Developmental Concepts of Adolescence.
Adolescence is the transitional period in human life between childhood and adulthood. The transition occurs physically and mentally. The changes involve biological, social and mental developments, although the changes that are easy to measure objectively are the mental and biological changes. In the past, puberty has been mostly linked with teenagers and the onset of adolescence. In the recent past, however, the beginning of puberty has increased in the preadolescence and the adolescence extending beyond the teenage years. This has made adolescence more difficult to discern. Teenage years are from 13 years to 19 years but the end of adolescence and the commencement of adulthood differ from country to country. The age also varies with function after all even in different communities there are different ages where a person is considered old enough to assume responsibilities to the community. Adolescence is usually associated with increased independence and less supervision as compared to the preadolescence age.
Human development is in stages as described in Ericksons theory. Erickson believes that all human beings go through a particular number of stages to attain complete development. He theorized eight stages that human beings pass through from birth to death. He expounded on Freuds genital stage into adolescence and appended three stages of adulthood. According to Erickson, the environment where a child lives is important in offering growth, adjustment, a source of self-awareness and identity. In order to understand the adolescence, there is need to establish the changes and problems associated with this stage and suggest some ways for helping the adolescents cope with the changes.
Changes and problems in adolescence
Physical changes
Adolescence is the stage of rapid physical and psychological changes. The course of speedy physical changes in adolescence is known as puberty. For girls puberty comes earlier than boys. The process starts gradually mostly at 11 years for girls and 13 years for boys. The age at which puberty starts has been reducing probably due to the changes in nutrition. The hormone changes that cause the changes in adolescence begin sometime earlier before the physical changes take effect. The hormones might lead to periods of low moods and restlessness. Girls start experiencing the changes earlier than boys and mostly appear to be maturing faster than boys. At the puberty stage, girls start getting their menstrual periods and there is growth of hair under-arm and pubic parts. Boys break their voice, that is, their voice becomes deeper and they grow body, pubic and facial hair and start experiencing erections and wet dreams. Both girls and boys go through rapid physical growth. At the age of seventeen, they are young men and women who may be bigger than their parents. At this stage, they are actually capable of siring children of their own. At this stage, most adolescents begin getting concerned with their appearance. Weight is a problem with the adolescents. If an adolescent is overweight and the others make fun of it, they are likely to get depressed. This can cause inactivity and discomfort in feeding which can aggravate the situation. There are some who result to dieting causing a bigger health problem.
Psychological changes
At the adolescence stage, people start to feel and think differently. They start being independent of the immediate family members, starting to establish friendships and relationships with their peers. They stop relying on parents for the psychological support their parents become less significant in their eyes as their associations outside the family build up. They start arguing with their parents more often. This is because they have come up with their own views that oftenly conflict with those of their parents. The adolescents spend most of the time with each other, or having telephone conversations with each other. They also start selecting their own clothes and develop different modes of dressing. They are still more likely to retain their values from their families especially those that respect their families. All the same, clothes and appearance become a way of articulating solidarity with friends.
As they become more independent from their parents, the adolescent tend to experiment new things. This stage is the time when people begin in a hurry to learn about the world and trying to establish their place in it. To establish their place involves attempting new experiences several of which might turn out to be unsafe or even dangerous. They often realize that they have very little experience to fall back to when things go wrong. This may give rise to speedy changes in self-confidence and behavior. They may feel mature one minute, very immature and inexperienced the next minute.
They may have a sense of upset, sickness and lack of confidence that may create a feeling of vulnerability in them. They may express the feeling with morose behavior instead of obvious distress. The adolescent might start craving for excitement in a way most of the grown-ups find hard to comprehend. Some of these exciting activities might be dangerous. There are others who find excitement in music, games and sports and other actions that utilize a lot of energy but put them to less physical danger. When an adolescent does these things alone, they are actually in greater danger than when doing with others. This is because when with others they are likely to be controlled by older adolescents. In fact at this stage warning from older adolescents tends to be taken more seriously than warnings from parents.
Though not so often, behavioral changes and moods can indicate the start of more severe psychiatric disorder. This is not so common but depression and schizophrenia can come up for the first time during adolescence. Even though there are other explanations for withdrawal, extreme cases can indicate schizophrenia.
Emotional problems
Adolescents are likely to suffer distress out of the changes they experience. Some of the signs of distress include over-eating excessive sleeping and over concern with appearance. They might suffer anxiety, producing phobias and panic attacks. Researches have proven that most adolescents suffer emotional disorders but the good news is that they can be easily recognized by family members and even friends. It is reported that 4 out of 10 adolescents feel so miserable that they cry and even feel like running away from everyone and everything. There are others usually 1 out of 5 who think so little of their lives and that it is not worth living. Apart from these two groups, depression is not obvious to other people.
Sexual problems
Adolescence can come with a lot of problems especially to those who are shy and are afraid of asking questions. They usually worry so much about their drastic physical changes. Most of the adolescent at the end of it articulate their apprehension with too much bragging about their sexual capabilities and experiences. The risk of pregnancy is a part of adolescent stage. A lot of people have their initial sex experience before they are 16. The law protects the adolescent in most countries. It is actually illegal and punishable by law to have sexual relationship with a minor. Even so, controlling sex among the adolescent themselves is difficult. The adolescent are usually unaware of the fact that those who start having sex early are in danger of early pregnancies and health problems. Crashes and petty love affairs are common in adolescence. There are even crashes on those of the same sex leading some of the adolescence into homosexuality. There is confusion in some of the adolescence at this stage on their sexual preferences. Some or even their parents might not know whether they are gay or not. Most people at this stage tend to choose their partners very carefully. Sleeping with anyone and having unprotected sex, exposing oneself to risk are signs that the person has some serious emotional issues.
Behavior problems
Many are the times that the adolescent and their parents find fault with each others behavior. Most parents feel that they are no longer in control or in a position to influence their childrens behaviour. Adolescents feel that their parents are not giving them their space. They want their parents to be plain and constant about rules and boundaries. They resent any limitations on their freedom and their ability to make decisions. There is the tendency of getting into trouble if the parents give them absolute freedom without caring about where they go and what they do.
School problems
Adolescent may be reluctant to go to school. Some of the reasons for this include some of them find it difficult to separate from the parents they always want to be with them some feel the sense of perfection and if they dont do as well as they would have wanted they can avoid going back to try if they have a disturbed family life like divorce, separation of death of a parent and emotional problems that might cause head-ache a or stomach-ache. There are those who go to school but play truant. These are the kinds who are miserable at home and irritated at school. They go to school only to be with and play with others with similar problems. Emotion problems associated with adolescence will often affect academic progress. When adolescents are worried about themselves, this will automatically affect their concentration. When adolescents are pushed by parents and teachers to do well, they are driven to the edge because they actually push themselves to do well. They never want to fail. When the adolescents are excessively nagged, it becomes counter-productive. Bullying at this stage is detrimental. If subjected to bullying, adolescents will tend to keep off the environment where it is happening. This is another reason why they will refuse to go to school. Rejection by the peers will cause withdrawal and distress.
Trouble with the law
As discussed earlier, adolescents like experimenting so much. They may be involved with activities that are against the law, but this will depend with the way they are handled at this stage. If the parents do not feel that going against the law is particularly important, there is a big possibility that their children will go against it. This mostly happen at the experimental stage which is the adolescent. Lack of happiness and distress can also cause adolescents to go against the law.
Recommended solutions
At this stage of life, all that the children require is love, understanding and support from the parents, teachers and all responsible adults. There is need for the parents and guardians to be prepared when their children reach the puberty stage. At the adolescence stage, both boys and girls require a lot of care and support from their parents. At the stage of rapid physical growth, there are those that mature faster than others. Those that are not growing as fast as their peers require reassurance that they are doing fine. The parents need to know that there are differences in the ages where the changes occur, to be in a position to reassure their children. If parents are not aware and are worried, they will worsen the situation in the adolescents. The adolescents should also be led to feel comfortable with their appearance and body size, whether they are fat or thin.
The adolescents like sleeping so much. This may be irritating but the parents need to understand that it is not laziness, but because the rapid growth and development take up a lot of energy and may cause them to feel sleepy all the time. The parents should understand that when their adolescent children spend most of their time in the company of their peers or making telephone conversations with each other, it is an important way of gaining independence. The parents should know that the friendships their children have established are ways of learning how to get along with each other and to gain a sense of identity that is separate from that of the family. Parents may feel disowned, which is true in a way, but is important for them to realize that it is a way for young people to establish personal identity. Even when they have disagreements and rejections, the children will always think of their parents. Parents should get the fact that they are parents from whom their children must learn to be independent if they are to have their own life. Parents may feel distresses in dealing with sulky behavior in their adolescent children, but they must be flexible and understanding in approaching it.
Parents should not shy away from teaching their children about sex and any other aspect of their life. This should not be done when they are old enough to engage in sex, but should start early in their life. Parents should teach their children on the danger of early sex. They should tell them about sexually transmitted infections especially HIVAIDS that is becoming very common. Sensitive support, proper guidance and counseling together with accurate information on sex-related matter are necessary. Parents, teachers, family doctors and any other responsible person in their life need to teach them. Researches have shown that girls who are close and free with their parents are less likely to get pregnant in their adolescence. Parents and teachers should consider the possibility of substances abuse when they see changes in behavior, but should approach the matter carefully. They should also teach children on the dangers of drugs and other substance abuse.
There is need for the parents to monitor their childrens movement and to know what they are up to in order to keep them away from trouble. Parents always need to find out where their children go and whom they hang out with. The adolescents need not be pushed too hard concerning their education. Nagging them will not help and exams even though important should not be allowed to dominate their lives because it will cause them unhappiness. School authorities should have policies in place to protect adolescents and ensure that their education is not destructed at this stage. Where parents or teachers observe that the adolescents are constantly getting into trouble, they should try to establish the underlying cause and then counsel.
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