Adolescence is the development of a child from childhood to adulthood. Changes are noted as the child grows, such as sexual characteristics. Girls start to grow breasts, public and armpit hair, and menstrual periods; the full development is attained at the age of 18.
Boys’ testicles and scrotum enlarges and the penis enlarges in size, and the full development of boys’ reproductive parts is attained at the age of 16 to 17 years. These developments are influenced by environmental and genetic factors.
Physical Development
According to Smith & Cowie (2005), environmental factors such as nutrition can determine how the child will grow. Adolescents should be given a balanced diet because their rapid growth makes them crave for calories, but if calories intake is exceeded, they are likely to develop weight problems.
For example, identical twins with same genes growing in different environments are likely to have different heights or physical appearance. According to the University of United Nations, this may be due to nutrition which affects the growth of bones, the body size, and can also delay the body growth.
Regular exercises are essential in youngster’s development. Those who spend their time playing or engaging in vigorous activities are likely to have stronger bones than those who spend their time watching televisions, thus their bone growth is likely to be impaired. Likewise, chronic illness also affects the child’s growth.
Childs genetics influences how he/she will grow physically. Genetics have a big effect on the growth rate and the size of body parts. For instance, Doctor Stefan Czerwinski did a study for genetics for 30 years and concluded that when both height and weight of a child’s parents is measured, it is easy to approximate the child’s height and weight at the age of thirty.
If a child’s parents are short, he/she is likely to grow short even if the age mates look taller. Other factors include the body mass, percentage of body fat and body muscles. Physical characteristics such as facial and body developments are likely to cause different reactions from people.
Additionally, healthy and attractive children are more likely to be favored than the less attractive ones with slim bodies. Furthermore, a youngster who comes from a family with a history of schizophrenia is likely to develop the hereditary disease, especially if the environment in which he/she lives is easy to contaminate (Bronfen, 2000).
Cognitive Development
Bronfen (2000) argues that physical activity helps the brain to function properly. Exercises can help improve cognition and academic performance. The effects of the physical activity on cognition and brain function have been shown at the molecular, cellular, organ system, and behavior levels, which points out that exercises may lead to increase in both physical and mental health during child development.
Exercise helps adolescents to improve their memory, neuroprotection and lessen chances of depression. They support neurogenesis, metabolism, and vascular functions. It also alleviates diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease, which may lead to inflammation of the brain which can impair its growth.
Eyes development is another factor because it depends on which environment the child grows. A youngster with teary eyes, maybe due to dietary deficiency causes the child to strain and is not able to learn more as compared to his age mates. This may be due to spending a lot of time on computers, which may lead to eye fatigue and as they play, foreign objects such as dirt and bacteria may impair their vision.
Genders roles in the society also determine the youngsters learning capabilities. Girls tend to be interested in learning female related activities such as soft labor – for example, baby care. Boys learn activities that are related to hard labor. However, girls and boys who have been taught to do both male and female tasks, normally called the androgynous, are able to do hard labor, with the girls being able to fix cars and boys able to do home chores.
Adolescents who are brought up in wealthy and loving families are likely to be mentally stable and are able to develop good domestic and learning skills. These children regard ability as an acquirable skill and hence, they are capable of increasing it by gaining more knowledge. They regard error as natural and are able to learn through mistakes. They are capable of handling difficulties and do not compare their personal achievements with others.
Youngsters who go through tough experiences, for example, orphans have poor mental development. The issue of their parent’s death can lead to unhealthy mental development. Such children have negative attitude about life and are not focused on their studies.
Similarly, the training and experience to which an adolescent is exposed determines who he/she will become. A delay in cognitive development of a youngster becomes problematic especially in societies that value cognitive skills for work and self-determined life. In essence, culture and environmental factors are the results of differences in cognitive achievements (Smith & Cowie, 2005).
Social, Moral, and Personality Development
There are many behaviors that cause differences between people. These behaviors include emotions and thoughts and are sometimes caused by environmental and heredity factors. Environmental factors are helpful in formation of characters attitudes.
Adolescents show different attitudes in same conditions and this depends on the learning environment where the child was brought up. The family where the child grew is an important factor in formation of a personality. Children who come from a family of independent parents are likely to grow with the same independence, self trust, and self control, and with a lot of creativity (Berk, 2004).
Adolescents who come from a family where parents are authoritative are likely to be shy and anxious. These youngsters also become dependent and with little or no self control. More so, an adolescent who have been brought up in a family with a single parent is affected because in case of the absence of a mother, the child is likely to be shy and dependent.
The father’s absence differs in both boys and girls. Girls are likely to be more dependent, but with an aggressive personality, especially when dealing with boys. In case of parents divorce, adolescent girls become anxious about their relationship with boys.
Moreover, birth order affects the development of an adolescent because elder children have good leadership characteristics and tend to be successful. Middle children are likely to be rebellious whereas lastborns are likely to be spoilt, and experience insufficient emotions.
Berk (2004) affirms that social developments are affected by the culture from which an adolescent come from. People from different cultures have their own believes, merits, morals, and attitudes. The first source of socialization for adolescents is parents. If the youngster’s parents had unsocial behavior, they are likely to behave the same, especially in groups.
In this regard, Freud’s Theory about personality is divided into three. The first is the topographic theory, which divides the psychological structure into consciousness, pre-consciousness, and unconsciousness. They express how much the individuals are aware of mental activities that they do.
Second, in structural theory, personality is formed by the primitive personality of birth, ego which is a sensibility for logic, behaviors and controlling consciousness. Third, Superego is the ethnical and personality judgment which depends on the rules of the family and society.
According to Treyt Moral theory, each person has an ethical judgment on good or evil. These judgments determine an individual’s self behaviors and acts. These morals are determined by the environmental and society where an individual has been brought up. In order for a person to live peacefully, he/she must adopt and follow the rules which he/she esteemed.
In Carl Jung’s Social theory, individual’s personalities, such as being an extrovert and introvert shows individuals interest of self and others. According to Jung, introverts are shy and find it hard to make friends, while extroverts are confident and hence get friends easily (Bronfen, 2000). Thus, these three theories help explain the mentioned moral, social, and personality factors.
In conclusion, adolescence is a stage of remarkable physical changes and cognitive development; adolescents’ bodies establish and mature sexually, together with their minds engaging in advanced thinking, which include metacognition, speculative, and intense introspection.
These changes affect social and psychological development. Parents, teachers and the whole society should be ready to accommodate adolescents and teach them because it is a temporary stage with many changes, especially in cases where these youngsters feel they are special and above the laws.
This might lead to risky behaviors, such as drug abuse and having unprotected sex while they try to engage into intimate relationships with the push to discover who they are in the society and in the world. Therefore, the society must educate and protect adolescent because it has a greater influence on adolescents’ physical and cognitive development.
References
Berk, L. E. (2004). Infants, Children, Adolescents Development Theories. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.
Bronfen, B. (2000). The Ecology of Human Development: Experiments by nature and Design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Smith P.K. & Cowie, H. (2005). Understanding Adolescents Development, Basic Psychology (4th ed.). New York: McGraw Hill.