Abstract
Identity and detachment – developmental tasks of adolescence Whereas the term “puberty” describes physical development from childhood into adulthood, “adolescence” is characterised by fundamental transformational mental steps in the psychosocial field. Adolescents become aware of their self-authorship and hence experience identity. To achieve the goal of personal autonomy, young people must undergo psychological separation from their primary original family, in the form of detachment. Both significant aspects of individuation – detachment and experience of identity – are designated as developmental tasks. Adolescence is now commonly extended to include a phase named “emerging adult”. Individuation and meaningful social roles are challenges for many young people, leading to a desperation that may be associated with increased risk of psychopathological issues. Social variety leads to fragmentation and confusion about the individual’s social role. At what point does creative variety turn into chaos and arbitrariness? Young people increasingly react by exhibiting risky behaviour, which allows them to maintain their identity and self-worth, and provides a conflict-laden experience of autonomy. That said, the potential risks of such behaviours include repercussions on young people’s health and social lives, thereby jeopardising and potentially derailing their future life trajectory. The family, too, is subject to an array of societal influences that may lead to dysfunctional features of family life such as lack of time, energy and affection, as well as typical patterns of excessive control and neglect, and, in the end, disputes between two clashing parents. Such dysfunctional families impede the detachment process, or obstruct it entirely. Risk-taking behaviours by young people constitute aimless expressions of manifest detachment, whose sole objective is to drive onward leaving future life-roles undefined. Dulling the senses with substances, temptations to violence or religious fanaticism, and acts of self-harm represent expressions of self-objectification and paradoxical self-consumption whose underlying desperate quest is for oneself and belonging.