Developmental Studies: Adolescence - Essay Example

Developmental Studies: Adolescence al Affiliation: Developmental Studies: Adolescence Adolescence is basically a stage of transition in psychological and physical human development that occurs between the puberty period and adulthood. Thus, adolescence, in most cases is associated with the teenage years even when the visible transformations in an individual might start at an early age and end at a later age. To understand adolescence, one has to consider the societal information that comprises of history of a community, psychology, sociology, biology, anthropology and education (Shaffer & Kipp, 2009). From the perspective of the above mentioned disciplines, adolescence can be considered to be a transitional stage that falls between childhood and adulthood. Looking at it culturally, adolescence’s purpose is to prepare children for the future adult roles. Therefore, this paper presents an analysis of results from an interview with an adolescence which was meant to determine the developmental aspects of this stage. The interview was done on a seventeen year old female. There are several physical features girls do experience during their adolescence stage. From the interview’s results, we learn that girls experience a sequence of events during this stage of transition. To start with, the girl stated her first notable change was the development of the breast buds whereby the breasts and nipples elevate. In addition, she specified encountering a dark area of the skin which surrounds the nipples increasing in size. After some months, the girl noticed her breasts enlarging. Secondly, the pubic hair was her next feature to notice. This hair was long and soft, mainly found on a small area around her genitals. With time, the hair became dark and coarser as it spread around the genitals. Eventually, the hair turned and appeared like an adult hair in a smaller area. This hair spread to the girl’s stomach. Lastly, the girl stated that her hips began to enlarge two years after her breasts began to develop (Wise, 2000). Cognitive features are always characterized by an adolescent’s ability to reason abstractly due to a combination of expanding opportunities in the environment and maturation of the brain. In addition, culture and education are greater contributors to the onset and development of mature reasoning. Thus, the girl gave account of how she developed hypothetical and deductive reasoning; she was in a position to think and relate events in a flexible manner, identify possibilities in problem solving and ended up with a number of options of solutions for a given problem. Furthermore, the schooling environment, according to the girl, has added value to her reasoning abilities; she can apply the school knowledge to real life situations in order to solve life problems. The aspect of language development, as stated by the girl, developed at this stage. As a teenager, the girl develops her own dialect and often enjoys wordplay in order to build her vocabulary. Finally, the thinking patterns of adolescence are ever immature. From the girl’s perspective, she claimed to be inexperienced with formal thinking; she has never been in a position to think critically, indecisively and ideally (Ausubel, 2002). Moreover, most adolescents become emotionally challenged and develop changes for mental and health problems. According to the interviewed girls, she stated that she was less sociable, more introverted and less expressive. Thus, at some point she developed eating disorders and disruptive behavior which pushed her to isolation from other girls of her age. An adolescent experiences atypical features, characteristics which are strange to people who are close to her. The change in behavior, disturbance of identity and a twist in emotions are common strange features in an adolescent. From the interview, the girl admitted of having a number of strange characteristics. To start with, the girl experienced labile emotions whereby she rapidly shifted her moods and thus fluctuating in her happiness, distress, worry and self-confidence. Some of the changes in the mood are deemed to be from biological processes such as increase in hormones and a complete change in the structure of the brain as a result of the normal physical development (Novak & Pelaez, 2004). In addition, the girl explained that most of her labile emotions came from complicated social relationships, conflicts with friends, pressure at school and her move to attempt engaging in romantic relationships. In adolescence, teenagers always start exploring and asserting personal identities. Thus, in this developmental period, a teenager engages activities which are meant to search and locate a peer group he or she can fit best in the society. From the interview, the girl stated her move to try and hang out with several peer groups as she was developing new personal labels. This made her cautious with the kind of friends she chose since she needed friends who fitted in her social class. Moreover, adolescents struggle to define gender and sexual identities in teenage years which are common at the early stages of the transition (Pressley &McCormick, (2007). Thus, identity issues in adolescents tend to stabilize at a later stage, from the ages of nineteen to twenty one. Peer relationships of adolescence have an impact on the general relationship with the family. As for the girl, her relationship with peers begun to take precedence over the family relationships immediately she reached fifteen years. As much as family interactions are equally crucial for good development of an adolescent, they always put more emphasis on the values and perceptions of friends. Hence, during the adolescence years, a teenage is easily or rather strongly influenced by what their peers believe in. Therefore, paired with a limited life experience and immature decision making skills, the girl, as an adolescent, was vulnerable to undesirable pressure from the peers (Lerner & Steinberg, 2004). Adolescents have always had a problem when it comes to looking at the circumstances from the perspective of other people. This is as a result of the immature and developing structure of their brains. From the interview, this is evident when the girl explains how she became self-centered and only focused on her specific interests without taking into consideration the effect it has on others. Apparently, the lack of understanding is a normal aspect in adolescents and it always resolves itself immediately a teenager comes to an end of this stage (Wise, 2000). However, a total lack of understanding could imply that an adolescent has a big mental problem. In conclusion, there are several physical features girls do experience during their adolescence stage. From the interview’s results, we learn that girls experience a sequence of events during this stage of transition. Moreover, the result interview on this girl depicts exactly the same information as found in the source materials. All her characteristics are, to some extent, general behaviors of adolescents across the globe. The girl experiences changes, both physically and mentally, just like the other people who are on this stage. She is impacted on by physical, psychological and biological transformations as a normal adolescent. Thus, looking at developmental theories of adolescence, every aspect depicted in the characteristics of this girl is featured in at least one theory. References Ausubel, D. P. (2002) Theory and Problems of Adolescent Development. iUniverse. Print Lerner, R. M. & Steinberg, L. (2004). Handbook of Adolescent Psychology. John Wiley & Sons. Print Novak, G. & Pelaez, M. (2004). Child and Adolescent Development: A Behavior Systems Approach. SAGE Publications. Print Pressley, M. & McCormick, C. (2007). Child and Adolescent Development for Educators. Guilford Press. Print Shaffer, R. D. & Kipp, K. (2009). Developmental Psychology: Childhood & Adolescence. Cengage Learning. Print Wise, I. (2000) Adolescence. Karnac Books. Print Read More