Adolescence

"Teenager" redirects here. This article is about one of the stages of human development. For the punk rock band, see The Adolescents.

Adolescence (Latin adolescentia, from adolescere, to grow up) is the period of psychological, social, and physical transition between childhood and adulthood (gender-specific, manhood or womanhood).

Usage

American high school students

In common usage around the world, "adolescent", "teenager", "teen", "youth", and "young person" may be considered synonyms - although it should be noted that the term 'teenager' is an artifact of the English counting system, not something that occurs in most languages. The term 'teenager' in its current form was reportedly first used by Bill Haley in February of a 1952 UK concert.

Adolescence is recognized as both a cultural/social phenomenon and as a standardized human development phase.

In sociology, adolescence is seen as a cultural phenomenon for the working world and therefore its end points are not easily tied to physical milestones. The time is identified with dramatic changes in the body, along with developments in a person's psychology and academic career. In the onset of adolescence, children usually complete elementary school and enter secondary education, such as middle school or high school. A person between early childhood and the teenage years is sometimes referred to as a pre-teen or tween.

As a transitional stage of human development, adolescence is the period in which a child matures into an adult. This transition involves biological (i.e. pubertal), social, and psychological changes, though the biological ones are the easiest to measure objectively.

The ages of adolescence vary by culture. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines adolescence as the period of life between 10 and 19 years of age. In contrast, in the United States, adolescence is generally considered to begin somewhere between ages 12 and 14, and end at 19 or 20. As distinct from the varied interpretations of who is considered an "adolescent", the word "teenager" is more easily defined: it describes a person who is thirteen to nineteen years of age.

During this period of life, most children go through the physical stages of puberty which often begins between the ages of nine and thirteen. (See Puberty below)

Most cultures regard people as becoming adults at various ages of the teenage years. Most likely at the age of eighteen. (See Social and cultural below)

Puberty

Puberty is the stage of the lifespan in which a child develops secondary sex characteristics (for example deeper voice in boys, and development of breasts in girls) as his or her hormonal balance shifts strongly towards an adult state. This is triggered by the pituitary gland, which secretes a surge of hormones into the blood stream and begins the rapid maturation of the gonads: the girl's ovaries and the boy's testicles.

The onset of puberty in girls appears to be related to body fat percentage. In most Western countries, the average age of menarche fell, in a secular trend, over the last century, possibly because of improved nutrition and increased caloric intake.

Some theorists believe that analysis of data shows the age of onset of menarche to correlate to whether a girl lives with her natural father, a stepfather, or no father at all. Yet others propose a climatological connection and attribute the decreased average age of menarche in part to climate change or global warming. The debates regarding both of these theories are politically charged.

There is some evidence that certain chemical pollutants can influence the onset of puberty. For instance, DDE (a contaminant and breakdown product of the insecticide DDT) mimics estrogen and is thought to be responsible for some cases of precocious puberty in girls. Polychlorinated and polybrominated biphenyls (PCBs and PBBs) may have similar effects.

M

Preteens

Main article: Preteen

The word preteen describes a child approaching the teenage years. The neologism tween has the same meaning, and isn't in general use as either a colloquial or scientific term. This word comes from the age being between that of a child and a teenager, and perhaps it has also been inspired by the first sounds of numeral twelve and the similarity to teen.

Preteens are increasingly a specifically targeted market segment by business, because they tend to maintain the preferences they develop at this age. Even mobile phones are targeted toward this group.

There is no universally agreed definition of "preteen", but the term may roughly be considered as covering the ages from 8 to 12 inclusive.

Teenagers

Main article: Youth

A teenager or teen is a person whose age is a number ending in "teen" in the English language: that is to say, someone from the age of 13 to the age of 19. The word is of recent origin, only having appeared around the mid 20th century.

Equivalent words in other languages may apply to a larger age bracket, including (at least some) preteens; e.g. tiener in Dutch officially from 12, colloquially from 10.

There are numerous activities in which teenagers engage, namely family, education, work and recreation; these occur in school, home, youth organizations and other settings throughout the community. Many argue that in Western culture, a distinct youth culture has developed. This culture is often distinctly different from the mainstream culture, sometimes in rebellion against it, and thus is often referred to as a subculture or counterculture. This rebellion is also referred to as youth voice, and is used in positively ways, including youth leadership and youth participation activities.

Emerging adulthood

Some scholars have theorized a new stage of development, post-adolescence and pre-adulthood. Arnett (2000) calls this stage "emerging adulthood," and argues that it is characterized by "relative independence from social roles and from normative expectations. ... Emerging adulthood is a time of life when many different directions remain possible, when the scope of independent exploration of life's possibilities is greater for most people than it will be at any other period of the life course." . Arnett, notes, however, that this stage is situationally and culturally constructed (i.e., people in other countries may not experience this as a unique life stage) .

Psychology of adolescents

Main article: Adolescent psychology

At this age there is also a greater probability of drug and alcohol use, or mental health disorders such as schizophrenia, eating disorders such as anorexia, and depression. The unstable emotions or lack of emotional intelligence among some adolescents may also lead to youth crime.

In the search for a unique identity, adolescents frequently experience conflict with established authority and/or social norms. G. Stanley Hall denoted this period as one of "Storm and Stress". Conflict at this developmental stage is normal and not unusual. Margaret Mead, on the other hand, attributed the behavior of adolescents to their culture. Piaget attributed this stage in development with greatly increased cognitive abilities, which can cause conflict as the individual has gained the cognitive ability to reason, dispute, and theorize on an adult level.

The information processing theory, on the other hand, does not see this as a qualitatively different stage, but rather just part of the uniformally gradual slope in gaining more experience. The inventionist view sees adolescence as a creation of sociohistory. Especially important in this view are the sociohistorical circumstances at the beginning of the twentieth century, a time when legislation was enacted that ensured the dependency of youth and made their move into the economic sphere more manageable.

Positive Psychology is sometimes brought up when addressing adolescent psychology as well. In many groups, one encounters a surprising number of teens who are bored, unmotivated, and pessimistic about their future. A positive psychology styled approach attempts to start up their internal fires, help them develop the complex skills and dispositions necessary to take charge of their lives, to become socially competent, compassionate and psychologically vigorous adults.

Adolescent sexuality

Main article: Adolescent sexuality

Physical maturation resulting from puberty may lead to an interest in sexual activities, sometimes leading to teenage pregnancy. Both boys and girls are now "entering puberty at least two years earlier than previous generations. This means they are ready for sex earlier physically, but not emotionally or cognitively." "All teens have sexual lives, whether with others or through fantasies." Sexuality "is a vital aspect of teens' lives. ... The question is whether they are going to have healthy experiences, at any or every level of sexual activity."

Increasingly, teenage sexual encounters do not occur in the context of a romantic relationship, but in an impersonal, merely sexual "hook up." One thing "nearly everyone agrees on is that STDs and risky 'anything but intercourse' behaviors are rampant among teens." The "impersonality of twenty-first-century adolescent sex victimizes girls" and "plenty of harm" is done to boys as well. When taking part in hookups "the kids don't even look at each other. It's mechanical, dehumanizing. The fallout is that later in life they have trouble forming relationships. They're jaded." This is a "profound shift in the culture of high school dating and sex."

"Teens - and preteens - are too young to fathom the consequences, both physical and emotional, of their [sexual] behavior." According to Lynn Ponton, a professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco and author of The Sex Lives of Teenagers, "early initiation into sexual behaviors [takes] a toll on teens' mental health. The result, she says, can be 'dependency on boyfriends and girlfriends, serious depression around breakups and cheating, [and a] lack of goals.'" As adolescents are not mentally or emotionally prepared to handle feelings and emotions that come with sex, nor financially able to support children, "early sexual activity - whether in or out of a romantic relationship - does far more harm than good."

Between 1991 and 2001 the number of high school seniors in the United States who reported that they have had sexual intercourse dropped from 54% to 46%. However, the "dominant form of teenage sexuality has changed" in that time period. "It is not penile-vaginal intercourse anymore. It's oral sex." In 2002 the doctors who run the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health reported a "dramatic trend toward the early initiation of sex." According to the American Academy of Pediatrics "early sexual intercourse among American adolescents represents a major public health problem. ... Teens rank the media second only to school sex education programs as a leading source of information about sex."

In a 2003 study, 89% of girls reported feeling pressured by boys to have sex. Before "age 15, a majority of first intercourse experiences among females are reported to be non-voluntary." Teens who are sexually active at the age of 15 or under are six times more likely to drink alcohol once a week or more, four times more likely to have smoked marijuana and three times more likely to be regular smokers of cigarettes. Other research also shows that "risk behaviors often appear in clusters; parents who detect their children engaging in one risk behavior should be alert to the possibility that there may be others. For example, many teens are either using drugs or alcohol at the time of their experience with first sexual intercourse."

Girls will often become intoxicated before engaging in sexual activities because it "numbs the experience for them, making it less embarrassing and less emotionally painful." A girl is "far more likely to feel used and abused after a typical" hook up. Girls who participate in girls-only activities are far less likely to experience a teenage pregnancy and less likely to be sexually active in general.

Of US teens aged 15-19 that are having sexual intercourse almost all (98%) use at least one form of contraception. The most popular form, at 94% usage, are condoms and the birth control pill is second at 61%. Teen pregnancies in the United States decreased 28% between 1990 and 2000 from 117 pregnancies per every 1,000 teens to 84 per 1,000. Contraceptives lower the risk of conceiving a child, and if condoms are the method chosen they help prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, but they are not 100% effective.

With all the issues and problems relating to adolescent sex, according to the Medical College of Wisconsin, "Ideally, [teens] won’t be having sex."

Social and cultural

Main article: Youth culture

Entering post-secondary education is often considered a rite of passage in Western cultures.

In commerce, this generation is seen as an important target. Mobile phones, contemporary popular music, movies, television programs, sports, video games and clothes are heavily marketed and often popular amongst adolescents.

In the past (and still in some cultures) there were ceremonies that celebrated adulthood, typically occurring during adolescence. Seijin shiki (literally "adult ceremony") is a Japanese example of this. Upanayanam is a coming of age ceremony for males in the Hindu world. In Judaism, 12-year-old females and 13-year-old males become b'nai mitzvah and often have a celebration to mark this coming of age. Among some denominations of Christianity, the rite or sacrament of Confirmation is received by adolescents and may be considered the time at which adolescents becomes members of the church in their own right. African boys also have a coming of age ceremony in which, upon reaching adolescence, the males state a promise to never do anything to shame their families or their village. This was also continued among African-American slaves in the early days of slavery before the practice was outlawed. In United States, girls will often have a "sweet sixteen" party to celebrate turning the aforementioned age, a tradition similar to the quinceañera in Latino culture.

Adolescents have also been an important factor in many movements for positive social change around the world. The popular history of adolescents participating in these movements may perhaps start with Joan of Arc, and extend to present times with popular youth activism, student activism, and other efforts to make youth voice heard.

Legal issues

A number of social scientists, including anthropologist Margaret Mead and sociologist Mike Males, have repeatedly noted the contradictory treatment of laws affecting adolescents in the United States. As Males has noted, the US Supreme Court has, "explicitly ruled that policy-makers may impose adult responsibilities and punishments on individual youths as if they were adults at the same time laws and policies abrogate adolescents’ rights en masse as if they were children."

Internationally, those over a certain age (often 18, though this varies) are legally considered responsible adults. Those who are under the age of legal responsibility may be considered too young to be held accountable for criminal action. This is called the defense of infancy.

The issue of youth activism affecting political, social, educational, and moral circumstances is of growing significance around the world. Youth-led organizations around the world have fought for social justice, the youth vote seeking to gain teenagers the right to vote, to secure more youth rights, and demanding better schools through student activism.

Youth are also becoming more involved in community leadership, governance, and service. And most importantly are becoming a contrbuting member of society. Volunteerism among youth is at a record high, while student voice in schools and youth voice in communities is being engaged in community organizations, government boards, and in youth-serving nonprofit staffs and leadership.

The sale of selected items such as cigarettes, alcohol, and videos with sexual or violent content is often prohibited based on age. Such age restrictions vary widely. In practice, it is common that young people engage in underage smoking or drinking, and in some cultures this is tolerated to a certain degree. In the United States, teenagers are usually allowed to drive at 16 (each state sets its own minimum driving age of which a curfew may be imposed), but they cannot legally purchase or consume alcohol until 21. In Europe it is more common for the driving age to be higher (18, usually) while the drinking age is lower than that of the US (usually 18 when unaccompanied). The traditional age of full maturity in the U.S. is 21 and, until recently (see: Twenty-sixth amendment) people were not legally allowed to vote until this age. At present, citizens may vote at 18 and usually can run in local and state elections at that age (and sometimes do; in rare cases, high school students have run for school board positions, and at least one has been elected mayor. One must be 25, however, to serve in the House of Representatives and 30 to serve in the Senate, or 35 to serve as the President of the United States.

Since the advent of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989, almost every country (except the U.S. & Somalia) in the world has become voluntarily legally committed to advancing an anti-discriminatory stance towards young people of all ages. This is a legally binding document which secures youth participation throughout society while acting against unchecked child labor, child soldiers, child prostitution, and pornography.

References

• Peter Christenson, Ph.D., It's Not Only Rock & Roll: Popular Music in the Lives of Adolescents, Hampton Press, 1998.

• Jane Hunter, Ph.D., How Young Ladies Became Girls: The Victorian Origins of American Girlhood, Yale University Press, 2003.

• Harmful to Minors: The Perils of Protecting Children from Sex, University of Minessota Press, 2002.

See also

• Activism
  • Student activism
  • Youth activism
• Adolescent medicine
• Education
• Ephebiphobia - the irrational fear of adolescents gaining more rights or showing behavioral, emotional or social emancipation
• Ephebophilia - a sexual preference in which an adult is primarily or exclusively sexually attracted to postpubescent adolescents
• Images of young people
• Puberty
• Rite of passage
• Sex education
• Student voice
• Teen idol
• Teen magazine
• Teenagers in history
• Youth culture
• Youth rights
• Youth voice

Human development and psychology

• Adolescent psychology
• Educational psychology
• Developmental psychology
• Human development
• Erikson's stages of psychosocial development particularly stages 5 & 6
• Kohlberg's stages of moral development particularly stage 3

Compare with

• Adult
• Aging
• Child
• Peter Pan syndrome
• Young adult

In Literature

• Willams, Tennessee. A good description of the emotional impact of puberty and adolescence is to be found in The Resemblance Between a Violin and a Coffin

External links

• US Teen Sexual Activity, Kaiser Family Foundation, January 2005