What is adolescent age?

The current blogspot will be based on the question “what is adolescent age?”.We will be discussing the developmental milestones regarding the adolescent age and discuss what are the main goals and conflicts related to the adolescent age.

What is adolescent age?

Adolescent age is a life phase that is situated between the years of childhood and adulthood. The adolescent age basically marks the transition of an individual from childhood to adulthood. The adolescent age is marked between 11 years to 19 years of an individual’s life. 

The transition period during the adolescent age is unique with characteristic developmental changes. The period during the adolescent age prepares a human being mentally, physically and psychologically for the adulthood period. hence the individuals during the adolescent age usually experience  a rapid mental, cognitive, physical and psychosocial growth. There is a visible change in the individual’s perception, judgement, thinking and interaction with the other people and the world.

Adolescent age is the time period when individuals learn during the course of life about dealing with their emotions, conflicts and thus they form behavior patterns. Adolescent age determines an individual’s sexual interests, interests about substance use, compliance to or opposition from rules and norms of a society, physical activity, developing an identity of their own  and their religiosity. 

Adolescent age is a period that demands being educated and informed about various life areas that would be helpful in the individual’s later life as an adult. The individuals going through the adolescent age years need to be informed and educated about :

• The sexual behaviors, the accepted sexual orientations and the sexual health in greater  concern about the accepted and expected social behaviors.
• The outcomes of adherence to and deviation from the social norms and legal values need to be well informed to the adolescents
• The adolescents need to be educated about the constructive and destructive coping patterns so that they don’t get used to self mutilating behaviors and keep their impulsivity tamed
• Adolescent age is a period that requires educating the  individuals in this age group about  using drugs for recreation purposes. They need to learn the aftermath of using drugs for the purpose of experiencing, for the purpose of recreation and for the purpose of getting a pleasurable feeling for self.

What are the three phases of adolescent age?

The adolescent age period is divided into the following three stages :

• Early adolescence
• Middle Adolescence
• Late adolescence

Early adolescence

The early adolescence period of adolescent age is based on the initial years that includes ages 10-14 years. This period of adolescent age is characterized with the beginning stages of puberty.the individual going through this stage in adolescent age has a significant physical growth and there is an increase in their sexual interests. 

The cognitive function in this stage is based more on the intellectual capacities as compared to the abstract thoughts.there is also the development of moral values and societal concerns  in this life stage. 

Middle Adolescence

The middle adolescence period is limited to the years 15-17 of the adolescent age. The puberty completion is achieved in the middle stage of the adolescent period. The physical growth in this stage tends to progress slowly for females but continues for the male adolescents. 

The middle adolescence stage of the adolescent age is linked to the development of  abstract reasoning, logic,ideas and form the long term and short term goals of life.  There is an increased interest in searching the meaning and purpose of life in this stage among adolescents. 

There is an increased socioemotional development among the adolescents in this stage. The adolescents seek autonomy and independence in this stage. They have a higher sense of self involvement. 

Late adolescence

The late adolescence period is based on 17-29 years of age. This period is characterized by minimum physical growth and an increase in cognitive development. Adolescents in this stage develop a sense of rationalization, delayed gratification and future planning. There is a greater sense of developing an identity for the self at this stage.

The late adolescence period of the adolescent age tends to move towards a greater sense of independence and emotional stability.

What are the major characteristics of the adolescent age?

The major characteristics of the adolescent age period include the following :

• The adolescent age period is marked with emotional vulnerability that enhances tendency of being reactive
• The adolescent age is associated to the development of sexual  interests and hence is associated with the risk of  sexualy transmitted diseases
• The adolescent age is often a period associated with a greater peer influence 
• There are more emotional distances between the adolescents and parents in the adolescent age due to the conflict between autonomy vs compliance
• The hormonal changes due to the puberty and development of sex characteristics often make adolescnts vulnerable to adrenaline rush.
• The adolescents often involve risky and life threatening behaviors that are based on peer influence, need for autonomy and the hormonal rush that makes them emotionally vulnerable.
• The adolescents in the adolescent age are at a greater risk to develop mental health issues based on emotional anxieties and insecurities based on childhood conflicts.
• Eric Erikson in his psychosocial stages of development has related the adolescent age period to be closely related to identity formation, the failure of which might lead to role confusion. Erikson has marked the adolescent age period to be significant for the development of social relationships.

Conclusion

The current blogspot was based on the question “what is adolescent age?”. We discussed the various aspects of the adolescent age, the stages of the adolescent age, the various characteristics of each stage of the adolescent age and the major features of the adolescent age. We learned about the various social and developmental changes in an individual during the adolescent age period.

Frequently asked questions: adolescent age

Is 25 an adolescent age?

The modern understanding of adolescence has shifted the years from 10-19 years to 10-24 years based on the notion that delayed marriages, late parenthood and extended time period of completing studies has shifted the perception of embracing adulthood from 19 years to 24 years.

What is the adolescent age of a girl?

The adolescent age of girls is no different from the adolescent age of the boys. The world health organization has marked years 10-19 as the adolescent age for girls and boys.

What are the 3 stages of adolescence?

The three stages of adolescence include the following :

• Early adolescence
• Middle adolescence
• Late adolescence

Citations

https://www.who.int/health-topics/adolescent-health#tab=tab_3

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642%2818%2930022-1/fulltext

https://www.who.int/southeastasia/health-topics/adolescent-health