The concept of developmental tasks-those major common tasks which face all individuals in a given society or subgroup of society-is a useful tool for thinking about human development and about the education and guidance of children and youth. This concept seems to provide a framework within which knowledge about human behavior can be organized and this information can be used in learning optimum socialization processes. It has evolved from the recent efforts of students of the life sciences to understand social learning and the problems boys and girls face in becoming oriented to their cultural milieu. The developmental task concept originated in the Study of Adolescents of the Progressive Education Association, but was first elaborated in detail by Havighurst in 1948 in the monograph Developmental Tasks and Education (S). Since then it has been used rather widely. The most recent, thorough, and somewhat novel account is that by Tryon and LUienthal in Fostering Menial Health in Our Schools (7). However, a complete survey of the literature shows it all to be theoretical.The investigation herein reported was made in an attempt to learn more about the concept by studying intensively the achievement of thirty adolescents in Middle-western American society, on five developmental tasks of adolescence; namely, 1) Learning an appropriate sex r61e.2) Achieving emotional independence of parents and other adults.3) Developing conscience, morality, and a set of values. 4) Getting along with age-mates. 5) Developing intellectual skills.
In this study, the value systems of adolescents in Grades 5, 7, 9, and 11 were investigated by administering the Rokeach Value Survey to 739 New York City pupils. The most striking result was the relative stability of the rankings over all grades, perhaps indicative of a core cultural pattern. An almost equal number of changes in instrumental values across grades were observed for both boys and girls. However, twice as many changes took place in terminal values for girls than for boys. The boys exhibited a more unitary theme of increasing achievement orientation, while girls exhibited a dual theme of achievement and the stereotyped feminine sex role.
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