Untitled Essay, Research Paper

Adolescence is the developmental stage between childhood and adulthood; it

generally refers to a period ranging from age 12 or 13 through age 19 or

21. Although its beginning is often balanced with the beginning of puberty,

adolescence is characterized by psychological and social stages as well as

by biological changes.

Adolescence can be prolonged, brief, or virtually nonexistent,

depending on the type of culture in which it occurs. In societies that are

simple, for example, the transition from childhood to adulthood tends to

occur rather rapidly, and is marked by traditionally prescribed passage rites.

to contrast this, American and European societies the transition period for

young people has been steadily lengthening over the past 100 years, giving

rise to an adolescent subculture. As a result of this prolonged transitional

stage a variety of problems and concerns specifically associated with this

age group have developed. Psychologists single out four areas that especially

touch upon adolescent behavior and development: physiological change and

growth; cognitive, or mental development; identity, or personality formation;

and parent-adolescent relations.

Physiological Change:

Between the ages of 9 and 15, almost all young people

undergo a rapid series of physiological changes, known as the adolescent

growth spurt. These hormonal changes include an acceleration in the body’s

growth rate; the development of pubic hair; the appearance of axillary, or

armpit, hair about two years later. There are changes in the structure and

functioning of the reproductive organs; the mammary glands in girls; and

development of the sweat glands, which often leads to an outbreak of acne.

In both sexes, these physiological changes occur at different times. This

period of change can prove to be very stressful for a pre-teen. For during

this stage of life appearance is very important. An adolescent child who

develops very early or extremely late can take a lot of ridicule from his

or her peers. However, the time at which a girl goes through this stage and

a male goes through it are different.

Girls typically begin their growth spurt shortly after

age 10. They tend to reach their peak around the age 12, and tend to finish

by age 14. This spurt occurs almost two years later in boys. Therefore boys

go through a troubling period where girls are taller and heavier than them.

This awkward period occurs from ages ten and one-half to thirteen. Time is

not the only difference in the pubescent period for boys and girls.

In girls, the enlargement of the breasts is usually the

first physical sign of puberty. Actual puberty is marked by the beginning

of menstruation, or menarche. In the United States, 80 percent of all girls

reach menarche between the ages of eleven and one-half and fourteen and one-half,

50 percent between 12 and 14, and 33 percent at or before age 11. The average

age at which menstruation begins for American girls has been dropping about

six months every decade, and today contrasts greatly with the average age

of a century ago, which is between 15 and 17.

Boys typically begin their rapid increase in growth when

they reach about twelve and one-half years of age. They reach their peak

slightly after 14, and slow down by age 16. This period is marked by the

enlargement of the testes, scrotum, and penis; the development of the prostate

gland; darkening of the scrotal skin. The growth of pubic hair and pigmented

hair on the legs, arms, and chest takes place during this period. The enlargement

of the larynx, containing the vocal cords, which leads to a deepening of

the voice causes much stress for a pubescent boy. In this transitional period

in his voice tends to “crack.”

Cognitive Development:

Current views on the mental changes that take place during

adolescence have been affected heavily by the work of the Swiss psychologist

Jean Piaget, who sees the intellectual capability of adolescents as both

“qualitatively and quantitatively superior to that of younger children.”

According to Piaget and the developmentalist school of psychology, the thinking

capacity of young people automatically increases in complexity as a function

of age. Developmentalists find distinct differences between younger and older

adolescents in ability to generalize, to handle abstract ideas, to infer

appropriate connections between cause and effect, and to reason logically

and consistently.

Whether these changes in cognitive ability are a result

of the developmental stage, as Piaget suggests, or should be considered the

result of accumulating knowledge that allows for new mental and moral

perspectives, an enlarged capacity for making distinctions, and a greater

awareness of and sensitivity to others, is a question that psychologists

continually debate. Behaviorists such as Harvard’s B. F. Skinner did not

believe intellectual development could be divided into distinct stages. He

preferred to emphasize the influence of conditioning experiences on behavior

as a result of continuous punishments and rewards. Trying to prove that

intellectual ability in adolescence differs from that of earlier years, as

a result of learning, or acquiring more appropriate responses through

conditioning. Other investigators have found a strong tie between certain

socioeconomic characteristics and adolescent intellectual achievement. Statistics

suggest that well-educated, economically secure, small-sized families provide

the kind of environment which intellectual development among adolescents

is most apt to flourish. This environment should also include parental

encouragement, individual attention, and an extended vocabulary use. Test

scores, however, seem to be more related to the verbal ability than to the

performance aspects of adolescents’ intelligence.

Identity Formation:

Psychologists also disagree about the causes and significance

of the emotional and personality changes that occur during adolescence. Many

Freudian psychologists believe that the straightforward sexual awakening

of adolescents is an inevitable cause of emotional strain. This strain sometimes

leads to neurosis. Psychologists who have different beliefs place less emphasis

on the specific sexual aspects of adolescence. These physiologists consider

sex as only one of many adjustments young people must make in their search

for an identity.

The effects of physical change, the development of sexual

impulses, increased intellectual capacity, and social pressure to achieve

independence are all contributor to the molding of a new self. The components

of identity formation are connected to the adolescent’s self-image. This

means adolescents are greatly affected by the opinions of people who are

important in their lives and interact with them. Gradually, the emotional

dependency of childhood transforms into an emotional commitment to meet the

expectations of others. An adolescent seeks to please parents, peers, teachers,

employers and so on. If adolescents fail to meet the goals set for them by

the important people in their lives, they usually feel like they have to

reevaluate their motives, attitudes, or activities. The approval that seems

necessary at this stage can help determine both their later commitment to

responsible behavior and their sense of social competence throughout life.

The peer group of an adolescent also provide a standard

in which they can measure themselves during the process of identity formation.

Within the peer group, a young person can try out a variety of roles. Whether

taking the role of a leader or follower, deviant or conformist, the values

and norms of the group allow them to acquire a perspective of their own.

A peer group can also help with the transition from reliance on the family

to relative independence. There is a common language amongst adolescents,

whether it is clothing, music, or gossip, these forms of expression allow

them to display their identity. This new form of association helps to ease

the anxiety of leaving their past source of reference to their identity.

Parent-Adolescent Relations:

The family has traditionally provided a set of values

for young people to observe. Through this observation they can begin to learn

adult ways of behavior. In modern industrial societies the nuclear family

has come to be relatively unstable, for divorce is growing increasingly common

and many children reach adolescence with only one parent. In addition, rapid

social changes have weakened the smoothens of life experience. Adolescents

a greater difference between the parental-child generations then their parent

did. They tend to view their parents as having little capacity to guide them

in their transition from their world to the larger world. The conflict that

sometimes results from differing parent-adolescent perceptions is called

the “generation gap.” Such conflicts are not inevitable, for it is less likely

to happen in families in which both adolescents and parents have been exposed

to the same new ideas and values.

Other parental characteristics that commonly influence

adolescents include social class, the pattern of equality or dominance between

mother and father, and the consistency with which parental control is exercised.

Young people with parents whose guidance is firm, consistent, and rational

tend to possess greater self-confidence than those whose parents are either

overly tolerant or strict.

Adolescence In Modern Society:

Adolescence is often looked upon as a period of stormy

and stressful transition. Anthropologists have noted that in less developed

cultures the adolescent years do not always have to exhibit such characteristics,

when children can participate fully in the activities of their community.

As life in industrialized societies grows more complex, however, adolescents

are increasingly cut off from the activities of their elders, leaving most

young people with education as their sole occupation. Inevitably, this has

isolated many of them from the adult world and has prolonged their adolescence.

In advanced industrial societies such as the United States, the adolescent

years have become marked by violence to an alarming degree. The phenomenon

of teenage suicide has become particularly disturbing, but risk-taking behaviors

of many sorts can be observed, including alcohol and drug abuse.

Bibliography:Conger, John J., Adolescence: Generation under Pressure (1980)

Dacey, J. E., Adolescents Today, 3d ed. (1986)

Fuhrman, B. S., Adolescence, Adolescents (1986)

Hauser, Stuart T., et al., Adolescents and Their Families (1991)

Santrock, J. W., Adolescence: An Introduction, 3d ed. (1987)

Sprinthall, Norman, and Collins, W. A., Development in Adolescence, 2d ed.

(1985).

Table Of Contents

Introduction………………………………………Page: 1

Physiological Changes……………………….Page: 1-2

Cognitive Development……………………Page: 3-4

Identity Formation…………………………….Page: 4-5

Parent-Adolescent Relations……………..Page: 5-6

Adolescence Today…………………………….Page: 6

Bibliography……………………………………….Page: 7

Adolescence