Everything about Adolescent totally explained
» "Teen(s)" and "teenager(s)" redirect here, for other uses see Teen (disambiguation)
Adolescence (
lat adolescere = (to) grow) is a transitional stage of physical and mental
human development that occurs between
childhood and
adulthood. This transition involves biological (for example
pubertal), social, and psychological changes, though the biological or physiological ones are the easiest to measure objectively. Historically,
puberty has been heavily associated with teenagers and the onset of adolescent development. In recent years, however, the start of puberty has seen an increase in
preadolescence and extension beyond the teenage years, making adolescence less simple to discern.
The home is an important aspect of adolescent psychology: home environment and family have a substantial impact on the developing minds of teenagers, and these developments may reach a climax during adolescence. For example, abusive parents may lead a child to "poke fun" at other classmates when he/she is seven years old or so, but during adolescence, it may become progressively worse, for example, the child may now be using drugs or becoming intolerably violent among other classmates. If the concepts and theory behind of right or wrong were not established early on in a child's life, the lack of this knowledge may impair a teenager's ability to make beneficial decisions as well as allowing his/her impulses to control his/her decisions.
In the search for a unique social
identity for themselves, adolescents are frequently confused about what is 'right' and what is 'wrong.'
G. Stanley Hall denoted this period as one of "Storm and Stress" and, according to him,
conflict at this developmental stage is normal and not unusual.
Margaret Mead, on the other hand, attributed the behavior of adolescents to their culture and upbringing. However,
Piaget, attributed this stage in development with greatly increased cognitive abilities; at this stage of life the individual's thoughts start taking more of an abstract form and the egocentric thoughts decrease, hence the individual is able to think and reason in a wider perspective.
Positive psychology is sometimes brought up when addressing adolescent psychology as well. This approach towards adolescents refers to providing them with motivation to become socially acceptable and notable individuals, since many adolescents find themselves bored, indecisive and/or unmotivated.
Adolescents may be subject to peer pressure within their adolescent time span, consisting of the need to have sex, consume alcoholic beverages, use drugs, defy their parental figures, or commit any activity in which the person who is subjected to may not deem appropriate, among other things. Peer pressure is a common experience between adolescents and may result briefly or on a larger scale.
It should also be noted that adolescence is the stage of a psychological breakthrough in a person's life when the
cognitive development is rapid and the thoughts, ideas and concepts developed at this period of life greatly influence the individual's future life, playing a major role in character and personality formation.
Struggles with adolescent identity and depression usually set in when an adolescent experiences a loss. The most important loss in their lives is the changing relationship between the adolescent and their parents. Adolescents may also experience strife in their relationships with friends. This may be because of things their friends do, such as smoking, that they feel if they don't do, they'll lose their friendship. Teen depression can be extremely intense at times because of physical and hormonal changes but emotional instability is part of being a teenager. Their changing mind, body and relationships often present themselves as stressful and that change, they assume, is something to be feared.
Views of family relationships during adolescence are changing. The old view of family relationships during adolescence put an emphasis on conflict and disengagement and thought storm and stress was normal and even inevitable. However, the new view puts emphasis on transformation or relationships and maintenance of connectedness.
Sexuality
Adolescent sexuality refers to sexual feelings,
behavior and development in
adolescents and is a stage of human sexuality. Sexuality and sexual desire usually begins to appear along with the onset of
puberty. The expression of sexual desire among adolescents (or anyone, for that matter), might be influenced by family values and influences, the culture and religion they've grown up in
social engineering,
social control,
taboos, and other kinds of
social mores.
The risks of adolescent sexual activity is sometimes associated with: emotional distress (fear of abuse or exploitation),
sexually transmitted diseases (including
HIV/
AIDS) and
pregnancy through failure or non-use of contraceptives. In terms of
sexual identity,
sexual orientation among adolescents may vary greatly across the spectrum from
heterosexuality and
LGBT orientations to
pansexuality and
sexual fetishism.
According to anthropologist
Margaret Mead and psychologist
Albert Bandura, the turmoil found in adolescence in Western society has a cultural rather than a physical cause; they reported that societies where young women engaged in free sexual activity had no such adolescent turmoil, (that is until more recently, when information about the most dangerous STDs was made publicly accessible.)
The
age of consent to sexual activity varies widely between international jurisdictions, ranging from 12 to 21 years, although some governments, such as Canada's, are planning to raise the age to at least 16 in an effort to reduce the incidence of the most serious STD's, pregnancy among teenage girls, and the sexual abuse and exploitation of younger teens.
Culture
In commerce, this generation is seen as an important target.
Mobile phones, contemporary
popular music,
movies,
television programs,
sports,
video games and clothes are heavily marketed and often popular amongst adolescents.
In the past (and still in some cultures) there were ceremonies that celebrated adulthood, typically occurring during adolescence.
Seijin shiki (literally "adult ceremony") is a Japanese example of this.
Upanayanam is a coming of age ceremony for males in the
Hindu world. In
Judaism, 12 year old girls and 13-year-old boys become
Bat or Bar Mitzvah, respectively, and often have a celebration to mark this coming of age. Among some denominations of
Christianity, the
rite or
sacrament of
Confirmation is received by adolescents and may be considered the time at which adolescents become members of the church in their own right.
African boys also have a coming of age ceremony in which, upon reaching adolescence, the males state a promise to never do anything to shame their families or their village. This was also continued among
African-American slaves in the early days of slavery before the practice was outlawed. In
United States, girls will often have a "
sweet sixteen" party to celebrate turning the aforementioned age, a tradition similar to the
quinceañera in
Latin culture. In modern America, events such as getting your first driver's license, high school and later on college graduation and first career related job are thought of as being more significant markers in transition to adulthood.
Adolescents have also been an important factor in many movements for positive social change around the world. The popular history of adolescents participating in these movements may perhaps start with
Joan of Arc, and extend to present times with popular
youth activism,
student activism, and other efforts to make the
youth voice heard.
Legal issues, rights and privileges
Internationally, those over a certain age (often 18, though this varies) are legally considered to have reached the
age of majority and are regarded as
adults and are held to be responsible for their actions. People below this age are considered
minors and are
children. A person below the age of majority may gain adult rights through
legal emancipation. Teenagers may be rebellious because they want to have the same rights and freedoms as adults. As a result some of those teens may obtain counterfeit ID/licenses which allow them to partake of those privileges. On the other hand, many teens are in no particular hurry to abandon their younger years, and enjoy their
childhood.
Those who are under the age of consent, or legal responsibility, may be considered too young to be held accountable for
criminal action. This is called the
defense of infancy. The age of criminal responsibility varies from 7 in
India to 18 in
Belgium. After reaching the initial age, there may be levels of responsibility dictated by age and type of offense, and crimes committed by minors may be tried in a
juvenile court.
The
legal working age in Western countries is usually 14 to 16, depending on the number of hours and type of employment. In the
United Kingdom and Canada, for example, young people between 14 and 16 can work at certain types of light work with some restrictions to allow for schooling; while kids over 16 can work full-time (excluding night work). Many countries also specify a minimum
school leaving age, ranging from 10 to 18, at which a person is legally allowed to leave
compulsory education.
The
age of consent to sexual activity varies widely between jurisdictions, ranging from 12 to 21 years, although 14 to 16 years is more usual. Sexual intercourse with a person below this age is treated as the crime of
statutory rape. Some jurisdictions allow an exemption where both partners are close in age - for example, two 15 year olds. The
age at which people are allowed to marry also varies, from 9 in
Yemen to 22 for males and 20 for females in
China. In Western countries, people are typically allowed to marry at 18, although they're sometimes allowed to marry at a younger age with parental or court consent. In developing countries, the legal marriageable age doesn't always correspond with the age at which people actually marry; for example, the legal age for marriage in
Ethiopia is 18 for both males and females, but in rural areas most girls are married by age 16.
In most democratic countries, a citizen is
eligible to vote at 18. For example, in the
United States, the
Twenty-sixth amendment decreased the voting age from 21 to 18. In a minority of countries, the voting age is 17 (for example,
Indonesia) or 16 (for example,
Brazil). By contrast, some countries have a minimum voting age of 21 (for example,
Singapore) whereas the minimum age in
Uzbekistan is 25.
Age of candidacy is the minimum age at which a person can legally qualify to hold certain elected government offices. In most countries, a person must be 18 or over to stand for elected office, but some countries such as the United States and
Italy have further restrictions depending on the type of office.
The sale of selected items such as
cigarettes,
alcohol, and
videos with violent or pornographic content is also restricted by age in most countries. In the U.S, the minimum age to buy an R-rated movie, M-rated game or an album with a parental advisory label is 17 (in some states 18). In practice, it's common that young people engage in underage
smoking or
drinking, and in some cultures this is tolerated to a certain degree. In the United States, teenagers are
allowed to drive between 14-18 (each state sets its own minimum driving age of which a
curfew may be imposed), in the US, adolescents 17 years of age can serve in the military. The age at which teens are allowed to serve in the military is generally younger than the legal drinking age. In
Europe it's more common for the driving age to be higher (usually 18) while the drinking age is lower than that of the US (usually 16 or 18). In
Canada, the drinking age is 18 in some areas and 19 in other areas. In
Australia, universally the minimum drinking age is 18, unless a person is in a private residence or is under parental supervision in a licensed premises. The driving age varies from state to state but the more common system is a graduated system of "L plates" (a learning license that requires supervision from a licensed driver) from age 16, red "P plates" (probationary license) at 17, green "P plates" at 18 and finally a full license, for example for most people around the age of 20.
The legal gambling age also depends on the jurisdiction, although it's typically 18.
The minimum age for donating blood in the U.S is 17 although it may be 16 with parental permission in some states such as New York.
A number of social scientists, including anthropologist
Margaret Mead and sociologist
Mike Males, have noted the contradictory treatment of laws affecting adolescents in the United States. As Males has noted, the US Supreme Court has, "explicitly ruled that policy-makers may impose adult responsibilities and punishments on individual youths as if they were adults at the same time laws and policies abrogate adolescents’ rights en masse as if they were children."
The issue of
youth activism affecting political, social, educational, and moral circumstances is of growing significance around the world. Youth-led organizations around the world have fought for
social justice, the
youth vote seeking to gain teenagers the
right to vote, to secure more
youth rights, and demanding better schools through
student activism.
Since the advent of the
Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989 (children defined as under 18), almost every country (except the U.S. &
Somalia) in the world has become voluntarily legally committed to advancing an anti-discriminatory stance towards young people of all ages. This is a legally binding document which secures
youth participation throughout society while acting against unchecked
child labor,
child soldiers,
child prostitution, and
pornography.
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