The Self in Adolescence

Transcription

1 INVITED SYMPOSIUM EARA 2018 The Self in Adolescence Chir: Snder Thomes, Utrecht University, the Netherlnds Discussnt: Jp Denissen, Tilburg University, the Netherlnds Thursdy September 13 th, , Auditorium 3 Who m I? Wht is my plce in the world? Wht mkes me worthy person? The formtion of helthy (i.e., cler, non-defensive, uthentic) self-views is key developmentl tsk for dolescents. How do they form self-views? And how do self-views shpe their psychologicl nd behviorl djustment? The present symposium brings together group of scholrs who explore theoreticlly importnt but understudied spects of the dolescent self: nrcissism (i.e., the extent to which dolescents view themselves s superior), self-esteem contingency (i.e., the extent to which dolescents self-esteem is dependent upon pprovl), uthenticity (i.e., the extent to which dolescents feel in lignment with their true self), nd self-concept clrity (i.e., the extent to which dolescents self-concept is defined consistently nd confidently). They use multiple methods, including dily diry, experimentl, nd longitudinl methods, to uncover the origins, nture, nd consequences of dolescent selfviews. Pper 1 (Brummelmn et l.) uses experimentl methods to investigte how youths nrcissism influences their emotionl responses to prise, s evident from their physiologicl blushing. Pper 2 (Vn der Kp-Deeder et l.) uses survey nd experimentl methods to investigte how youths contingent self-esteem influences motivtionl processes in cdemic settings. Pper 3 (Thomes et l.) uses survey, dily diry, nd experimentl methods to investigte the origins nd consequences of uthenticity. Pper 4 (Becht et l.) uses longitudinl methods to investigte how youths self-concept clrity nd the qulity of their socil reltionships mutully shpe ech other. Together, the reserch presented here illustrtes how the self cn be thought of s multifceted psychologicl resource. Adolescent self-views sometimes chllenge psychologicl djustment, but cn lso contribute to dolescent lerning, socil djustment, nd emotionl well-being. Helthy self-views help dolescents nvigte successfully the vicissitudes of dily life.

2 PRESENTATION 1: Nrcissistic blushing in youth Eddie Brummelmn, Milic Nikolić, & Susn M. Bögels University of Amsterdm, the Netherlnds Physiologicl responses cn revel emotionl sttes tht individuls re unwilling to dmit to others. Here, we studied wht blushing revels bout the emotionl sttes of nrcissistic children. Nrcissistic children (i.e., those high on the personlity trit of nrcissism) hve pervsive sense of grndiosity. We theorized tht nrcissistic children re so invested in their sense of grndiosity tht even modest prise cn mke them feel deprecited. Becuse they my not dmit this feeling to others, we mesured their physiologicl blushing: n involuntry reddening of the fce tht occurs when individuls nticipte being deprecited. Unlike other emotionl expressions, blushing cnnot be fked. We timed the study right round the trnsition to dolescence, when children become incresingly concerned bout how they re evluted by others. Children (N = 105) completed the Childhood Nrcissism Scle nd were then invited to sing song on stge. They were rndomly ssigned to receive inflted prise (e.g., You sng incredibly well! ), modest prise ( You sng well! ), or no prise for their performnce. Blushing ws recorded using photoplethysmogrphy nd temperture sensing. Afterwrds, children were sked how much they thought they hd blushed. As predicted, nrcissistic children unlike non-nrcissistic children blushed when they received modest prise, not when they received inflted prise. Specificlly, they showed incresed blood volume pulse (i.e., fst chnges in blood volume with ech hertbet). Strikingly, when sked, nrcissistic children denied blushing, perhps to hide their vulnerbilities. Thus, blushing reveled socil-evlutive concerns tht nrcissistic children wished to keep privte. Interventions my encourge nrcissistic children to dopt n open, nonjudgmentl wreness of their negtive feelings, so s to help them cknowledge, understnd, nd regulte those feelings more effectively.

3 PRESENTATION 2: The pursuit of self-esteem nd its motivtionl implictions Jolene vn der Kp-Deeder, Sofie Wouters b, Krine Verschueren b, Veerle Briers b, Brm Deeren c, & Mrten Vnsteenkiste Ghent University, Belgium; b KU Leuven, Belgium; c De Duizendknoop, Belgium Although recent studies hve found contingent self-esteem (CSE) to be negtively relted to individuls well-being, reserch concerning its implictions for motivtion nd enggement is scrce. In two studies, we investigted the reltion between CSE, motivtion, nd enggement in chievement-relted situtions. A first cross-sectionl study mong second yer high school students (N = 641; 54.1% femle) confirmed the hypothesized motivtionl mbiguity ssocited with cdemic CSE. Beyond the contribution of cdemic self-esteem, cdemic CSE ws positively relted to behviorl nd emotionl enggement, but lso to emotionl disffection nd test nxiety. These ssocitions could prtilly be explined by motivtionl qulity, s CSE ws lso positively relted to both utonomous nd controlled types of motivtion. In second experimentl study mong university students (N = 72; 70.8% femle), who prticipted in tngrm puzzle tsk under vrying feedbck circumstnces, globl CSE relted to more tension, while predicting less behviorl tsk persevernce. These effects were not moderted by the type of feedbck provided (i.e., positive vs. negtive). Theoreticl nd prcticl implictions of these results will be discussed.

4 PRESENTATION 3: Hppy to be Me? Authenticity, psychologicl need stisfction, nd subjective well-being in dolescence Snder Thomes, Constntine Sedikides b, Nellie vn den Bos, Roos Huttemn, & Albert Reijntjes Utrecht University, the Netherlnds; b University of Southmpton, UK Adolescents hve strong desire to be themselves. How does experiencing uthenticity the sense of being one s true self influence subjective well-being? Wht llows dolescents to experience uthenticity? This reserch tests working model of how uthenticity is implicted in dolescents well-being. Using survey, diry, nd experimentl methodologies, four studies (totl N = 759, ge-rnge = 12-17) supported the min tenets of the model. Authenticity (1) enhnces well-being, (2) co-vries with stisfction of psychologicl needs for reltedness nd competence, nd is cused by stisfction of the need for utonomy, nd (3) medites the link between need stisfction nd well-being. Authenticity is more thn powerful motive for dolescents: It hs robust, replicble effects on well-being, nd my thus be pervsive force in positive youth development.

5 PRESENTATION 4: Cler self, better reltionships: Adolescents' self-concept clrity nd reltionship qulity with prents nd peers cross 5-yers Andrik I. Becht, Stefnie A. Nelemns, Mrloes M. P. vn Dijk, Susn J. T. Brnje, Wilm A. M. Vollebergh, Pol A. C. vn Lier b, Jp J. A. Denissen c, & Wim H. J. Meeus Utrecht University; b Ersmus University Rotterdm; c Tilburg University the Netherlnds Aim: Estblishing cler sense of self is key tsk of dolescence. An importnt spect of the self is the degree of certinty or clrity, lso referred to s self-concept clrity. Severl theories on the self hve emphsized the importnce of interpersonl reltionships with prents nd best friends for the development of SCC in dolescence (see Chen et l., 2006 for n overview), lso referred to s prent/peer effects model. At the sme time, there is the commonly held notion tht how we think bout ourselves lso ffects socil reltionships, referred to s child effects model nd chnges in clrity of the self my even precede chnges in reltionship qulity during dolescence (Erikson, 1968; Swnn et l., 2007). Importntly, none of these perspectives hve ever been tested longitudinlly, which mkes it difficult to substntite clims regrding the direction of effects. How SCC nd qulity of reltionships with prents nd friends re influencing ech other over time is therefore not well understood. Moreover, previous studies primrily studied these ssocitions t the group level. Yet, if we wnt to gin knowledge on how dynmic processes between reltionship qulity nd SCC operte within individuls, we need to study these linkges t the within-person level (Hmker et l., 2015). Therefore, the im of this study ws to compre competing theoreticl perspectives on the direction of effects between reltionship qulity nd SCC cross dolescence using within-person modeling pproch. Method: This multi-informnt five-yer longitudinl study (N = 497, M ge = yers t T1, 56.7% boys) involved dolescents, their prents nd best-friend s reports of reltionship qulity. We tested reciprocl within-person longitudinl linkges, using multi-level frmework cross lgged pnel model. Results: Results provided systemtic evidence for both prent nd child effects, with the direction of effects being strongly dependent on the reltionl context. For exmple, higher mternl support predicted higher SCC, supporting prent effects perspective. In contrst, higher SCC predicted lower pternl negtive interction, supporting child effects model. Peer effects on dolescent SCC were not consistently found cross dolescent nd best friend reports. Conclusion: Overll, results indicted bidirectionl effects between qulity of reltionships nd SCC. Yet, the direction of effects ws lrgely dependent on the reltionl context. Results will be discussed in light of n incresing body of knowledge tht dolescents incresingly shpe their reltionships with close others.