Factors Affecting Adolescent Development Essay

Adolescence is a transitory dot from childhood to adulthood, characterized by significant fleshly, emotional and social changes. incrementalists used to feeling adolescence as a tumultuous order due to stress of individuals who c any for to become an adult long before becoming nonpareil. But now, a changing perspective is taking place. Adolescence is no longer a stage in life that is skillful of conflict but one that is full of opportunities to become a better person. Hereditary and environmental factors play an of the essence(predicate) occasion in qualification sure much(prenominal) opportunities argon maximized. These factors be crucial in determining how an individual goes through adolescence.Physical DevelopmentPuberty is noned with a surge in hormone mathematical product and the appearance of secondary enkindleual peculiar(prenominal)s, causing a number of physical changes (Aacap & Pruitt, 1999). For example, girls set appear to develop breast buds, grow hair s on pubic area, legs and armpits, bugger off to menstruate, develop wider hips and grow in height. Boys, on the other hand, may begin to put through enlargement of the adams apple, testicles and scrotum, develop facial hairs as well as on the pubic area, armpits, legs and chest, develop deeper voice and likewise grow in height.Puberty timetable, as well as the characteristics develop during this stage is workd primarily by heredity, although environmental factors also contribute such as viands and exercise. The aforesaid physical changes are triggered by the pituitary gland gland, as the hormonal balance leans towards an adult state. The pituitary glands secrete hormones, such as testosterone for the boys or estrogen and progesterone for the girls.Read moreFactors that influence child developThe major landmark of puberty for the boys is the first interposition and menarche for the girls. The age of menarche depends on heredity though the girls diet and lifestyle are determ inants, as well. To experience menarche, a girl must attain a certain level of body fat. So a girl with a high-fat diet and lives a sedentary lifestyle menstruates rather relative to a girl with low-fat diet and exercise regularly. Girls who have pitiful nutrition or experience physical labor at an proto(prenominal) age are expected to begin menstruating at later years.cognitive DevelopmentDuring adolescence, cognitive exploitation is characterized by the ability to signify methodically in analyzing all the relationships in a given problem (McCormick, & Pressley, 2007). However, this development takes time and varies from one adolescent to the other. Some may apply lawful intellection in school work before they can try their face-to-face lives in the same manner. girlishs begin to see their world in more complex ways which can influence their decision making either in a negative or a tyrannical way.Adolescents should be at what Jean Piaget called formal operations stage where they experience the need to think independently and efficiently, more advance and complex. There are five ways that this ability manifests (1) to think of possibilities not limited to what is actually (2) to think about abstract ideas (3) to think about the process of thinking itself (4) to think at multidimensionality of things rather than to focus at a angiotensin-converting enzyme issue and (5) to see things as relative rather than absolute.It is widely authoritative that the knowing capacity is determined by heredity and environment. Studies about intellectual development during adolescence in the field of developmental neuroscience show that significant harvesting and significant change in multiple regions of the prefrontal cortex throughout the course of adolescence, especially with respect to process to myelination and synaptic pruning (both of which annex the efficiency of information processing), (Steinberg, 2005)To make the most out of these changes, they must be complemented by a positive environment for healthy cognitive development. Adolescents should be encouraged to join discussion about a variety of topics, issues and accredited events. They should be allowed to think on their own and to share their ideas with others. Stimulating them to think about future possibilities and guiding them towards their goal allow them to even out the wrong decisions they make.Social, Moral and Personality DevelopmentIndividuals suffer from identity crisis during adolescence. agree to Erik Eriksons Theory of Identity Development, identity crisis is the most important characteristic of adolescents (Erikson, 1968). Although cultures define a persons identity and thus varies from one culture to another, the accomplishment of this development task has a common denominator for all cultures.Core to his theory is for the adolescent to establish an ego-identity and to avoid division admiration and identity confusion. A sense of identity in occupation, sex roles, politics and religion must be developed during adolescence. The ego-identity changes constantly as an individual acquires new experience and information through social interaction. jibe to Erikson, adolescents have to make an account of his/her assets and liabilities and what to make out of them. Adolescents have to dumbfound their own identity by examining their past, present and future linked together. However, this is nasty as the past has lost the attachment of family and community tradition, the present is sedulous by social change and the future has become more unpredictable.The role of peers during this period is highlighted as they give the sense of acceptance to the adolescent desire for social approval. Those who are able to receive positive feedback and encouragement morsel out to have a strong sense of who he/she is and a feeling of independence and control. Those who fail to find his/her identity are liable(predicate) to be insecure and confused about thems elves and the future.For Robert Havighurst, individuals have to acquire developmental tasks defined as skills, knowledge, functions and attitudes (Turner, 1996). They are acquired through physical maturation, social expectations and personal efforts. Achieving these development tasks lead to happiness and success with later harder tasks while misery in a given developmental task result to privation of adjustment, increase anxiety, social disapproval and helplessness to manage more toilsome tasks to come.Some of the developmental tasks are need to be achieved within a time limit which Havighurst called teachable moment. If the task is not mastered during this time, it becomes harder, if not impossible to accomplish. Society plays an important role by providing the socializing agents, as well as the method of reinforcement and punishment, to allow the individual to occupy the developmental tasks according to their proper age levels.According to Havighurst, for adolescents aged 12 to 20 years old, their development tasks include (1) accepting ones physique and accepting a masculine or feminine role (2) new relations with age-mates of both sexes (3) emotional independence of parents and other adults (4) achieving self-assurance of economic independence (5) selecting and preparing for an occupation (6) developing intellectual skills and concepts necessary for civic competence (7) desiring and achieving socially responsible behavior (8) preparing for marriage and family life and (9) build conscious values in harmony with an adequate scientific world-picture.ReferencesAacap & Pruitt, David. (1999). You Adolescent Emotional, Behavioral and cognitive Development from Early Adolescence Through the Teen Years. NY harpist Collins Publishers.Erikson, Erik. (1968) Identity Youth and Crisis. NY W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.McCormick, Christine & Pressley, Michael. (2007). Child and Adolescent Development for Educators. NY The Guilford Press.Steinberg, Laurence. Cogniti ve and Affective Development in Adolescence. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. Vol.9, No.2 February 2005.Turner, Jeffrey. (1996). Encyclopedia of Relationships across the Lifespan. NY Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.