How many times have we heard parents say that their sons and daughters are of turkey age and we have simply been able to laugh because we knew how hard this stage in a family’s life can be.
My mother always says that adolescence is like measles but that it lasts much longer, and where you have to be constantly aware of your son or daughter so that he or she does not make mistakes that could mark the rest of his or her life, just as happens when a baby He scratches himself a lot and leaves marks on his skin.
Adolescence is considered the transition between childhood and adulthood. It is a concept that has its origins in a purely social construction to refer to that period of time in which the person is neither a child nor an adult.
At Psychology-Online we want to show you a little more about what this stage, so feared by all fathers and mothers and so desired by all boys and girls, consists of. We will see the psychological changes that occur in adolescence.
What are the psychological changes in adolescence?
If we rely on the different ones to explain evolutionary development, adolescence is in the last of them, the stage of formal operations.
Within this, adolescents are already able to delve into abstract reasoning to, in this way, make much more complex moral judgments. This capacity for abstract thinking begins to develop from 11 years old and allows them to both imagine possibilities and form and test hypotheses. Furthermore, it is also linked to a series of emotional implications oriented towards moral and ethical concepts, such as freedom, exploitation, empathy. Concepts that they were previously not able to understand because they could not see them in reality.
Adolescents are considered to suffer from a series of changes in cognition and sensation:
- Increase your capacity for abstraction, idealism and criticism.
- They develop what is known as cognitive egocentrism:
- Lack of differentiation between the unique and the universalso they feel misunderstood.
- They have a greater self-awareness.
- imaginary audiencewhich is a type of egocentrism where the adolescent confuses his thoughts with those of others, therefore considering himself the center of all attention.
- personal fable: They consider themselves unique, so they tend to think that their actions are unrepeatable.
- Fable of invincibility: They have the mistaken feeling that nothing bad is going to happen to them and that they are not going to suffer any harm. They believe they are invincible.
Adolescents also present a series of changes in language, which is developed as a result of the more adult reading materials that they are asked to read. Thanks to this development, they are allowed to discuss and define fully abstract concepts, becoming more aware of the possibility that words and symbols can have multiple meanings.
Why psychological changes occur in adolescence
During this stage, young people enter what is known as puberty, which is the process of acquiring sexual maturity and fertility. The brain is in a state of development, which is why these psychological changes occur.
- They undergo a series of structural changes, such as the case of enlarged frontal lobeswhich provides them with an increase in their reasoning, judgment and impulse control.
- They present changes in the composition of the cerebral cortex. It has been observed thanks to numerous studies a increased gray matter.
- They tend to act in a more risky way, since there is a unbalanced interaction between the socio-emotional network (sensitivity and activity in puberty) and the cognitive control network (the responses they give to certain situations and the maturation process, which is usually gradual with age).
Emotional changes in adolescence of men and women
During the period that passes through adolescence, young people go building your identitythat is, the coherent conception of the self, which is constituted by goals, values and beliefs with which each person has a solid commitment.
These teenage years are considered by many to be a time of rebellion which involves a emotional confusion in adolescents. They are usually characterized by withdrawal from adult society, reckless behavior and rejection of adult values. In the following article you will find.
However, it has been seen that in some Western societies, this behavior is uncommon since young people tend to experience closeness towards their parents as a result of their greater understanding of their parents’ opinions.
But, nevertheless, adolescence can be a difficult time for some. Family conflict, depression and risk behaviors They are much more common at this time in the life cycle.
Individualization is a battle on the part of the adolescent to achieve and establish both their autonomy and their personal identity. Therefore, it is very important that parents of adolescents manage to find a balance between excess freedom and excess individualization.
It is also worth noting that it is at this stage when young people begin to have more awareness or at least begin to adequately understand their sexual identity. During this period, young people who identify as homosexual or bisexual tend to act more cautiously regarding their identity. This is due to the lack of socially accepted ways to explore their sexuality, since, for fear of being isolated and discriminated against, they do not decide to reveal their sexual orientation. In the following article you will find tips for.
As far as sexual behavior itself is concerned, the average girl has her first sexual relationship at 17 and the average boy at 16.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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Bibliography
- Clemente, R. (2015). Evolutionary psychology II. Jaume I University.
- Hernandez, C. (2015). Evolutionary Psychology. Jaume I University.
- Papalia, D (2012). Human development.