User:KANCHAN ARORA/Sandbox

ADOLESCENCE
Primitive people did not consider puberty and adolescence to be distinct periods in the life span, the child is regarded as an adult when capable of reproduction. As it is used today, the term adolescence has a broader meaning. It includes mental, emotional and social maturity as well as physical maturity. This period is from the beginning when children become sexually mature and ending when they reach the age of legal maturity. Early adolescence extends roughly from thirteen to sixteen or seventeen years and late adolescence covers the period from then until eighteen, the age of legal maturity. Early adolescence is referred to as the “teens” sometimes even the “terrible teens”.

CHARACTERISTICS OF ADOLESCENCE
1. Adolescence is an important period - because of their immediate effects on attitude and behavior. It is important for both psychological and physical effects. Along with the rapid physical development, adolescents go through rapid mental development as well. These give rise to the need for mental adjustments and necessity for establishing new attitudes, values and interests. 2. Adolescence is a transitional period - during any transitional period, the individual’s status is vague and there is confusion about the roles the individual is expected to play. The adolescent, at this time, is neither a child nor an adult. If they behave like children, they are told to “act their age”. If they try to act like adults, they are often accused of being “too big for their age”. 3. Adolescence is a period of change - During early adolescence, when physical changes are rapid, changes in attitude and behavior are also rapid. Due to sexual maturity they have feelings of instability which are often intensified by the ambiguous treatment they receive from parents and teachers. Changes in their bodies, interests, social group expectations, create new problem. Their value system change as interest and behavior pattern changes. They try to act independently. 4. Adolescence is a problem age - throughout childhood, their problem and needs are taken care of by parents and teachers. Suddenly during adolescence they feel they are independent and try to do everything on their own ending up in frustration. 5. Adolescence is a time of search for identity - in dress, speech and behavior adolescents want to be as nearly like their gang-mates as possible. They use status symbols in the form of clothes, vehicles, other observable material possessions. 6. Adolescence is a time of unrealism - they have a lot of unrealistic aspirations, desires and goals not only for themselves but also for their families and friends. They will get angry, and disappointed when they feel that others have let them down or that they have not lived up to the goals they set for themselves. 7. Adolescence is a threshold of adulthood - they want to create an impression that they are close to adults which they show in their dress and behavior, associated with the adult status like smoking, drinking, using drugs, engaging in sex etc.,

BODY CHANGES DURING ADOLESCENCE (EXTERNAL CHANGES)
1.	Height The average girl reaches her mature height between the ages of seventeen and eighteen and the average boy, a year or so later. Boys and girls who were immunized during babyhood are usually taller, age for age, than those who were not immunized and who, as a result, suffered from more illness that tended to stunt their growth. 2.	Weight Weight changes follow a timetable similar to that for height changes, with weight now distributed over areas of the body where previously there was little or no fat. 3.	Body Proportions The various parts of the body gradually come into proportion. For example, the trunk broadens and lengthens, and thus the limbs no longer seem too long. 4.	Sex Organs Both male and female sex organs reach their mature size in late adolescence, but are not mature in function until several years later. 5.	Secondary Sex Characteristics The major secondary sex characteristics are at a mature level of development by late adolescence.

BODY CHANGES DURING ADOLESCENCE (INTERNAL CHANGES)
1.	Digestive System The stomach becomes longer and less tubular, the intestines grow in length and circumference, the muscles in the stomach and intestinal walls become thicker and stronger, the liver increases in weight, and the esophagus becomes longer. 2.	Circulatory System The heart grows rapidly during adolescence by the age of seventeen or eighteen; it is twelve times as heavy as it was as birth. The length and thickness of the walls of the blood vessels increase and reach a mature level when the heart does. 3.	Respiratory System The lung capacity of girls is almost at a mature level at age seventeen; boys reach this level several years later. 4.	Endocrine System The increased activity of the gonads at puberty results in a temporary imbalance of the whole endocrine system in early adolescence. The sex glands develop rapidly and become functional, though they do not reach their mature size until late adolescence or early adulthood. 5.	Body Tissues The skeleton stops growing at an average age of eighteen. Tissues, other than bone, continue to develop after the bones have reached their mature size. This is especially true of muscle tissue.

EMOTIONALITY DURING ADOLESCENCE
Traditionally adolescence has been thought of as a period of “storm and stress” - a time of heightened emotional tension resulting from the physical and glandular changes that are taking place. Instead of having temper tantrums adolescents express their anger by sulking, refusing to speak, criticizing those who angered them. They envy others. Parents and teachers should help them to disclose their feelings and personal problems including adjustments made to members of the opposite sex. Since adolescents spend most of their time with friends, it is understandable that they have a greater influence on adolescent attitude, speech, interests, appearance etc. There is a growing interest in sex and sex education is important at this stage which can be provided by the family members and teachers.