Sullivan’s theory involving interpersonal associations highlights the need for social connections, especially among adolescents, due to their various benefits. Sullivan identifies adolescent relationships as vital because they aid in shaping their health and well-being, enabling them to become adults with positive attachments, which are crucial in shaping their development. They assist in reducing the prevalence of depression among the youth, which can be impactful in their long-term health (Santrock, 2008). Sullivan built on attachment theories by explaining that adolescent relationships provide the foundation for emotional awareness and comprehension, enabling people to form productive associations with their peers that could influence their lives. As such, individuals could establish satisfactory associations as they understand their feelings and those that they relate with in their lives. Close relationships promote mental health development among adolescents, and people form supporting connections that provide them with social acceptance.
Based on my analysis, Sullivan was right about the importance of friendships as he explained that the connections assist in promoting mental health among the youth. The book highlights that associations with peers assist in lowering mental health risks among individuals (Santrock, 2008). Another supporting element of the hypothesis is that the separation of adolescents, such as during the COVID-19 breakdown, resulted in more mental health issues among the kids. However, the journal refutes some of the claims. It explains that research identified co-rumination catapulted stress among individuals experiencing depressive signs (Rose et al., 2017). Therefore, there is a contrasting oversight between the two articles, demonstrating the controversy associated with Sullivan’s insights.
The article explains that co-rumination involves the process upon which those individuals with personal problems extensively discuss with their friends. Its characteristics include frequent talks about problems, speculating about causative elements of various problems and their potential effects, and focusing on the negatives (Rose et al., 2017). The practice is essential in adolescent development since it provides the basis for understanding other people’s challenges, which assists in finding solutions for them while making it difficult to identify answers to personal issues. In addition, it assists in understanding the symptoms of various psychological disorders, enabling them to assist their peers who may be experiencing such issues.
Nonetheless, the article presents numerous downsides of co-rumination. For example, it assists in worsening stress provision among individuals experiencing depressive traits, which makes it challenging to maintain positive mental health (Rose et al., 2017). Since people mainly focus on discussing their problems, they develop a negative perspective when viewing various issues and establish them as insolvable. It impacts their ability to solve problems and their cognitive functioning. Co-rumination also results in adverse traits that are associated with poor psychological performance, such as self-criticism, which results in low self-esteem. As such, it becomes difficult for them to engage in changing social dynamics. Although individuals may identify sharing problems with their peers as a way of seeking social support to help elevate their mental health, the continuous engagement about problems results in a distorted perspective, making them view specific problems to be worse than their actual state.
Sullivan identifies co-rumination as a good thing associated with only positive outcomes. However, a current view provides room for updating through assessing the adverse outcomes of continuously talking about problems with your peers, especially in the modern generation, where instead of assisting others, people make comparisons and fail to establish a practical solution, such as creating social support. Dr. Rose would assist Sullivan in identifying that a continuous focus on negative aspects results in a negative perspective, which affects individuals’ viewpoints. Instead of focusing on potential solutions to various challenges, people focus on their potential effects, creating an unhealthy environment. Therefore, an update would be essential in considering such factors and assisting in establishing a comprehensive understanding.
References
Santrock, J. (2008). Life-span development. McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages.
Rose, A. J., Glick, G. C., Smith, R. L., Schwartz-Mette, R. A., & Borowski, S. K. (2017). Co-rumination exacerbates stress generation among adolescents with depressive symptoms. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 45(5), 985-995. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-016-0205-1
write