Adolescence
The derivation of the term ‘adolescence’, we can see that the term comes from the Latin verb ‘adolescence’ which means ‘to grow up’ or ‘to grow to maturity’. In psychology, adolescence is treated as a stage between childhood and adulthood. In this stage, one has to adapt and adjust childhood behaviors to the adult standards that are recognized in one’s culture. Here, we may refer adolescence not only to biological growth, but also to social growth within a cultural framework.
The introduction of the concept/term adolescence is the result of the rapid changes brought about by industrial revolution in society. These changes are as industrialization, urbanization, institutionalization and immigration.
Stages of Adolescence
Generally, we may divide the stages of adolescence as follows:
Early adolescence (10-13 years) – In this stage, there is a spurt of growth and development of secondary sexual characteristics.
Mid adolescence (14-15 years) – This stage is characterized by forming new relationships with opposite sex and the peer groups and the development of a separate identity from parents.
Late adolescence (16-18 years) – At this stage, adolescents behaves similar to adults, and has formed a distinct identity and has their own opinions and ideas.
From the above paragraphs, you might have thought that adolescence is related with physical changes only by considering maturity as the most obvious reason. Usually maturity refers to the age or stage of life when an individual attains physical, emotional, social and intellectual development fully.
GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
WHO defines adolescence both in term of age (spanning the ages between 10 and 19 years) and in term of a phase of life marked by special attributes. These attributes includes:
- Rapid physical growth and development
- Physical, social and psychological maturity, but not all at the same time.
- Sexual maturity and the onset of social activity
- Experimentation
- Development of adult mental process and adult identity
- Transmission from total socio-economic dependence to relative independence
The interrelatedness of the various aspects of the development of the personality of the adolescent may be illustrated as under:
Physical Development
At the adolescent stage, marked changes take place in the following domain:
- Height and Weight
- Bodily Proportion
- Change in Voice
- Increase in motor performance
- Sexual changes
Cognitive Development
Mental or intellectual development implies the growth and development of those abilities and capacities of the adolescent that enable them to accomplish a task that need complex cognitive abilities and enable them to adjust their behaviour to the ever changing environmental conditioning.
Cognitive abilities include abilities like sensation, perception, imagination, memory, reasoning, understanding, generalization, interpretation, problem solving and decision making etc. In fact most parts of the school programmes relax to mental development.
The adolescent learns to reason and seek answer to how and why of everything rationally and scientifically. Power of critical thinking and observation in much developed. They are more creative and inquisitive. They are almost critical of everything. They develop a lot of imagination. This becomes the beginning of the artist, inventor, philosopher, poet and writer etc. in the adolescent.
Social Development
- Adolescence is marked with too much sex consciousness resulting in sexual social relationships.
- During adolescence loyalty becomes very much pronounced and adolescence are in a mood to sacrifice their selfish interests for the greater cause of the group, society and nation.
- Adolescence stage is often marked with increased friendly relationships.
- Emotional behaviour of the adolescence dominates his social characteristics and qualities.
- There is too much diversity in the adolescents regarding their social interests.
Emotional Development
Emotional development is one of the major aspects of adolescent’s growth and development. Not only adolescent physical growth and development is linked with his emotional make-up but his aesthetic, intellectual, moral and social development is also controlled by his emotional development. To keep one’s emotions under control and be able to conceal them is considered a mark of strong and balanced personality. Therefore, adolescents must be trained to control their emotions and achieve a mental balance and stability which will lead to individual happiness and social efficiency.
Moral Development
By morality we mean conformity to the moral code of the social group. The term comes from the Latin word “mores” meaning manners, customs or folkways. To act in a moral way means to act in conformity to group standards of conduct. Morality also includes a sense of right or wrong behaviour which has to do with the conscience of the individual. Moral behaviour is learnt. Moral standards vary from group to group depending upon what has been accepted by the group as a socially approved behaviour. True morality comes from within the individual. It is internal in nature and not imposed by external authority.
Bowley and others are of the view that a person of moral character has the following qualities
- Self control
- Reliability
- Persistence in action
- Industrious
- Feeling of responsibility
- Consciousness
Adolescence is commonly defined as the stage of life that begins at the onset of puberty, when sexual maturity or the ability to reproduce is attained. It has been regarded as a period of rapid change, both biologically and psychologically. Though the physical changes that take place during the stage are universal, the social and psychological dimensions of the adolescent’s experiences depend on the cultural context. For example, in cultures where the adolescent years are viewed as problematic or confusing, the adolescent will have very different experiences from someone who is in a culture, where adolescent years are viewed as beginning of adult behaviour and therefore, undertaking responsible task. Although most societies have at least a brief period of adolescent, it is not a universal across cultures.
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