Chronic medical conditions during adolescence can negatively impact development in various ways. However, promoting resilience can help adolescents better manage their condition. Developing a sense of independence and self-efficacy through managing their own care can reduce stress. While chronic illnesses can interfere with psychosocial development tasks like identity formation, resilience factors like strong support systems and coping mechanisms can help adolescents adapt.

1. Resilience
Question: Discuss the impact of chronic medical conditions on adolescents and identify ways of
promoting resilience or positive development.
Chronic medical conditions can have significant consequences in various aspects among
adolescents. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), chronic conditions are diseases
that progress over a slow period of time and remain for a long duration of an individual's life.
Adolescence, as defined by WHO, is the period of life from 10–19 years of age. Major developments
occur during this stage including cognitive growth, which involves emotional and psychosocial
developments. These factors further influence the adolescent's motivational and behavioral response
to everyday life. Adolescents with...show more content...
Managing delivery of care of their chronic condition becomes less stressful as self–esteem and
confidence is increased.
Psychosocial development is a significant factor that is altered amid adolescents with chronic
conditions. Erik Erikson (1902 – 1994) studied psychosocial aspects of human beings and theorised
that 'the main challenge of adolescence is the struggle for a sense of identity'. This struggle stems
from the idea of autonomy, which involves the adolescent's capacity to independently manage their
own life and decisions without having to be overly depending on others. The psychosocial makeup
of adolescents with a chronic condition truly reflects on Erikson's theory and the capacity
individuals have on achieving autonomy. Teenagers with a chronic condition have a reduced
independence at a time when independence is normally developing in healthy adolescents.
Achieving autonomy is disturbed for adolescents with chronic conditions as psychosocially; the
presence of family members plays a key role in the contribution to the health and wellbeing of the
individual. The impacts of this are evident in previous longitudinal studies which proposed that
teenagers with a chronic illness have poorer social skills in their adult life, face more difficulties in
the profession field, are less likely to be married and may experience difficulty
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2. Resilience Essay
Resilience can provide a lens to further understand children's optimism, self–control and maturity.
(Rutter, 1987) concept of shows that mechanisms protect people against the psychological risks
associated with adversity in relation to four main processes: "firstly, reduction of risk impact,
Secondly reduction of negative chain reactions, thirdly establishment and maintenance of
self–esteem and self–efficacy. Finally, the start of opening themselves up to opportunities."(Cited in
Montgomery .H & Oates.J 2015, 4)
This demonstrates that children who have never suffered adversity are disadvantaged when they
become adults because they have not developed coping mechanisms and may react inappropriately
when confronted with situations that they have...show more content...
This implies that protective factors can be identified on the basis of their nature,rather than their
effects,which intertwine behaviour and emotion may come from heightened risk experiences.Most
importantly it assumes that most children will respond to stress and adversity in much the same
way and to the same degree but, at the very least, prevention may best be achieved by acting on that
assumption,as the effects of adversity on children are not always as negative assumed.These
negative learnt behaviours lead to positive emotions as this then leads to children learning how to be
flexible in thinking and solving problems,optimism, and having goals to aim for when children are
apart from one another.
This essay found that insecure attachment in middle childhood can be associated with behaviour
problems not only in school years but later on in life.
However attachment security is only one of many factors affecting outcomes such as, high risk
social environments and experience being the basic for maturity.
This shows that;the body of evidence supports the view that secure attachment is associated with
social
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