Editing Adolescence (section)

==Psychological development==
[[File:G. Stanley Hall.jpg|thumb|G. Stanley Hall]]
The formal study of adolescent psychology began with the publication of [[G. Stanley Hall]]'s ''Adolescence'' in 1904. Hall, who was the first president of the [[American Psychological Association]], defined adolescence to be the period of life from ages 14 to 24, and viewed it primarily as a time of internal turmoil and upheaval ({{Lang|de|sturm und drang|size=90%}}).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hall |first1=G. Stanley |title=Adolescence: Its psychology and its relations to physiology, anthropology, sociology, sex, crime, religion, and education (Vols. I & II) |date=1904 |publisher=D. Appleton & Co. |location=New York}}</ref> This understanding of [[youth]] was based on two then-new ways of understanding [[human behavior]]: [[Darwinism|Darwin's evolutionary theory]] and Freud's [[Psychodynamics|psychodynamic theory]]. He believed that adolescence was a representation of our human ancestors' phylogenetic shift from being primitive to being civilized. Hall's assertions stood relatively uncontested until the 1950s when psychologists such as [[Erik Erikson]] and [[Anna Freud]] started to formulate their theories about adolescence. Freud believed that the psychological disturbances associated with youth were biologically based and culturally universal while Erikson focused on the dichotomy between [[identity formation]] and role fulfillment.<ref name="Lerner, R.M, & Steinberg, L.D. 2004">{{cite book|title=Handbook of Adolescent Psychology|year=2004|publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]]|location=Hoboken, NJ|author=Lerner, R.M |author2=Steinberg, L.D. |name-list-style=amp|edition=2}}</ref> Even with their different theories, these three psychologists agreed that adolescence was inherently a time of disturbance and psychological confusion. The less turbulent aspects of adolescence, such as peer relations and cultural influence, were left largely ignored until the 1980s. From the '50s until the '80s, the focus of the field was mainly on describing patterns of behavior as opposed to explaining them.<ref name="Lerner, R.M, & Steinberg, L.D. 2004"/>

[[Jean Macfarlane]] founded the [[University of California, Berkeley]]'s Institute of Human Development, formerly called the Institute of Child Welfare, in 1927.<ref name=NYT19890318>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/18/obituaries/jean-macfarlane-95-psychology-professor.html |title=Jean Macfarlane, 95, Psychology Professor |work=The New York Times |date=March 18, 1989 |access-date=August 16, 2013}}</ref><!--will clean up reference--> The institute was instrumental in initiating studies of healthy development, in contrast to previous work that had been dominated by theories based on pathological personalities.<ref name=NYT19890318 /> The studies looked at human development during the [[Great Depression]] and [[World War II]], unique historical circumstances under which a generation of children grew up. The Oakland Growth Study, initiated by Harold Jones and Herbert Stolz in 1931, aimed to study the physical, intellectual, and social development of children in the Oakland area. Data collection began in 1932 and continued until 1981, allowing the researchers to gather longitudinal data on the individuals that extended past adolescence into adulthood. [[Jean Macfarlane]] launched the Berkeley Guidance Study, which examined the development of children in terms of their socioeconomic and family backgrounds.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Oakland Growth and Berkeley Guidance Studies of the Institute of Human Development at the University of California, Berkeley|url=http://www.cpc.unc.edu/projects/lifecourse/research_projects/oakland_berkeley|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120912072515/http://www.cpc.unc.edu/projects/lifecourse/research_projects/oakland_berkeley|archive-date=September 12, 2012|publisher=University of North Carolina|access-date=October 4, 2012}}</ref> These studies provided the background for [[Glen Elder (sociologist)|Glen Elder]] in the 1960s to propose a [[life course approach|life course perspective]] of adolescent development. Elder formulated several descriptive principles of adolescent development. The principle of historical time and place states that an individual's development is shaped by the period and location in which they grow up. The principle of the importance of timing in one's life refers to the different impact that life events have on development based on when in one's life they occur. The idea of linked lives states that one's development is shaped by the interconnected network of relationships of which one is a part and the principle of [[human agency]] asserts that one's life course is constructed via the choices and actions of an individual within the context of their historical period and social network.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Elder |first1=Glen H. |title=The Life Course as Developmental Theory |journal=Child Development |date=February 1998 |volume=69 |issue=1 |pages=1–12 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-8624.1998.tb06128.x |pmid=9499552 |s2cid=36081480 }}</ref>

In 1984, the Society for Research on Adolescence (SRA) became the first official organization dedicated to the study of adolescent psychology. Some of the issues first addressed by this group include: the [[nature versus nurture]] debate as it pertains to adolescence; understanding the interactions between adolescents and their environment; and considering culture, social groups, and historical context when interpreting adolescent behavior.<ref name="Lerner, R.M, & Steinberg, L.D. 2004"/>

Evolutionary biologists like [[Jeremy Griffith]] have drawn parallels between adolescent psychology and the developmental evolution of modern humans from hominid ancestors as a manifestation of [[Recapitulation theory|ontogeny recapitulating phylogeny]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Griffith|first=Jeremy|title=Freedom|year=2011|isbn=978-1-74129-011-0|url=http://www.worldtransformation.com/freedom-book1-sobered-and-depressed-adolescentman/}}</ref>