ADOLESCENTS PROBLEMS
The word adolescence is derived from the Latin
word adolescere which means ‘to grow’ or
to grow to maturity. This period is considered as a critical period in
development when rapid changes take place. The individual’s physical mental,
social moral and emotional out looks undergo a revolutionary changes. Generally
the period may be laid to begin with puberty , the outset of physical
maturation (12to 14 years) and it terminates when the individual assumes adult
like responsibilities usually between the age of eighteen and twenty. This
stage of development is also regarded as transition period of uniquely dramatic
‘storm and stress’
DEFINITION
Rabindra
Nath Tagore – ‘In the world of human affairs there is no worse nuisance than a
boy at the age of 14. He is neither ornamental nor useful.
Stanley Hall describes the period of adolescence as
a “period of great stress and strain, storm and strife’.
CHARACTERISTICS
OF ADOLESCENCE
1.
It is the most crucial
and significant period in an individual’s
life
2.
It is the period of
rapid revolutionary changes
3.
It is the period during
which human personality develop new dimensions
4.
It is the period of new
learning
5.
It is the period of
anxieties and learning
6.
It is the period of
conflicts and complexity
7.
It is the period of
great, stress and storm
8.
It is the period of
acquiring the attitudes and belief needed for effective participation in
society
9.
It is the period of
self assertion and boldness
10.
It is the period of
self- abasement
11.
It is the period of
self-immolation and of sacrifice
12.
It is the period of
more complex emotions of admiration,
aesthetics,
gratitude, grief, hatred, and shame.
13.
It is the period of
sentiments of moral approval and disapproval
14.
It is the period of becoming independent
15.
It is the period of
great ideals
16.
It is the period of
simple adaptation to life
17.
It is the period when
signs of several maturity begin to occur
18.
It is the period of
nuisance
19.
It is the period of
rapid fluctuation of mood
20.
It is the period of
problems of the stresses and strains of transition
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT DURING
ADOLESCENCE
External changes
1.
Height
2.
Weight
3.
Body proportions –
various parts of the body gradually come in to proportion. The trunk
broadens and lengthens
4.
Muscles grow rapidly
and as a result the body become heavy and handsome.
5.
Sex organs reach their mature size in late adolescence INTERNAL CHANGES
1. Digestive system
The
stomach becomes longer and less tabular.
The muscles in the stomach and intertined walls become thicker and stronger.
2. Circulatory system
The heart grows rapidly. The length and thickness of
the walls of the blood vessels increase
3. Respiratory system
The lung
capacity of girls is almost at a mature level at
17 while for boys it takes several years more to
mature
4. Endocrine system
There is temporary in balance of the entire
endocrine system in early adolescence. The sex glands become functional
5. Body tissues
The skeleton stops growing at about the age of 17.
Tissues other than bones continue to develop after the bones reach their mature
size.
PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPORTANCE
OF PHYSICAL
DEVELOPMENT
1. Care for building a good physical appearance like
standard of living, dress, hair cut etc.
2. Expectation of
appreciations
They
desires that others should praise them
3. Fear of criticisms
This
will develop inferiority complex among them and they avoid taking part in
activities in the school.
4. Educational tension
They
are often in emotions of anger, pleasure or indifference
Emotional development in adolescence
Traditionally adolescence has been thought of as a
period of heightened emotional tension resulting from glandular and other changes. As
adolescent comes under social pressures and faces new conditions for which he
received little training during childhood.
Elizabeth.
B. Hurlock describes the emotional state of the adolescent in these words”
being treated “like a child” or being treated ‘unfairly’ is more likely to make
the adolescent angry than anything else.
The important features
of adolescent emotions are
a.
Adolescent’s emotions
are often intense, uncontrolled and
irrational.
b.
They can express
their emotional feeling in relation to
abstract things
c.
They develop
compitencies to bear the tensions in different
social
situations.
d.
They develop an
increased capacity for sharing emotional experiences with others.
CHIEF CAUSES OF HEIGHTENED EMOTIONS IN THIS PERIOD
1.
Change of roles of the
adolescents in home, school and society from dependence to independent role,
with great responsibility leads to emotional disturbance.
2.
Attitude of the parents
towards adolescents, still treating them
as
children.
3.
High expectation from
the parents, the community and the
society.
4.
Difficulty to adjust
with the members of opposite size.
5.
Political religious and
social controversies
6.
Failure to achieve the
desired success at school.
7.
Too strict discipline
and lack of understanding.
8.
Uncertain future
prospects after completing schooling
SYMPTOMS OF EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCES
Physical Symptoms
Biting the teeth, licking lips, nail biting, pulling
or twisting hair, scratching the head
PSYCHOLOGICAL SYMPTOMS
Aggression,
hyperactivity, in alternation, shyness and withdrawing.
GOOD EFFECTS OF HEIGHTENED EMOTIONS
1.
Fear of failure serve
as a motivator to work hard for the examination
2.
Pent up feelings may
motivate them to read novels see movies and TV etc.
BAD EFFECTS OF HEIGHTENED EMOTIONS
Emotional
tensions affect memory, increase for getting,
disturb learning
ability lead to moodiness, irritability, incousisteracy develop anger and fear.
TRAINING IN EMOTIONS
1.
Proper understanding of
the needs of adolescent
2.
Catering to the
individual differences
3.
Providing appropriate
guidance and counseling in solving personal, educational and vocational
problems, sex guidance sympathetic attitude, creative and constructive
discipline and provision for variety of co-curricular programme.
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
Adolescence
is a period of great intellectual advancement. During this period the individual enters in to Piaget’s stage of
normal operation, which is characterized by the ability to think abstractly.
They
engage in hypothetical deductive reasoning.
CHARACTERISTICS OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
1. Development
of Memory and Imagination
The memory
develops tremendously with the growth in
vocabulary.
They can imagine a situation which is not physically present before them.
2. Development
ability of problem solving
They can solve problems with the help of symbols.
They are able mentally to deal with
events in a world that extends far
beyond their own immediate sphere of activity.
3. Widened ability to communicate with other person
They are seen
arguing for hours on topics of their interest.
4. Identification with
conditions and characters in the larger world
They
have the ability to identity with the circumstance and people outside his own
immediate environment.
5. Development
of Ability to make decisions
They develop
independence in thinking, they have the ability to think about their future.
They can differentiate between ideals and the actual.
6. Development
of moral concepts
The moral concepts become internalized and they are
able to differentiate what is good and what is bad for him.
7. Development
of language
The develop correct pronunciation and good usage and
correct grammar.
8. Widened
the ability to generalize the facts.
The ability to generalize on conceptual level
develops. They can generalize in an abstract way.
9. Widened
ability to understanding
They
develop the ability to see relationship and to solve problems of increasing
complexity and difficulty. His depth of understanding develops.
10. Development
of cause and effect
During
adolescence there is an increase in the number of problems for which they
have adequate answers.
11. Capacity
for inductive and deductive Reasoning
Such
methods of teaching are most popular in school teaching subjects.
12. Ego
development
they have the capacity and courage for the
heroic deeds. Ego development raises the
level of aspirations among the adolescents.
Educational implications of mental development
1.
They should be given
sex education and moral education
to
develop positive and healthy attitude towards the members of opposite sex.
2.
The school should
provide a conducive environment ie,
good
libraries, opportunities for free discussion, community service etc.
3.
They should be given
opportunities for the development of
their creative
abilities through music, dance, arts and crafts.
SEXUAL DEVELOPMENT
A
number of internal and external changes take place in the sexual character is
less of boys and girls at the adolescence stage. The most acceptable measure of
sexual maturity for girls is menarche, the age of first menstruation. Sexual
maturity in boys is determined on the basis of maturity of the public hair and
the ability to produce spermatozoa.
Three different
phases mark the development of sexual urge
at
this stage. These are
1.
Auto eroticism
2.
Homo sexuality
3.
Hetero sexuality
1. Auto
eroticism
They
fail relief by handling his own sex organ.
2. Homo
sexuality
Passionate friendship develops between the members
of the same sex.
3. Hetero
sexuality
Attachment
towards the member of opposite sex.
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
Adolescence
is the period of increased social conforming . The individual becomes self
conscious of his place in the society. During this stage they express a greater
need for independence and strive for
total social freedom from their parents. They make friendship with those who
confirm to their standard and possess the personality trait they like
The
major characteristics of social development during this period are
1.
It is a period of establishing
heterosexual relationship
2.
There is an increased
influence of peer group during adolescence
3.
Group loyalty becomes
very much pronounced during this period.
4.
Co-operation reaches
its peak and sacrifice his own interests for the greater cause of the group.
5.
A feeling of social
responsibility develops and the adolescent is highly critical of social evils
and injustice
CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIAL GROUPINGS
1.
They unusually have two
or three close friends.
2.
They have a marked
influence on one another
3.
They may also quarrel
occasionally
4.
Cliques are usually
made up of groups of close friends
5.
Dating grows
6.
Gangs may be formed and
indulge in antisocial behaviour.
7.
They expect their
leaders to possess certain qualities like energetic, resourceful, emotionally
stable and more extroverted.
EGO IDENTITY,
VALUES AND ALIENATION IN
ADOLESCENCE
Ego identity among
adolescents depends on following factors.
1.
The kinds of parent
child relationship
2.
The previous
identifications that has been develped
3.
The ability to
integrate the identification
4.
His or her new found
sexual maternity.
5.
Aptitudes and skills
developed out of his ability and experience.
6.
The opportunities
offered in social notes.
Establishing a strong – ego identity will be
facilitated of
1)
a sufficient rewarding,
interactive relationship exists between
parent
and child to permit a positive identification with the parent and
2)
the same sex parent
serves as an adequate model for
appropriate
sex role behavior.
VALUES
There are number
of reasons for the heightened covers for the problem of moral values.
1)
Relalistic demands
which requires a reappraisal of his value system
2)
They make choices. They
does not adopt without question
the social or
political beliefs of his parents.
3)
They should be given a
set of guiding moral principles.
4)
They may need to become
engaged in matters of broad
philosophical concern and conflicts about moral values.
5)
They may change one or
more of his moral standards as a result of certain experiences sometimes
traumatic and sometimes involving interpersonal unwanted relations which lead
them to question the consistency of his value system.
ALIENATION
An alienated
individual is one who has the feelings that has
been
out of place of in his own society, family and in his culture. His ideas,
notions attitudes are opposite to the group to which he belongs. The group does
not isolate him , he himself gets
isolated because of his own feelings and attitudes.
MAIN CAUSES OF ALIENATION
1. Developmental
estrangements
It is a sense of alienation or loss that comes with
the abandonment of childish ties to one’s parents
2. Sense of estrangements
It
originates from what is felt to be one’s real self or the demands of society,
the individual feels that some how he has lost touch with his real self and
that much of what he does is empty, flat and devoid of meaning.
3. Common disillusionment
They
share a common disillusionment with the goals values practices and
accomplishments of contemporary society.
4. Economic Deprivation
and Ethnic Discrimination
In the case of lower class adolescents who have
suffered economic deprivation and ethic discrimination the abrivation may be
imposed by society from outside.
Proper education for social development
Social status of
the adolescent rises when he learns some
fruitful
practical art possession of the spirit
of forgiveness, social service and discharging of other social responsibilities
are indications of good social adjustment.
Parents
as well as teachers should develop quality of self dependence and self
introspection among the adolescents which are very essential for good social
adjustment.
It
becomes the responsibility of the teacher to train the art of living and helps
them to understand inter relationship and intra relationship
Group
activities, group games, play activities, scouting and guiding may be organized
and should be assigned responsibilities to organize various co curricular
activities and parents should give responsibilities at home.
It is very important that excursions and tours
should be organized in the schools.
PROPER EDUCATION
FOR EMOTIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
It is the responsibility as well as duty of the
teacher to redirect lower types of emotions.
Teachers and parents should try to locate who are
automatically disturbed.
Teachers should find
the causes of their disturbance and refer them to counsellor and
guidance
Teachers should create a congenial environment for
the proper development of emotions.
Teachers should
lead the emotions to form the sentiments of
patriotism,
nationalism, citizenship and self reliance.
EDUCATION FOR
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
The
teacher should plan for the maximum cognitive development of the adolescent. He
should plan keeping in view the following points.
1.
It should be according
to their chronological age, mental age,
ability
and aptitude of the pupils.
2.
Teacher should plan his
lesson on the basis of the behavioural objectives given by Bloom
3.
Excursions and tours
should be organized to the places of
historical,
anthropological, scientifical and for geographical importance. This will
satisfy their need of curiosity and need of observation.
4.
Academic activities
should be organized to realize their talent,
fulfil
their fantasy and enrich their imagination.
EDUCATION FOR DEVELOPING PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE
The teachers and parents should help them in
formulating their own sound philosophy of life which may prove helpful in
leading their future life without being maladjusted.
They should be
encouraged to accept democratic way of
life in all their
activities.
PROPER SEX EDUCATION
It
should be clearly explained to them the structures and functions of the sex
organs their importance in reproduction and it is a normal stage of development
and they should not be disturbed with this change.
Teachers
and parents should be very cautious and
to look after to this sex instinct in education and they should provide
knowledge of the sex and sex education.
Some of the educators advocated that co-education is
one of the remedies to pacify sex curiosity
PROPER
EDUCATION ON MORALITY AND
CHARACTER
It
is an important characteristic of an adolescent to be an idealist. The
opportunities should be provided by the parents and teachers to learn more code
of conduct of society and imitate the ideal moral traits of greatmen.
PROPER EDUCATION FOR EDUCATIONAL AND
VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE
The
adolescent has to select a particular vocation in his later life. He needs
guidance before selecting any curriculum for the study.
It is the responsibility of the school activity to
provide facilities for educational and vocational guidance.
EDUCATION FOR INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
Education at
this stage should be given in accordance with
individual difference
as they have differences in intelligence, aptitude, interest, attitude, social,
and emotional maturity and sex.
The course and curriculum should be so recognized and arranged that they get
maximum benefit.
NEEDS OF ADOLESCENCE
They
are divided in to two categories
1.
primary needs and
2.
secondary needs
1. primary needs
They include the need for sex like need for oxygen,
need for water and food, and need for rest and sleep.
2. Secondary
needs or socio-psychological Needs
1.
need for security
2.
need for love
3.
need for recognition
and approval
4.
need for achievement
5.
need for freedom and
independence
6.
need for self
expression
ROLE OF SCHOOL
IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF
ADOLESCENT
1. Transformation
in to activity school
The
secondary and senior secondary school must be transformed in to an activity
school because activity has been irresistable
appeal for every normal child and in his natural path to the goal of
knowledge and culture.
2.
Training in the Art of
living together
3.
Development of child’s
Entire personality
4.
Provision of a
stimulating interest
Which will
evoke their manifold interact and make life a matter of joyful experience
5.
Recognition of
individual differences
6.
Responsibility for
moral education
7.
Responsibility for
vocational education
8.
Freedom for self
development
9.
Development of a
scientific attitude
10.
Value of
interdependence
11.
Satisfaction of the urge for practical
activity
12.
Programme of personal
education and vocational guidance
13.
Renter proper sex
education
14.
Provision for physical exercise activities in school
curriculum
ROLE OF TEACHERS
1.
Understanding the
nature of adolescent
2.
Becoming good
counsilers
3.
Maintenance of
emotional balance
Good mental health is an essential requisite for
good teaching. Maladjustement between
teachers and pupils are caused when teachers administer punishments in anger or
without sufficient cause.
4.
Give opportunities for
self study and self expression since they demand independence
5.
Guided discovery should
be the basis of teaching and learning
6.
Provision for work
experience, manual work physical
training
etc
to channelize their energy.
7.
Provide opportunities
for group discussion, literary activities, club activities etc, to meet his
social and intellectual requirements.
8.
Proper character,
desirable habits, appreciable values and
right attitudes can be encouraged by making them read about great men of
history.
DEVELOPMENTAL PROBLEMS OF
ADOLESCENTS IN INDIA
1.
Perplexity with regard
to somatic variation
They
develop tension towards various somatic variations like puberty
2.
Problems related with
intensification of sex-consciousness
3.
Child hood-adulthood
conflict- neither child nor adult
4.
Adjustment difficulties
with parents
Desire for
independence obstructed by parentail opposition
5. Adjustment difficulties
with the community
Increasing
social isolation and rapid technological changes
6.
Adjustment difficulties with social discipline unquestioning obedience in the
school.
7. Financial
problems
Parents
are stingy in providing money for extra activities of their children.
8. Problem
of freedom and liberty
They move away from parents and make company with
peer group. Parents do not provide freedom and liberty to children
9. Conflict
between parental aspirations and aspirations of the children
Should understand interest, ability etc. But parents
have high aspirations regarding achievement of children.
10. Classroom conflict
Rigid,
autocratic and conservative teachers leads to classroom conflict
11. Health adjustment
Adolescent with under
developed and over developed physique, handicaps, diseases etc. develop various
complexes and they found isolated in a group.
12. Heterosexual adjustment problems
Unnecessary
restrictions from parents and teachers, inflated stories and unscientific
information provided by films and magazines.
13. OCCUPATIONAL
PROBLEMS
Uncertainty for
future vocation when he sees thousands of unemployed youth, his mind gets
agitated and becomes rebellious and unrest
No comments:
Post a Comment