ADOLESCENCE
The stage of adolescence! The time when one discovers him/herself.
The time when the body, mind and soul grow. Oh, and of course the time when
shaving, stress, acne, condoms, and feeling grows for opposite/same sex are introduced. You may
not need to use condoms at this age, but sex education is/should definitely be
brought up at home or school. Your identity becomes clearer. You’re on your way
to adulthood! Don’t get too excited though, it’s not as grand as you think it
is.
According to Frank Wedekind and Lewis Carroll, adolescence
does not come with a specific age start (Fiore, 2011, pg.186). The entry to
adolescence triggers the biological, psychological, and social transitions. It
can range from a girls first menstrual cycle, also known as menarche or
to male’s first ejaculation, to when your pubic hair begins to show, or have
interest in dating/sex. Because of the amount of change a person can experience
in physical, cognitive, and social areas, psychologist G. Stanly Hall offered a
theory that links to adolescence which is “storm & stress” (Fiore, 201l,
pg. 187). I thought this theory perfectly describes this stage of human
development.
With physical, emotional, and behavior changes at this stage,
comes wanting to fit in and judging themselves, and dissatisfaction with
self-appearance. One may pick up a very unhealthy/bad habit of an eating
disorder such as bulimia nervosa or anorexia nervosa. Bulimia consists of binge
eating followed by purging. Anorexia is characterized by an abnormally low body
weight; calorie intake is severely reduced.
As one grows in this
stage, so does their parietal and frontal lobes of the brain which makes a
drastic change in the way adolescents think. The ability to think during early
and middle adolescence brings us to Piaget’s 4th and last step of
his theory also known as the formal operational stage. Piaget was first to note
that adolescents fixed towards democratic values because of this new thinking
capacity (Fiore, 2011, pg. 191).
Issues of independence, identity, sexuality, social life,
drugs, alcohol, and schoolwork can occur in this transitional period. Romantic
interests, and cliques tend to naturally grow in importance for some time
during a teens journey to adulthood. This period of change in adolescence and
the stability of school, family, or even priorities are about to change for
individuals as they move to the next stage of early/middle adulthood. Buckle
up! It’s going to be one bumpy ride!
Great point you made pointing out that development doesn't have a concrete age but is fluid in nature. This is true throughout our lives. Happy you pointed out that, "According to Frank Wedekind and Lewis Carroll, adolescence does not come with a specific age start (Fiore, 2011, pg.186). The entry to adolescence triggers the biological, psychological, and social transitions."
ReplyDeleteI like your mention of the many obstacles an adolescent finds themselves facing. It really is a tumultuous time and any wonder a majority of us make it out unscathed. And you are right, it isn't as grand as you think it is.
ReplyDeleteGreetings Ruba.
ReplyDeleteAdolescence is such an awkward stage of development to go through, and still has no crisp, clear answers to what signals or indicators are used to determine the actual start. You reference many social factors, two of which were appearance and self-judgement. It's pretty sad that we allow ourselves to be influenced so much by society, that it ends up affecting many adolescent's psychologically. I definitely don't miss those years at all.