Encyclopedia
Adolescence is the period of psychological and social transition between childhood and adulthood . In common usage in western, English language countries, "adolescent" and "teenager" may be considered synonyms , though the exact endpoints of each category don't always coincide depending on the definition of "adolescent" being used. Adolescence is the transitional stage of human development in which a juvenile matures into an adult. This transition involves biological , social, and psychological changes, though the biological ones are the easiest to measure objectively.
"Adolescence"is a modern cultural and social phenomenon and therefore its endpoints are not easily tied to physical milestones and historically this stage of development has not existed in its current form. The word derives from the
Latin noun
dolor meaning "pain." The time is identified with dramatic changes in the body, along with developments in a person's psychology and academic career. In the onset of adolescence, children usually complete
elementary school and enter
secondary education, such as middle school or high school. A person between early childhood and the teenage years is sometimes referred to as a pre-teen or tween.
The ages of adolescence vary by culture. The
World Health Organization defines adolescence as the period of life between 10 and 19 years of age. In contrast, in the
United States, adolescence is generally considered to begin somewhere between ages 12 and 14, and end at 19 or 20. As distinct from the varied interpretations of who is considered an "adolescent", the word "teenager" is more easily defined: it describes a person who is thir
teen to nine
teen years of age.
During this period of life, most children go through the physical stages of puberty which, in recent times, has begun between the ages of nine and thirteen, while historically began much later.
Most cultures regard people as becoming adults at various ages of the teenage years.
Puberty
Puberty is the stage of the human lifespan in which a
child develops
secondary sex characteristics as his or her hormonal balance shifts strongly towards an adult state. This is triggered by the pituitary gland, which secretes a surge of hormones into the
blood stream and begins the rapid maturation of the gonads: the girl's
ovaries and the boy's
testicles. Girls tend to enter puberty approximately a year earlier than boys.
The onset of puberty in girls especially appears to be related to body fat percentage. In most Western countries, the average age of menarche fell in a secular trend over the last century. There are numerous theories as to why this is including improved nutrition, increased caloric intake, increased artificial hormones present in meats, other preservatives and chemicals used in the modern processing of foods, and decreased
melatonin levels due to the increased exposure to and prevelance of lights such as are emitted from televisions, nightlights, and computer monitors.
Historically this stage of development began much later, sometime between the ages of fourteen and eighteen, which allowed the child to mentally and emotionally mature more and brought them closer to the age of consent before reaching this physical and emotionally challenging developmental stage.
Preteens
The word
preteen describes a child a bit younger than a teenager; between the ages of about 9 and 12. The neologism
tween has the same meaning, but isn't in general use as either a colloquial or scientific term. This word comes from the age being
between that of a child and a teenager, and perhaps it has also been inspired by the first sounds of numeral
twelve and the similarity to
teen.
Preteens are increasingly a specifically targeted market segment by business, because they tend to maintain the preferences they develop at this age. Even
mobile phones are targeted toward this group.
Teenagers
A
teenager or
teen is a person whose age is a number ending in "teen" in the English language: that is to say, someone from the age of thirteen to the age of nineteen. The word is of recent origin, only having appeared in the mid 20th century. Equivalent words in other languages may apply to a larger age bracket, including preteens; e.g.
tiener in Dutch officially from 12, colloquially from 10.
In Western culture, a distinct
youth culture has developed. This culture is often distinctly different from the mainstream culture, sometimes in rebellion against it, and thus is often referred to as a subculture or
counterculture.
Emerging Adulthood
Some scholars have theorized a new stage of development, post-adolescence and pre-adulthood. Arnett calls this stage "emerging adulthood," and argues that it is characterized by "relative independence from social roles and from normative expectations. ... Emerging adulthood is a time of life when many different directions remain possible, when the scope of independent exploration of life's possibilities is greater for most people than it will be at any other period of the life course." . Arnett, notes, however, that this stage is situationally and culturally constructed
Psychology of adolescents
Physical maturation resulting from puberty leads to an interest in sexual activities, sometimes leading to
teenage pregnancy. Since teens may not be emotionally or mentally mature enough or financially able to support children, sexual activity among adolescents is sometimes considered problematic.
At this age there is also a greater probability of drug and alcohol use, or mental health disorders such as
schizophrenia, eating disorders such as anorexia, and
depression. The unstable emotions or lack of emotional intelligence among some adolescents may also lead to youth crime.
Searching for a unique identity is one of the problems that adolescents often face. Some, but not all, teenagers often challenge the authority or the rules as a way to establish their individuality. They may crave adulthood and to find their place in the society.
Among many people of this age, role models such as sports players, rock stars and
movie and
television performers are very popular, and adolescents often express a desire to be like their chosen role model. For this reason, people who are considered role models are often heavily criticized for their behavior if they appear not to be socially conscious enough for the standard that many parents hold their own children to. Although this doesn't necessarily mean that proper upbringing and an inspired life are contradictions; but there rages an argument about how soon one must make room for the other.
G. Stanley Hall denoted this period as one of "Storm and Stress". Conflict at this developmental stage is normal and not unusual.
Margaret Mead, on the other hand, attributed adolescent behavior to their culture. Piaget attributed this stage in development with greatly increased cognitive abilities, which can cause conflict as the individual has gained the cognitive ability to reason, dispute, and theorize on an adult level.
The information processing theory, on the other hand, does not see this as a qualitatively different stage, but rather just part of the uniformally gradual slope in gaining more experience. Another equally interesting view is the inventionist view, which states that adolescence is merely a creation of sociohistory. Especially important in this view are the sociohistorical circumstances at the beginning of the twentieth century, a time when legislation was enacted that ensured the dependency of youth and made their move into the economic sphere more manageable.
Positive Psychology is sometimes brought up when addressing adolescent psychology as well. In many groups, one encounters a surprising number of teens who are bored, unmotivated, and pessimistic about their future. A positive psychology styled approach attempts to start up their internal fires, help them develop the complex skills and dispositions necessary to take charge of their lives, to become socially competent, compassionate and psychologically vigorous adults. The article "Positive psychology and adolescent mental health: false promise or true breakthrough?", by Thomas M Kelly, discusses it more.
Social and cultural
In commerce, this generation is seen as an important target.
Cellular phones, contemporary popular music,
movies,
television programs, sports,
video games and clothes are heavily marketed and often popular amongst adolescents.
In the past there were ceremonies that celebrate adulthood, typically occurring during adolescence.
Seijin shiki is a Japanese example of this. Upanayanam is a coming of age ceremony for males in the Hindu world. In
Judaism, 12-year-old females and 13-year-old males become b'nai mitzvah 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 becomes 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 America, girls will often have a "sweet sixteen" party to celebrate turning the aforementioned age, a tradition similar to the quinceañera in Latino culture.
Teenagers 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 youth voice heard.
Legal issues
A number of social scientists, including anthropologist
Margaret Mead and sociologist Mike Males, have repeatedly 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."
Internationally, those over a certain age are legally considered responsible adults. Those who are under the age of legal responsibility may be considered too young to be held accountable for criminal action. This is called the defense of infancy.
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.
Youth are also becoming more involved in community leadership, governance, and service.
Volunteerism among youth is at a record high, while student voice in schools and youth voice in communities is being engaged in community organizations, government boards, and in youth-serving nonprofit staffs and leadership.
The sale of selected items such as
cigarettes,
alcohol, and
videos, and
video games with sexual or violent content is often prohibited based on age. Such age restrictions vary widely. In practice, it is 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 usually allowed to drive at 16 , but they cannot legally purchase or consume alcohol until 21. In
Europe it is more common for the driving age to be higher while the drinking age is lower than that of the US . The traditional age of full maturity in the U.S. is 21 and, until recently people were not legally allowed to vote until this age. At present, citizens may vote at 18 and usually can run in local and state elections at that age
Given the perceived emotional immaturity of adolescents, many countries consider those under a certain age to be too young to engage in
sexual intercourse and other sexual activities with adults, even if they are physiologically capable . This issue has been most famously dramatized in the book
Lolita . Pedophilia is defined as interest in children before puberty, yet informally in the United States and other countries, it may also include interest in adolescents, with their maturing bodies . In some other countries or cultures, typically those in which extended family relationships prevent the quick taking-up and dropping of romantic relationships, relationships between adults and adolescents are socially accepted or viewed with tolerance. See pedophilia and
ephebophilia for more information. In many countries, sex with adolescents below a certain age has become a social issue and is considered a serious sex crime. The
age of consent varies according to the country or state/region. Countries without such laws may be targets for child sex tourism, if their laws do not separate
prostitution from normal relationships.
Pornography involving those under a certain age, typically 18 , is also considered unacceptable and strictly prohibited in most countries. Female adolescents are sometimes forced to engage in
prostitution and
slavery, even at a young age.
Since the advent of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989, almost every country 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.
References
See also
- Activism
- Adolescent medicine
- Education
- Ephebiphobia - the irrational fear of adolescents gaining more rights or showing behavioral, emotional or social emancipation
- Ephebophilia - a sexual preference in which an adult is primarily or exclusively sexually attracted to postpubescent adolescents
...
Human development and psychology
Compare with
External links
- - Chat with teenagers from around the world.
- .
- - Information and advice for teenagers through email, live help, chatroom and a large support forum.
- .
- article by the .
- - The National Youth Rights Association.
- - A site that provides resources for teens that are looking for jobs.
- - A site against ageism towards teenagers.
- - Support site for kids/teens who hate being forced to attend school.
- - Site for teenagers who like to learn but are scared of school for various reasons.
- - A useful web site about Teenage Problems and possible solutions to them
- - A Forum to talk about and solve any problems you may have.
- - Article by Mardi Keyes on the origins and effects of modern attitudes regarding adolescence.
-
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- , Original media created by youth for youth.
