Adolescence - a Period of Storm and Stress - Essay Example

Adolescence: A Period of Storm and Stress Adolescence: A Period of Storm and Stress The issue of adolescents has been one that hasinterested a number of research studies. Adolescents always seem to be in trouble and distressed. Regardless of the obvious socio -psychological issues that the adolescents have, there is inadequate research on the issue of adolescents. However, some researchers have tried to look at the issues which affect the teenage years. One of the earliest research projects on the issue of adolescent is the research by Hill (Hendrika, 1992). According to him, the adolescent years start from about the age of 12 and end at about the age of 25. The time of commencement and ending may be debated as there is no clear start point. However, most professionals who have involved themselves with this issue agree that the teenage years are very stormy and stressful years for teenagers. These are some of the problems which have been identified which make the adolescents to be as distressed as they are; Adolescents are seeking to stand out from the crowd One of the issues that affect teenagers is that they are at the most definitive and formative years of human life. From a psychologist point of view, these are the years that are the most important in a person’s life because a person is trying to identify their personal identity or who they want to be. Adolescents are people in a time of their lives where they are trying to create a unique identity as a person. In this regard, they are at pressure to create their personal identity that is different from everyone else’s. Adolescents are trying to fit in with peers During the adolescent years, the young people are also trying to find ways to fit in with their peers. They are trying to make sure that even as they make their own identities, they are also a part of a society, affiliation or group that accepts them with regard to the new identity they are trying to create for themselves. This drive to fit in a group of peers is always in contradiction with the desire to create a separate and different entity which is also a primary desire for many people in this stage of development. Adolescents are trying to measure up Adolescents are also trying to measure up to the various roles in their lives. As they try of fit in various affiliations such as with their peers, they have to handle the stressful moments that arise from trying to fit in with peers. They also desire to make sure that they measure up to their peers’ expectations. At the same time, they may want to measure up to their parent’s expectations with regard to various issues such as schoolwork. This is never easy for the teenagers. Adolescents want to take hold Teenagers also want to be able to take hold of those aspects of use lives with regard to the commitments they have made or are pursuing. Teenagers desire to make sure that once they prove they measure up to certain expectations by the people in their lives and society such as friends and family, they are able to hold these up. Part II Language and speech are some of the main factors that make the foundation of life. Studies indicate that the acquisition of language is a very complex especially at childhood. The first year for a child after birth is very important for the child in language and speech acquisition (Gable, 2001). Studies have indicated that the environment and especially the presence of caregivers are very important in helping the child in learning language and speech. For example, babies who grow up in an environment where they there are many words being spoken have better chances of learning language earlier and easier. In this regard, children growing up where speech is used by many people and more often are highly likely to gain language skills in an easier way. This has two major implications. First, it may mean that toddlers brought up in families that are less economically advantaged may have to have more difficulties in learning language. This is brought about by the fact that a great number of the members of the family will be out for work during the whole day thus giving the children less time to interact with people to help in language development. Studies indicate that working-class families many have much less words spoken in the house and thus children growing up in these homes have a disadvantage when it comes to language and speech acquisition. Secondly, it means that nurturing is very important in making sure that the child is able to learn language. Children can be taught language as early as less than one year old. During these early years, the child, despite not being able to speak any words, learn a lot of language. This means that the environment can be enhanced to help the child to learn. It also means that parents and caregivers can help their babies learn language and speech by deliberately talking to the baby and doing actions which help in such functions as the segmentation of language and word meaning in a language. Language development is a very complicated process and it requires the child be helped in developing the language as well as speech. This is because the speech acquisition in these young children is not as natural as it was once believed to be. The child requires a lot of resources as well as support from the caregivers as well as from the other (older) children in slowly mastering these skills. Without this support from the caregivers, the child would not be able to develop the skills. However, most of the support that the child requires may happen naturally, thus giving the impression that the language acquisition mechanisms are natural. However, a closer look indicates that the processes require a deliberate nurturing by caregivers. During the initial year of the child’s life, the child has to learn phonology, prosody and word segmentation and all these depend on nurturing because the child has to learn these directly from the other people in the environment (Lambertza, Pannierc & Duboisf, 2006 ). For instance, prosody is the most important area with regard to the nurturing that the child will require and the child will require the deliberate support form caregivers to acquire it. References Gable, S. (2001, September). Nature, Nurture and Early Brain Development. Retrieved April 18, 2014, from University of Missouri: http://extension.missouri.edu/p/GH6115 Hendrika, V. (1992). G. Stanley Hall and the Clark School of Religious Psychology. American Psychologist, Volume 47, Issue 2, PP. 290-298. Lambertza, D. G., Pannierc, L.H. & Duboisf, J. (2006 ). Nature and nurture in language acquisition: anatomical and functional brain-imaging studies in infants. Volume 29, Issue 7 , July . 367–373. Read More