At this stage the child is starting to separate self from the parents. Friends become very important, and in the eyes of the child, the parents are ignorant.
Adolescence (12 to 18 years)
- The peer group is very important and also has a strong influence on the child’s life;
- This is the stage that a sense of self is developed;
- The child either develops a strong sense of Identity, knowing who he/she is or has an identity crisis and is confused about his/her role in life and in social relationships;
- Success leads to an ability to stay true to self, while failure leads to role confusion and a weak sense of self.
- A weak sense of self leads to following the peer group norm and can lead to conflict in the family, depending how it is being managed by parents
Young adulthood (19 +)
- At this stage, the young person either learns to develop close relationships or isolate self from others;
- Young adults need to form intimate, loving relationships with other people;
- Success leads to strong relationships, while failure results in loneliness and isolation;
- If the young adult still lives with the family, it frequently leads to conflict if the parents still want to exercise the same control and monitoring of earlier years;
- Parents need to respect the independence of the young adult around agreed-upon boundaries & limits.
