CONCEPT OF ADOLESCENCE

Adolescence is a period of transition when the individual changes-

physically and psychologically-from a child to an adult. It is a period when
rapid physiological and psychological changes demand for new social roles
to take place. The adolescents, due to these changes often face a number
of crises and dilemmas. It is the period when the child moves from
dependency to autonomy. It demands significant adjustment to the physical
and social changes. The adolescence period in the Indian social system
comes under Brahmacharya (apprenticeship).This is the first ashram (stage
of life) of development stages. In this stage, the child learns the basic skills
in relation to his future role as a responsible adult. It is a fact that all living
beings pass through specific stages or phases of development. Erikson
believed that each stage of life is marked by a specific crisis or conflict
between competing tendencies. Only if individuals negotiate each of these
hurdles successfully they can develop in a normal and healthy manner.
During this phase adolescents must integrate various roles into a
consistent self- identity. If they fail to do so, they may experience confusion
over who they are.

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Adolescence is a phase of life of a person when he is no more a child and

not yet adult. The life is full of tremendous energy. The curiosity and
experimentation at one time paves the path to success and at other, may
cause uncertainty. This is a critical time in life because the experiences,
knowledge and skills acquired in adolescence have important implications
in adulthood. The period of adolescence has attracted philosophers,
thinkers and sociologists since the early history of mankind. Aristotle (4th
Century BC) commented that adolescents think that they know everything
and are quite sure of it! The French philosopher Rousseau (16th Century)
thought that reasoning develops in adolescence. Stanley Hall, the father of
scientific research in adolescence, devised the concept that adolescence is
a turbulent time charged with conflict and mood swings. Let us understand
what we mean by adolescence.

Definition and Meaning of Adolescence

The word adolescence is derived from Latin word “adolescere” meaning “to
grow up” or “to mature.” It is a period of transition between childhood and
adulthood that involves a number of changes in body and mind. World
Health Organization (WHO) defines adolescence as a phase of life
between 10-19 years of age characterized by physical growth, emotional,
psychosocial and behavioural changes, thus, bringing about transformation
from childhood to adulthood. These changes usually occur a year or two
earlier in girls than boys. Some of the changes are externally visible and
some are internal. These changes are normal and natural and are due to
release of various hormones in both boys and girls. The term puberty is
sometimes equated with adolescence. However, both the terms are not the
same. Puberty is only a small part of the larger process of adolescence. It
is the time when a boy and a girl become physically capable of having
children. In girls, it starts with onset of menstruation and in boys with
enlargement of testes followed by appearance of secondary sexual
characters. While puberty refers to physical and sexual maturation of both
boys and girls, the term adolescence also includes cognitive, social and
behavioural characteristics of this period. You must have come across
various words related to different phases of life, like childhood, youth,
young people and teenage. You must have wondered what these words
mean. Let us learn about the difference amongst them. Child is a term
usually applied for the age group below 14 years (Census of India). Youth -
The United Nations’ definition of youth is those between the ages of 15- 24
year age. The National Youth Policy of India defines youth as the 13-35
year age group. Young people are those who belong to the age group
between 10-24 years. The word teenage is synonymous with adolescence.
Adolescence has recently gained recognition as a distinct phase of life with
its own specialized needs. It is recognized as a phase rather than a fixed
time period in the life of an individual. Apart from changes in the body and
mind, this period also involves changes in social perceptions and
expectations. You will subsequently learn more about them as you read
other units.

Characteristics of adolescence

Adolescence is a difficult journey of self-exploration and interaction with the

world. It is characterized by contradictions, fantasies, surprises and
uncertainties while posing immense possibilities and threats.

Growth spurt Adolescents mature at varying rates of speed and are highly
disturbed by body changes. They are physically vulnerable because of poor
health habits or risky experimentation with drugs and sex. The rapid
physical growth leave teenagers often feel awkward, self-conscious,
uncoordinated, embarrassed and even confused. They frequently attempt
to hide or constantly complain about whatever part of their body makes
them most uncomfortable. Teasing and bullying further makes their life
miserable. Self discovery The adolescent is in the process of discovering
self and it fluctuates across situations and times. In the quoted description
by the girl above she remarks she could not understand how she can
switch so fast! I mean, how I can be cheerful one minute and anxious the
next, and then be sarcastic?The multiple roles played by adolescent in
different relationship contexts are contradictory. The adolescent finds
herself moody and understanding, ugly and attractive, introverted and fun
loving. Desire for independence and prove their identity Adolescents have
a great desire for independence and want to be treated like adults.
Anxiously searching for identity, adolescents attach great importance to
status symbols, as reflected by their possessions and clothing. Rebellion
seems to be inevitable, so they can be different from their parents and defy
them. Egocentrism This is the heightened self-consciousness of
adolescents, which is reflected in their belief that others are as interested in
them as they are themselves. They have attention seeking behaviour- the
attempt to be noticed, visible and “onstage” and consider them unique.
This, according to some writers, is responsible for drug use, suicides and
failure to use contraceptives during sex (Dolcini & others, 1989).
Emotionally unstable Their emotions outpace their rational thinking, they
are so intertwined that adolescents have difficulty distinguishing between
feeling and thinking. They experience mood swings often with peaks of
intensity and unpredictability and are self-conscious. Hormones put them
on a vulnerable emotional roller coaster ride overflowing with exaggerated
and uncontrollable feelings. This causes conflicts and stress. Curiosity and
experimentation Adolescents are curious, innovative, exploring and
experimenting. Fascinated by “adult” behaviours; they are motivated to try
out forbidden activities like rash driving, sex and experiments with drugs.
Peer influence outweighs parental affection Adolescents need frequent
validation by others and they desperately seek peer affiliation and
acceptance. They are fiercely loyal to peer group values and peers’
opinions become most influential and guide the flow of their life.

Changing focus of relationships Parents no longer are the major focus of

the teenagers’ world. Adolescents shift from same-sex best-friend
relationships to having close interactions and increasing interest in both
sexes. They are often aggressive and argumentative. Idealism and
confrontation with religion, traditions and moral value Adolescents are
idealistic and have strong sense of fairness. They criticize, challenge and
confront moral values and ask frequent, ambiguous questions about the
meaning of life. Absence of long-term thinking about life and the world The
absence of abstract thinking makes the present most precious and self –
the most important. The future seems far away and immediate gratification
becomes more important. Desire to be considered as an asset rather than
a problem The moral and spiritual development leads the adolescent to find
a bigger role for himself while questioning the behaviour of elders. It is
beautifully described by an adolescent below: Many times teenagers are
thought of as a problem that no one really wants to deal with. People are
sometimes intimidated and become hostile when teenagers are willing to
change their authority. It is looked at as being disrespectful. Teenagers are,
many a times, not treated like an assettes and as innovative thinkers.
( Zula, Age 16, Brooklyn, New York, Quoted in Adolescence, John W.
Santrock 11th Ed. Tata Mc Graw Hill, 2007, pp 9) Thus, adolescence is
characterized by turbulent changes in self and complex interaction with the
environment. This shapes their personality and enables them to form
relationships. On the other hand it makes them vulnerable and often leads
to conflicts and undesirable and socially unacceptable behaviour. The
society needs to be empathetic and understand adolescents to harness
their potential and energy.

Problems related to Social Development

Adolescents need to find their place in society and gain a sense of fitting in
it. This is a process of socialization involving an adolescent’s integration
with society. This process socialization enhances the sense of personal
identity, and the development of personal identity helps the adolescent to
deal with society’s expectations and standards and norms. This challenges
the adolescent to make changes in social behaviour. Society’s
expectations pose a challenge for adolescents and are valuable in helping
them to progress along the path to adulthood. The fulfilment of these
expectations helps to develop a positive sense of self. Adolescents who
are over-whelmed by society’s expectations may revert to anti-social
behaviour ranging from low-level delinquency to serious crimes. Parental
expectations to perform and confirm to their standards are abnormally high
or unrealistic. They may generate negative feelings, communication gap
and anti-social behaviour. Adolescent expectations in relationships with
peers, parents and society are often not fulfilled and cause conflicts.
Moving away from dependence on parents and family and having close
relationships with friends is a major social change. Parental control leads to
conflicts and communication gap. Peers determine the flow of an
adolescent’s life and develop their personality too. However, negative peer
pressure leads to high risk behaviours
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