Factors Affecting Adolescent Development Essay

Adolescence is a transitory decimal point from childhood to bighood, characterized by signifi dissolvet animal(prenominal), emotional and social transfigures. festeringalists employ to view adolescence as a tumultuous detail due to stress of individuals who want to get under whizzs skin an adult long before becoming one. But now, a changing perspective is taking place. Adolescence is no chronic a st grow in life that is plenteous of conflict but one that is full of opportunities to become a better person. Hereditary and environmental factors cultivate an totally-important(prenominal) role in qualification positive(predicate) such opportunities are maximized. These factors are crucial in determining how an individual goes through and through adolescence.Physical Developmentpuberty is noted with a surge in hormone production and the appearance of secondary inner characteristics, causing a number of physical changes (Aacap & Pruitt, 1999). For example, girls baffle to split up breast buds, grow hairs on pubic area, legs and armpits, start to menstruate, develop wider hips and grow in height. Boys, on the other hand, may maturate to get expanding upon 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 also grow in height.Puberty timetable, as well as the characteristics developed during this stage is influenced primarily by heredity, although environmental factors also tolerate such as diet and exercise. The aforesaid physical changes are triggered by the pituitary 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. demand muchFactors that influence child developThe study landmark of puberty for the boys is the first ejaculation and menarche for the girls. The age of menarche depends on heredity though the girls diet and lifestyle are determinants, 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 inactive lifestyle menstruates earlier relative to a girl with low-fat diet and exercise regularly. Girls who have poor viands or experience physical labor at an early age are expected to pop out menstruating at later years.cognitive DevelopmentDuring adolescence, cognitive development is characterized by the ability to designate methodically in analyzing all the relationships in a apt(p) problem (McCormick, & Pressley, 2007). However, this development takes time and varies from one young to the other. nigh may apply logical cerebration in school work before they can analyze their personal lives in the same manner. Adolescents begin to see their world in more complicated ways which can influence their decision making either in a negative or a positive way.Adolescents should be at what denim Piaget called formal operations s tage where they experience the acquire to esteem independently and efficiently, more advance and complex. in that respect are five ways that this ability manifests (1) to hazard of possibilities not limited to what is real (2) to think active abstract ideas (3) to think nearly the process of persuasion itself (4) to think at multidimensionality of things rather than to focus at a single issue and (5) to see things as relative rather than absolute.It is widely accepted that the intelligent capacity is determined by heredity and environment. Studies close to adroit development during adolescence in the field of developmental neuroscience show that significant growth and significant change in multiple regions of the prefrontal cortex end-to-end the course of adolescence, especially with respect to process to myelination and synaptic pruning (both of which increase the efficiency of randomness processing), (Steinberg, 2005)To hit the most out of these changes, they must be c omplemented by a positive environment for healthy cognitive development. Adolescents should be encouraged to join discussion about a variety of topics, issues and current events. They should be rendered to think on their own and to share their ideas with others. Stimulating them to think about approaching possibilities and guiding them towards their goal consent to them to even out the wrong decisions they bring in.Social, Moral and disposition DevelopmentIndividuals suffer from identity crisis during adolescence. According to Erik Eriksons Theory of individualism 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 doing of this development travail has a common denominator for all cultures.Core to his theory is for the adolescent to establish an ego-identity and to debar role confusion and identity confusion. A common sense experience of identity in occupation, sex roles, government activity and religion must be developed during adolescence. The ego-identity changes constantly as an individual acquires new experience and information through social interaction.According to Erikson, adolescents have to make an account of his/her assets and liabilities and what to make out of them. Adolescents have to sense their own identity by examining their past, present and future linked together. However, this is difficult as the past has incapacitated the attachment of family and community tradition, the present is occupied 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 seeking for social approval. Those who are able to receive positive feedback and encouragement daily round out to have a strong sense of who he/she is and a feeling of independence and control. Those who tell on to find his/her identit y are likely to be insecure and confused about themselves and the future.For Robert Havighurst, individuals have to acquire developmental chores defined as skills, knowledge, functions and attitudes (Turner, 1996). They are acquired through physical maturation, social expectations and personal efforts. Achieving these development tasks protract to happiness and success with later harder tasks while bankruptcy in a given developmental task result to lack of adjustment, increase anxiety, social disapproval and helplessness to manage more difficult 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. parliamentary law plays an important role by providing the socializing agents, as well as the method of reinforcement and punishment, to allow the individual to learn the developmental tasks according to their right-hand(a) age levels.According to Havighurst, for adolescents aged 12 to 20 years old, their development tasks include (1) accepting ones physique and accepting a manful or feminine role (2) new relations with age-mates of both sexes (3) emotional independence of parents and other adults (4) achieving authorization 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 obligated behavior (8) preparing for marriage and family life and (9) building sensible values in harmony with an adequate scientific world-picture.ReferencesAacap & Pruitt, David. (1999). You Adolescent Emotional, Behavioral and cognitive Development from primal Adolescence Through the Teen Years. NY Harper Collins Publishers.Erikson, Erik. (1968) Identity Youth and Crisis. NY W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.McCormick, Christine & Pressley, Michael. (2007). Child and Adolescent Devel opment for Educators. NY The Guilford Press.Steinberg, Laurence. Cognitive 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.