how do adolescents define depression? - cIRcle - University of ...

Chapter II: Literature Review
through the constructive interaction of the individual with the physical and social world
(Keating, 1990). For every achieved equilibration, there follows a movement toward the higher
level of complexity (Chapman, 1988). The newly achieved equilibrated stage encompasses the
ability to coordinate more perspectives (Noam et al., 1995).
Different views pervade Piaget's stages of thinking, particularly in relation to formal
operational thought. Some researchers posit that there is an early and a late phase to formal
operational thought (Flavell, 1992a; Santrock, 1998). In the early phase, adolescents gain
increased ability to think hypothetically. In the late phase, there is a restoration of intellectual
balance, where adolescents can test out the products of their reasoning against experience
(Broughton, 1983; Santrock, 1998).
Other researchers indicate various shortcomings in Piaget's theory: it does not account
for unique differences (Overton & Byrnes, 1991); most individuals in early adolescence have not
reached formal operational thought (Strahan, 1983); some cognitive abilities emerge earlier than
expected (Flavell, 1992b); or some adults reason at concrete operational thinking (Siegler, 1996).
Some theorists suggest that the formal operations thinking can be understood better as different
ways of "knowing" (Byrnes, 1988; Keating, 1988). However, according to Keating (1990), from
early adolescence on, "thinking tends to involve abstract rather than merely concrete
representation; to become multidimensional rather than limited to a single issue; to become
relative rather than absolute in the conception of knowledge; and to become self-reflective and
self-aware" (p. 62). Hence, seeking out adolescents' voices in defining depression can help to
advance our knowledge of depression in adolescence.
Before we can develop any concept of depression or assign anything to categories, first
we have to perceive the existence of such a concept, and then we try to classify it within our
existing concepts. If it is an entirely new perception, we may have to form a new concept. The
process of coding is independent from identifying the physical or mechanical characteristics of
the conceived items (Glasersfeld, 1978). Given the way experiences have been segmented, the
frequency with which a construct is repeated and the greater number of larger concepts in which
it exists, the more indispensable it becomes in sorting out experiences that can be known
(Glasersfeld, 1978).
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