Adolescent is a Period of Storm and Stres1

Adolescent is a period of Storm and Stress? Discuss. Introduction:- Adolescence is a time of “storm and stress”. Adolescence is a period of time between childhood and adulthood. This is the age when one can either make something of his life or destroy it all, this is the time when a person makes those friends who changes the how he looks at life and how he faces it. An adolescent's main goal these days is to fit in and not be different from their peers. In this paper I will explore the probabilities of the following grievances experienced by the adolescent youth which are drugs, suicide, and homelessness. Adolescence is the developmental stage between childhood and adulthood; it generally refers to a period ranging from teen years through 20s. As now life is growing more complex, however, adolescents are increasingly cut off from the activities of their elders, leaving most young people with education as their sole occupation. Inexorably, this has isolated many of them from the adult world and has prolonged their adolescence. Now almost all over the world the adolescent years have become marked by violence to an alarming degree. The phenomenon of teenage suicide has become particularly disturbing, but risktaking behaviors of many sorts can be observed, including alcohol and drug abuse. Adolescents only want to have fun and go to parties. They get addicted to drugs and start to revolve their lives around drugs. Some get arrested and others encounter death. Adolescents need to hear stories and be able relate themselves with the stories. Major stress includes parent discord, being physically or sexually abused and alcohol or drug abuse. Many adolescents try to commit suicide than who actually succeed, and the methods used may be unfledged. There is a propensity to treat alleged minor attempts as attention seeking, theatrical and of no importance.

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Adolescence being a period of ‘storm and stress’ – a perspective which was introduced by Hall (1904) and supported by the psychoanalytic tradition (Freud, 1958) and Erikson’s (1968). Definition of Adolescence as a time of identity crisis – was popular for most of the 20th century. In this view, adolescence is characterized as an inevitably turbulent process; accompanied by negative moods, a problematic relationship with parents and risky behavior, including delinquency (Deković & Buist, 2004). Even though the notion that adolescents would have a despondent temper is (cautiously) supported – adolescents experience slightly more negative emotionality than children. It was also determined that for most adolescents, the relationship with parents does not become troubled. Despite these findings, the increase of internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors in this developmental stage indicates that the idea of adolescence as a tumultuous and on occasion miserable period, cannot just be discarded. Reasons for this discomfort were introduced by different scientific disciplines. It is more specifically the interaction between biological-emotional, cognitive and social indicators that is most referred to in this case.

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1.

Biological-emotional development

2.

Cognitive development

3.

Social conditions

Biological-emotional development:- From a biological perspective,

the despondent moods adolescents endure can be clarified by the bodily changes they go through. Even though the direct effects of changes in behavior-activating hormones (such as testosterone) are often referred to as the number one explanation. Another observation consists that could add to 2

this incomplete explanation consist of the late maturation of the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Furthermore, drastic changes in the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin reason and self emotional stimuli in the limbic system of the brain occur during adolescence. These cause the individual to simultaneously experience a heightened sensitivity for stress and a lowered susceptibility for rewards. 2.

Cognitive development:- It acquires abilities such as memory or

problem solving skills, undergo a vast evolution during adolescence. Adolescents acquire the ability of abstract and hypothetical thinking. They can picture situations that did not (yet) occur – for instance, their time perspective broadens which makes them able to contemplate their own future – and they are able to discuss conceptual constructs (Steinberg, 2002). They also obtain the capacity to combine and generalize different factors in search for an explanation of the matters they are confronted with, in this way exercising

logic-deductive

reasoning

(Lehalle,

2006).

Furthermore,

adolescents become more aware of events in their surroundings, but are not yet able to put them in the right context (Lewin, 1939). His adevelop the ability to consider the ideas and lso conditions of others, but at the same time still lack the capacity to distinguish between what they think. 3.

Social conditions:- This is the process were adolescents grow out of

their childhood years and aspire the status of an adult person. Expectations of significant others amplify these aspirations; adolescents are encouraged to act mature, ‘childish behavior’ is frowned upon. A strong desire for independence is thus created (Greenberg, 1977; Lewin, 1939; Moffitt, 1993). This desire however sharply contrasts with the restrictions that adolescents experience in reality, such as a lack of money or a lack of authority. In daily life, most decisions are still taken by others (in most cases by parents). 3

Hence, the individual does not obtain full access to an adult position, but lingers between child and adult status. However, for some of them acceptance by peers is difficult to obtain. Therefore peer-relations can also be a source of stress in adolescence. Reference Blackman, M. (1995 May). The Canadian Journal of CME [Internet]. HTTP: http://www.mentalhealth.com/mag1/p51-dp01.html. Brown, A. (1996). NARSAD Research Newsletter [Internet]. HTTP: http://www.mhsource.com/advocacy/narsad/childmood.html. Cohen, S. (1969). The Drug Dilemma. New York, NY: McGraw Hill Book Company. Fort, Joel (1969). The Pleasure Seekers. New York, NY: The Bobbs-Merrill Company. Miller, M. (1996). An Outreach division of the Attorney General of the State of Arkansas. [Internet]. HTTP: http://www.ag.state.ar.us/advscripts/teensuicide/teensuicide.asp National Coalition for the Homeless (1998, October). Homeless Families with Children NCH Fact Sheet #7. Arnett, Jeffrey Jensen (1999). Adolescent storm and stress, reconsidered. American Psychologist, Vol 54(5), May 1999, 317-326. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.54.5.317

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