Invited Symposium
Psychosocial Development in Adolescence
Baptiste Barbot (1) and Luc Goossens (2)
(1) UCLouvain; (2) KU Leuven
Today’s adolescents are developing in an ever-changing world marked by globalization, technological, and social media innovations, and related changes in human interactions and relationships. These societal changes, in turn, lead to changes in the way youth think about themselves and how they address their developmental tasks. The current symposium concentrates on the underlying developmental processes of adolescents’ psychosocial development in the current era by highlighting its core developmental tasks, challenges, and potential solutions as youth adjust in their transition into adulthood. The event will consist of the four speakers giving back-to-back talks followed by a general discussion session at the end of the symposium. Koen Luyckx (KU Leuven) will provide an overview of modern theories of identity formation supported by empirical data, with a focus on process-oriented approaches, their developmental underpinning and related adaptive and maladaptive outcomes. Next, Luc Goossens et al. (KU Leuven) will further elaborate on the maladaptive outcomes often associated with adolescent’s psychosocial development, by examining the developmental dynamics of loneliness, social anxiety symptoms, and depressive symptoms that co-occur and reinforce each other throughout adolescence. Bart Soenens (UGent) will then highlight the importance of parental autonomy support for adolescents’ psychosocial development, by referring to recent research capturing the multidimensionality of autonomy-supportive parenting in several key domains (school and emotion regulation). Finally, Baptiste Barbot (UCLouvain) will outline several mechanisms by which creative thinking, participation and expression support identity formation and prevent maladaptive outcomes, through empirical illustrations among multiple adolescent samples including juvenile-justice involved youth.
Speaker 1: Co-development of internalizing problems in adolescence:
Combined growth patterns of loneliness, social anxiety symptoms, and depressive symptoms
Combined growth patterns of loneliness, social anxiety symptoms, and depressive symptoms
Luc Goossens (1), Patricia Bijttebier (1), Sofie Danneel (1), Marlies Maes (1), Margot Bastin (1), Hilde Colpin (1) and Karine Verschueren (1)
(1) KU Leuven
Adolescence is a challenging developmental stage characterized by an increase in the prevalence of internalizing problems, such as loneliness, social anxiety symptoms, and depressive symptoms. Although it is well-known that these internalizing problems frequently co-occur at a single point in time, less is known about how they co-develop across adolescence, or in other words, how they potentially maintain and even reinforce each other over time. To examine this co-development, three samples of adolescents were used. Sample 1 (roughly ages 15, 16 and 17) comprised 549 adolescents (62.66% girls), and Samples 2 and 3 (roughly ages 13, 14, and 15) comprised 811 adolescents (46.09% girls) and 1,101 adolescents (52.23% girls), respectively. Adolescents filled out well-established self-report measures of loneliness, social anxiety symptoms, and depressive symptoms during regular school hours at three measurement occasions with a 1-year interval. Parallel Process Latent Growth Curve Modelling (PPLGCM) provided a better fit to the data than did Multiple Indicator Linear Growth Modelling (MILGM). This finding implied that all three internalizing problems develop in a unique but related way across adolescence. Correlations among the respective growth parameters (i.e., both initial levels and rates of change) were computed to examine the co-development between loneliness, social anxiety symptoms, and depressive symptoms. Results consistently indicated that all three internalizing problems reinforce each other across adolescence. In addition, no gender differences were found regarding this co-development. Implications for current theory on the development of internalizing problems in adolescence are discussed and suggestions for future research are outlined.
Speaker 2: The importance of parental autonomy support for adolescents’ psychosocial development
Bart Soenens (1)
(1) UGent
In research on parenting and in the context of parenting interventions, there is much consensus about the importance of parental warmth and structure for adolescents’ mental health, social competence, and behavioral adjustment. In this presentation, I will highlight the importance of parental autonomy-support, a somewhat neglected and relatively more controversial dimension of parenting. Several important questions will be discussed, including: What exactly is autonomy-supportive parenting (and what is it not)? Does autonomy-support easily turn into permissiveness? Is autonomy-support a trait characterizing some parents, but not other parents? Is autonomy-supportive parenting beneficial for all adolescents’ psychosocial adjustment, irrespective of their personality and cultural background? In discussing these questions, I will refer to recent research on the role of autonomy-supportive parenting in several life domains, including school and emotion regulation. I will also discuss cutting edge research relying on a variety of designs, including longitudinal research, experimental studies, diary studies, intervention-based designs, and cross-cultural comparisons. I will argue that a thorough analysis of autonomy-supportive requires an understanding of both the basic attitude underlying this parenting dimension as well its constituent practices.
Speaker 3: Identity development in adolescence
Koen Luyckx (1,2)
(1) KU Leuven; (2) University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa
Ever since Erik Erikson’s work, personal identity formation is conceived of as the core developmental task during adolescence and the transition to adulthood, and it has been shown to have long-term implications toward adaptation and functioning. In this presentation, an overview will be given about recent theorizing in the field of identity formation, and results will be briefly presented on developmental changes through adolescence and the transition to adulthood. Results will mainly build upon a process-oriented identity model developed at our research center which focuses on core commitment and exploration processes and captures both adaptive and maladaptive identity processes. Hence, this model is especially suitable to capture the identity development process in our current society. In the remainder of the talk, results will be presented detailing the practical relevance of focusing on identity processes in these life stages, with specific reference to how a focus on identity formation may inform clinical practice (e.g., for clinicians working with youth struggling with eating disorder symptoms or other pathological behaviors).
Speaker 4: Creativity and identity development in (turmoiled) adolescence
Baptiste Barbot (1)
(1) UCLouvain
Adolescence is a period of “storm and stress” associated with peak frequency of delinquency acts across the life-span. Maladaptive outcomes such as rule breaking behaviors in adolescence may often result from normative, identity-related challenges and distress that adolescents may not be able to channel through more “adaptive” means. In this context, creativity may be viewed as an identity skill that supports identity development in multiple ways, and in turn, prevent maladaptive outcomes. After providing a developmental framework to understand the relationship between creativity development and identity development, this presentation will outline three main aspects of creativity that may contribute to the development of identity: namely (1) creative thinking processes may enhance identity formation processes; (2) the participation in creative activities provides domains of commitment that contribute to a positive self-definition; and (3) some creative activities may be used as outlets for “adaptive” self-expression. These mechanisms will be illustrated using data from several empirical studies among samples of adolescents from the general community and youth involved with the juvenile justice system. Findings will be discussed in terms of potential for the development of creativity-based interventions that support the development of identity in adolescence, and prevent maladaptive outcomes of the typical adolescent turmoil.
