Life Span Development II: School age and Adolescence 3 (2+1)
Lesson 14 : Characteristics of Adolescence
Characteristics
The primary characteristic feature of adolescence is development of ‘identity’ in relation to society as a whole.
It is a transitional period between childhood and adulthood where the individual’s status is vague. There is confusion about the role he is expected to play. He is neither a child nor an adult. This leads to the adolescent identity crisis or problems of ego identity.
The most obvious characteristic feature is the physical change. The growth in height is accompanied by an increase in weight and changes in body properties.
It is the period of development with prominent changes in physical growth which is referred to as growth spurt.
It is characterized by formal operational thinking i.e., abstract thought, independent of concrete objects. They become inventive, imaginative and original in their thinking.
Conformity to peer group values that are contrary to adult values.
Interest is shifted from self to others. The onset of puberty is marked by an increased interest in sex among adolescents. Initially the interest is self-centered, focusing on the adolescent’s bodily changes and observable happenings. Gradually they become interested in not only in their own development but also in that of others.
It is a period of drastic emotional readjustment. Adolescents strive to become individuals in their own right, a process called ‘individuation’. If parents encourage dependency they cannot grow up to be an independent adult. On the other hand, if parents reject them, they are hurt and become resentful. Emotional tensions arise from the conflict between values, attitudes and styles of the previous period and period ahead. They are apt to take extreme attitudes of social behaviour.
It is a unique and distinctive period characterized by certain developmental changes that occur at no other time in the life span of an individual.
It is an overlapping period as it encompasses the closing years of childhood and beginning years of adolescence.
Lewin described this period as a stage of instability, a time of locomotion from one stable period (late childhood) to another stable period (adulthood) with poor comprehension. He proposed that adolescent’s conception of life was forced into a fluid state by the puzzling bodily changes brought out by puberty, by the growing intellect and by new opportunities for social freedom offered by society. They really have cognitively unstructured character of the new situation which can cause an adolescent to be shy, sensitive and aggressive.
Participants