Social Pressure Theory of Psychology a. Theory of Personality

26 own person, to choose their own companies and pastimes, and to preserves the privacy of their thoughts, feelings, and belongings Lefrancois 407, Kimmel 234. In his book, Kimmel pointed out three kinds of family relationship patterns 434-435: a Democratic parents They are in the best position to help an adolescent son or daughter progress toward identity achievement. Their supportive, accepting, and responsible but not domineering stance fosters security in considering alternatives. b Autocratic parents They tell their children what to think and do. In some cases adolescents may rebel against the dictates of autocratic parents and insist on finding their own way of life. c Permissive parents They give their children free rein to make their own decisions but seldom guide them in choosing well or help them in facing up to their mistakes. As a result, permissively reared adolescents tend to shy away from considering alternatives. Apart from those kinds of family relationship patterns, Conger straightened out that not having a father or having one who is ineffective, passive, neglecting, or distant from the child is likely to handicap the boy in cognitive development. Father-absent boys are also generally more immature 27 psychologically, have more difficulty in forming satisfying peer relations, and are less popular with their peers 258. Furthermore, as what happened to Luke, the subject of this study, parents who are employing “love-withdrawal techniques” simply give direct but not physical expression to his anger or disapproval of the child for engaging in some undesirable behavior. Such a parent may ignore the child, refuse to speak to him, express dislike, or threaten to leave him. This parental pattern disrupts communication and learning opportunities between child and parent, and fails to make use of the child’s capacity for empathy Conger 528. Thus, it is commonly held that much of the trouble between the generations either parent or adolescent is due to their inability or unwillingness to communicate, misunderstandings, and parents’ interference towards adolescents’ need for independence Conger 330, Ausubel 229. Sebald, however, perceives that conflict between adolescents and their parents stems from their desire to associate more frequently and more closely with peer groups and also from a variety of other sources as parental interference with social life, lack of adequate financial assistance, parental intrusion about schoolwork or criticism of grades, and parental criticism of friends. In words, parent-adolescent conflict typically arises because the changing needs and interests of the adolescent require a readjustment in the family system due to the difference in age between individuals of two generations 462. 28 2 Peers As a matter of fact, peers play a vital role in the psychological development of most adolescents. Peer relations perform many of the same functions in adolescence as in childhood: they provide an opportunity to learn how to interact with agemates, to control social behavior, to develop age-relevant skills and interests, to share similar problems and feelings, to increase one’s own level of cognitive development, and to reduce egocentrism among adolescents Conger 325, Ausubel 367, Kimmel 149. Lefrancois, in addition, has another perception. According to him, peer groups are of particular importance in developing positive self-concepts, as well as in the formation of sexually appropriate values and attitudes 408. The peer group is the major training institution for adolescents in our society. It is in the peer group that “by doing they learn about the social processes of our culture. They clarify their sex roles by acting and being responded to, they learn competition, cooperation, social skills, values and purposes by sharing the common life” Ausubel 384. Adolescent peer groups vary in size, interests, social backgrounds, and structure, but it tends to consist of individuals of relatively similar ages. Another type of peer relationship is formed by individuals with different sexes, and frequently this kind of relationship grows into such feeling of love. Kimmel states that the love of adolescence is the developmental necessity to discover one’s own identity from within a close relationship that involves sexual attraction. Such 29 romantic love is important in adolescence partly because it fits adolescent egocentrism 382-383. In adolescent friendship, the more important thing is similarity in orientation and competence in social relationships as judged by measures of social adjustment, social maturity, social intelligence, and sociality Ausubel 368. Conger, as stated in his book, explains that an adolescent’s personality characteristics and social behaviors affect the likelihood of being accepted by peers, whereas the other factors include intelligence and ability, physical attractiveness, special talents, social class and socioeconomic status, and ethnic- group membership 343. Every important social relationship undergoes changes during adolescence. Changes in the adolescent’s ongoing relationships with family and friends, as well as new relationships with teachers, employers and other members of the community, require a development of new strategies for interpersonal relating. It is not rare, therefore, that peers may also create such pressure towards adolescent’s social life. Pressures for conformity to peer group originate both from the group and from within the individual. Moreover, there are several reasons which can break up adolescent friendships, the most self-evident of which is tension generated by disparity in age, ability, physical maturity, and socioeconomic status Parsons 117, Ausubel 369. 30 3 School One cause of adolescent’s problems is more likely come from the environment outside family and peers, whereby adolescents get used to socialize in an educational institution namely school. Adolescents who are under such pressure often results in poor school performance or dropping out of school. According to Conger, there are several factors affecting school dropouts, such as: intelligence, school difficulties both academic and social, individual teacher-pupil relationship, deficiencies in home background, in motivation, in emotional adjustment, family and peers influences and in individual psychological characteristics of the students themselves, including less confident of their own worth, lower in self-esteem, more lacking in a clearly defined self-image and sense of identity 407-408. Underachieving students are more likely to be characterized by a high level of free-floating anxiety; negative self-concepts; hostility toward authority; difficulty in relating to peers, combined with excessive dependence on the peer group; a high level of independence- dependence conflict; a social, pleasure-seeking orientation, rather than an academic one; and unrealistic goal orientations or no long-term goals at all Conger 396-397. Lack of educational stimulation in the home and parental disinterest in academic achievement are thus directly related to children having school-learning problems and receiving relatively low grades. As further results, adolescents who do poorly or drop out of school often develop low self-esteem, remain psychologically immature, and fail to realize their intellectual potential Kimmel 468. 31 Furthermore, as stated in Journal of Educational Psychology, the characteristics of social pressure on minorities in an academic and social environment such as school includes several things as follows: a dramatic increase or decrease in grades, not volunteering to speak in class or other public forums, not participating in extracurricular activities. It is concluded that these characteristics would innately influence the performance of students as well as their social status. The effects of social pressure can be both positive and negative. Putting doubts into a student’s mind is a form of social pressure that can reduce his or her motivation, which is one example of the negative one. In contrast, if people are given positive impression, they are more likely to perform better Allen and Bragg 302-308. Having explained three sources of social pressure on adolescents, it is wise to also recognize several negative effects of it. 1 Loneliness According to Parsons, loneliness occurs at those times when one has a feeling of desolation, of isolation, of being cut off and estranged. Quite often the lonely, alienated youth has failed to develop the necessary prerequisite skills for gaining admission and acceptance into the peer group. They feel like living in a chronic state of disappointment and experience a state of total estrangement between themselves and the world-an estrangement in which they not only feel alone and cut off but also unwanted, unvalued and unloved by all 119-123. 32 2 Psychological disturbance Susceptible to depression, failing to find support from the significant others in their environment, and feeling hopeless and helpless, adolescents are often left with a sense of total despair. The sense of loneliness, hopelessness and helplessness which accompany depression often blocks the adolescents’ ability to define and resolve the real problems facing them Parsons 131. Moreover, Conger pointed out that the depressed adolescents may reveal their feelings through bodily complaints, such as waking up tired and fatigued or exhibiting hypochondriacal symptoms and excessive bodily preoccupations, difficulties in concentration and failing school performance. Those symptoms may chronically lead to such psychological disturbance called hypochondriasis. It is an excessive preoccupation with functioning of the body which deals with anxiety. Psychological disturbance in an adolescent, thus, may be reflected in real or imagined physical symptoms like what is known as hallucination 605-609.

B. Criticism

Criticism toward the author and his work are needed to get more information about the study. However, since this is a new and little-known novel, there are not so many related studies that can be found both in library and internet. There were many studies discussing about adolescents and its psychological aspect, but there was no study which specifically used Night Train 33 as the object. This novel deals with the subject of psychology that is quite difficult to find any literary studies. Thus, the followings are few of the studies which have to do with the topic of this thesis. In one internet site namely Boyds Mills Contributors, Judith Clarke is told as the author of many other award-winning books for young adults, including Kalpana’s Dream, Wolf on the Fold, Night Train, and Friend of My Heart. She was born in Sydney, Australia, and lives in Melbourne. Once she acknowledged that she never made a conscious decision to be a writer. Writing was her hobby since she was a child in the western suburbs of Sidney in the 1950s. Night Train, one of her masterpiece, was found to grab several awards such as Childrens Books of the Year Awards Honor Older Readers, Childrens Book Council of Australia, Victorian Premiers Literary Awards Winner, and Young Adult Fiction- State Library of Victoria, Australia. Thus, several reviews and comments toward this novel were started to emerge, both from the publisher and the customers. As stated in Amazon.Com, considered Night Train as an excellent book for use in high school discussions of teen depression. Being compiled with such flashback plot, this novel made the readers feel curious and interested to read Jennifer Hubert. One of the readers, instead, stated his brief comment as follows: “This book clearly describes the life of an adolescent who is floundering to find his way in life. It accurately documents how problem after problem can add up in a youth’s life, until something seems it must break…The theme of mental health is sensitively explored and a deep sense of aloneness in the midst of company and 34 life is poignantly developed throughout the book” Raymond Mathiesen. Apart from those comments, however, there was few negative criticism toward the content of this book as well. As Bookworm, the initial name of one of the readers implied, the never ending circle of repeated plot an antagonizing conflict that the main character faces actually frustrated the readers. The sounds of the “mystery train” that only Luke could hear seems bewildering in some senses likewise. It might bring the readers throughout the bias gap between reality and imagination, though. An essay entitled “Adolescent – Identity and Depression” stated that adolescents are often confused as to what their parents expect of them and feel like they are always complaining about something. “Depreciation, rejection and the inability to live up to high parental expectations can cause significant loss of self-esteem and trigger reactive depression in adolescents” McCoy. Another similar study about adolescent’s psychological aspect was also found in an article, particularly one which was related to social pressure: Resisting such pressure is more complex than it appears. It requires that adolescents think about the possible consequences of their behavior, and that they feel emotionally strong enough to risk rejection by a peer or friend. It also requires a sense of empathy for the person applying the pressure, and the ability and self-confidence to propose different behavior Dr.Kutner. However, this study develops something new and different from the other studies since those studies mentioned above tend to focus on psychological subject. It is true that this study also deals with psychological subject but this one