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Adolescence

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Revision as of 04:03, 7 January 2007 by Nateland (talk | contribs) (made link to MAIN ARTICLE on adolescent psychology)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) "Teenager" redirects here. This article is about one of the stages of human development. For the punk rock band, see The Adolescents. For My Chemical Romance song, see Teenagers (song).

for adolescent psychology see Adolescent_psychology

American high school students

Adolescence (Latin adolescentia, from adolescere, to grow up) is the period of psychological and social transition between childhood and adulthood (gender-specific, manhood or womanhood). In common usage in western, English language countries, "adolescent" and "teenager" may be considered synonyms (though it should be noted that the term 'teenager' is an artifact of the English counting system, not something that occurs in most languages), though the exact endpoints of each category don't always coincide depending on the definition of "adolescent" being used. Adolescence is the transitional stage of human development in which a juvenile 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.

"Adolescence" is a cultural and social phenomenon 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.

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. (See Social and cultural below)

Puberty

Main article: Puberty

Puberty is the stage of the human 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.

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 10 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.

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.

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." (p.469). 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.)


Adolescent sexuality

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Physical maturation resulting from puberty leads to an interest in sexual activities, sometimes leading to teenage pregnancy. Increasingly, teenage sexual encounters do not occur in the context of a romantic relationship, but in an impersonal, merely sexual "hook up." The "impersonality of twenty-first-century adolescent sex victimizes girls" and "plenty of harm" is done to boys as well. 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."

According to US News & World reports, among experts one thing "nearly everyone agrees on is that STDs and risky 'anything but intercourse' behaviors are rampant among teens." "Teens - and preteens - are too young to fathom the consequences, both physical and emotional, of" sexual activities. 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 a toll on teens' mental health. The result, she says, can be 'dependency on boyfriends and girlfriends, serious depression around breakups and cheating, lack of goals.'"

Of US teens aged 15-19 who 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%. U.S. teen pregnancies had decreased 28% between 1990 and 2000 from 117 pregnancies per every 1,000 teens to 84 per 1,000 by the year 2,000. Research in the United States has shown that pregnancy and STD transmission in sexually active teens has gone down over the past 10 years. Contraceptive such as condoms lower the risk of conceiving a child and can help prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, but they are not 100% effective. One STD that can not be prevented with condoms or the birth control pill is the human papillomavirus (HPV). HPV may lead to certain types of cancer and genital warts.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics "early sexual intercourse among American adolescents represents a major public health problem. Although early sexual activity may be caused by a variety of factors, the media are believed to play a significant role. In film, television, and music, sexual messages are becoming more explicit in dialogue, lyrics, and behavior. In addition, these messages contain unrealistic, inaccurate, and misleading information that young people accept as fact. Teens rank the media second only to school sex education programs as a leading source of information about sex."

The harm done to teenagers who engage in sexual activities is especially true for girls. 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." 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. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services early sexual experiences are a problem for several reasons.

First, the younger the age of first sexual intercourse, the more likely that the experience was coercive, and forced sexual intercourse is related to long lasting negative effects. Secondly, the younger the age of first sexual intercourse, the greater the risk of unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. This is because those who begin having sex at young ages are generally exposed to risk for a longer time, are less likely to use contraception, generally have more sexual partners, and tend to engage in higher risk sexual behaviors such as alcohol or drug use prior to sexual intercourse and having multiple concurrent sexual partners. It must be recognized as well that early intercourse is frequently not voluntary. Among females, as noted above, the majority of initial sexual experiences that occur at age 14 or younger are non-voluntary.

Boys are less likely to see sex as connected to an emotional relationship. However, by the time a young man is "in his early twenties, he will rely on his girlfriend or wife to be his primary emotional caregiver." If he can not establish an emotional relationship with a woman, who does view sex as connected to intimacy, then he is more likely to become depressed, commit suicide or die from illness. With all the issues and problems relating to adolescent sex, according to the Medical College of Wisconsin, "Ideally, won’t be having sex."

Social and cultural

Main article: Youth culture

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. Teenagers 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

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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. 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

  1. Goodburn, Elizabeth A., and Ross, David A. (1995). "A Picture of Health: A Review and Annotated Bibliography of the Health of Young People in Developing Countries." Published by the World Health Organization and UNICEF.
  2. "The Teenagers" at history-of-rock.com
  3. Grace Palladino. "Teenagers: An American History". Basic Books, 1997.
  4. Why Gender Matters, Leonard Sax, M.D., Ph.D., 2005, Doubleday books
  5. Why Gender Matters, Leonard Sax, M.D., Ph.D., 2005, Doubleday books
  6. Why Gender Matters, Leonard Sax, M.D., Ph.D., 2005, Doubleday books
  7. Risky Business, US News & World Report, Cover Story, 5/27/02
  8. Risky Business, US News & World Report, Cover Story, 5/27/02
  9. Risky Business, US News & World Report, Cover Story, 5/27/02
  10. http://www.kff.org/youthhivstds/upload/U-S-Teen-Sexual-Activity-Fact-Sheet.pdf
  11. http://www.kff.org/youthhivstds/upload/U-S-Teen-Sexual-Activity-Fact-Sheet.pdf
  12. http://www.ashastd.org/hpv/hpv_learn_myths.cfm
  13. http://www.cdc.gov/STD/HPV/STDFact-HPV.htm
  14. Sexuality, Contraception, and the Media, PEDIATRICS Vol. 107 No. 1 January 2001, pp. 191-194
  15. Kaiser Family Foundation
  16. BEGINNING TOO SOON: ADOLESCENT SEXUAL BEHAVIOR, PREGNANCY AND PARENTHOOD, US Department of Health and Human Services
  17. Why Gender Matters, Leonard Sax, M.D., Ph.D., 2005, Doubleday books
  18. Why Gender Matters, Leonard Sax, M.D., Ph.D., 2005, Doubleday books
  19. BEGINNING TOO SOON: ADOLESCENT SEXUAL BEHAVIOR, PREGNANCY AND PARENTHOOD, US Department of Health and Human Services
  20. Why Gender Matters, Leonard Sax, M.D., Ph.D., 2005, Doubleday books, page 131. See also Wyndol Furman and Elizabeth Wehner, "Adolescent Romantic Relationships: A developmental Perspective," in Romantic Relationships in Adolescence: Developmental Perspectives, ed. Shmuel Shulman and Andrew Collins (San Francisco: Wiley/Jossey-Bass, 1997), p. 21-36.
  21. Becoming Married and Mental Health: A Longitudinal Study of a Cohort of Young Adults, Journal of Marriage and the Family, vol. 58, 1996
  22. Close Parental Relationships Could Delay Adolescent Sex, HealthLink, MCW Health News, 09-13-2002
  23. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4429192.stm

See also

Human development and psychology

Compare with

External links

Preceded byPreteen Stages of human development
Adolescence 		Succeeded byYoung adult
Development of the human body
Before birth
Birth and after
Phases
Social and legal
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