Psychological characteristics of adolescence

Psychological characteristics of adolescence

In adolescence, pathological reactions associated with the development of mental illnesses can noticeably worsen. Experts believe that the risk of onset of schizophrenia in adolescence is 3-4 times higher than throughout the rest of life. On the other hand, adolescence is also distinguished by many positive factors: the child’s autonomy and independence increases, the desire for recognition of his rights by other people, his conscious attitude towards himself as a member of society is formed, and the scope of his activities expands significantly. Thus, the ability to reflect, formed in educational activities at primary school age, is “directed” by the student, first of all, towards himself. A teenager, comparing himself with adults and with younger children, comes to the conclusion that he is no longer a child, but rather an adult. Feelings of adulthood are a psychological symptom of the onset of adolescence. The teenager begins to feel like an adult and wants those around him to recognize his independence and importance. But a schoolchild, as a rule, cannot fulfill this need for serious activity. Hence the desire for “external adulthood”: smoking, drinking alcohol, using cosmetics, exaggerated interest in gender issues, copying methods of entertainment and courtship, imitating adults in clothing and hairstyle. The opposite of external adulthood is the so-called social adulthood, which often arises in single-parent families, where a child, due to circumstances, is forced to actually take the place of an adult, and then adolescents strive to master useful practical skills and provide real support and assistance to adults. But, unfortunately, the first type of adulthood still dominates in our society. And intellectual maturity, associated in a teenager with the development of stable cognitive interests, with the emergence of self-education as a teaching that goes beyond the scope of the school curriculum, is becoming less and less observed. But, nevertheless, the teenager continues to remain a schoolchild, educational activities remain relevant, although, it should be noted, psychologically recedes into the background. At this age, communication with peers acquires paramount importance, so intimate and personal communication becomes the leading activity of this age. The main need of adolescence - to find one's place in society, to be significant - is realized in a community of peers. If a teenager cannot take a satisfying place in the communication system in the classroom, he “leaves school both psychologically and even literally.” I would like to give an example from my own life. When my cousin was in her teens, her parents got a new apartment and she started going to a different school. But it so happened that the class did not accept her, and she simply stopped going to school. She carefully hid this from her parents, that is, in the morning she got ready for school, as usual, and walked all day (although at the old school she studied “excellently” and was an exemplary, obedient girl). All this, of course, was soon discovered. But she firmly set a condition for her parents: either she returns to her old school, or stops going to school altogether. The parents, in order not to completely lose their daughter, were forced to agree with the second option. It is during adolescence that the search for friends, sorting out relationships, conflicts and reconciliations, and changing companies become an independent area of ​​inner life. The passionate desire to have a faithful close friend coexists in adolescents with a feverish change of friends, the ability to be instantly charmed and just as quickly disappointed in former friends for life. But along with friendship, true friendship arises, and first loves begin. The external manifestations of a teenager’s behavior are also very contradictory. On the one hand, the desire to be the same as everyone else at all costs; on the other hand, the desire to stand out, to distinguish oneself at any cost. On the one hand, the desire to earn the respect and authority of comrades, on the other hand, flaunting one’s own shortcomings. Often, even the basis for deterioration in academic performance is a violation of communication with peers. The main value of a grade for teenagers is that it gives them the opportunity to occupy a higher position in the class. If the same position can be achieved through the manifestation of other qualities, the significance of the mark decreases. Children also perceive their teachers through the prism of public opinion of the class. Therefore, teenagers often come into conflict with teachers, violate discipline and, feeling the tacit approval of their classmates, do not experience unpleasant subjective experiences. It should be noted that at this age in a teacher, personal qualities (such as kindness, justice, decency, the ability to understand, sympathize, empathize) are valued more than intellectual ones. Let me give you an example from my own life. We had a math teacher at our school. Our entire 7th grade class was in love with her. But one day my class and I went to the cinema. We stood at the bus stop and waited for a long time for the bus. The math girl came up. And then a bus arrived, and a crowd gathered at the entrance. We have witnessed such a picture. The teacher pushed aside all the passengers, even women with children, and climbed safely onto the bus herself. After this incident, she “fell” from the pedestal we had erected. In addition to all the previously listed features of adolescence, the following behavioral reactions characteristic of adolescents can be noted:

1. The refusal reaction is expressed in the refusal of usual forms of behavior: contacts, household duties, study. The reason most often is a sharp change in usual living conditions: separation from family, change of school, divorce of parents.
2. The reaction of protest is manifested in the opposition of one’s behavior to the required one: in demonstrative bravado, in absenteeism, escapes, thefts, and even absurd, at first glance, actions performed as protests.
3. The imitation response usually manifests itself in imitation. For adolescents, their role model most often becomes an adult who, with one or another quality, appeals to their ideals. It is no coincidence that the walls in a teenager’s room are often covered with photographs of singers, athletes, and movie characters.
4. The compensation reaction is expressed in the desire to make up for one's failure in one area with success in another. Most often, underachieving teenagers who bully are trying to gain authority from their classmates with rude, defiant antics.
5. The overcompensation reaction is caused by the teenager’s desire to achieve success precisely in the area in which he shows the greatest failure. Thus, a physically weak teenager persistently strives for sports achievements, while a shy and vulnerable one strives for social activities.
6. The emancipation reaction is expressed in the teenager’s desire for independence, for liberation from the care of adults. Under unfavorable conditions, this could be running away from home, school, affective outbursts against parents and teachers.
7. The grouping reaction most often manifests itself when a teenager does not meet with understanding among his close circle. A teenager begins to realize himself and assert himself in teenage companies, informal groups with a certain style of behavior and a system of intra-group relationships with their leader. Unfortunately, in the process of spontaneous group communication, adolescents acquire a stable character of aggressiveness, cruelty, increased anxiety, and isolation.
8. Infatuation reaction. Passion for sports, desire for leadership, gambling, and a passion for collecting are typical for teenage boys. Activities motivated by the desire to attract attention (participation in amateur performances, a passion for extravagant clothing) are more typical for girls. Intellectual and aesthetic hobbies, reflecting a deep interest in a particular subject, can be observed in adolescents of both sexes.
9. Reactions caused by emerging sexual desire (increased interest in sexual problems, early sexual activity).

It should be noted that, although problems in relationships with parents and conflicts with teachers are a typical phenomenon for a teenager, the teenager’s attitude towards an adult is complex and ambivalent.
An adult is important and significant for a teenager; he still needs his help, protection and support, his assessment, but protests against the preservation of “childish forms” of control, the requirement of obedience, and expressed guardianship in the practice of education. However, the strength, frequency, and severity of manifestations of conflicts largely depend on the position of adults, on the style of family education, on the ability to implement respectful, but not condoning tactics in relation to the behavior of a teenager. A necessary and mandatory condition for a successful relationship between a teenager and an adult is the expansion of the sphere of cooperation, mutual assistance and trust, best of all - on the initiative of an adult. This is especially important during a crisis period, when there is a sharp change in the entire system of a teenager’s experiences, its structure and content. 13 years is the turning point of the crisis. This age is characterized by instability of mood, physical condition and well-being, contradictory motives, vulnerability, and depressive experiences. The “affect of inadequacy”, which is often found in adolescents (an emotional reaction of great strength for an insignificant reason), is associated with the contradiction between the adolescent’s low self-esteem and a high level of aspirations. Adolescence is the period of the most intense personal development of a child, which manifests itself, first of all, in interest in one’s own personality. Since a teenager is most interested in himself and the psychophysiological changes happening to him, he intensively analyzes and evaluates himself. The “imaginary audience” phenomenon consists of the belief that he is constantly surrounded by certain spectators, and he seems to be on stage all the time. At the same time, he has the illusion that other people are concerned about the same thing, that is, they are constantly evaluating his behavior, appearance, way of thinking and feeling. “Personal myth” is a belief in the uniqueness of one’s own feelings of suffering, love, hatred, shame, based on a focus on one’s own experiences. By the end of adolescence, a fairly developed self-awareness develops. There is a gradual transition from assessment borrowed from adults to self-esteem; there is a desire for self-expression, self-affirmation, self-realization, self-education, to the formation of positive qualities and overcoming negative ones (overcome laziness, develop courage). The ability to formulate long-term goals gives new meaning to educational activities. Social, psychological and personal self-determination is completed outside of school age, on average between 18 and 21 years. Literature: Kagermazova L.Ts. Developmental psychology (developmental psychology). Electronic textbook// https://kpip.kbsu.ru/eluch/vozr_psih.doc About the author: Tukubayeva Ilsiyar Amirovna, Deputy Director for Education and Resource Management of Interschool Training Center No. 1, teacher of the 1st qualification category.

4.3.3.Teenager and media

Modern media carry extremely diverse, multifaceted information without taking into account the characteristics of the audience.

Diagram 3. Sources of information for schoolchildren

Our survey showed that students use the Internet as the main source of information about events in the world. 80% of respondents indicated that they receive information about world events through the Internet, 8% from radio and 54% through television.

The survey found that high school students get their news from a variety of news sites. All the major news sites have the same amount of traffic from high school students.

In educational terms, researchers identify the following functions of the media as significant:

• Recreational (defines leisure time, both group and individual);
• Relaxation - relieves the feeling of loneliness, serves as a means of distraction in case of complications in communication.
• Information and educational - Print, television, radio, cinema are focused on the need of people to obtain a variety of facts and data about interesting phenomena and social events.
• Normative - With the help of the media, norms and patterns of behavior in society are promoted, a system of values ​​is approved, in this regard, the media act as an important social regulator of people's life.
• Integrative - The media unite the masses around ideas, contribute to the formation of common views, positions, assessments of certain events among people and create a psychological tone in society.
• Entertainment-compensatory - Relaxing in front of a TV screen, in a movie, with a magazine in your hands allows you to relax after a working or school day, change your emotional background and at the same time get a charge of vivid sensations and impressions that are missing in real life. This function of the media is especially significant for adolescence and young adulthood.
• Background - Radio, television, sound recordings allow many people to avoid loneliness.

The results of numerous studies allow us to conclude that the impact of information technology on humans has not been fully studied. In recent decades, the interest of many scientists has been drawn to the problem of the impact of television on teenagers, who spend a lot of time watching TV shows, movies and advertising. These television and video products are replete with various effective techniques for persuasion and imposition of a certain opinion - sound, music, bright images, the image of idols, actors, slogans, vocabulary of modern youth, fashionable life and others. Unlike an adult, a teenager cannot always classify incoming information into “good” and “bad.” Scenes of violence that abound on many television channels gradually lead to the fact that human life in the eyes of a mentally fragile teenager is devalued.

The psyche of a teenager during this period is very unstable, so he cannot always objectively assess the situation offered by these programs. A young man copies the actions of on-screen characters, transfers them into his life, thereby forming and developing interests, ideals, relationships with others, attitude towards the world and its values, based on the actions of the characters on the screen.

Assessing your own appearance

Doubts about one's own attractiveness are a typical problem for teenage girls. Any flaw in appearance, objective or fictitious, becomes a source of complexes. Regardless of what natural qualities a daughter has, her parents should support the belief that she is the most beautiful. And under no circumstances should you make fun of your shortcomings. Any feature of appearance should be presented as a highlight, a feature of personal charm.

A mother, older sister or friend becomes a guide to the world of beauty and fashion.

She tells how to use cosmetics, choose beautiful and trendy outfits and accessories. It is important to instill in a girl the skill of taking care of herself, playing sports, eating right, and maintaining hygiene.

Brain Development

According to neuroscience research, the brain of a young child is very plastic. This allows the baby to quickly adapt to external conditions, actively grow and develop. Plasticity decreases every year, but in adolescence (from 10 to 15 years) it is still quite high. This period is the last opportunity to create new and strengthen existing neural connections that will determine the rest of a person’s life.

What is instilled in a teenager at this time will remain with him forever. That is why it is important in what environment a child grows up, what principles and norms are instilled in him.

It is extremely important for girls in puberty to be given the correct guidelines that will guide her throughout her life. These are the principles of independence, self-respect, the basics of emotional intelligence, healthy self-esteem, ambition, etc.

How to help an 11-year-old child develop: attention, memory, speech

A child needs to be developed in three directions: physical, intellectual and creative. When a child goes to clubs and sections, he is in the company of people with similar interests, this improves his communication skills, expands his social circle and worldview. Joint games with parents will be useful. They bring you closer and allow you to build trusting relationships.

Body change

In her book “On the Side of the Teenager,” F. Dolto wrote: “We can say that we are born twice: the first time to exist, the second to live; the first time we find ourselves in space, the second time we find gender.” The girls are surprised to observe the metamorphoses that occur in their bodies. It is actively growing, the face loses its usual childlike contours, cheekbones stand out, and a clearer contour appears at the chin and lips.

Breasts begin to grow. This process is painful both from a physiological and psychological point of view. Girls even try to wear baggy clothes to hide their growing breasts. Any touch to her causes discomfort, the child slouches and becomes irritable. It is very important to choose the right teenage underwear made from soft fabric without seams to reduce discomfort.

Menarche - first menstruation

11-12 years is the time of the first menstruation. The mother’s task is to prepare her daughter for this event. Tell us why it happens and how to maintain hygiene during menstruation. If in the first days of menstruation the child feels severe pain in the abdomen, the gynecologist will select safe painkillers.

Height and weight standards for children 11 years old

The height and weight standards for girls 11 years old are presented in the table below:

⠀ The height and weight standards for boys 11 years old are presented in the table below:

⠀ You can calculate the body mass index and identify deviations using the formula: BMI = body weight (kg): height (m)2. Below is a table of results:

⠀

First love

Short-term romantic interests (fleeting crushes) develop into a desire to find true love. If earlier the objects of passion could change three times a week, then by the age of 15-16 a girl is already more conscious about her chosen one. Her emotional attachment is so strong that it consumes all thoughts and feelings. For her, literally only HE exists. And parents, girlfriends, school remain somewhere in the background.

Romantic relationships inspire a girl to be creative. She writes poetry and stories, composes music, and draws pictures. Her works are still childishly imperfect, but they carry powerful energy. This is how the girl realizes her inner potential, which love gives her.

The fragility and tenderness of first feelings is something that must be protected and respected. First of all, to the girl’s parents. If they forbid her to see her lover, she should be prepared for rebellion, depression, hysterics, leaving home and, in difficult cases, suicide attempts.

Symptoms

Parents can pay attention to suspicious behavioral traits of the child and contact a psychologist. Also, a teenager can independently complain about certain problems.

Early symptoms of disorders:

• isolation, social phobia;
• constant irritability, aggression;
• taking alcohol, drugs;
• insomnia or hypersomnia;
• constant weakness and fatigue;
• conflict behavior;
• sexual promiscuity;
• lack of a critical attitude towards oneself and one’s actions;
• constant fears, worries;
• self-harm, including minor cutting;
• decreased physical activity.

Not all of the above symptoms can be associated with mental illness. Some symptoms may indicate an incorrect diet, hypovitaminosis and the presence of a metabolic disease.

Causes of diseases

Since during puberty people often experience the first signs of mental disorders, it is necessary to consider the possible causes and prerequisites for such ailments. One of the main aspects is heredity, since genetic mutations transmitted from parents can affect the psycho-emotional development of a teenager. Endogenous influences, including hormonal characteristics, should also be taken into account. The main cause of most mental illnesses is an imbalance of neurotransmitters in the brain.

Possible risk factors:

1. Psychotraumatic circumstances, such as bullying, parental violence, molestation. Tragic events experienced during puberty can leave a mark on a person’s personality for the rest of their life.
2. The influence of surrounding people. Due to their impressiveness and impulsiveness, girls and boys often develop unhealthy tendencies during puberty. Often we are talking about criminal tendencies and bad habits.
3. Unfavorable family conditions, such as: poverty, poor sanitation and parental conditions. Even if only one parent suffers from alcoholism, the risk of “passing on” such a bad habit is quite high.
4. A crisis in relationships with peers caused by self-doubt and anxiety.
5. The appearance of complexes associated with appearance and living conditions.
6. Difficulties in mutual understanding between children and parents. Typically, the most difficult relationships between generations in a family arise precisely when children grow up.

Contacting a psychologist may be advisable if several such risk factors are detected in a teenager.