- Published: January 2, 2022
- Updated: January 2, 2022
- Level: Masters
- Language: English
- Downloads: 12
Social and personal adjustment Adjustment is the process by which individuals maintain balance between their needs and the circumstances that influence the satisfaction of these needs (Azmitia, 2008). Social adjustment in the technical language of psychology is getting along with the members of a society as best as one can. It is the effort made by a person to cope with standards, values, and needs of a society in order to be accepted. It involves coping with new standards and values. Personal adjustment as stated by Uhl & Powers is the processes by which people deal with their needs, limitations, and frustrations (1938).
The important aspects of the adjustment process are the existence of a motive, circumstances leading to its frustration, resulting in varied responses. This may eventually lead to the discovery of a solution. It is an accepted part of our cultural pattern for individuals to be frustrated; therefore, adjustments that result in achievement are necessary (Macionis, 2007). In the understanding of social and personal adjustments, four units are included in our discussion; Successful Living, True success is the one that helps both yourself and others around you. This demands an individual to consider the social effects of his or her action. No one succeeds by himself therefore; success compels a person to not only study himself, but also other people, adjusting and re adjusting himself to them from time to time (Uhl & Powers, 1938). If you plan your actions to help other people as well as yourself succeed, then you are socially and personally adjusted. Social Life in the Modern World, our everyday life provides us with countless cases of the need for discovering why people have acted as they have. What is the motive in actions people undertake? Such motives may include; lack of satisfaction, circumstances that force people to act, talents that lead to self-expression and, money that makes people work (Uhl & Powers, 1938).
Azmitia writes that there several types of Personal Adjustment which include: Learning as personal adjustment, an effective learner saves himself much time, effort and money and gains great advantage in the cease-less struggle of modern times. Efficient reading as personal adjustment, from the printed pages we get many ideas of both the past and the present. Study as personal adjustment, study is important since it helps us think our problems through for ourselves before we can use the answers we have fully (2008). Personal adjustment to people and situations, this involves seeking whatever we think may give us advantage over other people and estimating a situation which consists of sizing up the situation in general, deciding what to do if anything and following a plan (Macionis, 2007).
Types of Social Adjustment include: Home living, this is influenced by an individual’s place in their home, people as a product of their homes, standards of home living and, changes that affect home living. School life, which is a stream of experiences guided to flow into the main current of life strengthening, directing and in every way making it more effective. Morals and manners, that depend on the time and place an individual is. Social institutions and an individual, an individual interacts with many social institutions on a daily basis. They help us to act together to achieve something that seems attractive. Social institutions base their existence on interdependency. They provide training in the attitudes and activities of co-operative living and enable us to extend ourselves into activities that the home cannot provide (Uhl & Powers, 1938).
In conclusion, the study has identified that a range of variables influence and add to both social and personal adjustment outcomes. Teachers, parents and the older people as they support children moving from one stage of life to another should understand the diversity and complexity of school transition and other social institution transition. Schools and the entire society should develop transition programs with many opportunities (formal and informal) for children and their families. There should be additional or targeted opportunities for people who are at risk of adjustment difficulties. These include people from low socio-economic backgrounds, who speak only languages other than English at home, and children who do not attend school.
References
Azmitia, M., Syed, M. U., & Radmacher, K. A. (2008). The intersections of personal and social identities. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Macionis, J. J. (2007). Sociology (11th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N. J.: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Uhl, W. L., & Powers, F. F. (1938). Personal and social adjustment, a text in social science,. New York: Macmillan Co..