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Adolescence
The word 'Adolescence' means to grow to maturity. It is such a stage that nothing can be said precisely about its beginning and end. It is such a period when an individual is neither a child nor an adult. But generally, it is considered that Adolescence begins after the age of 12 years and continues till the age of 19 years. That is why this age is called 'Teenage.'
At this age, parents, as well as teachers, do not understand adolescents clearly. Sometimes, they treat them like children and sometimes expect them to behave like adults.
It means that in this Stage, a child tries to be self-dependent. During this period, various mental, physical and social, and emotional changes take place in him. His growth and development have become very fast. Boys start appearing like men, whereas girls start appearing like women.
Adolescence is the period of great stress and strain in which a child tries to become capable of doing everything by himself.
Main characteristics of Adolescence
Following are the main characteristics of Adolescence:-
1. Mental Development
In this stage, the mental development of an adolescent becomes complete. His intelligence reaches its peak. There is enough development in their logical efficiency, concentration power, and money power in this stage. During Adolescence, a great interest is developed in reading. They can reach the deepest point of any matter. During this age, stress, tension and anxiety are also every day.
2. Physical Development
In this period, the physical development of an individual takes place very fast. Generally, the adolescent becomes very interested in their muscular development. Some adolescents mature early, and some mature late. The physical action of some adolescents does not take place in a balanced way. It means that there is no similarity in the development of body organs. Due to such imbalanced growth, various types of problems, instability, and anxiety are created.
3. Emotional Development
Adolescence is full of emotions. Sometimes, an adolescent becomes so excited that they consider himself to be at the top of the world, and sometimes, they find himself in a state of depression. In fact, in Adolescence, the intensity of feeling, instability, anxiety, mood swings, fluctuation of emotion, and ego can be seen clearly. Suppose an adolescent is dominated by the father or the mother in childhood. In that case, they will become a disobedient adolescent, and if they are defeated strictly in this stage, they will have an attitude of dependence throughout their life.
In this period, the adolescent may sometimes develop a potent lowliness complex, unhappy parents' relations, feelings of disappointment and fear, etc.
4. Social Development
In this period, adolescent learns many lessons about social relations. In this period, their friends become very important. It means that an intense emotional bond is developed in friendship. They usually have more closeness in friendship. In the first stage, they typically have a charity with a member of the same sex. In the second stage, they have companies with older persons, and in the third stage, they have relations or deep friendships with a member of the opposite sex of about similar age.
5. Sexual Development
At puberty, the adolescent becomes capable of reproduction. Puberty usually starts between 8-12 years in girls and 10-14 years in boys. There are three stages of Adolescence: early (10-13) years, middle (14-16) years, and late (17-19) years. Their bodies no longer look like children but begin to resemble that of adults.
6. Excessive Imagination
The adolescent becomes very imaginative. They tend to live in a world of fantasy and enjoy daydreaming. These daydreams are healthy up to an intense limit. These daydreams provide partial satisfaction. Sometimes the excessive dreams become harmful. These daydreams may cause aggressive behavior. They should know that a person cannot fly on the wings of imagination for a long time; they will have to come down on the ground of reality after some time.
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