Literature – Adolescent Development
Book – Chapter 10: Intimacy (ONE HALF OF THE CHAPTER)
One of the most remarkable things about adolescence is the way close relationships change
during these years. adolescents’ relationships are closer, more personal, more involved, and
more emotionally charged than children’s. During adolescence, relationships become more
intimate.
The concept of intimacy – at least as it is used in the study of adolescence – does not have a
sexual or physical connotation. Rather, an intimate relationship is an emotional attachment
between two people that is characterized by concern for each other’s well-being; a willingness
to disclose private, and occasionally sensitive topics; and a sharing of common interest and
activities. Two individuals can have an intimate relationship without having a sexual one. And
two people can have a sexual relationship without being especially intimate.
Intimacy as an Adolescent Issue
Intimacy is an important concern throughout most of the life span and can protect against
psychological and social problems. One reason that the development of intimacy is especially
important during adolescence is that it is not until adolescence that truly intimate relationships
– relationships characterized by openness, honesty, self-disclosure, and trust – emerge.
Another reason for the importance of intimacy during adolescence concerns the changing
nature of the adolescent’s social world – during early adolescence, the increasing importance
of peers in general, and during middle and late adolescence, the increasing importance of
other-sex peers in particular.
The reason such important changes take place in close relationships during adolescence might
be related to biological, cognitive, and social changes of the period.
Puberty and the Development of Intimacy
The link between puberty and intimacy is obvious: Changes in sexual impulses at puberty
provoke interest in sex, which leads to the development of romantic relationships. With
romance and sexuality come new issues and concern requiring serious, intimate discussions,
often with relationships outside the family.
Cognitive Change and the Development of Intimacy
Advances in thinking – especially in the realm of social cognition – are also related to the
development of intimacy. These developments permit adolescents to establish and maintain
relationships with greater empathy, self-disclosure, and sensitivity; they also contribute to
adolescents’ feelings of loneliness if they perceive themselves as socially isolated.
Changes in Social Roles and the Development of Intimacy
The behavioral independence that often accompanies the transition into adolescence provides
greater opportunities for adolescents to be alone with their friends, engaged in intimate
discussion, either in person or online. Moreover, the recognition of adolescents as “near
adults” may prompt their parents and other adults to confide in the and turn to them for
support. Finally, changes in the structure of schools during early adolescence – often giving
,younger teenagers more contact with older ones – may promote new types of peer
relationships.
Theoretical Perspectives on Adolescent Intimacy
The most important theoretical perspectives on the development of intimacy during
adolescence are those of Harry Stack Sullivan and various writers who have studies
attachment relationships in adolescence.
Sullivan’s Theory of Interpersonal Development
Sullivan emphasized the social aspects of growth, suggesting that psychological development
can be best understood by looking at our relationships with others. In his view, the challenges
of adolescence revolve around trying to satisfy changing interpersonal needs.
Stages of Interpersonal Needs:
Sullivan’s perspective starts from the premise that, as children develop, different interpersonal
needs surface that lead either to feelings of security (when the needs are satisfied) or feelings
of anxiety (when the needs are frustrated). These changing interpersonal needs define the
course of interpersonal development through different phases of the life span.
In Sullivan’s view, the security that is derived from having satisfying relationships with others
is the glue that holds one’s sense of self together. He viewed psychosocial development as
cumulative: The frustrations and satisfactions individuals experience during earlier periods
affect their later relationships and developing sense of identity.
When important interpersonal transitions arise, having a solid foundation of security in past
relationships aids in the successful negotiation of the transition.
Interpersonal Development During Adolescence
Sullivan suggested that the need for intimacy – which surfaces during preadolescence –
precedes the development of romantic or sexual relationships, which do not emerge until
adolescence. He believed that the capacity for intimacy first develops prior to adolescence and
in the context of same-sex, not other-sex relationships. This turns out to be one of the most
important observations in Sullivan’s theory, because the quality of individuals’ same-sex
friendships is predictive of the quality of their later romantic relationships. Sullivan felt that
forming intimate friendships during preadolescence is a necessary precondition to forming
close relationships – both sexual and nonsexual – as an adolescent or young adult.
According to Sullivan, preadolescence comes to an end with the onset of puberty. Early
adolescence is marked by the emergence of sexuality, in the form of a powerful, biological
sex drive. Now most social scientists would say that the crucial interpersonal challenge for the
young adolescence is the transition from nonromantic to romantic relationships (instead of
from same-sex to other-sex friendships – which ignores homosexuality).
Like all interpersonal transitions, the movement from nonromantic to romantic relationships
can be fraught with anxiety. The overarching challenge of adolescence, according to Sullivan,
is to integrate an established need for intimacy with an emerged need for sexual contact in a
way that does not lead to excessive anxiety, which can be done in different ways.
,Platonic relationships: Nonsexual relationships with individuals who might otherwise be
romantic partners.
Sullivan viewed the adolescent’s experimentation with different types of relationships as a
normal way of handling new feelings, new fears, and new interpersonal needs. For many
young people, experimentation with sex and intimacy continues well into late adolescence. If
the interpersonal tasks of adolescence have been negotiated successfully, we enter late
adolescence able to be intimate, able to enjoy sex, and, most critically, able to experience
intimacy and sexuality in the same relationship.
Attachment Theory
Today, a different theoretical perspective guides the study of intimate relationships in
adolescence, one that draws on theories of the development of the attachment relationship
during infancy.
Attachment in Infancy:
Attachment: The strong affectional bond that develops between an infant and a caregiver.
Virtually all infants form attachment relationships with their mother (and most do so with
their father and other caregivers as well), but not all infants have attachment relationships of
the same quality. Psychologists differentiate among four types of infant attachment:
Secure attachment: A healthy attachment between infant and caregiver, characterized by trust.
Anxious-avoidant attachment: An insecure attachment between infant and caregiver,
characterized by indifference on the part of the infant toward the caregiver.
Anxious-resistant attachment: An insecure attachment between infant and caregiver,
characterized by distress at separation and anger at reunion – ambivalence.
Disorganized attachment: A relationship between infant and caregiver characterized by the
absence of normal attachment behavior – most at risk for psychological problems.
The security of the early attachment relationship is important, because studies show that
infants who have had a secure attachment are more likely to grow into psychologically
healthy and socially skilled children.
Does Infant Attachment Predict Adolescent Intimacy?
Many theorists who study adolescent development believe that the nature of individuals’
attachment to caregivers during infancy continues to have an influence on their capacity to
form satisfying intimate relationships during adolescence and adulthood, in two ways. First,
some theorists have argued that the initial attachment relationship forms the basis for the
model of interpersonal relationships we employ throughout life.
Internal working model: The implicit model of interpersonal relationships that an individual
employs throughout life, believed to be shaped by early attachment experiences.
According tot the theory, individuals who enjoyed a secure attachment relationship during
infancy will have a more positive and healthy internal working model of relationships during
adolescence, whereas individuals who were insecurely attached as infants will have a less
positive one.
, In addition, a number of writers have suggested that individuals who emerge from infancy
with an insecure attachment have a higher rejection sensitivity.
Rejection sensitivity: Heightened vulnerability to be rejected by others.
Individuals who are high in rejection sensitivity and emotional insecurity are more likely to
develop symptoms of depression and anxiety, which in turn, lead to further increases in
rejection sensitivity.
A second reason for the continued importance of early attachment relationships during
adolescence is that interpersonal development is cumulative: What happens during infancy
affects what happens in early childhood, which affects what happens in middle childhood, and
so on. Individuals who leave infancy with a secure attachment may be on a different
interpersonal trajectory than those who leave infancy insecure (note the similarity between
this perspective and Sullivan’s).
Of course, it is possible for interpersonal development to be cumulative without the root cause
of this continuity being the individual’s internal working model. Individuals who have
positive peer relationships in childhood may simply learn how to get along better with others,
and this may lead to more positive peer relationships in adolescence, which, in turn, may lead
to better relationships in adulthood.
Do individuals who were securely attached as infants have more positive working models of
relationships as adolescents or young adults? Studies that have followed individuals from
infancy all the way through adolescence and beyond have yielded conflicting results. Some
researchers have suggested that individuals’ security of attachment remains stable only in the
absence of major life events that could upset the course of interpersonal development, and that
the lack of continuity in some studies is due to the importance of intervening events. Others,
however, argue that the significance of early attachment for later relationships is far
outweighed by the importance of the experiences the individual has in childhood and the
context in which he or she lives as an adolescent.
Attachment in Adolescence:
In addition to employing the four-way attachment classification scheme to study the links
among infancy, childhood, and adolescence, attachment theorists have applied similar
classifications to the study of adolescents’ attachment to others, as well as to adolescents’
internal working models. In some of these studies, adolescents’ current relationships with
parents and peers are assessed; in others adolescents are asked to recount their childhood
experiences through the use of a procedure called the adult attachment interview.
Adult attachment interview: A structured interview used to assess an individual's past
attachment history and “internal working model” of relationships.
A variety of schemes for coding responses to the interview have been devised, but most
categorize individuals as “secure,” “dismissing,” or “preoccupied.”
Many researchers have found that adolescents in different attachment categories differ in
predicable ways. Individuals with dismissive or preoccupied attachment profiles are more
likely to show a range of emotional and behavior problems in adolescence.
Book – Chapter 10: Intimacy (ONE HALF OF THE CHAPTER)
One of the most remarkable things about adolescence is the way close relationships change
during these years. adolescents’ relationships are closer, more personal, more involved, and
more emotionally charged than children’s. During adolescence, relationships become more
intimate.
The concept of intimacy – at least as it is used in the study of adolescence – does not have a
sexual or physical connotation. Rather, an intimate relationship is an emotional attachment
between two people that is characterized by concern for each other’s well-being; a willingness
to disclose private, and occasionally sensitive topics; and a sharing of common interest and
activities. Two individuals can have an intimate relationship without having a sexual one. And
two people can have a sexual relationship without being especially intimate.
Intimacy as an Adolescent Issue
Intimacy is an important concern throughout most of the life span and can protect against
psychological and social problems. One reason that the development of intimacy is especially
important during adolescence is that it is not until adolescence that truly intimate relationships
– relationships characterized by openness, honesty, self-disclosure, and trust – emerge.
Another reason for the importance of intimacy during adolescence concerns the changing
nature of the adolescent’s social world – during early adolescence, the increasing importance
of peers in general, and during middle and late adolescence, the increasing importance of
other-sex peers in particular.
The reason such important changes take place in close relationships during adolescence might
be related to biological, cognitive, and social changes of the period.
Puberty and the Development of Intimacy
The link between puberty and intimacy is obvious: Changes in sexual impulses at puberty
provoke interest in sex, which leads to the development of romantic relationships. With
romance and sexuality come new issues and concern requiring serious, intimate discussions,
often with relationships outside the family.
Cognitive Change and the Development of Intimacy
Advances in thinking – especially in the realm of social cognition – are also related to the
development of intimacy. These developments permit adolescents to establish and maintain
relationships with greater empathy, self-disclosure, and sensitivity; they also contribute to
adolescents’ feelings of loneliness if they perceive themselves as socially isolated.
Changes in Social Roles and the Development of Intimacy
The behavioral independence that often accompanies the transition into adolescence provides
greater opportunities for adolescents to be alone with their friends, engaged in intimate
discussion, either in person or online. Moreover, the recognition of adolescents as “near
adults” may prompt their parents and other adults to confide in the and turn to them for
support. Finally, changes in the structure of schools during early adolescence – often giving
,younger teenagers more contact with older ones – may promote new types of peer
relationships.
Theoretical Perspectives on Adolescent Intimacy
The most important theoretical perspectives on the development of intimacy during
adolescence are those of Harry Stack Sullivan and various writers who have studies
attachment relationships in adolescence.
Sullivan’s Theory of Interpersonal Development
Sullivan emphasized the social aspects of growth, suggesting that psychological development
can be best understood by looking at our relationships with others. In his view, the challenges
of adolescence revolve around trying to satisfy changing interpersonal needs.
Stages of Interpersonal Needs:
Sullivan’s perspective starts from the premise that, as children develop, different interpersonal
needs surface that lead either to feelings of security (when the needs are satisfied) or feelings
of anxiety (when the needs are frustrated). These changing interpersonal needs define the
course of interpersonal development through different phases of the life span.
In Sullivan’s view, the security that is derived from having satisfying relationships with others
is the glue that holds one’s sense of self together. He viewed psychosocial development as
cumulative: The frustrations and satisfactions individuals experience during earlier periods
affect their later relationships and developing sense of identity.
When important interpersonal transitions arise, having a solid foundation of security in past
relationships aids in the successful negotiation of the transition.
Interpersonal Development During Adolescence
Sullivan suggested that the need for intimacy – which surfaces during preadolescence –
precedes the development of romantic or sexual relationships, which do not emerge until
adolescence. He believed that the capacity for intimacy first develops prior to adolescence and
in the context of same-sex, not other-sex relationships. This turns out to be one of the most
important observations in Sullivan’s theory, because the quality of individuals’ same-sex
friendships is predictive of the quality of their later romantic relationships. Sullivan felt that
forming intimate friendships during preadolescence is a necessary precondition to forming
close relationships – both sexual and nonsexual – as an adolescent or young adult.
According to Sullivan, preadolescence comes to an end with the onset of puberty. Early
adolescence is marked by the emergence of sexuality, in the form of a powerful, biological
sex drive. Now most social scientists would say that the crucial interpersonal challenge for the
young adolescence is the transition from nonromantic to romantic relationships (instead of
from same-sex to other-sex friendships – which ignores homosexuality).
Like all interpersonal transitions, the movement from nonromantic to romantic relationships
can be fraught with anxiety. The overarching challenge of adolescence, according to Sullivan,
is to integrate an established need for intimacy with an emerged need for sexual contact in a
way that does not lead to excessive anxiety, which can be done in different ways.
,Platonic relationships: Nonsexual relationships with individuals who might otherwise be
romantic partners.
Sullivan viewed the adolescent’s experimentation with different types of relationships as a
normal way of handling new feelings, new fears, and new interpersonal needs. For many
young people, experimentation with sex and intimacy continues well into late adolescence. If
the interpersonal tasks of adolescence have been negotiated successfully, we enter late
adolescence able to be intimate, able to enjoy sex, and, most critically, able to experience
intimacy and sexuality in the same relationship.
Attachment Theory
Today, a different theoretical perspective guides the study of intimate relationships in
adolescence, one that draws on theories of the development of the attachment relationship
during infancy.
Attachment in Infancy:
Attachment: The strong affectional bond that develops between an infant and a caregiver.
Virtually all infants form attachment relationships with their mother (and most do so with
their father and other caregivers as well), but not all infants have attachment relationships of
the same quality. Psychologists differentiate among four types of infant attachment:
Secure attachment: A healthy attachment between infant and caregiver, characterized by trust.
Anxious-avoidant attachment: An insecure attachment between infant and caregiver,
characterized by indifference on the part of the infant toward the caregiver.
Anxious-resistant attachment: An insecure attachment between infant and caregiver,
characterized by distress at separation and anger at reunion – ambivalence.
Disorganized attachment: A relationship between infant and caregiver characterized by the
absence of normal attachment behavior – most at risk for psychological problems.
The security of the early attachment relationship is important, because studies show that
infants who have had a secure attachment are more likely to grow into psychologically
healthy and socially skilled children.
Does Infant Attachment Predict Adolescent Intimacy?
Many theorists who study adolescent development believe that the nature of individuals’
attachment to caregivers during infancy continues to have an influence on their capacity to
form satisfying intimate relationships during adolescence and adulthood, in two ways. First,
some theorists have argued that the initial attachment relationship forms the basis for the
model of interpersonal relationships we employ throughout life.
Internal working model: The implicit model of interpersonal relationships that an individual
employs throughout life, believed to be shaped by early attachment experiences.
According tot the theory, individuals who enjoyed a secure attachment relationship during
infancy will have a more positive and healthy internal working model of relationships during
adolescence, whereas individuals who were insecurely attached as infants will have a less
positive one.
, In addition, a number of writers have suggested that individuals who emerge from infancy
with an insecure attachment have a higher rejection sensitivity.
Rejection sensitivity: Heightened vulnerability to be rejected by others.
Individuals who are high in rejection sensitivity and emotional insecurity are more likely to
develop symptoms of depression and anxiety, which in turn, lead to further increases in
rejection sensitivity.
A second reason for the continued importance of early attachment relationships during
adolescence is that interpersonal development is cumulative: What happens during infancy
affects what happens in early childhood, which affects what happens in middle childhood, and
so on. Individuals who leave infancy with a secure attachment may be on a different
interpersonal trajectory than those who leave infancy insecure (note the similarity between
this perspective and Sullivan’s).
Of course, it is possible for interpersonal development to be cumulative without the root cause
of this continuity being the individual’s internal working model. Individuals who have
positive peer relationships in childhood may simply learn how to get along better with others,
and this may lead to more positive peer relationships in adolescence, which, in turn, may lead
to better relationships in adulthood.
Do individuals who were securely attached as infants have more positive working models of
relationships as adolescents or young adults? Studies that have followed individuals from
infancy all the way through adolescence and beyond have yielded conflicting results. Some
researchers have suggested that individuals’ security of attachment remains stable only in the
absence of major life events that could upset the course of interpersonal development, and that
the lack of continuity in some studies is due to the importance of intervening events. Others,
however, argue that the significance of early attachment for later relationships is far
outweighed by the importance of the experiences the individual has in childhood and the
context in which he or she lives as an adolescent.
Attachment in Adolescence:
In addition to employing the four-way attachment classification scheme to study the links
among infancy, childhood, and adolescence, attachment theorists have applied similar
classifications to the study of adolescents’ attachment to others, as well as to adolescents’
internal working models. In some of these studies, adolescents’ current relationships with
parents and peers are assessed; in others adolescents are asked to recount their childhood
experiences through the use of a procedure called the adult attachment interview.
Adult attachment interview: A structured interview used to assess an individual's past
attachment history and “internal working model” of relationships.
A variety of schemes for coding responses to the interview have been devised, but most
categorize individuals as “secure,” “dismissing,” or “preoccupied.”
Many researchers have found that adolescents in different attachment categories differ in
predicable ways. Individuals with dismissive or preoccupied attachment profiles are more
likely to show a range of emotional and behavior problems in adolescence.
