DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES

Developmental Stages

Developmental Stages

Introduction

Adolescence is the developmental stage between childhood and adulthood; it generally refers to a period ranging from age 12 or 13 through age 19 or 21. Although its beginning is often balanced with the beginning of puberty, adolescence is characterized by psychological and social stages as well as by biological changes.

Physiological Change

Between the ages of 9 and 15, almost all young people undergo a rapid series of physiological changes, known as the adolescent growth spurt. These hormonal changes include an acceleration in the body's growth rate; the development of pubic hair; the appearance of axillary, or armpit, hair about two years later. There are changes in the structure and functioning of the reproductive organs; the mammary glands in girls; and development of the sweat glands, which often leads to an outbreak of acne. In both sexes, these physiological changes occur at different times. This period of change can prove to be very stressful for a pre-teen. For during this stage of life appearance is very important. An adolescent child who develops very early or extremely late can take a lot of ridicule from his or her peers. However, the time at which a girl goes through this stage and a male goes through it are different.

Intellectual Development:

Current views on the mental changes that take place during adolescence have been affected heavily by the work of the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget, who sees the intellectual capability of adolescents as both 'qualitatively and quantitatively superior to that of younger children.' Behaviorists such as Harvard's B. F. Skinner did not believe intellectual development could be divided into distinct stages. He preferred to emphasize the influence of conditioning experiences on behavior as a result of continuous punishments and rewards. Trying to prove that intellectual ability in adolescence differs from that of earlier years, as a result of learning, or acquiring more appropriate responses through conditioning. Other investigators have found a strong tie between certain socioeconomic characteristics and adolescent intellectual achievement. Statistics suggest that well-educated, economically secure, small-sized families provide the kind of environment which intellectual development among adolescents is most apt to flourish. This environment should also include parental encouragement, individual attention, and an extended vocabulary use. Test scores, however, seem to be more related to the verbal ability than to the performance aspects of adolescents' intelligence.

Emotional Development

Psychologists also disagree about the causes and significance of the emotional and personality ...