Sullivan's Interpersonal Development Theory

Sullivan's Theory of Interpersonal Development During Adolescence

• Sullivan emphasized the social aspects of development
• Psychological maturation is understood through relationships

Stages of Development

• Changing interpersonal needs are experienced throughout life
• Middle childhood is defined by a need for peer group acceptance
• Preadolescence is defined by a need for intimacy in same-sex friendships
• Early adolescence is defined by a need for sexual contact
• Late adolescence is defined by a need for integration of intimacy and sexuality

Security & Identity

• Security from fulfilling interpersonal needs is essential for identity and self-esteem.

Cumulative Development

• Early interpersonal experiences affect later relationships
• A child with secure friendships is more likely to form romantic relationships

Intimacy & Sexuality

• Intimacy (emotional closeness) and sexuality (physical attraction) are different
• Intimacy in same-sex friendships prepares individuals for later romantic relationships

Adolescent Transitions

• Adolescents must integrate intimacy with emerging sexual desires without overwhelming anxiety

Different Paths

• Adolescents experiment with relationships in various ways
• Dating multiple partners, having long-term relationships, or separating intimacy from sexuality are examples of adolescent exploratory relationship behavior

Attachment Theory

• Attachment theory suggests that early relationships shape later interpersonal behaviors
• Attachment theory stems from infancy research

Attachment Types

• Secure Attachment: A trust-based bond leads to psychological health and strong social skills
• Anxious-Avoidant Attachment: Indifference toward caregivers can lead to difficulty forming close relationships
• Anxious-Resistant Attachment: Ambivalence toward caregivers is characterized by insecurity and dependence
• Disorganized Attachment: Absence of normal attachment behavior is linked to psychological issues

Internal Working Model

• Early attachments create a mental framework for future relationships
• Secure attachments promote confidence
• Insecure attachments can lead to rejection sensitivity
• Adolescents' working models for relationships with parents are similar to those for friends
• Adolescents's working models for relationships with friends are similar to those for romantic partners

Rejection Sensitivity

• Adolescents with insecure attachments may be highly sensitive to rejection
• Rejection sensitivity can lead to social withdrawal, anxiety, or depression
• Individuals who emerge from infancy with insecure attachments show brain activity patterns indicating less sensitivity to rejection

Long-Term Effects

• Secure attachment in infancy predicts social competence in childhood, strong friendships in adolescence, and positive romantic relationships in adulthood
• Insecure attachment can lead to struggles with peer relationships, self-esteem, and social confidence

Continuity vs. Change

• Early attachment influences later relationships
• Life experiences (parental divorce, supportive friendships) can alter attachment security
• The significance of early attachment for later relationships is far outweighed by the individual's experiences in childhood and context as an adolescent

Adult Attachment Interview

• This assesses adolescents' current relationships with parents and peers
• Adolescents recount childhood experiences to reveal how they recount their childhood story
• Secure, dismissing and preoccupied are noted
• Adolescents with secure attachment interact with their mothers with less unhealthy anger and more appropriate assertiveness
• Adolescents with dismissing or preoccupied attachment are more likely to show a range of emotional and behavioral problems
• Those with dismissing or preoccupied attachment are more likely to recall negative aspects of their interactions with others and have more unstable romantic relationships
• People's security of attachment in infancy predicts social competence in childhood, security of attachment to close friends in adolescence, and positive romantic relationships in adulthood

The Development of Dating Relationships

• Adolescents transition from nonromantic to romantic relationships, becoming an important part of intimacy development
• Strong same-sex friendships in early adolescence predict the quality of later romantic relationships, according to Sullivan's theory
• Reasons for dating prior to middle or late adolescence are less related to intimacy development
• Dating prior to middle or late adolescence can establish emotional and behavioral autonomy from parents
• Dating prior to middle or late adolescence can help further the development of gender identity
• Dating prior to middle or late adolescence can establish and maintain status and popularity in the peer group
• Dating prior to middle or late adolescence can influence how adolescents are seen by others
• LGBTQ youth struggle to develop close, nonsexual friendships with same-sex peers due to suspicions and homophobia

Role of Puberty

• Physical and hormonal changes increase interest in romantic and sexual relationships

Romantic Experimentation

• Adolescents explore different relationship styles like casual dating, long-term committed relationships, and those where intimacy and sexuality are separate such as platonic relationships

Social Anxiety & Dating

• Adolescents with insecurity or low social confidence may struggle with dating

Cultural & Social Influences

• Family expectations, peer norms, and societal values shape dating behaviors

The Impact of Dating on Adolescent Development

• Positive effects include development of emotional intimacy and communication skills, increased social competence and self-esteem, and learning about personal preferences in relationships
• Negative impacts of early intense dating include increased risk of emotional distress, depression, and anxiety, especially among younger adolescents.
  • Those engaging in early intense dating are less mature socially, less imaginative, less oriented toward achievement, less happy with who they are and how they look, more depressed, more likely to engage in disordered eating, and less likely to do well in school
• Early dating is especially detrimental for white girls dating older men
• Romantic conflicts and breakups can lead to emotional turmoil, especially for adolescents with insecure attachment styles

Risk-Taking Behavior

• Early or intense dating relationships increase the likelihood of substance use, sexual risk-taking, and emotional dependency

Gender Differences

• Girls tend to emphasize intimacy and emotional connection.
• Boys initially focus on physical attraction but develop itno greater emphasis on intimacy over time

Cumulative Impact

• Early experiences in dating relationships influence later romantic behaviors and expectations in adulthood

Dating Patterns

• Adolescents who do not date show signs of delayed social development and feelings of insecurity
• It is unclear whether age-appropriate dating leads to better social development or if socially advanced adolescents are more likely to date

Negative experiences

• Having negative experiences in romantic relationships increases the risk for psychological problems
  • Breakups often trigger depression, substance use, and delinquency
• Breaking up does not have severe effects on all adolescents, but can impact those with rejection sensitivity or an insecure working model

Sexual Activity and Psychological Development

• Sexual activity during adolescence is not inherently harmful
• Sexual activity among adolescents is generally not linked to psychological distress
• Adolescents who engage in sex at a normative age (16 or older) show self-esteem and life satisfaction levels similar to their non-sexually active peers
• Early sexual activity (before age 15) is associated with higher risks, including delinquency, drug/alcohol use, and lower academic achievement
• Risky sexual behaviors (unprotected sex, multiple partners) are linked to personality traits like impulsivity and sensation-seeking Cultural norms matter; in some cultures (the Netherlands), early sexual activity does not predict mental health issues, while in others (the U.S. and Mexico), it is associated with depression, particularly in girls
• Adolescents who abstain from sex entirely tend to have strong religious commitments and report better mental health and relationship satisfaction later in life

Causation or Correlation

• A correlation exists between early sexual activity and problem behaviors (substance use, delinquency, aggression), but the relationship is complex and early sexual activity is correlated with small scale deviance
• No strong evidence suggests that early sex causes delinquency
  • Both behaviors may stem from common underlying factors like impulsivity and risk-taking tendencies
• Parental supervision and structure help delay sexual activity
  • Adolescents left unsupervised after school are more likely to engage in sexual activity

Parental and Peer Influences on Sexual Activity

• Adolescents from authoritative households (warm but firm parenting) are less likely to engage in early or risky sexual activity and less early/risky sexual behavior is noted
• Parent-adolescent conflict is linked to earlier sexual activity, especially in physically mature adolescents and increased early/risky sexual behavior is noted
• Parental monitoring (knowing where and with whom their child is spending time) reduces risky sexual behaviors
• Open communication about sex (when parents discuss values, risks, and expectations) delays sexual activity and promotes safer behaviors
• Adolescents with sexually active friends are more likely to become sexually active Peer norms shape attitudes toward sex perceiving that “everyone is doing it" increases the likelihood of early sexual activity as they believe that their peers are sexually active
• Having older romantic partners increases the likelihood of early sexual initiation
  • Older siblings who model more sexually advanced behavior are often a factor

Adolescents' Reasons for Not Using Contraception

• Many sexually active adolescents fail to use contraception consistently, increasing the risk of pregnancy and STDs
• Reasons for not using contraception are that adolescents do not anticpate sexual activity in advance
  • Lack of access and lack of knowledge are noted
  • Personal or partner objections (fear of parents finding out) and romanticized views of sex and pregnancy exist
• The best predictor of contraceptive use is adolescents' age

Improving Contraceptive Behavior

• Better sex education programs improve contraceptive use by providing accurate information about protection and pregnancy risks
• Increasing access to contraception through schools, clinics, and community programs leads to greater contraceptive use
• Parental communication about contraception improves responsible sexual behavior
• Developing future-oriented thinking helps adolescents recognize the long-term consequences of unprotected sex
  • Thinking about future consequences
• Encouraging dual protection (condoms + another contraceptive method) reduces pregnancy and STD risks

Teen Pregnancy

• Teen pregnancy rates in the U.S. have declined significantly, but they remain higher than in many other developed countries
• Contributors to teen pregnancy include lack of contraceptive use or inconsistent use, limited access to sexual health education, cultural norms that do not discourage early childbearing
• Socioeconomic disadvantage leads to teen pregnancy, as it can reduce expectations for education and career
• Teen mothers may drop out of school and have lower future earnings along with higher risks for poverty and reliance on public assistance, and challenges in parenting due to a lack of emotional and financial resources are noted
• Interventions to reduce teen pregnancy include comprehensive sex education, access to contraception and reproductive healthcare, and programs that promote academic and career aspirations, that reduce motivation for early parenthood

Achievement Motivation

• Achievement motivation refers to an adolescent's drive to succeed in academic and work-related settings
• Motivation, self-control, and perseverance significantly impact success
  • "Grit" (persistence and effort) is often more important than intelligence in long-term success Delay of Gratification
  • The ability to wait for a larger reward instead of taking an immediate but lesser reward predicts higher academic and career success
• Anxiety about failure can interfere with performance
  • Achievement motivation is undermined
  • Moderate anxiety can be helpful, but excessive anxiety reduces concetration and problem-solving abilities
• Too little or too much arousal/anxiety impairs performance, according to the Yerkes-Dodson Law
• Some adolescents deliberately avoid effort to have an excuse for failure, which is self-handicapping behavior.
  • Boys typically blame lack of effort, while girls attribute failure to emotional stress

Beliefs About Success and Failure

• Mastery Motivation focuses on learning and self-improvement
• Perfomance Motivation focuses on outperforming others
• Excessive parental control fosters performance motivation, while autonomy-supportive parenting fosters mastery motivation
• Awareness of negative stereotypes about one's racial or gender group can decrease performance
  • Ethnic stereotypes can be positive
  • Changing views of male and female intellectual abilities have affected girls test performance, improving performance due to lessstigma
  • Example: If students believe their ethnic group is bad at math, they may perform worse due to anxiety
• There is a Fixed Mindset belief that intelligence is static and can lead to avoidance of challenges
• There is a Growth Mindset where the belief that intelligence can develop with effort and leads to resilience in learning

Self-Efficacy

• Confidence in one's ability to succeed increases motivation
• Students with high self-efficacy exert more effort and persist through challenges
• Students with fixed mindset, oriented toward performance more, are greatly affected by self-efficacy
• Individuals with growth mindset are less concerned about grades and less affected by their level of confidence

The Influence of the Home Environment

• Higher parental expectations correlate with better adolescent achievement
• Parents who expect a lot foster strong self-expectations in their children
• Effective involvement includes setting high academic expectations and engaging in school activities
• Simply helping with homework does not always improve outcomes
• Authoritative Parenting balances warmth and structure leading to better school performance, harsh or overly critical parenting is linked to lower academic success
• Presence of books, newspapers, and educational materials correlates with higher acheivement
• Family income and social capital (network of support) play a role in success

The Influence of Friends

• Friends, more than parents, influence daily academic habits like completing homework and participating in class
  • High-achieving friends encourage better performance; low-achieving friends discourage it
• Students are more likely to enroll in challenging courses if their friends do.
• Adolescents worry about being perceived as "too academic" by peers, leading some to downplay their intelligence
• Having friends who plan to attend college increases an adolescent's likelihood of doing the same and low-achieving students benefit from friendships with high achievers
• High achievers maintain friendships but structure their time effectively, spending less time socializing on weekdays
• Authoritative parenting + academically engaged friends = highest achievement
• Low parental involvement + disengaged friends = highest risk of poor performance

Types of Substance Use

• Experimenters use substances occasionally(no more than once a month) without dependence
  • Those who have experimented in high school have better adjustment, than abstainers Experimenting in a normative age (16) is correlated with better adjustment because you are better psychologically adjusted and have peers with similar traits and engage in an activity which is normative for this age
• Frequent users are defined by repeated use, which may lead to dependence (at least once a week)
• Hard-drug users are defined by chronic use that interferes with daily life and well-being
• Those who abstain do not use drugs in any form

Prevalence of Substance Use in Adolescents

• Alcohol and marijuana are the most commonly used substances among adolescents
• Tobacco use has declined, but vaping and e-cigarette use has increased
• Other substances (prescription drug misuse, cocaine, hallucinogens) are less common but still present

Causes of Substance Use (Risk Factors)

• Genetic predisposition can make individuals develop substance use problems
• Adolescents with impulsive, risk-taking personalities are more prone to experimentation
• Family Influence: Distant, hostile, or conflicted relationships in early adolescence increase risk
• Parental substance use increases adolescent risk and if you have one or more individuals in your life who engage in drug abuse you are more likely to engage in it too
• Lack of parental monitoring or inconsistent discipline contributes to risky behaviors
• Peer Influence: (friends who use, and tolerate the use of drugs) contributes to substance use in middle adolescence

Risk Factors for Substance Abuse

• Having friends who use substances is a strong predictor of use and adolescents overestimate how much their peers use substances
• Poor academic performance correlates with higher substance use and low neighborhood supervision increases risk
• Contextual Availability of drugs, community norms, the degree to which laws are enforced, the ways drug use is presented in the media can all lead to substance abuse If drugs are more available you're more likely to use them and if laws allow for certain things you are more likely to engage in them
• Certain personality characteristics such as anger, impulsivity, inattentiveness, and sensation-seeking can lead to substance abuse

Consequences of Substance Use (predictors and consequences)

• Short-Term Effects: Impaired judgment, risky decision-making, increased likelihood of accidents, car crashes, injuries, risky sexual behavior and exposure to STDs
• Long-Term Effects: Higher risk of substance dependence in adulthood, poorer academic and occupational outcomes, increased likelihood of mental health issues (depression, anxiety)
• Comorbid Problems: Externalizing problems (delinquency, aggressive behavior); psychosocial problems are manifested turning of the symptoms outward, as in aggression or delinquency & Internalizing problems (Depression, social withdrawal) and psychosocial problems are manifested in a turning of the symptoms inward, as in depression or anxiety

Predictors and Consequences of Substance Abuse

• Adolescents who use alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs frequently (frequent drug users) score lower on measures of psychological adjustment as teenagers due to school problems, psychological distress and depression, dangerous or deviant behaviors, unprotected risky sexual activity
• Drug use and abuse influences each other
• The effect of adolescent substance abuse last long into adulthood

Protective Factors against Substance abuse

• Positive mental health, high self-esteem and the absence of depression, high academic achievement, engagement in school, close family relationships with warm and positive interactions, involvement in religious activities may function as protective factors to abuse

Approaches to Prevention of Substance Abuse and Abuse

• Approaches include targetting the supply of drugs, the environement in which teens are exposed to drugs, and characteristics of the potential drug user
• The supply of drugs can be reduced by enforcing strict legal age limits for alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana, increasing prices and restricting availability
• The environment can be modified by increasing community and school-based programs promoting drug-free activities Engage in non-drug-related activities, making substance use less appealing for the setting
• Parental education on monitoring and supervision is key
• Programs that teach adolescents coping strategies and decision-making skills are important
  • Improving self-esteem, employment, or social skills is key
• Encouraging positive peer relationships
• Education and enhancing psychological resilience helps show individuals how to resist peer pressure

Types of Treatment for Substance Abuse

• Behavioral Interventions like cognitive-behavioral therapy and motivational interviewing are used in treatment
• Family-Based treatments improve monitoring and discipline along with family therapy to address communication and conflict resolution
• School and Community-Based Interventions include programs that provide alternative activities, and peer-led interventions to counteract social pressure
• Pharmacological Treatments include medications for nicotine and opioid addiction though rarely used for adolescents, and controversy exists around it's use

Effectiveness of Treatment

• Combining community-wide intervention with social competence training (to resist peer pressure) is most effective
• Family and school-based interventions are more effective than punitive approaches
• Long-term engagement and education shows better results than short-term interventions

Types of Antisocial Behavior

• These include authority-related conflicts, covert behaviors and overt aggression

Developmental Pathways (Two types of offenders):

• Life-Course Offenders begin demonstrating antisocial or aggressive behavior during childhood
  • Begin showing antisocial behavior in childhood and often perform criminal activities into adulthood
  • Often have neurological deficits, difficult temperament, and poor parenting environments
• Adolescence-Limited Offenders begin and end with delinquent or violent behavior during adolescence
  • These people engage in delinquent behavior only during adolescence and are influenced by peer pressure and social context
  • Typically they do not continue antisocial behavior into adulthood

Characteristics of Life-Course Persistent Offenders

• Usually they are psychologically troubled, mostly males, from poor backgrounds
  • They are from homes disproportionately where divorce had occurred, or have hostile, inept, or neglectful parents
• These individuals often have had aggression and antisocial behavior that was identifiable in early childhood
  • Self-regulation problems, were likely to suffer from ADHD, and had tendencies toward callous-unemotional traits

Causes of Adolescent-Limited Offenders

• Those with poor parenting or those who struggle in school
• Affiliation with antisocial peers helps them to associate peer problems with an affiliation of problems in school

Risk Factors for Antisocial Behavior

• Poor parental monitoring and inconsistent discipline increases risk
  • Parental conflict, divorce, and exposure to violence also increased risk
• Associating with delinquent peers increases risk because adolescents may engage in criminal activity to gain social status
• Low academic achievement and school disengagement, or coming from high-crime neighborhoods also increases risk

Prevention and Treatment of Externalizing Problems (for youths)

• Early Childhood Interventions like Head Start provide early education and support, preschool interventions - Parent training can improve discipline and supervision
• School-Based Interventions improve anti-bullying and conflict resolution programs along with social-emotional programs that build self-regulation skills
• Community-Based includes after-school programs or mentorship programs that connect at-risk youth with responsible adults

Treatment of Life-Course Persistent Offenders

• Disruptions in family relationships are prevented with better management
• Early academic problems can be addressed
• Improvements in transitions can reduce the likelihood Evaluations show interventions can be encouraging with evidenced based practices such as Researched effective interventions and multisystemic family therapy, and working with the individual and family
• Treatment of Adolescent-Limited offenders involves a focus on teaching adolescents to resist peer pressure and settle conflict without aggression
• Training parents to monitor children effectively and school/community intervention that encourages prosocial behavior can also help and by treating delinquency seriously when it occurs, we can deter the teenagers to keep doing it again
• Treatment approaches include Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) that helps adolescents manage anger and impulsivity, and it encourages problem-solving and self-control
• Family Therapy also aids in the process by addressing dysfunctional family dynamics, and strengthening parental authority and improving communication
• Treating Juvenile Justice System Interventions with rehabilitation-focused approaches/measurements rather than punitive measures

Causes of Depression and Internalizing Disorders

• A combination of genetic predisposition and environmental stressors leads to depression
• Adolescents biologically vulnerable to depression can develop symptoms when exposed to stress

The Diathesis

• Two categories of predispositions may contribute
  • Problematic patterns of neuroendocrine (brain and nervous system) functions lead to difficulty regulating emotions Cognitive style of depressed individuals include tendencies toward hopelessness, pessimism, and self-blame, are likely to interpret events in their lives in ways that lead to the development of depression

The Stress

• Broad sets of stressors include adolescents from families with high conflict and low cohesion/divorced homes, unpopular adolescents with poor peer relations or have depressed friends, those who report more adversity (loss of a parent, maltreatment, and poverty)
• Stressors also include family hx, peer issues, and loss
• Most common trigger of the first episode of major depression is the breakup of a romantic partner

Risk Factors for Depression

• Family history of depression increases the risk and neurotransmitter imbalances
• Family environment: High conflict, lack of emotional support and peer issues around bullying can also induce such conditions with pessimistic thinking and self-efficacy

Gender Differences

• Girls are twice as more likely as boys to experience depression and rumination (thinking about the same thoughts, often negative) in interpersonal issues

Treatment and Prevention of Internalizing Problems

• Treatment to help these issues includes Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) that assists patients on how to use one or more effective treatments for depression and/or anxiety
• Therapy includes improving one's interpersonal relationships and building good social skills while helping adolescents deal with any interpersonal conflicts
• Medication and SSRIs may also be prescribed and closely used when used carefully due to potential side effects
• Early identification may be used through intervention and management in the processes of escalation
• Teaching people how to encourage an open communication with others and support can also greatly make improvements with one s self worth