UNDERSTANDING ADOLESCENT YEARS

At about age 12 to 14, a child moves from a society of children into a culture of youth. As the word culture implies, the customary behavior of this period is set as much by social forces as it is by physical changes. In fact, a person is called an adolescent only because society decided that he or she should be.

Adolescence is one stage that is characterized by the strong emergence of the need to belong. At this stage, friends or peers become significant. Oftentimes they influence growth, but sometimes they lead you to destruction. A well-known psychologist, formulated the theory of man's hierarchy of needs, asserting that the third hierarchical need of man is the need to belong and be loved, or man's longing for affective and affiliative relationship.

The idea of adolescence, and even the word, has come into common use only in the last few generations. In many part of the world, a young person goes directly from childhood into adulthood. Other societies require longer periods of training and education for most young people. This happens in part because people must be more sophisticated to take part as adults in a technological society. Also, an extended adolescence keeps the competition of young people out of the work force a few extra years.