Havinghurst's Eight Developmental Tasks of Adolescence

Havinghursts’Eight Development Tasks of Adolescence
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Havinghursts’Eight Development Tasks of Adolescence
Introduction
The critical concerns that face adolescents is the dire need to become productive and mature adults by establishing a constant identity. When changes occur in roles and experiences, the adolescent would seek to develop a sense of belonging that would surround such changes. As a result, they end up discovering themselves as they go about searching their roles in the society. Adolescents experience major changes during the puberty stage and this affects their relationship with others in their reactions and behaviours. For instance, an adult can treat an adolescent as his fellow adult partner simply because in their physical status they appear to be adults.
However, what they simply need is room to fully explore their world and discover themselves. Adolescents are therefore not adults but young men and women in search of true identity. By understanding their needs, adults will be in a better position to provide opportunities for the adolescent child to grow. According to Havinghurst (2008), in order for adolescents to fully identify themselves, they have to complete eight major developmental tasks.These developmental tasks will help the parents to be thoroughly equippped so as to give support to the adolescent as he strives in the road towards becoming a productive and competent adults.
Developmental tasks
As adolescents begin to mature physically they tend to be more attached to their age groups (Allin et al, 2008).These are groups of similar characteristics, norms and behaviors. As a result, the adolescent is likely to experiment more as he keeps on interacting with his peers (Aucoin et al, 2007). Peer groups can either build or destroy an adolescent therefore as parents, monitoring the child is crucial at this stage because they tend to relate with one another from a physical level.
As they continue to grow, adolescents begin to develop their own views about the opposite sex that is female or male. The society has made most adolescents to view the male figure as an individual who is strong and assertive while the female counterpart is viewed as weak and passive. However, parents must challenge the adolescent to come out of the cultural norms and encourage the males to be more expressive of their feelings whereas for the female to be more assertive.
Tremendous changes of the body at the onset of puberty can make an adolescent develop a positive or negative selfesteem. Most young men and women seek attention from stereotypes as a way to match their bodies to perfection. Adults need to support the adolescents to improve their selfworth and comfort with regards to their physique.
Moving towards being a more selfreliant person requires the adolescent to redefine their personal strengths. However, this shift cannot be made posible if the parent or adult does not give that emotional support and independence.Parents need to have positive values and attitudes that the adolescent must internalize.
Maturity towards sex is vital as one prepares for marriage and family life. It is quite easy for the adolescent to confuse their sexual feelings with intimacy that is genuine (Burman et al, 2008). Hence, most adolescents fall prey to problems related to infatuation. Parents ought to teach young adults the basis of  true love which requires patience and which is worth the wait.
Society recognizes an adolescent to have reached the adult status once he or she is able to support himself or herself financially. However, the job sector today requires that one needs to have the skills and education in order to advance in career. As one finishes his or her education and gains some work experince, then this development task becomes an achievement.
As a guide to their behavior, adolescents should acquire a set of ethical system and v...