Early Adolescence Aspects Compared To Historical Pressures

Adolescence
Your Name
Your Institution of Affiliation
October 15, 2017
1. People often rate early adolescence as one of the most difficult stages of development. Please describe some of the issues that you and your cohort of teens faced. What were some of the fads, slang or favorite expressions, peer group issues, school controversies, and typical parent controversies while you were between the ages of 12 to 18 years? Identify aspects of early adolescence that might be “developmental” as compared to aspects that are a result of “historical pressures”?
Early adolescence is usually categorized as the period where both physiological and psychological changes happen on an individual, due to a change in his/her hormonal secretions. However, while a diverse field of study has been dedicated to understanding each and every effect of this to an individual, different categorizations and definitions have also emerged, with some saying that early adolescence could happen from the ages of 9-13 (Pickhardt, 2009) and others defining it from the ages of 11-14 (WebMD.com, n.d.), among other typifications. Nonetheless, regardless of the age bracket used, plenty of studies have shown that the negative effects of early adolescence are just the same and that there exists a need to extend help towards people who are experiencing anxiety due to the changes that are happening in their body. Usually, this anxiety is due to an individual’s misunderstanding about what’s happening with his/her body, especially when it is not happening yet towards his/her peers. In line with our own experience, we could say that this statement could never be farther from the truth because during our days in middle school, we could still remember the “stereotypes” and the “misconceptions” about those people who are experiencing these changes very early on. In some cases, these misconceptions could lead to “shunning” from others, or if not to a change of one’s temperament from extroverted behavior towards a more introverted one, because of “self-consciousness”. As an example, one of our closest friends, when we were in grade 7, has had her first “period” during our P.E. class. Usually, she’s very extroverted and energetic before that day, but when her first period came she didn’t know what to do and had become very timid and moody for the whole week. Nonetheless, she was able to get herself back on track after two weeks, as she was able to talk with her parents as well as the school nurse about what’s happening to her own body. In summary, what this shows is that while the negative effects of early maturation could be from external factors or internal ones, being able to understand and talk with an adult or a professional could definitely help to mitigate these repercussions.
As of today, plenty of studies and surveys have indicated that the advent of early maturation is gradually becoming more frequent at younger ages compared to the generations before (Pickhardt, 2009). This is also the reason as to why different studies have utilized different age brackets in order to identify and analyze “early adolescence” and their effects on...