Adolescence, which extends from the time the individual, becomes sexually mature until eighteen – the age

of legal maturity – is divided into -----

Early Adolescence – which extends to seventeen years.
Late Adolescence – which extends until legal maturity.
It is characteristically an important period of the life span, a transitional period, a time of change, a
problem age, a time when the individual searches for identity, a dreaded age, a time of unrealism and the
threshold of adult hood.

Because mastery of the developmental tasks of adolescence requires major changes in children’s habitual
attitudes & patterns of behaviour, many adolescents reach legal maturity with mastery of some of these
developmental tasks unfinished and, as a result, they may carry much unfinished business into adulthood.
Even though the physical growth is far from complete when puberty ends, its rate slackens in
adolescence and much of the change that occurs then is internal rather than the external. When physical
growth will be complete is influenced by sex & age of maturing, thus causing many concerns for boys &
girls.

While, traditionally, adolescence is a period of heightened emotionally, a time of ‘storm and stress’,
there is little evidence that this is universal or is as pronounced and persistent as is popularly believed. The
important social changes in adolescence include increased peer-group influence, more mature
patterns of social behaviour, new social groupings & new values of selection friends & leaders
and values in social acceptance.

The most important and important universal interests of today’s adolescence fall into 07 major
categories ----
Recreational interests.
Personal interests.
Social interests.
Educational interests.
Vocational interests.
Religious interests.
Interests in status symbols.

The major changes in morality during adolescence consists of replacing specific moral concepts with
generalized moral concepts of right & wrong; the building of a moral code based on individual moral
principles and the control of behaviour through the development of a conscience.

Sex interest & behaviour, which centre on heterosexuality, have two separate and distinct elements.
First, the development of a pattern of behaviour involving members of the two sexes and, second, the
development of attitudes relating to relationships between the two sexes. These differ from adolescent
heterosexuality in the past in 02 respects ----
ï 1ST – the stages in heterosexual behaviour are more telescoped today than in the past.
ï 2ND – there is greater permissiveness in sexual behaviour.

There are a number of effects of sex-role typing on adolescents. The most important of which are -----
feelings of masculine supremacy, sex bias, underachievement in activities regarded as sex-inappropriate and
fear of success on the part of adolescent girls because of the possibility of facing the stigma of sex-
inappropriateness. Relationships between adolescents and members of their families tend to deteriorate in
early adolescence – though these relationships often improve as adolescences draw to a close, especially
among adolescent girls and their family members. While most adolescents are anxious to improve their
personalities in the hope of advancing their status in the social group, many of the conditions influencing
their self-concepts are beyond their control.

Among the physical hazards of adolescence, suicide is becoming increasingly frequent and serious;
though other physical hazards, such as awkwardness, a sex-inappropriate body built and homeliness are too
common to be overlooked.

The major psychological hazards of adolescence centre on failure to make the transition to
maturity – which is the most important developmental tasks of adolescence. This failure is often due to
obstacles over which adolescents have little or no control.
 The areas in which immaturity, due to failure to make the transition to more mature behaviour, are
especially common are social, sexual and moral behaviour – and immaturity in family relationships. When
immaturity is pronounced, it leads to self-rejection with its damaging effects on personal & social
adjustments. Most adults remember adolescence as an unhappy age. Studies of adolescence have revealed
that this is truer of early than of late adolescence.