Adolecent+Devolopment


 * __ Adolescent Development __**

**A teenager's development can be divided into three stages, early, middle, and late adolescence.**

Early Adolescence
**12-14 years** **Movement Toward Independence** ** Sexuality ** ** Rule and limit testing **
 * Struggle with sense of identity
 * Moodiness
 * Improved abilities to use speech to express oneself
 * More likely to express feelings by action than by words
 * Close friendships gain importance
 * Less attention shown to parents, with occasional rudeness
 * Realization that parents are not perfect; identification of their faults
 * Search for new people to love in addition to parents
 * Tendency to return to childish behavior
 * Peer group influences interests and clothing styles
 * Increasing career interests
 * Mostly interested in present and near future
 * Greater ability to work
 * Shyness, blushing, and modesty
 * More showing off
 * Greater interest in privacy
 * Worries about being normal
 * Ethics and Self-Direction
 * Occasional experimentation with cigarettes, marijuana, and alcohol
 * Capacity for abstract thought

Middle Adolescence
**15-16 years** ** Career Interests ** **Sexuality** ** Development of ideals and selection of role models **
 * Movement Toward Independence **
 * Self-involvement, alternating between unrealistically high expectations and poor self-concept
 * Complaints that parents interfere with independence
 * Extremely concerned with appearance and with one's own body
 * Feelings of strangeness about one's self and body
 * Lowered opinion of parents, withdrawal from them
 * Effort to make new friends
 * Strong emphasis on the new peer group
 * Periods of sadness as the psychological loss of the parents takes place
 * Examination of inner experiences, which may include writing a diary
 * Intellectual interests gain importance
 * Some sexual and aggressive energies directed into creative and career interests
 * Concerns about sexual attractiveness
 * Frequently changing relationships
 * Tenderness and fears shown toward opposite sex
 * Feelings of love and passion
 * Ethics and Self-Description
 * More consistent evidence of conscience
 * Greater capacity for setting goals
 * Interest in moral reasoning

Late Adolescence
** 17-19 years ** ** Career Interests ** **Sexuality** ** Ethics and Self-Direction **
 * Movement Toward Independence **
 * Firmer identity
 * Ability to delay gratification
 * Ability to think ideas through
 * Ability to express ideas in words
 * More developed sense of humor
 * Stable interests
 * Greater emotional stability
 * Ability to make independent decisions
 * Ability to compromise
 * Pride in one's work
 * Self-reliance
 * Greater concern for others
 * More defined work habits
 * Higher level of concern for the future
 * Thoughts about one's role in life
 * Concerned with serious relationships
 * Clear sexual identity
 * Capacities for love
 * Capable of useful insight
 * Stress on personal dignity and self-esteem
 * Ability to set goals and follow through
 * Acceptance of social institutions and cultural traditions
 * Self-regulation of self esteem