Whenever I bring up middle school memories with friends and colleagues, it seems everyone’s response falls on a very short spectrum: a groan, shake of their head, or a complete lapse of memory from that stage in their life. Most often, most memories are focused on the social aspects of the age rather than the educational. There is also a sense that it was this point in our lives that we made decisions about our identity—maybe there was something we didn’t like about ourselves in elementary school that we want to change for middle school, or maybe we realize that the friends we had before don’t like the same things as we do now.
Susan Harter refers to this change in the self-concept as a shift from the “relatively concrete descriptions of one’s social and behavioral exterior [...] to more abstract self-portraits” (1990). Depth and interchangeability within those portraits also occur; an early adolescent being develop skills to slip in and out of identities dependent on their social surroundings. For instance, they could wear one identity when they are around their parents, and change their identity when they are solely around their friends. Harter mentions that integrating all of these identities—or self-perceptions as she calls them—becomes difficult and problematic. She states that students may develop inaccurate identities, and conflicts with these identities can lead to mental conditions such as depression.
From my own perspective, risks to a student’s mental and social health is not isolated to their own development, but also to the reaction they are given from external forces. Wiles and Bondi outline the various changes adolescents encounter through development, and the topmost change in social development is the splitting, dissolving, and formation of social peer groups (1993). Children who were best friends all through elementary school can find their relationship suddenly split. This is sometimes seen as a mutual split where both gently part ways and find new friends to share commonalities with, but more severe splits can be caused by desires of one half to be more visible and popular, and their previous peer group are not acceptable to the in-crowd.
It is not just individual adolescents that develop self-portraits; peer groups also create portraits that are models for which an individual self-portrait must reflect. The most common peer group portrait I have seen are the group of girls who wear their hair the same way, dress in the same brand and style of clothes, and even utilize the same styles of speech. Looking at defining characteristics of the in-crowd as well as how an early adolescent begins to form their self-portraits, it is not unfound to find students creating false self-portraits that are more accepting to the visible, popular students in the school. A student who previously was an excellent student may begin to allow their academics to slip if being brainy is against the peer group portrait of the popular crowd.
Reasons to why an early adolescent may create false-selves vary (Harter 1990). As stated above, this may be because of desire for social status or acceptance into a particular peer group; this may also be because the individual is still seeking a self that fits. It could almost be attributed to going into a clothing store and trying on every possible clothing arrangement until you find the ideal. Students may find combinations that are close to what they feel is most ideal, and they may decide that having a variety of close combinations are better than settling on one.
But, is it possible for an early adolescent to really settle on their ideal self? With early adolescence being merely the start to the adolescence development, it seems that it would be almost impossible for a student to decide on an ideal self so early. This can meant that teachers and other adults in the life of the student must be adaptable to the identities the child exudes. It would not be seen as unusual if they reflect one self-portrait one month and then another next. Changing portraits can be based on the acceptance of the peer group, or their own desire to try a new combination.
Despite my reading and evaluation, there are still some questions that come up when I think about the development of the adolescent self. How can adults in the ever-changing early adolescent’s life cope and support the various changes going in their learner’s life? Parents especially seem to be the most resistant to changes in their early adolescent. I’ve witnessed some get quite upset that their children have changed so much over a short amount of time. Do adults similar to the peer group stifle the development of actual selves?
Harter, S. (1990). Self and identity development. In. S.S. Feldman & G. R. Elliott (Eds.). At the Threshold: The Developing Adolescent. Cambridge, MA, US: Harvard University Press, 352-364.
Wiles, J., & Bondi, J., (2001). Today’s pre-adolescent learner. In The New American Middle School: Educating Pre-adolescents in an Era of Change, 3rd Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill, 32-36.
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