Reference no: EM132219933

Question: Response:

Jennifer Primavera

Wk 8 - Post a brief discussion of two factors that contribute to sense of self in each of the two life stages you selected. Please discuss how gender and culture contribute to this development.

The two developmental periods that I picked for this discussion are adolescence and middle to late adulthood. The first factor that contributes to "sense of self" in adolescence is a heightened sense of self-consciousness and the tendency for introspection (Diehl, Youngblade, Hay, & Chui,2011). Youth at this age can think more abstractly and can think deeper about identify and the concept of self. Most teens are known to withdraw and become introspective during this time which helps the youth build a better sense of self (Diehl, Youngblade, Hay, & Chui,2011). The second factor is social interactions and the concerns over what peers think of them. At this point youth focus on what others think of them and then to try to reconcile the expectations from peers and family (Diehl, Youngblade, Hay, & Chui,2011).

The second period is middle to late adulthood, which is more difficult to identify versus the other developmental periods due to there not being enough studies as it was originally believed that the concept of self was done developing by early adulthood (Diehl, Youngblade, Hay, & Chui,2011). Some research identified that the concept of self varied depending on whether the person felt capable, had a sense of purpose and psychological well-being (Diehl, Youngblade, Hay, & Chui,2011).

Diehl, M., Youngblade, L. M., Hay, E. L., & Chui, H. (2011). The development of self-representations across the life span. In K. L. Fingerman, C. A. Berg, J. Smith, & T. C. Antonucci (Eds.), Handbook of life-span development (pp. 611-646). New York, NY: Springer.