What are the specific challenges common during adolescence and in the transition to adulthood?

What is adolescence?

Adolescence is the period of transition between childhood and adulthood. Children who are entering adolescence are going through many changes (physical, intellectual, personality and social developmental). Adolescence begins at puberty, which now occurs earlier, on average, than in the past. The end of adolescence is tied to social and emotional factors and can be somewhat ambiguous.

What are the physical changes of adolescence?

There are three main physical changes that come with adolescence:

• The growth spurt (an early sign of maturation);
• Primary sex characteristics (changes in the organs directly related to reproduction);
• Secondary sex characteristics (bodily signs of sexual maturity that do not directly involve reproductive organs)

What are the intellectual changes of adolescence?

Adolescent thinking is on a higher level than that of children. Children are only able to think logically about the concrete, the here and now. Adolescents move beyond these limits and can think in terms of what might be true, rather than just what they see is true. They are able to deal with abstractions, test hypotheses and see infinite possibilities. Yet adolescents still often display egocentric behaviors and attitudes.

What are the social and emotional changes of adolescence?

Adolescents are also developing socially and emotionally during this time. The most important task of adolescence is the search for identity. (This is often a lifelong voyage, launched in adolescence.) Along with the search for identity comes the struggle for independence.

How can parents support healthy adolescent development?

While adolescence can be a trying period for both youth and their parents, the home does not have to become a battleground if both parents and young people make special efforts to understand one another. The following guidelines may help parents:

• Give your children your undivided attention when they want to talk. Don't read, watch television or busy yourself with other tasks.
• Listen calmly and concentrate on hearing and understanding your children's point of view.
• Speak to your children as courteously and pleasantly as you would to a stranger. Your tone of voice can set the tone of a conversation.
• Understand your children's feelings, even if you don't always approve of their behavior. Try not to make judgments. Keep the door open on any subject. Be an "open/approachable" parent.
• Avoid humiliating your children and laughing at what may seem to you to be naive or foolish questions and statements.
• Encourage your children to "test" new ideas in conversation by not judging their ideas and opinions, but instead by listening and then offering your own views as plainly and honestly as possible. Love and mutual respect can coexist with differing points of view.
• Help your children build self-confidence by encouraging their participation in activities of their choice (not yours).
• Make an effort to commend your children frequently and appropriately. Too often, we take the good things for granted and focus on the bad, but everyone needs to be appreciated.
• Encourage your children to participate in family decision-making and to work out family concerns together with you. Understand that your children need to challenge your opinions and your ways of doing things to achieve the separation from you that's essential for their own adult identity.

What can adolescents do during this time?

• Avoid looking at your parents as the enemy. Chances are that they love you and have your best interests in mind, even if you don't necessarily agree with their way of showing that.
• Try to understand that your parents are human beings, with their own insecurities, needs and feelings.
• Listen to your parents with an open mind, and try to see situations from their point of view.
• Share your feelings with your parents so that they can understand you better.
• Live up to your responsibilities at home and in school so that your parents will be more inclined to grant you the kind of independence you want and need.
• Bolster your criticisms of family, school and government with suggestions for practical improvements.
• Be as courteous and considerate to your own parents as you would be to the parents of your friends.

Get useful, helpful and relevant health + wellness information

enews