an identity within the larger social structure of the school. Prominent crowds include "brains" (nonathletes who enjoy academics), "jocks" (who are very involved in sports), "populars" (class leaders with high peer acceptance), "partyers" (who value socializing but care little about schoolwork), "nonconformists" (who like unconventional clothing and music), "burnouts" (who frequently use alcohol and drugs, engage in sexual risk taking, and otherwise get into trouble), and "normals" (average to good students who get along with most other peers) (Stone & Brown, 1999; Sussman et al., 2007). What influences the sorting of teenagers into cliques and crowds? Crowd affiliations are linked to strengths in adolescents' self-concepts, which reflect their abilities and interests (Prinstein & La Greca, 2002). Ethnicity also plays a role. Minority teenagers who associate with an ethnically defined crowd, as opposed to a crowd reflecting their abilities and interests, sometimes are motivated by discrimination in their school or neighborhood. Alternatively, they may be expressing a strong ethnic identity (Brown et al., 2008). Family factors are important, too. Negative relationships with parents predict difficulties in establishing favorable relationships and autonomy with peers (Allen & Loeb, 2015). As a result, teenagers are more likely to join peer groups that promote risk-taking and rebellious behavior. Once adolescents join a clique or crowd, it can modify their beliefs and behavior. In a Dutch longitudinal study, membership in nonconventional crowds (such as nonconformists and burnouts) predicted a rise in internalizing and externalizing problems (Doornwaard et al., 2012). Perhaps nonconventional youths respond with anxiety and depressive symptoms to feeling disliked by members of higher-status crowds. And within their own crowds, they experience frequent peer modeling and encouragement for antisocial activity. Among heterosexual teenagers, as interest in dating increases, boys' and girls' cliques come together. Mixed-sex cliques provide boys and girls with models of how to interact and a chance to do so without having to be intimate (Connolly et al., 2004). By late adolescence, when boys and girls feel comfortable enough about approaching each other directly, the mixed-sex clique disappears. Crowds also decline in importance. As adolescents settle on personal values and goals, they no longer feel a need to broadcast, through dress, language, and preferred activities, who they are. From tenth to twelfth grade, many young people switch crowds, mostly in conventional directions (Doornwaard et al., 2012; Strouse, 1999). Brains, popular, and normal crowds grow and deviant crowds lose members as teenagers focus more on their future.

Are There Sex Differences in Moral Reasoning?

In the discussion at the beginning of this section, notice how Sabrina's moral argument focuses on caring and commitment to others. Carol Gilligan (1982) is the best-known of those who have argued that Kohlberg's theory does not adequately represent the morality of girls and women. Gilligan believes that feminine morality emphasizes an "ethic of care" that Kohlberg's system devalues. Sabrina's reasoning falls at Stage 3 because it is based on mutual trust and affection, whereas Louis's is at Stage 4 because he emphasizes following the law. According to Gilligan, a concern for others is a different but no less valid basis for moral judgment than a focus on impersonal rights. Most studies, however, do not support the claim that Kohlberg's approach underestimates the moral maturity of females (Walker, 2006). On hypothetical dilemmas as well as everyday moral problems, adolescent and adult females display reasoning at the same stage as their male agemates, and often at a higher stage. And themes of justice and caring appear in the responses of both sexes (Walker, 1995). Nevertheless, some evidence indicates that although the morality of males and females taps both orientations, females do tend to emphasize care, whereas males either stress justice or focus equally on justice and care (You, Maeda, & Bebeau, 2011). This difference in emphasis, which appears more often in real-life than in hypothetical dilemmas, may reflect women's greater involvement in daily activities involving care and concern for others.

The Postconventional or Principled Level

Individuals at the postconventional level move beyond unquestioning support for their own society's rules and laws. They define morality in terms of abstract principles and values that apply to all situations and societies. Stage 5: The social contract orientation. At Stage 5, individuals can imagine alternatives to their own social order, and they emphasize fair procedures for interpreting and changing the law. When laws are consistent with individual rights and the interests of the majority, each person follows them because of a social contract orientation—free and willing participation in the system because it brings about more good for people than if it did not exist. A person favoring Heinz stealing might explain, "Although there is a law against stealing, it wasn't meant to violate a person's right to life. If Heinz is prosecuted, the law needs to be reinterpreted to take into account people's natural right to keep on living." Stage 6: The universal ethical principle orientation. At this highest stage, right action is defined by self-chosen ethical principles that are valid for all people, regardless of law and social agreement. Stage 6 individuals typically mention such abstract principles as respect for the worth and dignity of each person, as in this response defending Heinz stealing the drug: "It doesn't make sense to put respect for property above respect for life. People could live together without private property at all. Respect for human life is absolute and accordingly people have a mutual duty to save one another from dying" (paraphrased from Rest, 1979, p. 37).

Culture

Individuals in industrialized nations move through Kohlberg's stages more quickly and progress to higher stages than do individuals in village societies, who rarely move beyond Stage 3. One explanation is that in village societies, moral cooperation is based on direct relations between people and does not allow for the development of advanced moral understanding (Stages 4 to 6), which depends on appreciating the role of larger social structures, such as laws and government institutions (Gibbs et al., 2007). A second possible reason for cultural variation is that in both village societies and industrialized cultures that highly value interdependence, responses to moral dilemmas are more other-directed than in North America and Western Europe (Miller & Bland, 2014). In one study, both male and female Japanese adolescents, who almost always integrated care- and justice-based reasoning, placed greater weight on caring, which they regarded as a communal responsibility (Shimizu, 2001). Similarly, in research conducted in India, even highly educated people (expected to have attained Kohlberg's Stages 4 and 5) viewed solutions to moral dilemmas as the responsibility of the entire society, not of a single person (Miller & Bersoff, 1995). These findings raise the question of whether Kohlberg's highest level represents a culturally specific way of thinking—one limited to Western societies that emphasize individualism and an appeal to an inner, private conscience. At the same time, a review of over 100 studies confirmed an age-related trend consistent with Kohlberg's Stages 1 to 4 across diverse societies (Gibbs et al., 2007). A common morality of justice is clearly evident in the dilemma responses of people from vastly different cultures.

Peer Interaction

Interaction among peers who present differing viewpoints promotes moral understanding. When young people negotiate and compromise, they realize that social life can be based on cooperation between equals. Adolescents who report more close friendships and who more often participate in conversations with their friends are advanced in moral reasoning (Schonert-Reichl, 1999). Furthermore, recall from Chapter 10 that intergroup contact—cross-race friendships and interactions in schools and communities—reduces racial and ethnic prejudice. It also affects young people morally, strengthening their conviction that race-based, sexual orientation-based, and other forms of peer exclusion are wrong (Horn & Sinno, 2014; Ruck et al., 2011). Peer discussions of moral problems have provided the basis for interventions aimed at improving high school and college students' moral understanding. For these to be effective, young people must be highly engaged—confronting and critiquing one another's viewpoints, as Sabrina and Louis did when they argued over Mrs. Perry's plight (Berkowitz & Gibbs, 1983; Comunian & Gielen, 2006). And because gains in maturity of moral reasoning occur gradually, many peer interaction sessions over weeks or months are needed to produce moral change.

Delinquency

Juvenile delinquents are children or adolescents who engage in illegal acts. Since the mid-1990s, youth crime has declined sharply in the United States. Currently, 12- to 17-year-olds account for about 9 percent of police arrests, one-third less than two decades ago (U.S. Department of Justice, 2015). Yet when asked directly and confidentially about lawbreaking, almost all teenagers admit to having committed some sort of offense—usually a minor crime, such as petty stealing or disorderly conduct (Flannery et al., 2003). Police arrests and self-reports show that delinquency rises over adolescence and then declines from the early twenties on— a trend found in many Western countries (Eisner & Malti, 2015). Antisocial behavior increases among teenagers as a result of heightened reward seeking and desire for peer approval. Over time, peers become less influential; decision making, emotional self-regulation, and moral reasoning improve; and young people enter social contexts (such as higher education, work, marriage, and career) that are less conducive to lawbreaking. For most adolescents, a brush with the law does not forecast long-term antisocial behavior. But repeated arrests are cause for concern. Teenagers are responsible for 11 percent of violent offenses in the United States (U.S. Department of Justice, 2015). A small percentage become recurrent offenders, who commit most of these crimes, and some enter a life of crime.

Kohlberg's stages

Kohlberg organized moral development into three levels, each with two stages, yielding six stages in all. He believed that moral understanding is promoted by the same factors Piaget thought were important for cognitive development: (1) actively grappling with moral issues and noticing weaknesses in one's current reasoning, and (2) gains in perspective taking, which permit individuals to resolve moral conflicts in more effective ways.

Research on Kohlberg's Stage Sequence

Kohlberg's original research and other longitudinal studies confirm that with few exceptions, individuals move through his first four stages in the predicted order (Boom, Wouters, & Keller, 2007; Dawson, 2002; Walker & Taylor, 1991). Moral development is slow and gradual: Reasoning at Stages 1 and 2 decreases in early adolescence, while Stage 3 increases through midadolescence and then declines. Stage 4 reasoning rises over the teenage years until, among college-educated young adults, it is the typical response. Few people move beyond Stage 4. In fact, postconventional morality is so rare that no clear evidence exists that Kohlberg's Stage 6 actually follows Stage 5. This poses a key challenge to Kohlberg's theory: If people must reach Stages 5 and 6 to be considered truly morally mature, few individuals anywhere would measure up! According to one reexamination of Kohlberg's stages, moral maturity can be found in a revised understanding of Stages 3 and 4 (Gibbs, 2014). These stages are not "conventional"—based on social conformity—as Kohlberg assumed. Rather, they require profound moral constructions—an understanding of ideal reciprocity as the basis for relationships (Stage 3) and for widely accepted moral standards, set forth in rules and laws (Stage 4). In this view, "postconventional" morality is a highly reflective endeavor limited to a handful of people who have attained advanced education, usually in philosophy. Think of an actual moral dilemma you faced recently. Real-life conflicts often elicit moral thinking below a person's actual capacity because they involve practical considerations that mix cognition with intense emotion (Walker, 2004). Hypothetical dilemmas, in contrast, evoke the upper limits of moral thought because they allow reflection without the interference of personal risk. The influence of situational factors on moral judgments indicates that, like Piaget's cognitive stages, Kohlberg's moral stages are loosely organized and overlapping. Rather than developing in a neat, stepwise fashion, people draw on a range of moral responses that vary with context. With age, this range shifts upward as less mature moral reasoning is gradually replaced by more advanced moral thought.

Siblings

Like parent-child relationships, sibling interactions adapt to development at adolescence. As younger siblings become more self-sufficient, they accept less direction from their older brothers and sisters. Also, as teenagers become more involved in friendships and romantic relationships, they invest less time and energy in siblings, who are part of the family from which they are trying to establish autonomy. As a result, sibling relationships often become less intense, in both positive and negative feelings (Kim et al., 2006; Whiteman, Solmeyer, & McHale, 2015). Nevertheless, attachment between siblings remains strong for most young people. Overall, siblings who established a positive bond in early childhood continue to display greater affection and caring, which contribute to more favorable adolescent adjustment (Lam, Solmeyer, & McHale, 2012; McHale, Updegraff, & Whiteman, 2012). In contrast, sibling negativity—frequent conflict and aggression—is associated with internalizing symptoms (anxiety and depression) and externalizing difficulties (conduct problems, bullying, and drug use) (Criss & Shaw, 2005; Solmeyer, McHale, & Crouter, 2014). Finally, culture influences adolescent sibling ties. For example, the Hispanic ideal of familism, which highly values close family bonds, fosters harmonious sibling relationships. In one study, Mexican-American adolescents who expressed a strong Mexican cultural orientation resolved sibling conflicts more cooperatively than did those more oriented toward U.S. individualistic values

Influences on Moral Reasoning

Many factors affect maturity of moral reasoning, including child-rearing practices, peer interaction, schooling, and culture. Growing evidence suggests that, as Kohlberg believed, these experiences work by presenting young people with cognitive challenges, which stimulate them to think about moral problems in more complex ways.

Problems of Development

Most young people move through adolescence with little disturbance. But as we have seen, some encounter major disruptions in development, such as early parenthood, substance abuse, and school failure. In each instance, biological and psychological changes, families, schools, peers, communities, and culture combine to yield particular outcomes. Serious difficulties rarely occur in isolation but are usually interrelated—as is apparent in three additional problems of the teenage years: depression, suicide, and delinquency.

Friendships

Number of best friends declines from about four to six in early adolescence to one or two in adulthood (Gomez et al., 2011). At the same time, the nature of the relationship changes.

Two routes to adolescent delinquency

Persistent adolescent delinquency follows two paths of development, one involving a small number of youths with an onset of conduct problems in childhood, the second a larger number with an onset in adolescence. The early-onset type is far more likely to lead to a life-course pattern of aggression and criminality (Moffitt, 2007). The late-onset type usually does not persist beyond the transition to early adulthood. Both childhood-onset and adolescent-onset youths engage in serious offenses; associate with deviant peers; participate in substance abuse, unsafe sex, and dangerous driving; and spend time in correctional facilities. Why does antisocial activity more often continue and escalate into violence in the first group? Most research has focused on boys, but several investigations report that girls who were physically aggressive in childhood are also at risk for later problems—occasionally violent delinquency but more often other norm-violating behaviors and psychological disorders (Broidy et al., 2003; Chamberlain, 2003). Early relational aggression is linked to adolescent conduct problems as well. Early-Onset Type Early-onset youngsters usually inherit traits that predispose them to aggressiveness (Eisner & Malti, 2015). For example, violence-prone children (mostly boys) are emotionally negative, restless, willful, and physically aggressive as early as age 2. They also show subtle deficits in cognitive functioning that seem to contribute to disruptions in language, executive function, emotional self-regulation, and morally relevant emotions of empathy and guilt (Malti & Krettenauer, 2013; Moffitt, 2007; Reef et al., 2011). Some have attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which compounds their learning and self-control problems. Yet most early-onset boys decline in aggression over time. Among those who follow the life-course path, harsh parenting transforms their undercontrolled style into defiance and persistent aggression (Beyers et al., 2003). As they fail academically and are rejected by peers, they befriend other deviant youths, who facilitate one another's violent behavior while relieving loneliness (see Figure 12.2) (Dodge et al., 2008; Hughes, 2010). Limited cognitive and social skills result in high rates of school dropout and unemployment, contributing further to antisocial involvements. Children high in relational aggression also tend to be hyperactive, subjected to harsh parenting, and frequently in conflict with peers and adults (Spieker et al., 2012; Willoughby, Kupersmidt, & Bryant, 2001). As these behaviors trigger peer rejection, relationally aggressive girls befriend other girls high in relational hostility, and their aggression rises (Werner & Crick, 2004). Adolescents high in relational aggression are often angry and defiant of adult rules. Among teenagers who combine physical and relational hostility, these oppositional reactions intensify, increasing the likelihood of serious antisocial activity (Harachi et al., 2006; McEachern & Snyder, 2012). Late-Onset Type Other youths first display antisocial behavior around the time of puberty, gradually increasing their involvement. Their conduct problems arise from the peer context of early adolescence. For some, quality of parenting may decline for a time, perhaps due to family stresses or the challenges of disciplining an unruly teenager (Moffitt, 2007). When age brings gratifying adult privileges, these youths draw on prosocial skills mastered before adolescence and abandon their antisocial ways. A few late-onset youths do continue to engage in antisocial acts. The seriousness of their adolescent offenses seems to trap them in situations that close off opportunities for responsible behavior. Being employed or in school and forming positive, close relationships predict an end to criminal offending by ages 20 to 25 (Farrington, Ttofi, & Coid, 2009). In contrast, the longer antisocial young people spend in prison, the more likely they are to sustain a life of crime. These findings suggest a need for a fresh look at policies aimed at stopping youth crime. Keeping youth offenders locked up for many years disrupts their educational and vocational lives and access to positive, caring relationships with adults during a crucial period of development (Bernstein, 2014). In this way, juvenile incarceration condemns them to a bleak future.

Schooling

Secondary schools with nondiscrimination and antibullying policies and student organizations that support the rights of minorities (such as gay-straight alliances) enhance adolescents' moral reasoning about discrimination. In one study, students attending a high school with these practices in place were more likely than those in a school without such practices to view exclusion and harassment of lesbian and gay peers as unjust (Horn & Szalacha, 2009). Teachers who create classroom climates of fairness and respect are similarly influential. Tenth graders who reported fair teacher treatment were more likely than those who had experienced unjust treatment (an undeserved detention or low grade) to view excluding a peer on the basis of race as a moral transgression (Crystal, Killen, & Ruck, 2010). Furthermore, moral reasoning typically progresses to Kohlberg's higher stages the longer a person remains in school (Gibbs et al., 2007). College environments are especially influential because they introduce young people to social issues that extend beyond personal relationships to entire political and cultural groups. In line with this idea, college students who report more perspective-taking opportunities—classes that emphasize open discussion of opinions and friendships with others of different cultural backgrounds—and who indicate that they have become more aware of social diversity tend to be advanced in moral reasoning (Comunian & Gielen, 2006; Mason & Gibbs, 1993a, 1993b).

Changes in Self-Esteem

Self-esteem continues to differentiate in adolescence. Teenagers add several new dimensions of self-evaluation—close friendship, romantic appeal, and job competence—to those of middle childhood (see Chapter 10, pages 270-271) (Harter, 2012). Level of general self-esteem also changes. Though some adolescents experience temporary or persisting declines after school transitions (see Chapter 11, pages 320-321), self-esteem rises from mid- to late adolescence for most young people, who report feeling especially good about their peer relationships, physical appearance, and athletic capabilities (Birkeland et al., 2012; Cole et al., 2001; Impett et al., 2008). Teenagers often assert that they have become more mature, capable, personable, and attractive. In longitudinal research on a nationally representative sample of U.S. youths, an increasing sense of mastery—feeling competent and in control of one's life—strongly predicted this rise in self-esteem (Erol & Orth, 2011). With greater independence and opportunities to emphasize pursuits in which they experience success, older adolescents are better able to discount the importance of doing well in areas in which they feel inadequate. What factors influence self-esteem? In Chapter 11, we saw that adolescents who are off time in pubertal development, who are heavy drug users, and who fail in school feel poorly about themselves. And as in middle childhood, adolescent girls score lower than boys in overall sense of self-worth, though the difference remains slight (Bachman et al., 2011; Shapka & Keating, 2005). Recall that girls feel less positively about their physical appearance and athletic skills and less competent at math and science (see Chapter 10). At the same time girls continue to outscore boys on self-esteem dimensions of language arts, close friendship, and social acceptance. But the contexts in which young people find themselves can modify these group differences. Authoritative parenting continues to predict stable, favorable self-esteem, as does encouragement from teachers (Lindsey et al., 2008; McKinney, Donnelly, & Renk, 2008; Wilkinson, 2004). In contrast, teenagers whose parents are critical and insulting have highly unstable and generally low self-esteem (Kernis, 2002). Peer acceptance can have a protective effect on general self-esteem for teenagers experiencing low parental warmth and approval (Birkeland, Breivik, & Wold, 2014). But adolescents exposed to highly negative parental feedback tend to rely excessively on peers to affirm their self-worth—a risk factor for adjustment difficulties (DuBois et al., 1999, 2002).

Friendships, Cell Phones, and the Internet

Teenagers frequently use cell phones and the Internet to communicate with friends. About 73 percent of U.S. 13- to 17-year-olds own or have access to a smartphone, an additional 15 percent to a basic phone; 58 percent own or have access to a tablet. These mobile devices serve as adolescents' primary route to the Internet: 94 percent say they go online daily or more often (Lenhart & Page, 2015). Texting has become the preferred means of electronic interaction between teenage friends: Most adolescents engage in it, sending and receiving, on average, 30 texts per day. Cell calling ranks second, followed by instant messaging and social media sites: Facebook is favored, but the majority of teenagers also use other platforms. Though used less frequently, e-mailing, video chatting, and online gaming are additional ways teenagers spend time online with friends (see Figure 12.1). Girls text and call their friends more often than boys, and they more often use social media sites to share information (Lenhart et al., 2015). Boys are more avid gamers with friends and other peers. Online interaction can contribute to friendship closeness. For example, in several studies, as amount of online messaging between preexisting friends increased, so did young people's perceptions of intimacy in the relationship and sense of well-being (Reich, Subrahmanyam, & Espinoza, 2012; Valkenburg & Peter, 2009). The effect is probably due to friends' online disclosure of thoughts and feelings. But sharing an online activity can also enhance friendship. Most teenage gamers say that playing online games with preexisting friends makes them feel more connected to those friends (Lenhart et al., 2015). While playing, they often voice-chat or video-chat to converse and collaborate. Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter are a major avenue through which teenagers meet new friends: Over one-third of U.S. adolescents report developing friendships this way, often connecting through friends they already know (Lenhart et al., 2015). Girls are especially likely to form new friendships through social media sites; boys more often do so during online gaming. The quality of adolescents' face-to-face relationships tends to be reproduced in social media communication. In a study of U.S. middle school students diverse in ethnicity and SES, those with positive face-to-face peer relationships had larger networks of social media friends who frequently posted supportive comments (Mikami et al., 2010). Teenagers who reported engaging in delinquent acts tended to post hostile comments to their "About Me" section. And those with depressive symptoms more often uploaded photos of themselves engaging in inappropriate behaviors. While online communication can augment friendships, clearly it poses risks, which teenagers readily verbalize. One high school student reflected, "You don't know how to interact with people anymore because you're always texting." Others say that social media sites too often become contexts for sexually uninhibited posts and for expressed jealousies between friends over dating partners (Rueda, Lindsay, & Williams, 2015). And some mentioned that dialogues through texts and social media contribute to misunderstandings. Although 60 percent of U.S. adolescent Facebook users keep their profiles private and 70 percent are friends with their parents, most are relatively unconcerned that information they share might be accessed by third parties without their knowledge. Over half post their e-mail address and one-fifth their cell-phone number. And one-fifth have shared their social media passwords with friends. About 17 percent report contact from strangers that made them feel scared or uncomfortable (Lenhart et al., 2015; Madden et al., 2013). Finally, adolescent time devoted to social media is rising. For example, nearly one-fourth of U.S. teenagers report using the Internet almost constantly, with 30 percent sending more than 100 texts per day. Very high social media use is linked to unsatisfying face-to-face social experiences, boredom, and depression (Madden et al., 2013; Pea et al., 2012; Smahel, Brown, & Blinka, 2012). In a longitudinal study, compulsive Internet users experienced a rise in mental health problems from grades 8 to 11, irrespective of their preexisting mental health status (Ciarrochi et al., 2016). Compared to boys, girls were more addicted to social media and reported more impaired mental health. In sum, the Internet's value for enabling convenient and satisfying interaction among teenage friends must be weighed against its potential for facilitating harmful emotional and social consequences. Parents are wise to point out the risks of Internet communication, including harassment, exploitation, and excessive use, and to insist that teenagers follow Internet safety rules (see www.safeteens.com).

Suicide

The U.S. suicide rate increases from childhood into middle adulthood, but it jumps sharply at adolescence. Currently, suicide is the third-leading cause of death among American youths, after motor vehicle collisions and homicides (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015k, 2016d). At the same time, rates of adolescent suicide vary widely among industrialized nations—low in Greece, Italy, and Spain; intermediate in Australia, Canada, Japan, and the United States; and high in Finland, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, and Russia (Patton et al., 2012; Värnik et al., 2012). These international differences remain unexplained.

Dating

The hormonal changes of puberty increase sexual interest, but cultural expectations determine when and how dating begins. Asian youths start dating later and have fewer dating partners than young people in Western societies, which tolerate and even encourage romantic involvements from middle school on. At ages 12 to 14, these relationships are usually casual, lasting only briefly. By age 16, they continue, on average, for one to two years, though breakups remain common for about one-third (Carver, Joyner, & Udry, 2003; Manning et al., 2014). Early adolescents tend to mention recreation and achieving peer status as reasons for dating. By late adolescence, as young people are ready for greater psychological intimacy, they look for dating partners who offer personal compatibility, companionship, affection, and social support (Collins & van Dulmen, 2006b; Meier & Allen, 2009). The achievement of intimacy between dating partners typically lags behind that between friends. Recall from Chapter 6 that according to ethological theory, early attachment bonds lead to an internal working model, or set of expectations about attachment figures, that guides later close relationships. Consistent with these ideas, secure attachment to parents in infancy and childhood—together with recollections of that security in adolescence—predicts higher-quality teenage friendships and romantic ties (Collins & van Dulmen, 2006a; Collins, Welsh, & Furman, 2009). Parents' marital interactions make a difference, too. In longitudinal research, parents' approach to marital conflict resolution predicted teenagers' conflict resolution with friends 1 year later and with romantic partners up to 7 years later (Miga, Gdula, & Allen, 2012). Perhaps because early adolescent romantic involvements are shallow and stereotyped, early dating is related to drug use, delinquency, and poor academic achievement (Miller et al., 2009). These factors, along with a history of uninvolved parenting and aggression in family and peer relationships, increase the likelihood of dating violence. About 10 to 20 percent of adolescents are physically or sexually abused by dating partners; boys and girls are equally likely to report being victims, and violence by one partner is often returned by the other (Narayan, Englund, & Egeland, 2013; Narayan et al., 2014). Mental health consequences are severe, including increased anxiety, depression, and suicide attempts in victims of both genders, plus antisocial behavior in boys and unhealthy weight control (vomiting and use of laxatives) in girls (Exner-Cortens, Eckenrode, & Rothman, 2012). Young teenagers are better off sticking with group activities, such as parties and dances, before becoming involved with a steady boyfriend or girlfriend. Lesbian and gay youths face special challenges in initiating and maintaining visible romances. Although more are identifying their sexual orientation to others than in the past, many have difficulty finding a partner because their peers with same-sex romantic interests have not yet come out (Glover, Galliher, & Lamere, 2009). Similar to heterosexual youths, security of attachment to parents and friends predicts gratifying romantic ties among sexual minority adolescents (Starks, Newcomb, & Mustanski, 2015). And again, prediction from teenagers' attachments to parents is persistent, still evident in sexual minority couples' romantic relationship satisfaction in early adulthood. After high school graduation, many adolescent romances dissolve, and those that survive usually become less satisfying (Connolly & McIsaac, 2011). Because young people are still forming their identities, high school couples often find that they have little in common later. Nevertheless, among older teenagers, close romantic ties promote sensitivity, empathy, self-esteem, social support, and identity progress (Collins, Welsh, & Furman, 2009). Thus, as long as dating leads to warm, supportive romantic bonds, it fosters adjustment and provides beneficial lessons in relating to people generally.

Effective Parenting

Think back to the type of parenting that fosters academic achievement (Chapter 11), identity formation, and moral maturity. You will find a common theme: Effective parenting of adolescents strikes a balance between connection and separation. Warm, supportive parent-adolescent ties that make appropriate demands for maturity while permitting young people to explore ideas and social roles foster autonomy—across diverse ethnic and SES groups, nationalities, and family structures (including single-parent, two-parent, and stepparent). Autonomy, in turn, predicts high self-reliance, self-regulation, academic achievement, positive work orientation, favorable self-esteem, and ease of separation in the transition to college (Bean, Barber, & Crane, 2007; Eisenberg et al., 2005; Supple et al., 2009; Vazsonyi, Hibbert, & Snider, 2003; Wang, Pomerantz, & Chen, 2007). Conversely, parents who are coercive or psychologically controlling interfere with the development of autonomy. These tactics are linked to low self-esteem, depression, drug and alcohol use, and antisocial behavior—outcomes that often persist into early adulthood (Allen et al., 2012; Barber, Stolz, & Olsen, 2005; Lansford et al., 2014). In Chapter 2, we described the family as a system that must adapt to changes in its members. The rapid physical and psychological changes of adolescence trigger conflicting expectations in parent-child relationships. Parents and teenagers—especially young teenagers—differ sharply on the appropriate age for granting certain privileges, such as control over clothing, school courses, going out with friends, and dating (Smetana, 2002). Consistent parental monitoring of the young person's daily activities, through a cooperative relationship in which the adolescent willingly discloses information, is linked to a variety of favorable outcomes—prevention of delinquency, reduction in sexual activity, improved school performance, and positive psychological well-being (Crouter & Head, 2002; Lippold et al., 2014).

Religious Involvement and Moral Development

Though the percentage of religiously unaffiliated U.S. adults rose over the past decade, about 70 percent of Americans continue to rate religion as very important in their lives. Comparable figures are 50 percent in Canada and Germany, 40 percent in Great Britain, and 30 percent in Sweden. The United States remains the most religious Western nation (Pew Research Center, 2012, 2015a; Pickel, 2013). But as adolescents search for a personally meaningful identity, formal religious involvement declines—for U.S. youths, from 55 percent at ages 13 to 15 to 36 percent at age 18 (Pew Research Center, 2010c, 2015a). Nevertheless, teenagers who remain part of a religious community are advantaged in moral values and behavior. Compared with nonaffiliated youths, they are more involved in community service activities aimed at helping the less fortunate (Kerestes, Youniss, & Metz, 2004). And religious involvement promotes responsible academic and social behavior and discourages misconduct (Good & Willoughby, 2014; Salas-Wright, Vaughn, & Maynard, 2014). A variety of factors contribute to these favorable outcomes. In a study of inner-city high school students, religiously involved young people were more likely to report trusting relationships with parents, other adults, and friends who hold similar worldviews. The more activities they shared with this network, the higher they scored in empathy and prosocial behavior (King & Furrow, 2004). Furthermore, religious education and youth activities directly teach concern for others and provide opportunities for moral discussions and civic engagement. And adolescents who feel connected to a higher being may develop certain inner strengths, including sense of self-efficacy, prosocial values, and a strong moral identity, that help them translate their thinking into action (Hardy & Carlo, 2005; Sherrod & Spiewak, 2008). At the same time, religious or political messages that convey stereotypes and prejudices about minorities work against youths' moral maturity. In focus groups addressing the impact of religion in their lives, Muslim adolescents from U.S. immigrant families, while recognizing the support their religious communities provided, frequently mentioned negative experiences of profiling and other forms of discrimination at the hands of non-Muslims (Abo-Zena & Barry, 2013). Finally, religious cults that rigidly indoctrinate alienated youths and suppress their individuality interfere with virtually all developmental tasks of adolescence, including moral progress (Scarlett & Warren, 2010). Although religious communities may be uniquely suited to foster teenagers' moral and prosocial commitments, not all have these effects.

A Reorganized Relationship

Throughout adolescence, the quality of the parent-child relationship is the single most consistent predictor of mental health (Collins & Steinberg, 2006). The mild to moderate conflict that typically arises facilitates adolescent identity and autonomy by helping family members learn to express and tolerate disagreement. Conflicts also inform parents of teenagers' changing needs and expectations, signaling a need for adjustments in the parent-child relationship. By mid- to late adolescence, harmonious interaction is on the rise. The reduced time that Western teenagers spend engaged in activities with their parents—an estimated one-third less than in middle childhood for U.S. adolescents—has little to do with conflict. Rather, it results from the large amount of unstructured time available to Western teenagers—on average, nearly half their waking hours (Larson, 2001; Milkie, Nomaguchi, & Denny, 2015). Young people tend to fill these free hours with activities that take them away from home—part-time jobs, leisure and volunteer pursuits, and time with friends. Type of shared parent-adolescent activities is more important than quantity of time together. In an investigation of middle-SES white families, engaging in leisure pursuits and eating meals together (especially with both parents) enhanced teenagers' well-being (Offer, 2013). These contexts probably afford parents and adolescents greater opportunity to discuss important concerns in a relaxed atmosphere and to emphasize shared values.

Prevention and Treatment of suicide and depression

To prevent suicides, parents and teachers must be trained to pick up on the signals that a troubled teenager sends (see Table 12.2). Schools and community settings, such as recreational and religious organizations, can help by providing knowledgeable, approachable, and sympathetic adults, peer support groups, and information about telephone hot lines (Miller, 2011; Spirito et al., 2012). Once a teenager takes steps toward suicide, staying with the young person, listening, and expressing compassion and concern until professional help can be obtained are essential. Treatments for depressed and suicidal adolescents range from antidepressant medication to individual, family, and group therapy. On a broader scale, gun-control legislation that limits adolescents' access to the most frequent and deadly suicide method in the United States would greatly reduce both the number of suicides and the high teenage homicide rate (Lewiecki & Miller, 2013). Teenage suicides often occur in clusters, with one death increasing the likelihood of others among depressed peers who knew the young person or heard about the suicide through the media (Feigelman & Gorman, 2008). In view of this trend, an especially watchful eye must be kept on vulnerable adolescents after a suicide happens.

Factors Related to Adolescent Depression

Twin studies indicate that depression is moderately heritable. Furthermore, the onset of depression in girls is more closely associated with the hormonal changes of puberty than with age (Angold et al., 1999). This suggests that the impact of estrogens on the adolescent brain is involved. But pubertal hormone changes alone rarely trigger depression. Rather, genetic and hormonal risk factors seem to sensitize the brain to react more strongly to stressful experiences (Natsuaki, Samuels, & Leve, 2014). In support of this view, mounting evidence indicates that the short 5-HTTLPR gene, which increases the likelihood of self-regulation difficulties (see page 154 in Chapter 6), is linked to adolescent depression, but only in the presence of negative life stressors (Karg et al., 2011; Li, Berk, & Lee, 2013). This gene-environment interaction operates more consistently in adolescent girls than in boys. Although depression runs in families, recall from earlier chapters that depressed or otherwise stressed parents often engage in maladaptive parenting. As a result, their child's attachment, emotional self-regulation, and self-esteem may be impaired, with serious consequences for cognitive and social skills (Yap, Allen, & Ladouceur, 2008). In a vulnerable young person, numerous negative life events may spark depression—for example, failing at something important, parental divorce, the end of a close friendship or romantic partnership, victimization through bullying, or other abusive experiences.

Characteristics of Adolescent Friendships

When asked about the meaning of friendship, teenagers stress three characteristics. The most important is intimacy, or psychological closeness, which is supported by mutual understanding of each other's values, beliefs, and feelings. In addition, more than younger children, teenagers want their friends to be loyal—to stick up for them and not leave them for somebody else (Collins & Madsen, 2006). Teenagers' strong desire for friendship closeness likely explains why they say friends are their most important sources of social support (Brown & Larson, 2009). As frankness and faithfulness increase, self-disclosure (sharing of private thoughts and feelings) between friends rises over the adolescent years. As a result, teenage friends get to know each other better as personalities. In addition to the many characteristics that school-age friends share (see page 278 in Chapter 10), adolescent friends tend to be alike in identity status, educational aspirations, political beliefs, depressive symptoms, and willingness to try drugs and engage in lawbreaking acts. Over time, they become increasingly similar in these ways, and the more similar they are, the greater the chances that their friendships will be long-lasting (Bagwell & Schmidt, 2011; Hartl, Laursen, & Cillessen, 2015). Occasionally, however, teenagers choose friends with differing attitudes and values, which permits them to explore new perspectives within the security of a compatible relationship. During adolescence, cooperation and mutual affirmation between friends increase and negative interaction declines—changes that reflect greater skill at preserving the relationship and sensitivity to a friend's needs and desires (De Goede, Branje, & Meeus, 2009). Adolescents also are less possessive of their friends than they were in childhood (Parker et al., 2005). Desiring a certain degree of autonomy for themselves, they recognize that friends need this, too.

Gender Differences

Why are girls more prone to depression than boys? Besides greater stress reactivity, girls' gender-typed coping styles—passivity, dependency, and tendency to ruminate on anxieties and problems—seem to be involved. In line with this explanation, adolescents who identify strongly with "feminine" traits ruminate more and tend to be more depressed, regardless of their sex (Lopez, Driscoll, & Kistner, 2009; Papadakis et al., 2006). In contrast, girls with either an androgynous or a "masculine" gender identity show low rates of depressive symptoms (Priess, Lindberg, & Hyde, 2009). Girls who repeatedly feel overwhelmed by life challenges become even more physiologically reactive to stress and cope increasingly poorly (Hyde, Mezulis, & Abramson, 2008; Natsuaki, Samuels, & Leve, 2014). In this way, stressful experiences and stress reactivity feed on each other, sustaining depression. Profound depression in adolescence can lead to suicidal thoughts, which all too often are translated into action.