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Adolescence is a transitional development stage between youth and adulthood. It represents a time period during which an individual experiences numerous biological changes and encounters several emotional challenges. Ages deemed to be part of the adolescent period vary from culture to culture. They range from pre-teen to 19 years. Adolescence is said to cover the ages between 10 and 20 years. This is according to WHO (World Health Organization). The period has been divided into three different stages by psychologists. These are early, middle and late adolescence.
Adolescence may be a dynamic and tumultuous period in an individual’s life. It has often been identified as a time when young people develop abstract thinking capabilities, gain more awareness of their sexuality, clearly develop their psychological identity and also increase their autonomy from their parents. The period was denoted to be one of ‘Storm and Stress’ by G. Stanley. According to G. Stanley, conflicts during this stage of development are not unusual but normal. On the other hand, Margaret Mead attributed adolescent behavior to their upbringing and culture. Most of the tribulations associated with the adolescent period in the western societies are not evident in traditional cultures.
There are several models of developmental stages that have placed adolescence in the human development period. Sigmund Freud characterized it as a ‘genital phase’ in psychosexual development where children recapture the sexual awareness they possess in infancy. Jean Piaget focused primarily on the cognitive development. He saw adolescence as a ‘formal operative stage’ where young people develop abstract thinking abilities and use available information to arrive at conclusions. On the other hand, the psychosocial development theory by Erik Erikson recognized identity crises as fundamental to the adolescent concept.
Adolescent psychology deals with the problems associated with the period of adolescence for instance whether or not the above mentioned ‘storm and stress’ is an ordinary part of the period. There is a separate division specially devoted to adolescence at the APA (American psychological association). The division is also devoted to psychologists who specialize in the topic in an attempt to answer the questions that deal with this age grouping. One particular issue in adolescent psychology talks about whether the adolescent period is indeed a discreet period of development, a particular point on the human development continuum or simply a social construction.
Physical development
Puberty is considered to be adolescent’s most important developmental change. Puberty seems to be a biological phenomenon that has been hard-wired onto the body. However, systematic research provides evidence of different cultural effects at the start of puberty. For girls, menarche marks pubertal development. This is the time when the girl’s menstrual cycle begins. While reviewing adolescent sexual development, researchers found that menarche timings vary greatly across different cultures. On the nearly 150 groups studied, menarche’s mean age ranged from as low as 12.0 years to 18.0 years.
Associated with cross-cultural differences in the start of menarche are the findings that the age at which menarche starts has been slowly declining in the 140 years. In the industrialized countries of Europe, between 1860 and 1980, the age when menarche starts dropped by approximately 3 years every decade. A comparable trend was identified in adolescents from the United States starting as far back as the 1920s. Japan in modern history is the country said to experience the sharpest decline in the age when menarche starts. Between 1950 and 1975, the country every decade experienced a 1 year drop. It is possible that the age of menarche will ultimately be lowered by biological factors.
There are several factors that account for the historical and cross-cultural differences when menarche starts (also referred to as the secular trend). Nutrition is the first key factor. Good nutrition is connected to an early menarche onset. Systematic differences in the nutritional intake amounts across chronological time periods and cultural groups may result in considerable differences in the age when menarche starts. Accordingly, girls from countries that are developed begin their menarche at an early age compared to their counterparts who live in the developing countries.
Girls from families whose socio-economic status is high reach menarche much earlier than their counterparts who come from families with a low socio-economic standing. For instance, Nigerian adolescents who lived in the rural areas started menstruating.5 years later than their counterparts who lived in the city of Ibadan and who are considered to be well off. This is primarily because adolescents in the urban areas have access to food that is better in terms of quality. In Cairo, 12 and 13 years is the median age when adolescent girls experience menarche. On the other hand, 14 years is the age at which Egyptian girls in the rural areas start menarche. Menarche is also delayed by severe malnutrition. For instance, adolescents living in the Appalachian mountain areas in the Eastern part of the United States had a menarche mean age of 14.4 years. However, adolescents from the same locality that were well nourished had a menarche mean age of 12.2 years. Evidently, the malnourished adolescents started menarche two years after their healthy counterparts.
Other than nutrition, there are several other factors that are responsible for the cross-cultural differences in the age at which menarche starts. These factors include physical exertion differences and such ecological factors such as altitude. A lot of physical exertion is said to result in menarche starting late. Similarly, adolescents who live in areas where the altitude is high also start their menarche late. Cultural factors are also said to affect different physical development aspects. For instance, several studies that were used to examine the weight and height of late adolescents as well as young adults from numerous cultures throughout the world were put into comparison. He was able to conclude that young adults (20 years) from Netherlands could be the world’s tallest people. While men had a height of 182.0 cm on average, the women had a height of 168.3 cm. Furthermore, the world’s shortest people are the young adult Efe Pygmies from Africa, of between 19 and 29 years. On average have a height of 144.9 cm on average while the women had 136.1 cm. Mayan Indians who live in Guatemala and Aymara Indians who live in Bolivia are also considered to be short. The two groups are poor. What is more, they frequently experience infectious diseases and malnutrition which stunts their physical growth.