youth identity crisis and the internal conflict with the divine and self

A presentation by VICTOR COUNTED at the Youth, Health and Practical Justice

conference, University of New South Wales, Australia (4 – 5 Dec. 2016)

WE ARE ANXIOUS BUT AUTHENTIC:Youth Identity Crisis and the internal

conflict with the divine and self

Contact: [email protected]

WE ARE ANXIOUS BUT AUTHENTIC Youth identity crisis and the internal conflict with the Divine and self

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WE ARE ANXIOUS BUT AUTHENTIC BY VICTOR COUNTED

Young people have two main needs: attachment and authenticity.

When young people feel abandoned and betrayed by those who are supposed to be there for them, they often enter into a cycle of identity crisis, trying to stay true to who

they are in order to deal with their relationship problems.


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1. ATTACHMENT➔ Parent-child relationship

Attachment starts from a parent-child bonding experience.

➔ Internal working modelsRepresentation of self, others, and the world around us.

➔ Substitute attachment figuresA reliable human or non-human partner that is perceived as a safe haven, secure base, target for closeness, response to pain/loss of loved one, e.g. romantic partner, friend, a Divine entity, place, etc.

tips


2. AUTHENTICITY➔ Staying true to one’s self

Relationship struggles with attachment figures are stumbling blocks to staying true to self

➔ Authenticity, Congruity, & self-regulationStaying true to self is attained via navigating between our primary experience, symbolized awareness, and outward behaviours - the pursuit for self-actualisation

tips

Some empirical results AGI-Anxiety and AS-Self Alienation

(r = .279, p<.01). 7% commonality.

AGI-Avoidance and AS-Self Alienation

(r = .204, p<.05). 4% of common variance.

AGI-Anxiety and AS-Accepting External Influences

(r = .324, p<.01). 10% of variance.

#QUAN

Tip

Attachment was measured using the Attachment to God Inventory. Assesses attachment dimensions of anxiety (48%) and avoidance (35%).

Tip

Authenticity Scale was used to measure dimensions of authenticity: Authentic Living (24 %), Self-alienation (11%), Accepting external influences (13%).

positive (α = .806)

100 SOUTH AFRICAN YOUTHS

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Some empirical results THE SELF CONFLICT

- From an attachment contagion to a cycle of weak self-integration

- The Borderline Self (Masterson, 1976): self defense using unnecessary tantrums (acting out) to fight an imploding att. crisis

- The Promissory Self (Moltmann, 1976): an emerging sense of promise and a response to a hurtful future/past

- The Hyphenated Self (Jeroncic, 2014): manifesting positive, cut and paste images of themselves

- The Religious Self (Muck, 1998): a sense of spiritual maturity and an indicator of spirituality and religious life.

(For more insights read: Counted 2016)

THE DIVINE CONFLICT

- Attachment with a Divine entity replaces parental attachment and compensates for a dysfunctional relationship

- Insecure attachment with the Divine (e.g. anxiety with God) linked to the attachment behavioural system (internal working models)

- There is a sudden need for spiritual maturity

- Experience with the Divine or an attachment figure shadows how they stay true to themselves

- Negative attachment experience with relational figures plunges the youth into a cycle of self-splitting

(For more read: Counted 2016a, 2016b)

#QUAL

15 SOUTH AFRICAN YOUTHS PAGE 6


ADVOCATING FOR JUSTICE FOR THE YOUTH IN CRISIS: As practical

as practical can be...

1. Let's acknowledge the harm caused to those abused as a child by their primary caregivers

2. Let’s fight unhealthy and abusive parental attachments together- Let’s start from the family...one parent at a time

3. A more focused attention on the consequences of attachment abandonment

4. Juxtaposition and the Power of Two (Donald Capps)

○ Ask questions, ○ develop the art of listening, ○ reframe their stories to empower the

abused youth not to live in fear

someIDEASRecognising that

attachment and authenticity are the two greatest needs of young people is the first practical step towards advocating for the youth in crisis

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Thank you for your attention!!!

VICTOR COUNTEDSchool of Social Sciences and Psychology

Western Sydney [email protected]

CITED WORKS / BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and Loss. Vol. 1: Attachment. London: The Hogarth Press and The Institute of Psycho-Analysis

Bowlby, J. (1979). The making and breaking of affectional bonds. London: Tavistock.Counted, V. (2016). ‘Being Authentic is the New Image: A Qualitative Study on the Authenticity Constructions and

Self-images of Christian Millennials in Africa.’ Mental health, Religion, and Culture, 19:3, pp.268–294 Counted, V. (2016a). ‘God as an Attachment Figure: A Case Study of the God Attachment Language and God

Concepts of Anxiously Attached Christian Youths in South Africa.’ Journal of Spirituality in Mental Health, Vol 18 (4), pp.316-346.

Counted, V. (2016b). ‘The psychology of youth faith formation: A Care-giving Faith?’ Journal of Youth and Theology, 15 (2), pp.146-172

Counted, V. & A. Moustafa (in press). Between God and Self: Measuring the Attachment to God and Authenticity/Inauthenticity Tendencies of South African Christian Youths. Mental Health, Religion, and Culture

Counted, V. (forthcoming book). Finding God Without Losing Yourself: Resolving the internal conflict with God and self.

Granqvist, P., & Kirkpatrick, L. A. (2008). ‘Attachment and religious representations and behavior.’ In J Cassidy & P. R. Shaver(Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (2nd ed., pp. 906-933). New York: Guilford.

Jeroncic, A. (2014). ‘‘Weak’ Self-Integration: Jürgen Moltmann’s Anthropology and the ‘Postmodern Self’’. The Heythrop Journal LV, pp. 244-255

Masterson, J. F. (1976). Psychotherapy of the Borderline Adult. New York: Brunner/MazelMuck, T.C. (1998). ‘After selfhood: constructing the religious self in a post-self age.’ Journal of Evangelical

Theological StudiesMoltmann, J. (1976). ‘Who is Man?’ in Human Identity in Christian Faith, ed. M. Douglas Meeks. Stanford: Stanford

University PressPehr Granqvist, Mario Mikulincer, Phillip R Shaver (2010). Religion as attachment: Normative processes and

individual differences. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 14 (1) pp.49.59Rokach, A (1997). ‘Relations of perceived causes and the experience of loneliness.’ Psychol Rep. 80(3 Pt

2):1067-74.Schweitzer, Carol L. Schnabl (2016). Juxtaposition or Bthe Powers of Two^: A Tribute to Donald Capps in

Conversation with Oliver Sacks. Pastoral Psychology (2016) 65:835–848Wood, A. M., P.A. Linley, J. Maltby, M. Baliousis, S. Joseph (2008). ‘The authentic personality: A theoretical and

empirical conceptualization and the development of the Authenticity Scale.’ Journal of Counselling Psychology, 55, 385-399. doi: 10.1037/0022-0167.55.3.385

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