Adolescents in Crisis R' Jane Williams, M'Div', Ph'D' Chaplain, St' Marys Episcopal School, Memphis,

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Adolescents in CrisisR. Jane Williams,
M.Div., Ph.D.Chaplain, St. Marys Episcopal
School, Memphis, TN
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Adolescence

• No standard definition for adolescence
• Age Range is most frequently used definition
• 10-18?
• 12-18?
• 12-25?

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Adolescence (contd)

• May be defined according to maturation
• Physical, social, and cognitive development
• From puberty to the achievement of economic
  independence

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Working Definition

• Adolescence is the period from ages 11-18, during
  which the individual moves from puberty, concrete
  thought, and ego-centrism to increased physical,
  emotional, and intellectual self-reliance, and
  increasing abilities to sustain healthy
  interpersonal relationships

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Normal Adolescents?

• 1999 asked what words came to mind with the word
  adolescent
• 71 of the general public cited negative terms
• Rude
• Wild
• Irresponsible

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• 89 of the same adults believed almost all
  teenagers can get back on track with the right
  kind of guidance and attention from adults
• Encourage success in school
• Set boundaries
• Teach shared values
• Teach respect for cultural differences
• Guide decision-making
• Give financial guidance

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The truth is . . .

• Most adolescents succeed in school,
  are attached to their families and
  communities, and emerge from their teen years
  without experiencing serious problems.

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• And most adolescents, despite occasional or even
  numerous protests
• need adults in their lives,
• want adults in their lives,
• crave the nurturing, teaching, guidance, and
  protection that caring adults can give them

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Do we have time?

• Surprisingly, a study by the US Council of
  Economic Advisers (2000) reported that teens
  rated not having enough time together with their
  parents as one of their top problems
• Teens with greater parental involvement with them
  (measured by frequency of eating meals together)
  showed significantly lower rates of problematic
  behaviors (e.g., lying, fighting, alcohol use,
  promiscuity)

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• Episcopal School Educators
• Adolescents in Crisis
• One more (unwelcome) responsibility?
• -or-
• ministry opportunity?

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• It just takes one caring adult. . .
• Miller, Alice. The Untouched Key Tracing
  Childhood Trauma in Creativity and
  Destructiveness. New York Random House/Anchor
  Books, 1991,

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Normal Adolescent Development Challenges
and Gifts

• Physical changes
• Cognitive development
• Emotional development
• Social development

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Physical changes

• Growth spurt begins (girls 10-12 boys 12-14)
  completed for girls 17-19 and boys 20
• Sexual maturation
• Physical appearance and weight

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Challenges/Crises

• Early or late physical maturation
• Especially problematic for early maturing girls
  (sexual victimization) and late maturing boys
  (bullying)
• At risk for depression, substance abuse,
  disruptive behaviors, eating disorders, early
  sexual activity, smoking

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Supportive Steps

• Recognize whether there is a problem
• If you are concerned, be willing to recognize
  opportunities to talk with parents about the
  situation bullying of their child, pressures to
  engage in activities that they are not yet ready
  emotionally to handle, teasing

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Supportive Steps (contd)

• Help the adolescent identify and practice (via
  role play or journaling) strategies and scripts
  in advance to deal with, respond to, or avoid
  awkward or dangerous situations

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When Supportive Steps Arent Enough

• When withdrawal/depression is affecting a childs
  academic performance
• When behaviors become physically dangerous (e.g.,
  12 y.o. dating an 18 y.o. bullying or being
  bullied fighting)
• When suicide is hinted at or mentioned

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Physical Appearance Body Image

• Physical appearance becomes of paramount
  importance in adolescence
• Pressure to look dress like others up to age
  14 lessens after age 14
• Weight growth spurt can make dramatic changes
  still,16-20 of adolescents are overweight
  physical activity has decreased (25 report no
  physical activity this week)

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Challenges/Crises

• Increase in overweight/obese teens
• Obsession with body image skewed body image
• Bullying (often due to appearance that deviates
  from the norm)

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Supportive Steps

• Urge school administrators to support expanded
  physical education and sports activities
  include faculty
• Counselors offer a body awareness unit
• Nutrition contests healthiest lunch/calorie
  contest (how many calories in frozen custard cup
  vs. fruit, or a healthy lunch tray vs. an
  unhealthy lunch tray)
• Run an awareness week where no one says I am so
  fat or Do I look fat in this . . .

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Supportive Steps (contd)

• Piggyback on the Dove soap film clips and make
  them local (e.g., this is what a healthy real
  teen guy/gal looks like) www.campaignforrealbeauty
  .ca/bblank.asp?id6895
• Emphasize a positive focus on non-appearance
  sources of self-esteem academic, artistic,
  athletic accomplishments

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Supportive Steps (contd)

• Protect adolescents from abuse and bullying and
  be available and trustworthy for teens to report
  abuse
• Include parent education on the importance of
  emphasizing healthy living rather than appearance

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When Supportive Steps Arent Enough

• Eating Disorders .5-1 of all girls 12-18 are
  anorexic, 1-3 are bulimic, 20 engage in
  unhealthy dieting behaviors 10 of eating
  disordered adolescents are boys
• Eating disorders do not respond to persuasion
  need clinical medical help
• Contact parents consider talking with child and
  parents together

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When Supportive Steps Arent Enough (contd)

• Abuse Issues
• Symptoms (withdrawal/depression . . . )
• Reporting (differs by state)
• Supportive actions

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Cognitive Development

• Brain science
• Amazing overgrowth in neurons and dendrites in
  the prefrontal cortex just before puberty
• Pruning of those not used occurs during
  adolescence strengthening the pathways that are
  used frequently

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Cognitive Development (contd)

• Corpus callosum grows in waves during this time
• Cerebellum growth dependent on environmental
  stimulation and use
• Early adolescents will show less maturity of
  thought than later adolescents in part due to
  structural changes of the brain

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Challenges/Crises

• Adolescent judgment and decision-making skills do
  not develop independently
• Adolescents value independence highly
• Increased reasoning abilities and abstract
  thought can increase obnoxiousness )

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Challenges/Crises

• Different intelligences (Gardner, 1993 Stenberg,
  1996)
• Verbal/linguistic, logical/mathematical, spatial,
  musical, bodily kinesthetic, intrapersonal,
  naturalist, existential
• Learning differences may be recognized during
  adolescence

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Supportive Steps

• Parents and teachers can foster adolescents
  sense of competence
• If students are coming to you, even to argue
  about something, know that they are coming to YOU
  because you are considered SAFE (its a
  compliment)
• Help turn me-thinking into wondering what
  others think

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When Supportive Steps Arent Enough

• Learning problems are not the same as laziness
• Refer for assessment
• Ask for suggestions re changes in the
  classroom/teaching techniques/supportive
  resources/technological aids

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When Supportive Steps Arent Enough

• Provide regular faculty in-service on practical,
  realistic teaching skills to enhance learning via
  multiple intelligences
• Consider parent book groups and/or parenting
  classes that talk about parenting teens (e.g.,
  The Blessing of a B-, Get Out of My Life, But
  First Could You Drive Cheryl and Me to the Mall?)

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Moral Development

• Cognitive development lays groundwork for moral
  reasoning, honesty, pro-social behavior
• Piaget 2-stages
• Kohlberg 6 stages

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Moral Development (contd)

• Kohlbergs stages
• Preconventional
• (1)obedience/punishment
• (2) individualism/exchange

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Moral Development (contd)

• Conventional
• (3) interpersonal relationships
• (4) maintaining social order
• Post-conventional
• (5) social contract and individual rights
• (6) universal principles

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Supportive Steps

• Build student awareness (individually and as a
  community) through practicing moral behavior
• Individual modeling
• Programs like Ethical Fitness
  http//www.globalethics.org/services/edu/bds.htm
• Character education

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Supportive Steps (contd)

• Honor Codes
• Guide students in developing them and taking
  ownership
• Hand over more of the responsibility for managing
  it to students at higher grades
• Train and practice ethical decision-making skills
• Help students take pride in the honor code

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Supportive Steps (contd)

• Role of Spirituality
• Importance of Community Service
• Importance of fairness in the school community

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Emotional Development

• Main task is to establish a realistic and
  coherent sense of self that is stable in the
  presence of others but not rigid
• Second task is to learn to recognize emotions,
  express them in healthy ways, and learn how to
  deal with stress

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Emotional Development (contd)

• Identity
• Self-concept
• Reflection of self by others
• Experimenting
• Self-esteem

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Supportive Steps

• Be proactive in forming warm, supportive, genuine
  relationships with students
• Listen more than you talk value what you hear
• Help the student find and capitalize on those
  things s/he does well or can learn to do well

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Supportive Steps (contd)

• Take students seriously when they are struggling
  with something and take time to guide them
  through

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When Supportive Steps Arent Enough

• When is it a passing phase and when is it mental
  illness?
• Changed interactions with peers teachers
• Inability to pay attention and absorb information
• Cannot complete assignments on time and within
  one grade variation of their usual grade
• Physical manifestations

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When Supportive Steps Arent Enough (contd)

• Suicidal threats
• or gestures

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When Supportive Steps Arent Enough (contd)

• Adolescent Major Depression different than The
  Blues and different than adult depression
• Sleep difficulties
• Restlessness or lack of energy
• Irritability and anger control problems
• Hopelessness
• Social isolation

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When Supportive Steps Arent Enough (contd)

• Bipolar Disorder and Variations
• Bipolar I Bipolar II
• Mixed
• Rapid cycling
• Cyclothymia

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When Supportive Steps Arent Enough (contd)

• Anxiety Disorders
• Generalized Anxiety Disorder
• Panic Disorder
• Agoraphobia
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

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When Supportive Steps Arent Enough (contd)

• Substance Abuse
• Alcohol
• Illegal Drugs
• Prescription Drugs

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When Supportive Steps Arent Enough (contd)

• Tic Disorder (Tourettes)
• Physical tics
• Vocal tics

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Adolescent Social Development

• Dating
• Peer relationships
• Family relationships
• Divorce issues
• Stepfamily issues

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Adolescent Social Development (contd)

• Dating
• Often not formal/group in early adolescence and
  even mid-adolescence
• Dyadic dating usually starts 14-16
• Cyber connections
• Dating violence
• Physical abuse
• Date rape

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Adolescent Social Development (contd)

• Sex in Adolescence
• Abstinence?
• By age 15 13 have had intercourse
• Between ages 15-19 43
• By age 19 70
• Hook ups or what do you mean by sex?
• Calculating the costs of sex

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Adolescent Social Development (contd)

• Peer groups
• Temporary reference point for sense of identity
• Positive peer relations better self-image and
  adjustment
• Negative peer relations/rejection/isolation
  source of negative acting-out, depression, poor
  psycho-social adjustment

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Adolescent Social Development (contd)

• Family relationships
• Intact families
• Divorced families
• Blended families
• Same-sex couples
• Non-married couples
• What is important

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Supportive Steps

• Peer relationships
• Social isolation/peer-rejection
• Social skills deficits
• Dating
• Is having a date to the prom a norm?
• Dating Violence
• Date Rape
• Loss of Relationships

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Supportive Steps (contd)

• Family relationships
• Parenting support
• Student support

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A Word About Resilience

• Resilience the process of adapting well in the
  face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or
  significant sources of stress (e.g.,
  relationship, family, health, financial, or
  workplace problems)
• Does not mean a lack of difficulty, distress, or
  emotion in the face of challenges

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A Word About Resilience (contd)

• Not an inherited trait
• Resilient behavior, thoughts, and actions can be
  learned by anyone, including children and
  adolescents

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A Word About Resilience (contd)

• Factors that build resilience
• Stable, positive relationship with at least one
  caring adult
• Religious spiritual anchors
• High, realistic academic expectations and
  adequate support
• Positive family environment
• Emotional intelligence/skills to cope with stress

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A Word About Resilience (contd)

• . . .Resilience should be seen as a function of
  developmental experiences that are grounded in a
  community context . . . Whether a community is
  able to offer the relationships, resources, and
  commitment needed to provide the kinds of
  supports and developmental experiences that
  produce resilient youth . . .

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A Word About Resilience (contd)

• . . .depends on many factors, but primary is
  whether the needs of youth are given priority.
• (from Developing Adolescents A Reference for
  Professionals, American Psychological
  Association, 2007)