Acting on Behalf of Others: The Developmental Underpinnings of Social Responsibility in Adolescence
Open Access
- Author:
- Syvertsen, Amy K.
- Graduate Program:
- Human Development and Family Studies
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- April 02, 2010
- Committee Members:
- Mark T Greenberg, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Constance A Flanagan, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Mark T Greenberg, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
J Douglas Coatsworth, Committee Member
Linda Marie Collins, Committee Member
Celene E Domitrovich, Committee Member
Michelle E Day, Committee Member - Keywords:
- Adolescent Development
Social Responsibility
Mixed Methods - Abstract:
- The cascade of changes that occur in young people’s social and cognitive development during adolescence allows them to engage in more sophisticated and other-oriented thinking than when they were children. The purpose of this dissertation is to explore how adolescents respond to hypothetical situations where the safety or well-being of others is compromised. In particular, these studies explore adolescents’ feelings of responsibility for others in the context of tobacco and drug use by peers. A multi-method person-oriented research design was used to assess intraindividual change and interindividual differences. Study 1 presented 790 adolescents with vignettes about a friend who begins smoking cigarettes or using drugs and asked how likely they would be to respond using different strategies. Latent transition analysis revealed four adolescent profiles based on the likelihood of seeking adult help, talking to the friend, ending the relationship with the user, and ignoring the situation. There were significant changes from early to late adolescence with fewer youth estimated to fit into profiles that involved ending the relationship or intervening with age. Adolescents who were female, valued social responsibility, understood the risks of and refrained from substance use, and felt that substance use was not simply the individual user’s business were more likely to endorse intervening on behalf of a friend. Using a qualitative approach, Study 2 examined how adolescents reason about marijuana use and whether their reasoning changes when the risks extend beyond the self. A textual analysis of written responses to four open-ended questions provided by 1,127 adolescents revealed that while most young people disagree with a peer using marijuana and offering it to others, they use a broad range of reasoning to justify their opinions and these justifications vary systematically with age and whether other people could be harmed. Collectively, results contribute to our understanding of adolescents’ responsiveness to situations where a peer may require help, as well as provide insight into the developmental underpinnings of social responsibility in adolescence.