Personal Development (Senior High School)

UNDERSTANDING THE SKILLS AND TASKS IN MIDDLE AND LATE ADOLESCENCE

Developmental Task- what you need to do in each developmental stage that will help you adjust to the changes and demands in life.

Task 1: You must adjust with the physical changes that marked your growth.
Task 2: You must adjust with your growing intellectual abilities and develop critical thinking skills.
Task 3: You must adjust to the academic demands in school.
Task 4: You must develop your language skills.
Task 5: You must establish your personal identity.
Task 6: You must learn to be independent.
Task 7: You must establish healthy peer relationships
Task 8: You must manage your sexuality
Task 9: You must adopt good moral standards, personal values, and beliefs.
Task 10: You must learn to control your impulse and exhibit behavioural maturity
Task 11: You must establish career or vocational goals

Independence and Responsibility as a Major Goal

This is the time you want to make your own choices. At times, you may resent being told what to do, believing you already know
what to do and can handle things by yourself. Dealing with the developmental tasks will help you become effective in being
independent. The three (3) key areas are the following:
A. Self-adjustment and Development of Skills
1. Adjusting to a Maturing Body
2. Developing Cognitive Skills
3. Developing Communication Skills
4. Developing Self-control
B. Establishing Positive and Healthy Relations
C. Career Planning
1. Identifying Skills and Interests
2. Developing Life Goals

DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES IN MIDDLE AND LATE ADOLESCENCE

Developmental Stages
Human Development focuses on human growth and changes across the lifespan, including physical, cognitive, social,
intellectual, perceptual, personality and emotional growth.

Developmental Stage Characteristics

1. Pre-natal Age when hereditary endowments and sex are
(Conception to birth) fixed and all body features, both external and
internal are developed.
2. Infancy Foundation age when basic behavior are
(Birth to 2 years) organized and many ontogenetic maturation
skills are developed.
3. Early Childhood Pre-gang age, exploratory, and questioning.
(2 to 6 years) Language and elementary reasoning are
acquired and initial socialization is experienced.
4. Late Childhood Gang and creativity age when self-help skills,
(6 to 12 years) social skills, school skills, and play are
developed.
5. Adolescence Transition age from childhood to adulthood
(puberty to 18 years) when sex maturation and rapid physical
development occur resulting to changes in
ways of feeling, thinking and acting.
 6. Early Adulthood Age of adjustment to new patterns of life and
(18 to 40 years) roles such as spouse, parent and bread winner.
7. Middle Age Transition age when adjustments to initial
(40 years to retirement) physical and mental decline are experienced.
8. Old Age Retirement age when increasingly rapid
(Retirement to death) physical and mental

Havighurst`S Developmental Tasks during the Life Span

Robert J. Havighurst’s Developmental Tasks Theory elaborated that development is continuous throughout the entire
lifespan, occurring in stages, where the individual moves from one stage to the next by means of successful resolution of problems or
performance of developmental tasks. His proposal is a bio-psychosocial model of development, wherein the developmental tasks at
each stage are influenced by the individual’s biology (physiological maturation and genetic makeup), his psychology (personal values
and goals) and sociology (specific culture to which the individual belongs).

THE DEVELOPMENTAL TASKS Middle Childhood Adolescence (13-18)

SUMMARY TABLE Infancy and
Early Childhood (0-5)
Learning to walk
Learning to take solid foods
Learning to talk
Learning to control the
elimination of body wastes
Learning sex differences and
sexual modesty
Acquiring concepts and
language to describe social
and physical reality
Readiness for reading
Learning to distinguish right
from wrong and developing a
conscience
Early Adulthood (19-30)
Selecting a mate
Learning to live with a partner become happy and
Starting a family
Rearing children
Managing a home
Starting an occupation
Assuming civic responsibility
Source: Gazzingan, Leslie B., Francisco, Joseph C., Aglubat, Linofe R., Parentela, Ferdinand O., Tuason, Vevian T. (2013). Psychology:
Dimensions of the Human Mind. Mutya Publishing House Inc.
(6-12)
Learning physical skills
necessary for ordinary games
Building a wholesome attitude Achieving a masculine or
toward oneself
Learning to get along with
age-mates
Learning an appropriate sex
role
Developing fundamental skills family life
in reading, writing, and
calculating
Developing concepts
necessary for everyday living
Developing conscience,
morality, and a scale of values Desiring and achieving socially
Achieving personal
independence
Developing acceptable
attitudes toward society
Middle Adulthood (30-60)
Helping teenage children to
responsible adults
Achieving adult social and
civic responsibility
Satisfactory career
achievement
Developing adult leisure time
activities
Relating to one’s spouse as a
person
Accepting the physiological
changes of middle age
Adjusting to aging parent
Achieving mature relations
with both sexes
feminine social role
Accepting one’s physique
Achieving emotional
independence of adults
Preparing for marriage and
Preparing for an economic
career
Acquiring values and an
ethical system to guide
behavior
responsibility behavior
Later Maturity (61+)
Adjusting to decreasing
strength and health
Adjusting to retirement and
reduced income
Adjusting to death of spouse
Establishing relations with
one’s own age group
Meeting social and civic
obligations
Establishing satisfactory living
quarters