Any parent who has a teenager at home will know that it is a difficult stage and that although they want to show their identity or independence, in reality they are still very dependent on the teachings and guidance of the parents. The adolescent stage begins at puberty where boys and girls begin to develop with bodily growth, more hair and stronger body odors.
The stages of adolescence are full of drastic physical, psychological, emotional and social changes. Teenagers feel that they are in a race where the starting line is too far ... They have to go a lot and very fast. Although there are individual variations in the timeline for this growth, Adolescence can generally be thought of in different phases or stages.
All stages are important because they are the path that will lead them to adult life. They are forming their identity both physically and mentally… it is a maturation process that they must go through in order to become healthy adults.
Pre-adolescence
Pre-adolescence ranges between 8 and 11 years and is the stage that passes between childhood and adolescence. For some experts this stage still belongs to childhood and for others it belongs to adolescence ... But what is certain is that this stage coincides with puberty in boys and girls.
The physical changes at this stage are remarkable. Bones begin to grow and children have a hard time coordinating movements well and may even feel some pain in their joints. Regarding psychological changes, there are mental progresses since they are able to think abstractly with greater precision. They can reflect on hypothetical situations or on logical and mathematical operations. They are identified according to their gender. This stage is not considered as a stage in some cases and in others, they combine it with the next one, which would be early adolescence.
Early adolescence
For some, early adolescence begins at 11 years and lasts until 15, for others it begins at 10 and continues until 13 ... although it is usually even earlier in girls, especially with the arrival of the first menstruation. These physical changes include the appearance of body hair, breast development for girls and larger genitalia for boys, and stronger body odors.
In fact, this is the period of fastest human growth outside of childhood. So many changes at once make them obvious, something that often leads children to be self-aware and compare themselves to their peers.
As for the physical changes noticeable in the voice, the body begins to have a more adult appearance, they need more sleep. Acne begins to appear on the face. Regarding psychological changes, boys and girls begin to look for references outside the family environment and they begin to strongly build their self-esteem and self-concept. They are in search of their own identity and value the opinion of others.
They still have egocentric thinking although they also want to understand other people's point of view. This is not a character flaw; while they are capable of abstract thinking, their frontal cortexes are still developing. However, this can make them more susceptible to bad influences. Young adolescents are not good at tasks that require long-term planning and tend to engage in impulsive behaviors. They are less interested in doing things with their parents and may start to berate in a bad way. Groups of friends become more important and quantity often trumps quality when it comes to friendships ...
Middle adolescence
The physical changes continue into the middle adolescence, or roughly between the ages of 14 and 16. Body composition and skeletal mass begin to change, with lean body mass increasing in boys and decreasing in girls.
The importance of groups of friends that begins in early adolescence increases, much to the chagrin of parents. Conflicts with parents and caregivers are more frequent, and adolescents are spending more and more time with their friends. Social interactions expand to include romantic relationships and can lead to sexual experimentation and active sexual activity.
This can be a difficult time for parents and children, because although middle-aged teens can empathize, think, and plan more abstractly than younger children, they still have the illusion of a child's indestructibility. This period is also characterized by feelings of omnipotence and immortality, leading to increased risk. They are rewarded for the social stimuli associated with peer groups and by taking exciting risks, And these rewards tend to outweigh logical thinking or delayed gratification.
Late adolescence
Late adolescence can extend from 17 to 21 years of age, into adulthood, especially in men. Physically, many kids will appear mature, but their brains are still developing the hallmarks of adulthood: the skills to plan ahead, delay gratification and commitment.
Full cognitive maturation continues into adulthood. The prefrontal cortex doesn't develop until the mid-XNUMXs. Since this stage coincides with the coming of age, adolescents have established their independence. Surprisingly, this makes them more likely to ask parents for advice.
Peer groups become less important as a way of defining their identities. That could be a comfort to parents who have seen their children grow apart during adolescence, on the road to adulthood. It's a bittersweet irony that raising a successful adult means losing childhood dependency.
At this stage there is hardly any trace of evolutionary egocentricity and he has more social awareness. They start to think long term and think of their image and personality as their own identity. They are more interested in social processes in general, also in what is beyond their social circles.