Development During Adolescence: Questions Essay -- Child Psychology

Question 1: Discuss adolescence: a)The period of adolescence and the cultural aspect thereof Pinpointing the start of any developmental phase is difficult as different people view adolescence and who is classified as an adolescent in different ways. This is because of perspective as well as cultural differences of what an adolescent is. As a rule of thumb,we say that the onset of adolescence is when puberty starts. This is fairly easy to notice because of the physical changes. However, determining the end of adolescence is much harder. There are criteria from a social, legal, psychological and economic perspectives which determine the end of adolescence. In some cultures, youth are expected to go through an initiation of some sort or have to partake in a ritual in order to be accepted as an adult in the communities. Other cultures mark the start end of adolescence with a feast. As you can see,it is almost impossible to pinpoint the exact start and the exact finish of adolescence. As a norm though, we say that it starts between 11 and 13 and ends between the ages of 17 and 22. b)Educational implications of Physical Development Adolescents are trying to figure out who they are and who they are meant to be and they are trying to figure out what their place in the world is. Something that plays a huge role in these searching is the feeling of being accepted. Physical development doesn't occur on a certain day at a certain age with certain effects, each person starts developing at a different time and at a different speed. This can cause feelings of embarrassment and shame so as educators, it is important to be able to speak openly and frankly about the development that takes place including their sexual development. It is ... ... and supported and at the same time should have the freedom to deny assistance. They need to feel free to try different 'styles' and to attempt new 'ways of being' without feeling judged or rejected. Since adolescents are in a phase where they imitate other people in attempt to find their own identity whilst complying to the demands placed upon them by society and striving to become their ideal self, the example set is one of the strongest teaching methods. By handling myself well in confrontations and conflict and by applying myself in the things that I do, I show them how they could do it and how society rewards it. I think it is important to make them aware of what kinds of differences people their age have ( i.e. The different levels of cognitive thinking and the differences in physical development) so that the extent to which they feel inferior is minimized.