![]() ![]() While many adolescents have achieved a formal operational level of thinking, others continue to function at the level of concrete operations, and indeed may remain at this level for the rest of their lives.Ĭonsequently, if we use chronological age as the principle developmental marker, then the important variations that occur in every group of normally-developing individuals will receive insufficient attention. For example, despite textbook claims to the contrary, many adolescents and adults never achieve formal-operational thought (i.e., tables in a typical psychology textbook list adolescence next to formal operations, as if all adolescents function at that cognitive stage). ![]() In psychopathological development, as in normal development, we often find that chronological age is by no means a guarantor that basic cognitive and social-cognitive processes have occurred. However, the simplicity of this approach is deceptive (see Rutter 1989). Age, therefore, can serve as a simple way to organize an understanding of many underlying pathogenic processes. Schizophrenia is typically an illness that begins in late adolescence or young adulthood. For example, suicide rates rise dramatically in adolescence, as do other disorders such as depression, and conduct problems. There are, of course, also age trends in some forms of psychopathology. Age does, of course, play a role in development in most of these domains, but there is frequently a significant variation in maturity in each of these areas within a single age group. But chronological age is a very crude indicator of the underlying processes of biological maturation, cognitive capacity, peer and family relationships, and one's understanding of one's self. Unfortunately, it has become quite common to label a model or study as being an example of research in ‘developmental psychopathology’ if age is introduced as a significant variable. The clinical-developmental approach is far less focused on chronological age than are most research approaches to development and psychopathology. Noam, in International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2001 2.3 Age Chronology Psychoanalysis: Adolescence (Clinical–Developmental Approach) It is one's own constructed timetable that appears to be most important for well-being, and the social clock may be less critical. For example, those with more education will be likely to get married, start a family and begin a job at later ages than the general population. However, the research indicates that many individuals set their own timetables which do not correspond to societal norms. ![]() There are consequences associated with being early or late with regard to certain events (graduation, marriage, having a child, getting a job). Thus individuals can gauge whether or not they are on-time or off-time relative to these norms (Neugarten and Hagestead 1976). Based on cultural and societal norms, there is a sense of when certain events or milestones should be achieved. The social clock is another important organizing framework for adulthood. Feeling younger than one's age is typically associated with better health and well-being. The older one is, generally, the larger the discrepancy between age and subjective age. Those in adolescence often feel slightly older then their age, young adults usually report feeling close to their age, whereas in midlife and old age adults feel on average 10–15 years younger than their age (Montepare and Lachman 1989). When adults are asked how old they feel, their responses often do not correspond to their actual chronological age. Subjective definitions of age are also important. Old age is typically divided into the periods of young old (60–75) and old old (75 and up). Adulthood is usually divided into several periods: young or early adulthood (approximately aged 20–39), middle adulthood (40–59), and old age (60+). Some researchers suggest the use of chronological age as a marker for the timing of adulthood, whereas others suggest the transition to adulthood is better characterized by events or rites of passage such as graduation from school, starting a job, or having a family (Neugarten and Hagestead 1976). Lachman, in International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2001 1 The Adult Years ![]()
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