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03 Handout 1
03 Handout 1
Adolescence is a developmental transition from childhood to adulthood; it involves biological, cognitive and socioemotional changes. A key task of
adolescence is a preparation for adulthood (Santrock, 2008).
Early Adolescence (ages 12-14 Middle Adolescence (ages 15-16 Late Adolescence (ages 17-19
years) years) years)
Physical growth • Puberty - Rapid growth period • Secondary sexual characteristic • Physical maturity and reproductive
• Secondary sexual characteristics advanced leveling off and ending
appear • 95% of adult height reached
Intellectual/cognition • Concrete thoughts dominate – "here • Growth in abstract thoughts; reverts • Abstract thought established
and now" to concrete thoughts when stressed • Future oriented; able to
• Cause and Effect relationship is • Cause- effect relationship better understand, plan and pursue long
underdeveloped understood range goals
• Stronger "self" than social • Very self-absorbed • Philosophical and idealistic
awareness
Autonomy • Challenge authority, family, anti- • Conflict with family predominates • Emancipation: (Vocational/
parent due to ambivalence about emerging technical, college and/or work)
• Loneliness independence • Adult lifestyle
• Wide mood swings
• Things of childhood rejected
• Argumentative and disobedient
Body image • Preoccupation of physical changes • Less concern about physical • Usually comfortable with body
and critical of appearance changes but more concerned about image
• Anxieties about secondary sexual personal attractiveness
characteristics changes • Excessive physical activities
• Peers as standards for normal alternating with lethargy
appearance (comparison of self to
peers)
Peer group • Serves as developmental purpose • Strong peer allegiances — fad • Decisions/ values less influenced
• Intense friendship with same sex behaviors by peers
• Contact with opposite sex in groups • Sexual drives emerge and teens • Relates to individuals more than
begin to explore ability to date and group
attract a partner • Selection of partners based on
individual preference
Identity development • "Am I normal?" • Experimentation — sex, drugs, • Pursue realistic vocational goals
• Daydreaming friends, jobs, risk-taking behaviors with training or career employment
• Vocational goals change frequently • Relate to family as adult
• Begin to develop own value system • Realization of own limitations and
• Emerging sexual feelings and mortality
sexual exploration • Establishment of sexual identity
• Imaginary audience and sexual activity is common
• Desire for privacy • Establishment of moral and ethical
• Magnify own problems "no one value system
understands" • More capable of intimate and
complex relationships
Professor Robert Havighurst identified eleven developmental tasks associated with the adolescent transition. Each of the tasks can be seen as
elements of the overall sense of self which they carry with them as they move toward young adulthood.
Reference:
Bernabe, G. (2016). Personal development for senior high school. Manila, Philippines: Mindshapers Co., Inc.