During puberty, adolescents experience changes that may affect their sense of self and social interactions. The first change is the growth of sexual organs, when girls have enlarged breasts while boys experience an increase in their male reproductive system. The second change is the growth of hair around the armpits and the pubic area in both boys and girls (Ashford et al., 2017). The other physical change is the appearance of pimples on the skin. These changes lower an individual’s self-esteem as they find it difficult to get used to the new changes due to the fear of being judged by other individuals. As a result, many develop characters of introverts, where they avoid mingling with people.
During puberty, adolescents face different social issues that control how they develop further. Firstly, they may be affected by depression due to extensive emotional damage caused by many adverse thoughts about their bodily changes. The other social issue is searching for identity, where many start thinking about where they belong in terms of adulthood as they feel to have grown, which leads to the peer pressure of doing matters. The third social issue that hits adolescents is changes in esteem (Ashford et al., 2017). For example, boys have high esteem when they experience changes in their voices, while girls may feel shy due to the growth of their chest region.
To support dealing with negative impacts brought by social changes during adolescence, crisis theory can be applied. The theory brings intervention to developmental and existential crises that promotes positivity by allowing youth engagement in various issues that affect their lives (Ashford et al., 2017). In this case, the framework will be useful to foster an upright attitude of acceptance in case a young person fights with social and physical changes that may impact their wellbeing. Through the theory, adolescents can be helped to combat any challenges that may result from puberty.
Reference
Ashford, J., LeCroy, C., & Williams, L. (2017). Empowerment series: Human behavior in the social environment: A multidimensional perspective (6th ed.). Cengage Learning.