Your Ten- to Fourteen-Year-Old - Softcover

Chapter 1

ORIENTA‰ON

The basic theme of this book is growth—the growth of body, mind, andpersonality. The book itself is a product of growth which traces its origins toprevious studies. For more than sixty years the authors have been makingsystematic observations of normal child development. During that time we havebeen observing the procession of behavior patterns which begin to unfold evenbefore birth and which assume such varied forms throughout infancy, childhood,and adolescence.

This present volume carries our studies of age changes in behavior intothe preadolescent and adolescent years. We have been particularly interested todetermine the influence of age on the organization of behavior under theconditions of contemporary American culture.

In spite of the gradualness of the child's behavior growth, we foundthat each year of maturity brings characteristic traits and trends in theseolder years, just as is the case in the first ten years of life. Ten marks aturn in the spiral course of development, with the behavioral beginnings ofadolescence appearing at about eleven. The adolescent cycle continues throughthe teens well into the twenties, but the same kinds of age changes thatappeared earlier are still evident: ages of relative equilibrium alternate withages of disequilibrium; expansive ages alternate with times of inwardization.

How do the mechanisms, patterns, and laws of growth manifest themselvesin the transitional years from ten to fourteen? Answers to this question becamethe goal of this investigation.

SETTINGS AND SUBJECTS

A fortunate combination of circumstances enabled us to maintainresearch contact with a large number of the same children whose

4                           ‡     Your Ten- to Fourteen-Year-Old    ‡

development we had already followed up to age ten. These children,along with siblings and peers, constituted our original core group of 115subjects, seen repeatedly throughout adolescence. To these were added fiftychildren seen at one age only. All told, there were 545 contacts with thesechildren over a span of ten years.

With few exceptions, the families lived in New Haven, Connecticutand its suburbs. Some who moved away returned periodically for the half-dayvisits required by our investigation. All had demonstrated a genuine interestin the methods and aims of our research. A supplementary group of more than onethousand subjects was added in the years 1977-1978. These young people eachresponded to a questionnaire which covered aspects of social and sexualbehavior (See Appendix A). These subjects came from communities which rangedgeographically from the East Coast to the West Coast of the United States.

Intellectually, our original group of subjects was well above average,as tested on the Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Scale. The average IQ for theten-, eleven-, and fourteen-year-olds was 117; for the twelve-, thirteen-,fifteen-, and sixteen-year-olds, the average IQ was 118. The socioeconomicstatus of the original families was generally favorable. The methoditself—requiring contacts over a span of years—tended to select families ofstable position in the community. The majority of the parents were inprofessional, semiprofes-sional, managerial, and skilled occupations. Thechildren were representative of a high average to superior level of schoolpopulation in a relatively prosperous community. The socioeconomic status ofour 1977-1978 subjects ranged from upper class to welfare.

We were, of course, dealing with presumably normal children, and we sharedthe parents' avid interest in the child's behavior in terms of individualityand growth characteristics. Each visit in our original study included adetailed behavior and personality examination, an interview with the parents,and a personal interview with the child. (See Appendix A for details.) Theparents were eager to observe the developmental examination (which they didthrough a one-way screen) and were enthusiastic and helpful in the parentconference which followed. The interview with the child was conducted inprivacy between an interviewer and the boy or girl. The entire visit required,on each occasion, a full half day.

Readers will undoubtedly be aware that throughout this book we speak,for the most part, as if every boy or girl had a mother and father living inthe household. And for our original group of sub-

·     Orientation     *                                         5

jects, those whom we studied in the most detail and whom we knew best,this was the case. Our second (more recent) group of subjects were known to usonly through their responses to our questionnaire. We did not meet theirparents or know, in most instances, whether these children lived in an intacttwo-parent home, a stepfamily, or a single-parent home.

Thus we do not in this book give special information about theparticular problems which exist in stepfamilies or in single-parent families.Such information, however, is available in several of the books included in ourreference list. Our interest here was in the young people themselves and in theway things changed with them from age to age—not in the particular kind offamily they grew up in.

THE INTERVIEWS

The personal interview with our subjects and the interview with theirparents were an organic part of the investigation program. These interviewswere carried on independently of each other. Leading questions were kept at aminimum. The procedure was informal and favored free and! easy conversation.There was no rigid standardization, but the questions embraced the eight basicdevelopmental areas considered in the present volume, under the followingheadings: (1) Total action system, (2) Self-care and routines, (3) Emotions,(4) The growing self, (5) Interpersonal relationships, (6) Activities andinterests, (7) School life, (8) Ethical sense.

Subject interview:

The subject was at once reassured that the questions were not tests andthat we were not looking for right or wrong answers. We were simply interestedto know how he thought and felt. He need not answer if he so chose, and hecould add anything he wished to talk about. The questions were formulatedbriefly and directly. For example, when emotions were under discussion thesubject was asked, "What do you do when you get angry?" "Do youever cry and, if so, what about?" "How about competition?" andso forth. Intellectual areas were explored with similar directness. The childgave us his ideas about time, space, war, ethics. As he grew older, phases ofthe interview might reverse direction, and he would ask for the opinion of theexaminer. In general, the children appeared to

6                          ‡     Your Ten- to Four teen-Year Old    ‡

find the interview an interesting experience, and seemed gratified thattheir ideas were important enough to be recorded.

We have sometimes been asked if this very awareness of our interest didnot distort the response of our adolescents. Were they really telling us thetruth? We believe that our subjects responded to our interview with the truthas they experienced it; each responded in accord with his inner picture of selfas a person.

Parent Interview:

This interview was an important part of each yearly visit. It was atwo-way arrangement which invited eager questions and comments. Parent andinterviewer had reciprocal reasons for defining the individuality and progressof the child whose behavior had just been witnessed in the standardized settingof the developmental examination.

The parents were encouraged to report their own observations, livelyanecdotes, problems or concerns, and any noteworthy happenings of the year justpast. We found that the conference, which was quite informal, could admit thehumorous as well as the serious aspects of domestic problems.

ANALYSIS OF DATA

From this account of the ground plan of our adolescent study, it isevident that we spread a wide net to gather our data. The records on ouroriginal subjects were voluminous. For the children whose development we hadfollowed since their earliest years, the documentary file for a singleindividual assumed the proportions of a biography. For the thousand or so boysand girls who responded to our questionnaire in the late 1970's, only thequestionnaire was available for analysis.

Our task was to analyze and interpret this formidable mass of data andto reduce it to a meaningful pattern. Our method involved the determination ofa series of growth gradients and maturity profiles.

·     Orientation     ‡

SCOPE AND PLAN OF THE BOOK

We have formulated the findings of our study from three convergingangles of approach as follows:

1.  Maturity Profiles Portrayals of the maturity characteristics ofseven yearly age norms from ten through fourteen years.

2.  Maturity Traits Behavior patterns and symptoms in eight major areasfor each age zone: (1) Total Action System, (2) Routines and Self-Care, (3)Emotions, (4) The Growing Self, (5) Interpersonal Relationships, (6) Activitiesand interests, (7) School Life, (8) Ethical Sense.

3.  Maturity Trends The sequences and gradients of growth for thesector of years from ten through fourteen.

The governing concept is that of growth—growth as a patterning process.Even a young adolescent becomes somewhat more understandable when he isconsidered from the standpoint of growth—of immaturity and of relativematurity.

But growth is subtle and often elusive. It takes time. We can scarcelyperceive it without the perspective which comes with the passage of time.

Part Three of the present volume provides another approach from whichthe trends of maturity can be examined in greater detail. A separate chapter isdevoted to each of the eight major areas of behavior development. Instead offocusing on a single age zone, we look at the sequences of growth inlongitudinal perspective and tabulate the growth gradients for some fortydistinguishable fields of behavior. A growth gradient is the series of stagesor degrees of maturity by which a child progresses toward a higher level offunctioning.

Note: The maturity profiles, the maturity traits, and the maturitytrends described here are not to be regarded as rigid age norms or as models.They simply indicate the kinds of behavior—desirable or otherwise—which tend tooccur at certain stages and ages under contemporary cultural conditions. Everychild has an individual pattern of growth unique to him or her. The profiles,traits, and trends are designed to suggest the various maturity levels at whichyoung people may function. The "ages" denote approximate zones ratherthan precise moments in time.