Definitions of Adolescence by Various Authors
Introduction
Adolescence has long been recognized as a period of heightened risk-taking and, accordingly, a stage that requires special oversight from adults. Nevertheless, expectations regarding this period and views of how adolescents should be treated have varied. A common subject of social commentary in the United States is that young people today begin adolescence too early and leave it too late. The decline in the age of onset of menarche for girls from approximately age 17 in 1830 to just under age 13 by the middle of the twentieth century (Susman et al., 2010) as well as the challenges of achieving financial independence in the current U.S. economy both support the idea of protracted adolescence. This idea that adolescents undergo a protracted period of development is not unique to modern times, however. As early as 1563 an English statute decreed that all craftsmen should complete an apprenticeship of at least 7 years because “until a man grows into 23 years, he for the most part, though not always, is wild, without judgment and not of sufficient experience to govern himself” (Hibbert, 1987).
Definitions of Adolescence by Various Authors
World Health Organization (WHO) defines adolescence as a phase of life between 10-19 years of age characterized by physical growth, emotional, psychosocial, and behavioral changes, thus, bringing about transformation from childhood to adulthood. These changes usually occur a year or two earlier in girls than boys. Some of the changes are externally visible and some are internal.
“Adolescence” is a dynamically evolving theoretical construct informed through physiologic, psychosocial, temporal, and cultural lenses. (Fletcher, 2016).
Adolescence is a distinct phase of the developmental life cycle in humans and other animal species (Elliot & Feldman, 1990; Spear 2000)
Adolescence is a complex, multi-system transitional process involving progression from the immaturity and social dependency of childhood into adult life with the goal and expectation of fulfilled developmental potential, personal agency, and social accountability (Sacks, 2003).
Definitions of Adolescence by Various Authors
Adolescence is the synthesis of profound corporal development with the evolution of a matured existential essence and integration of the nascent self within the family, community, and culture (Arnett, 2002; Berzonsky, 2000; Blos, 1979)
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the original 1482 definition of adolescence referred to a period between childhood and adulthood that extended between ages 14 and 25 years in males and 12 and 21 years in females (Murray et al., 1989).
The Journal of Paediatrics & Child Health (2003) defines adolescence as “…the onset of physiologically normal puberty, and ends when an adult identity and behavior are accepted.”
Adolescence (from Latin adolescere ‘to mature’) is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority).
According to Stehlik, (2018). Adolescence can be defined biologically, as the physical transition marked by the onset of puberty and the termination of physical growth; cognitively, as changes in the ability to think abstractly and multi-dimensionally; or socially, as a period of preparation for adult roles.
According to Grotevant, (1997). It is a period of multiple transitions involving education, training, employment, and unemployment, as well as transitions from one living circumstance to another.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Adolescent health is not just a question of individual well-being: As the size of the adolescent population grows, especially in developing countries, the health of young people will be a major determinant of economic and social development and progress
References
Stehlik, Thomas (2018). Educational Philosophy for 21st Century Teachers. Springer. p. 131. ISBN 978-3319759692.
Grotevant, H. (1997). Adolescent development in family contexts. In N. Eisenberg (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology (5th ed.), Vol. 3: Social, emotional, and personality development, pp. 1097–1149. New York: Wiley.
World Health Organization (2017). Adolescent development. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/
maternal_child_adolescent/topics/adolescence/dev/
American Psychological Association. (2002). Developing adolescence: A reference for professionals.
Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/pi/families/resources/develop.pdf.
Sacks, D. (2003). Age limits and adolescents. Paediatrics & Child Health, 8(9), 577.
Fletcher, A. (2016). Introduction to adultism. Retrieved from https://freechild.org/introduction-to-adultism/
Arnett, J. J. (2002). Emerging adulthood: A theory of development from the late teens through the twenties. In J. J. Arnett (Ed.), Readings on adolescence and emerging adulthood (pp.17- 31). Upper Saddle River: Prentice-Hall.
Elliott, G. R., & Feldman, S. S. (1990). Capturing the adolescent experience. In S.S. Feldman & G.R. Elliot (Eds.), At the threshold: The developing adolescent (pp. 1-13). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Murray, J., Bradley, H., Craigie, W. A., & Onions, C. T. (1989). Oxford English dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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