#Adolescence #definition #age #body
Difficult age, adolescent in crisis… The collective imagination maintains a representation of adolescence that hides very different situations from one individual to another. However, adolescence remains for everyone an age of profound physiological and psychological changes.
Definition: What is adolescence?
According to Le Robert dictionary, adolescence is the age after puberty and before adulthood. “Adolescence begins with puberty but differs from it because it is presented as a psychosocial phenomenon, typical of the human species, while puberty is a biological phenomenon, common to men and animals. Puberty appears constantly, throughout history, as a period of natural transformation of the human organism. Starting from this phenomenon, simple in itself, societies and times have conceptualized another period of highly variable duration, ‘adolescence’, during which all biological manifestations, ambiguities, and psychological and social concerns mingle“, defines the psychologist Diana Dadoorian.
At what age does adolescence begin and end?
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) definition, “Adolescence is the period of life between childhood and adulthood, that is, between 10 and 19 years old.
What are the characteristics of adolescence?
“Adolescents experience rapid physical growth and cognitive and psychological development”, further specifies the WHO. From the point of view of personality, adolescence is characterized by profound psychic changes. “The characteristics of adolescence are bodily and psychological changes. In this last point, we observe the opposition phase, assertiveness phase and independence phase. Classic changes, which must be accompanied but should not be dramatized“, warns Faïza Bossy, a general practitioner.
What changes in the body during adolescence?
Puberty marks the beginning of adolescence. During this transitional period, the body passes from the state of a child to that of an adult. The main changes, under the influence of hormones, are:
► The appearance of secondary sexual characteristics (breast development, hair growth, muscular system)
► The rapid evolution of primary sexual characteristics (change in the appearance of the vulva in girls, development of the penis and testicles in boys)
► The arrival of first period to the girl
► The change voice and the first cumshots in boys
► One rapid growth and a body development
What are the symptoms of adolescent crisis?
“Since mood swings, lack of self-confidence, a emotionality They are common in adolescents. These attitudes can be linked to hormonal and physical changes, which affect character. In addition, adolescents are often torn between the desire for greater autonomy and the fear of no longer being protected by their parents. In addition, he tends to spend more time alone, challenge adult authoritysometimes aggressively engage in risky behavior“, details the Social Security. “Adolescence is, in effect, a period of life in which unprecedented changes take place in the subject’s history.“, summarizes the psychologist François Marty. However, if the fragility of adolescence is very real, the adolescent crisis, is not a required passage.
Serious adolescent crisis is still a fairly rare phenomenon.
“It is very clear that since bodily modifications are very significant, when psychic changes imply a need for autonomy and a need to assert one’s own identity, all of this, of course, will lead to a change in behavior. But each teenager will adapt in her own way. Therefore, severe adolescent crisis is still a rather rare phenomenon.“, explains Faïza Bossy and adds: “a teenager who wants more independence, sometimes opposes his parents, this seems quite classic in the process of development and self-assertion. On the contrary, he is important not to be alone to overcome this transition phase and the rapid and profound changes that accompany it”.
What to do in case of problems in adolescence?
Parents: attachment figures, family structure plays a supporting role to reassure the adolescent who is going through profound and numerous changes. However, if there is a deep malaise, if the adolescent puts himself in danger and his physical and / or mental health is at stake, it should also be accompanied by a health professional.
Thanks to Dr. Faïza Bossy, general practitioner in Paris.