Adolescence lasts for how long. Teenage years

Adolescence (from 10-11 to 14-15 years old) can be called a transitional period from childhood to adulthood.Adolescence is traditionally considered the most difficult in terms of education.

Most often, difficulties adolescence associated with puberty as the cause of various psychophysiological and mental abnormalities. In connection with these changes, adolescents may experience emotional instability, increased excitability, conflict, anxiety, mood swings, and depressive moments. The result of such experiences is a decrease in self-esteem. Therefore, physical, physiological, psychological changes, the appearance of sexual desire make this period extremely difficult not only for parents, teachers, but also for the teenager himself.

In adolescence, pathological reactions associated with the development of mental illness. Experts believe that the risk of onset of schizophrenia in adolescence is 3-4 times higher than throughout the rest of life.

On the other hand, adolescence is also distinguished by many positive factors: the independence of the child increases, the desire for the recognition of his rights by other people, his conscious attitude towards himself as a member of society is formed, and the scope of his activities is significantly expanding. Thus, the ability to reflect, formed in educational activities at primary school age, is “directed” by the student, first of all, at himself. A teenager, comparing himself with adults and with younger children, comes to the conclusion that he is no longer a child, but rather an adult.

A sense of adulthood is a psychological symptom of the onset of adolescence. A teenager begins to feel like an adult and wants others to recognize his independence and significance. But the student, as a rule, cannot realize this need for serious activity. Hence the desire for “external adulthood”: smoking, drinking alcohol, using cosmetics, exaggerated interest in gender issues, copying ways of entertainment and courtship, imitating adults in clothes and hairstyles.

Opposite to external adulthood is the so-called social adulthood, which often occurs in single-parent families, where the child, due to circumstances, is forced to actually take the place of an adult, and then adolescents strive to acquire useful practical skills and provide real support and assistance to adults.

But, unfortunately, in our society the first type of adulthood still dominates. And less and less often there is an intellectual adulthood associated in a teenager with the development of stable cognitive interests, with the appearance of self-education as a doctrine that goes beyond school curriculum.

But, nevertheless, a teenager continues to be a schoolchild, educational activity retains its relevance, although, it should be noted, in psychologically recedes into the background. Communication with peers acquires paramount importance at this age, therefore intimate-personal communication becomes the leading activity of this age. The main need of adolescence - to find one's place in society, to be significant - is realized in the community of peers. If a teenager cannot take a place that satisfies him in the system of communication in the classroom, he "leaves school both psychologically and even literally."

I want to give an example from own life. My cousin when she was in her teens, her parents received new apartment and she went to another school. But it so happened that the class did not accept her, and she simply stopped going to school. She carefully hid this from her parents, that is, in the morning she was going to school, as usual, and walked all day (although she studied “excellently” in the old school and was an exemplary, obedient girl). All this, of course, was soon revealed. But she firmly set a condition for her parents: either she returns to the old school, or she stops going to school altogether. Parents, in order not to completely lose their daughter, were forced to agree with the second option.

It is in adolescence that the search for friends, the showdown, conflicts and reconciliation, the change of companies stand out as an independent area of ​​\u200b\u200binner life. Passionate desire to have a faithful close friend coexists in adolescents with a feverish change of friends, the ability to be instantly fascinated and just as quickly disappointed in former friends for life. But along with friendship arises real friendship, the first loves begin.

External manifestations of adolescent behavior are also very contradictory. On the one hand, the desire at all costs to be the same as everyone else; on the other hand, the desire to stand out, to excel at any cost. On the one hand, the desire to earn the respect and authority of comrades, on the other hand, flaunting one's own shortcomings.

Often, even at the heart of the deterioration of academic performance lies a violation of communication with peers. The main value of a grade for teenagers is that it provides an opportunity to take a higher position in the class. If the same position can be taken due to the manifestation of other qualities, the significance of the mark falls. Through the prism of the public opinion of the class, the guys also perceive their teachers. Therefore, adolescents often come into conflict with teachers, violate discipline and, feeling the tacit approval of classmates, do not experience unpleasant subjective experiences.

It should be noted that at this age the teacher personal qualities(such as kindness, justice, decency, the ability to understand, sympathize, empathize) are valued more than intellectual ones.

I will give an example from my own life. We had a math teacher in our school. Our entire 7th grade was in love with her. But one day my class and I went to the cinema. We stood at the bus stop and waited for the bus for a long time. The "mathematician" came up. And then a bus drove up, at the entrance of which a crowd had gathered. We have witnessed such a picture. The teacher pushed all the passengers, even women with children, and got into the bus safely herself. After this incident, she "fell" from the pedestal we erected.

Except all before listed features adolescence, the following behavioral reactions characteristic of adolescents can be noted:

1. The reaction of rejection is expressed in the rejection of the usual forms of behavior: contacts, household duties, study. The reason most often is a sharp change in the usual living conditions: separation from the family, a change of school, divorce of parents.
2. The reaction of protest is manifested in the opposition of one's behavior to the required one: in demonstrative bravado, in absenteeism, escapes, thefts, and even ridiculous, at first glance, actions performed as protest.
3. The reaction of imitation usually manifests itself in imitation. In adolescents, the object of imitation most often becomes an adult who, in one way or another, impresses his ideals. It is no coincidence that the walls in a teenager's room are often hung with photographs of singers, athletes, movie heroes.
4. The reaction of compensation is expressed in the desire to make up for their failure in one area by success in another. Most often, hooligans are underachieving teenagers who are trying to gain authority from classmates with rude, defiant antics.
5. The reaction of hypercompensation is due to the desire of a teenager to succeed in the very area in which he discovers the greatest failure. So, a physically weak teenager persistently strives for sports achievements, and a shy and vulnerable teenager - for social activities.
6. The reaction of emancipation is expressed in the adolescent's desire for independence, for liberation from adult care. Under adverse conditions, this can be an escape from home, school, affective outbursts against parents, teachers.
7. The grouping reaction most often manifests itself when a teenager does not meet with understanding among his inner circle. A teenager begins to self-actualize and assert himself in teen companies, informal groups with a certain style of behavior and a system of intra-group relationships with their leader. Unfortunately, in the process of spontaneous group communication, a stable character in adolescents acquires aggressiveness, cruelty, increased anxiety, and isolation.
8. Fascination reaction. Passion for sports, the desire for leadership, gambling, passion for collecting are typical for teenage boys. Classes, the motive of which is the desire to attract attention (participation in amateur performances, passion for extravagant clothes), are more typical for girls. Intellectual and aesthetic hobbies, reflecting a deep interest in a particular subject, can be observed in adolescents of both sexes.
9. Reactions due to the emerging sexual desire (increased interest in sexual problems, early sexual activity).

At the same time, it should be noted that, although problems in relationships with parents, conflicts with teachers are a typical phenomenon for a teenager, the relationship of a teenager to an adult is complex and ambivalent. An adult is important and significant for a teenager, he still needs his help, protection and support, in his assessment, but protests against the preservation in the practice of education of "children's forms" of control, the requirement of obedience, expressed guardianship.

However, the strength, frequency, and sharpness of manifestations of conflicts largely depend on the position of adults, on the style family education, from the ability to implement respectful, but not conniving tactics in relation to the behavior of a teenager. A necessary and obligatory condition for a successful relationship between a teenager and an adult is the expansion of the sphere of cooperation, mutual assistance and trust, best of all - at the initiative of an adult.

This is especially important in a crisis period, when there is a sharp change in the entire system of adolescent experiences, its structure and content. 13 years is the turning point of the crisis. This age is characterized by instability of mood, physical condition and well-being, inconsistency of motives, vulnerability, depressive experiences. The “affect of inadequacy” (an emotional reaction of great force to an insignificant occasion) that is often found in adolescents is associated with a contradiction between a teenager’s low self-esteem and a high level of aspirations.

Adolescence is the period of the most intense personal development child, which manifests itself, first of all, in an interest in one's own personality. Since a teenager is most of all interested in himself, in the psychophysiological changes that occur to him, he intensively analyzes and evaluates himself. The phenomenon of "imaginary audience" consists in the belief that some spectators constantly surround him, and he, as it were, is on stage all the time. At the same time, he has the illusion that other people are preoccupied with the same thing, that is, they constantly evaluate his behavior, appearance, way of thinking and feeling. "Personal myth" is a belief in uniqueness own feelings suffering, love, hatred, shame, based on focusing on one's own experiences.

By the end of adolescence, a fairly developed self-awareness develops. There is a gradual transition from an assessment borrowed from adults to self-esteem, there is a desire for self-expression, self-affirmation, self-realization, self-education, to the formation of positive qualities and overcoming negative ones (to overcome laziness, develop courage). Ability to stage promising tasks gives new meaning to learning. The socio-psychological and personal self-determination is completed already beyond the school age, on average between 18 and 21 years.

Literature:
Kagermazova L.Ts. Developmental psychology (developmental psychology). Electronic textbook//

Psychophysiological features of adolescence are due to the main physiological neoplasm of this stage of ontogenesis, which is defined as the formation of reproductive function, or puberty. Biological changes associated with puberty develop gradually, and several stages (from three to five) are distinguished in this process.

There are several periodizations of puberty, mainly based on the description of changes in the genital organs and secondary sexual characteristics (Physiology of Child Development, 2000). Both boys and girls can be divided into five stages of puberty.

The first stage is childhood (infantilism); it is characterized by a slow, almost imperceptible development of the reproductive system; the leading role belongs to thyroid hormones and growth hormones of the pituitary gland. The genital organs during this period develop slowly, there are no secondary sexual characteristics. This stage ends at 8-10 years of age for girls and 10-13 years for boys.

The second stage - pituitary - marks the beginning of puberty. The changes that occur at this stage are due to the activation of the pituitary gland: the secretion of pituitary hormones (somatotropins and follitropin) increases, which affect the growth rate and the appearance of initial signs of puberty. The stage ends, as a rule, in girls at 9-12 years old, in boys at 12-14 years old.

The third stage is the stage of activation of the gonads (the stage of activation of the gonads). Gonadotropic hormones of the pituitary gland stimulate the sex glands, which begin to produce steroid hormones (androgens and estrogens). At the same time, the development of the genital organs and secondary sexual characteristics continues.

The fourth stage - maximum steroidogenesis - begins at 10-13 years of age in girls and 12-16 years of age in boys. At this stage, under the influence of gonadotropic hormones, the gonads (testes and ovaries), which produce male (androgens) and female (estrogens) hormones, reach the greatest activity. The strengthening of secondary sexual characteristics continues, and some of them reach the definitive form at this stage. At the end of this stage, girls start menstruating.

The fifth stage - the final formation of the reproductive system - begins at 11-14 years old for girls and 15-17 years old for boys. Physiologically, this period is characterized by the establishment of a balanced feedback between the hormones of the pituitary gland and peripheral glands. Secondary sexual characteristics are already fully expressed. Girls have a regular menstrual cycle. In young men, the hairy skin of the face and lower abdomen is completed. The age of the end of the pubertal process in girls is 15-16 years, in boys - 17-18 years. However, large individual differences are possible here: fluctuations in terms can be up to 2-3 years, especially for girls.

The nervous system of adolescents and adults differs significantly. In adolescence, the activity of the sympathetic-adrenal system increases, while the peak of its activity occurs in boys at 14 years old, and in girls at 12-13 years old. For all adolescents, it decreases by the age of 17-18. A temporary increase in the activity of the sympathetic link of autonomic regulation provides adequate energy supply and adaptation of various body systems to external conditions. It is biologically expedient during the period of intensive growth and development.

The process of puberty proceeds under the control of the central nervous system and endocrine glands. The leading role in it is played by the hypothalamic-pituitary system. The hypothalamus, being the highest autonomic center of the nervous system, controls the state of the pituitary gland, which, in turn, controls the activity of all endocrine glands. Neurons of the hypothalamus secrete neurohormones (releasing factors), which, entering the pituitary gland, enhance (liberins) or inhibit (statins) the biosynthesis and release of triple pituitary hormones. Tropic hormones of the pituitary gland, in turn, regulate the activity of a number of endocrine glands (thyroid, adrenal, genital), which, to the extent of their activity, change the state of the internal environment of the body and influence behavior.

What determines the increased activity of the hypothalamus in the initial stages of puberty? The reason, presumably, is the specific connections of the hypothalamus with other endocrine glands. Hormones secreted by the peripheral endocrine glands have an inhibitory effect on the highest level of the endocrine system. This is an example of the so-called feedback, which plays an important role in the functioning of the endocrine system. It provides self-regulation of the activity of the endocrine glands. At the beginning of puberty, when the sex glands are not yet developed, there are no conditions for their reverse inhibitory effects on the hypothalamic-pituitary system, so the intrinsic activity of this system is very high. This causes an increased release of tropic hormones of the pituitary gland, which have a stimulating effect on the growth processes (somatotropin) and the development of the sex glands (gonadotropins).

At the same time, the increased activity of the hypothalamus cannot but affect the relationship between subcortical structures and the cortex. hemispheres.

Puberty is a staged process, therefore, age-related changes in the state of the nervous system of adolescents develop gradually and have certain specifics due to the dynamics of puberty. These changes are reflected in the psyche and behavior of the adolescent.

It has been established, for example, that the pubertal increase in the level of sex hormones correlates with the appearance or intensification of certain mental characteristics. So, the amount of testosterone in the blood plasma in boys is associated with such phenomena as nocturnal emissions, masturbation, increased interest in the female sex (X. Remshmidt, 1994). Such manifestations have a wide range of individual differences, the range of which is associated with the intensity of sex hormone production varying in the population.

Changes specific to each stage of puberty are also observed in the functioning of the nervous system. The mature type of interaction between the cortex and subcortical structures, established by the age of 9-10 years, in which the cortex performs the leading function, undergoes significant changes. A significant increase in the activity of subcortical structures leads to destabilization and shifts in the balance of cortical-subcortical relations. The processes described are reflected in changes in the bioelectrical activity of the brain.

The balance of cortical-subcortical relations at a given age changes in favor of the predominance of excitatory influences of the subcortex. As a result, at this age, especially in the second and third stages, some weakness of inhibitory processes, increased excitability, emotional lability, and hyperactivity may be observed. The latter is expressed in the fact that younger adolescents often show motor disinhibition, restlessness, emotional reactivity and exaltation, conflict and aggressiveness.

In connection with the weakening of the control functions of the cortex, the entire system of voluntary regulation of mental activity and behavior suffers, and this affects not only the state of voluntary regulation of behavior, but also the course of cognitive processes, primarily perception and attention. Younger adolescents are characterized by insufficient differentiation and a tendency to broad generalization of stimuli coming from outside (both sensory and verbal). Adolescents have difficulty maintaining voluntary attention and alertness. In providing attention, generalized activation, which often has an emotional coloring, begins to dominate. The latent periods of responses increase. The speech of adolescents often slows down, the answers become more concise and stereotyped. Thus, at the beginning of puberty, a high level of subcortical activity leads to negative changes in the work of the brain systems responsible for the implementation of cognitive functions. However, it should be emphasized that in this case we are talking only about temporary functional changes caused by a violation of the cortical-subcortical relations and a weakening of the control function of the frontal sections of the cerebral cortex. At the fourth and fifth stages of puberty, the activity of the sex glands increases, and the activity of the hypothalamus and pituitary gland is inhibited through a system of negative feedback. As a result of the reduction of excessive excitatory influences of subcortical structures, the control function of the cerebral cortex is restored, and the system of cortical-subcortical relations is stabilized. At this stage of puberty, the cortex of the cerebral hemispheres again begins to dominate in cortical-subcortical relations. As a result, voluntary self-regulation of behavior and mental activity is restored and normalized in older adolescents. In girls, this is observed at 14-15 years old, in boys at 15-17 years old.

It should be emphasized that throughout adolescence, positive trends in the morphofunctional maturation of the brain persist, primarily in the associative regions of the cerebral cortex, which create conditions for further progress in mental development in adolescence and adulthood.

Adolescence is the period of life between childhood and adulthood. However, even this simple definition contains a problem: if the beginning of puberty can be determined with sufficient clarity using biological criteria, then the same cannot be said about its end. In European culture, the achievement of the status of an adult by a teenager is not institutionalized, therefore the upper age limit is very mobile and changes in the course of history, giving rise to the separation of such ages as adolescence and youth.

The process of formation of neoplasms that distinguish a teenager from an adult is extended in time and can occur unevenly, which is why both “childish” and “adult” exist in a teenager at the same time. According to L.S. Vygotsky, there are 2 trends in his social situation of development:

1. hindering the development of adulthood (employment at school, the absence of other permanent and socially significant duties, material dependence and parental care, etc.);
2. maturing (acceleration, some independence, subjective feeling of adulthood, etc.). This creates a huge variety of individual development options in adolescence - from schoolchildren, with a childlike appearance and interests, to almost adult adolescents who have already joined some aspects of adult life.

In general, the following zones of development and the main tasks of development in adolescence can be distinguished.

1. Pubertal development (covers the time period from 9-11 to 18 years). Within a relatively short period, taking an average of 4 years, the child's body undergoes significant changes. This entails two main tasks:
   1. the need to reconstruct the bodily image of the “I” and build a male or female “generic” identity;
   2. a gradual transition to adult genital sexuality, characterized by shared eroticism with a partner and the combination of two complementary drives.
2. Cognitive development (from 11-12 to 16 years). The development of the adolescent's intellectual sphere is characterized by qualitative and quantitative changes that distinguish it from the child's way of knowing the world. The formation of cognitive abilities is marked by 2 main achievements:
   1. development of the ability for abstract thinking
   2. expansion of time perspective.
3. Transformations of socialization (mainly in the interval from 12-13 to 18-19 years). Adolescence is also characterized by important changes in social connections and socialization, as the predominant influence of the family is gradually replaced by the influence of the peer group, which acts as a source of reference norms of behavior and obtaining a certain status. These changes proceed in two directions, in accordance with two development tasks:
   1. release from parental care;
   2. gradual entry into a peer group, which becomes a channel of socialization and requires the establishment of a relationship of competition and cooperation with partners of both sexes.
4. The formation of identity (goes beyond the boundaries of adolescence and covers the time from 13-14 to 20-21 years). Throughout adolescence, a new subjective reality is gradually formed, transforming the individual's ideas about himself and others. The formation of psychosocial identity, which underlies the phenomenon of adolescent self-awareness, includes three main developmental tasks:
   1. awareness of the temporal extent of one's own "I", including the childhood past and determining the projection of oneself into the future;
   2. awareness of oneself as different from internalized parental images;
   3. implementation of a system of elections that ensure the integrity of the individual (mainly it is about choosing a profession, sexual polarization and ideological attitudes).

Adolescence opens with a crisis, according to which the entire period is often called “critical”, “turning point”, although in modern adolescents it is not as acute as it is commonly believed.

There are many fundamental studies, hypotheses and theories of adolescence. So, S. Hall is usually called the “father of adolescence”, since it was he who first proposed the concept of this age in 1904 and outlined the range of problems associated with it.

For psychoanalysis, the flowering of puberty is associated with the inevitable revival of the conflicts of the oedipal complex; with the onset of adolescence, all problems are activated, reflecting incestuous attraction to the parent of the opposite sex. In order to restore the balance and attitude towards parental images, “inverted” by this retreat to the period of the Oedipus complex, the adolescent, in order to assert himself, is forced to renounce identification with his parents.

Both S. Hall and 3. Freud are considered to be supporters of biological universalism in their approach to adolescence: they considered the crisis of adolescence to be an inevitable and universal phenomenon due to its biological predestination associated with puberty.

In contrast to biological universalism in the 20-30s. 20th century began to gain strength sociogenetic direction, interpreting the nature of age from the side social conditions, training, education. This direction was supported by the research of M. Mead, who proved the inconsistency of the ideas about the inevitability of an adolescent crisis by studying the maturation of teenage girls on about. Samba. She discovered the existence of a harmonious, conflict-free transition from childhood to adulthood and described in detail the living conditions, the characteristics of education, initiation rites and the relationship of children with others. In the studies of anthropologists, the obligatory presence of the oedipal complex in boys, which 3. Freud considered the basis of the adolescent crisis, was refuted.

K. Levin put adolescence in the context of social psychology: a teenager who left the world of children and did not reach the world of adults finds himself between social groups, "restless", which gives rise to a special teenage subculture.

The German philosopher and psychologist E. Spranger in his book "Psychology of Youth" developed a cultural-historical concept of adolescence, considering it the age of growing into culture. He believed that mental development is the growth of the individual psyche into the objective and normative spirit of a given era.

E. Spranger described 3 types of development in adolescence. The first type is characterized by a sharp, stormy, crisis course, when adolescence is experienced as a second birth, as a result of which a new "I" arises. The second type of development is smooth, slow, gradual growth, when a teenager joins adulthood without deep and serious changes in his own personality. The third type is a process of development when a teenager actively and consciously forms and educates himself, overcoming internal anxieties and crises by an effort of will. It is typical for people with a high level of self-control and self-discipline.

The main neoplasms of age, according to E. Spranger, are the discovery of the "I", the emergence of reflection, awareness of one's individuality, as well as a feeling of love.

S. Buhler defines adolescence as a period of maturation when a person becomes sexually mature.

E. Stern considered adolescence as one of the stages of personality formation. In his opinion, in the formation of personality, what is important is what value is experienced by a person as the highest, defining life.

He described 6 types of values ​​and, accordingly, personality types that are already noticeable in adolescence:

1. theoretical type - a person, all aspirations of which are aimed at objective knowledge of reality;
2. aesthetic type - a person for whom objective knowledge is alien; it seeks to comprehend the individual case and "exhaust it without a trace with all its individual characteristics";
3. economic type - the life of such a person is controlled by the idea of ​​​​benefit, the desire to achieve the greatest result with the least expenditure of strength;
4. social type - "the meaning of life is love, communication and life for other people";
5. political type - such a person is characterized by a desire for power, domination and influence;
6. religious type - such a person correlates "every single phenomenon with the general meaning of life and the world."

The transitional age, according to E. Stern, is characterized not only by a special orientation of thoughts and feelings, aspirations and ideals, but also by a special way of acting. He calls it "serious play" and describes it as intermediate between childish play and the serious responsible activity of an adult. Examples of such games are games love character(coquetry, flirting, petting, dreamy worship), choosing a profession and preparing for it, playing sports and participating in youth organizations.

L.S. Vygotsky considered the feeling of adulthood to be the central and specific neoformation of adolescence - the emerging idea of ​​oneself as no longer a child. A teenager begins to feel like an adult, strives to be and be considered an adult. The peculiarity lies in the fact that a teenager rejects his belonging to children, but there is still no full-fledged adulthood, although there is a need for recognition by those around him.

The most striking interests (dominants) of the teenager L.S. Vygotsky considered “egocentric dominance” (interest in one’s own personality), “given dominance” (setting on a vast, large scale, which for him is much more subjectively acceptable than near, current, today’s), “dominant of effort” (tendency to resist, overcoming, to volitional tensions, which sometimes manifest themselves in stubbornness, hooliganism, the struggle against educational authority, protest and other negative manifestations), “dominant romance” (a teenager’s desire for the unknown, risky, adventure, heroism).

He paid special attention to the development of thinking in adolescence. The main thing in it is mastering the process of concept formation, which leads to highest form intellectual activity, new ways of behavior of a teenager. According to L.S. Vygotsky, the function of concept formation underlies all intellectual changes at this age.

The adolescent's imagination "goes into the realm of fantasy", which turns into an intimate sphere, hidden from others, which is a form of thinking exclusively for oneself. He hides his fantasies as the deepest secret.

L.S. Vygotsky pointed to two more neoplasms of adolescence - the development of reflection and, on its basis, the development of self-consciousness.

School and teaching still occupy great place in the life of a teenager, but in leading positions, according to D.I. Feldstein, it is not teaching that comes out, but socially useful activity in which his need for self-determination, self-expression, recognition by adults of his activity is realized (participation in sports, creative circles, sections and electives, visiting studios, participating in youth public organizations etc.).

Attempts to single out the structure of socially useful activity in order to form it have been made repeatedly. This was best done by A.N. Leontiev, who distinguished several components in socially useful activity:

1. its motive is personal responsibility for the task assigned as a realization of the need for self-expression in society;
2. its content is a socially useful cause (particularly effective is the inclusion in labor, production activities, which is why there is so much talk now about legitimizing the work of teenagers after school hours);
3. its structure is set by the multifaceted, determined by the set goals of the relationship of the adolescent in the system of various groups.

This means that at the forefront of building socially useful activities is the task of forming a system of motives based on the need for adolescents to express themselves in socially valued matters, the need for communication that involves them in the system of social relations.

The adolescent's claims to new rights extend primarily to the sphere of his relations with adults. He begins to resist the requirements that he previously fulfilled; is offended and protests at attempts to limit his independence, regardless of his interests, requirements, desires. He has a heightened sense of self-worth, and he claims greater equality with adults. The type of relationships with adults that existed in childhood, reflecting the asymmetric, unequal position of the child, becomes unacceptable for the teenager, not corresponding to his ideas about his own adulthood. A situation specific to this age is created: he limits the rights of adults, but expands his own and claims respect for his personality and human dignity, on trust and granting independence, i.e. to the recognition by adults of his equality with them.

This age is associated with the transition from the type of relationship between an adult and a child, characteristic of childhood, to a qualitatively new type, specific for communication between adults. Getting rid of parental care is a universal psychological goal of adolescence. The transition period is due to the fact that parental care is gradually being replaced by the adolescent's dependence on other institutions of socialization (while maintaining emotional ties with parents and his family). This transition creates difficulties both for adults and for the teenager himself.

The formation of an equal attitude towards a teenager in adults is hindered

1. the immutability of the social status of a teenager - he is still a schoolboy;
2. complete financial dependence on parents;
3. the usual style of adults in education - to guide and control the child;
4. preservation of childish behavioral traits in a teenager.

Therefore, the success of raising a teenager to a large extent depends on the adults overcoming their stereotypical attitude towards him as a child.

In the concept of D.B. Elkonin, adolescence is associated with neoplasms arising from the leading activity of the previous period. Educational activity turns a teenager from focusing on the world to focusing on himself, and the question “What am I?” becomes central. In this regard, difficulties arise again in relations with adults (negativism, stubbornness, indifference to the assessment of success, leaving school, since the main thing for him now happens outside of school); the child seeks to enter children's companies (search for a friend, search for someone who can understand him); sometimes he starts keeping a diary.

Since the child cannot yet occupy any place in the system of relations with adults, he finds him in the children's community. Adolescence is characterized by the dominance of the children's community over the adult. It is here that a new social situation of development is taking shape, here the area of ​​moral norms is mastered, on the basis of which social relationships are built.

Communication with peers is so significant in adolescence that D.B. Elkonin and T.V. Dragunov was offered to give it the status of a leading activity of this age. The position of the fundamental equality of peer children makes communication with them especially attractive to adolescents, and even developed communication with adults cannot replace it.

In adolescence, relations of various degrees of intimacy develop: there are simply comrades, close acquaintances, friends, and a friend. Communication with them goes beyond the school at this time and stands out as an independent important sphere of life. Communication with peers is of great value for a teenager, sometimes relegating learning and communication with relatives to the background. Usually, mothers are the first to notice such a "distance" of children.

Relationships with peers stand out in the sphere of personal life, isolated from the influence, interference of adults. Here manifest

1. the desire for communication and joint activities with peers, the desire to have close friends and live a common life with them and at the same time
2. the desire to be accepted, recognized, respected by peers due to their individual qualities.

In peers, a teenager appreciates the qualities of a comrade and friend, ingenuity and knowledge (and not academic performance), courage, self-control. In different periods of this age, there is a hierarchy of these values, but one thing always comes first - comradely qualities.

Relations with a friend, a peer are the subject of special reflections of adolescents, within which self-esteem, the level of claims, etc. are adjusted. Teenagers are very active in communication and in “search for a friend”. According to D.B. Elkonin, such communication for them is a special activity, the subject of which is another person, and the content is the construction of relationships and actions in them. Within this activity, the adolescent learns about another person and himself, and develops the means of such knowledge.

A change in activity, the development of communication restructure the cognitive, intellectual sphere of a teenager. First of all, researchers note a decrease in the preoccupation with learning, characteristic of a younger student. By the time of the transition to high school children differ markedly in many ways, in particular:

1. in relation to teaching - from responsible to indifferent, indifferent;
2. on common development- from a high level to a very limited outlook and poor speech development;
3. in terms of the volume and strength of knowledge (at least within the school curriculum);
4. according to the methods of assimilation of the material - from the ability to work independently, to acquire knowledge to their complete absence and memorization of the material verbatim from memory;
5. by the ability to overcome difficulties in academic work - from perseverance to dependency in the form of chronic cheating;
6. breadth and depth of cognitive interests.

The severity of defects in educational activity may be different, but after grade V they can lead to irreversible consequences - the inability to independently assimilate new material, especially the more complicated, to form an individual style of mental activity. It was found that changing the type of teaching (5-6 instead of one teacher appears) is difficult for the whole class, but especially for children with learning disabilities.

A differentiated attitude towards teachers appears, and at the same time the means of knowing another person develop, new criteria for evaluating the activity and personality of an adult are formed. One group of criteria concerns the quality of teaching, the other - the characteristics of the teacher's relationship with adolescents. Younger teenagers are more oriented towards the second group, older ones appreciate teachers who are knowledgeable and strict, but fair, benevolent and tactful, who can explain the material in an interesting and understandable way, organize work in the lesson at a pace, involve students in it and make it as productive as possible for everyone and everyone . In grades VII-VIII, children greatly appreciate the teacher's erudition, fluency in the subject, the desire to provide additional knowledge to the curriculum, appreciate teachers who do not waste time in the lesson, and do not like those who have a negative attitude towards students' independent judgments.

Younger teenagers appreciate academic subjects in relation to the teacher and success in mastering it (according to grades). With age, they are increasingly attracted to content that requires independence, erudition. There is a division of subjects into "interesting" and "uninteresting", "necessary" and "unnecessary", which is determined by the quality of teaching and the formation of professional intentions. The formation and maintenance of interest in the subject is the business of the teacher, his skill, professionalism, interest in the transfer of knowledge.

In adolescence, the content of the concept of “teaching” also expands. An element of independent intellectual work is introduced into it, aimed at satisfying individual intellectual needs that go beyond curriculum. The acquisition of knowledge for some adolescents becomes subjectively necessary and important for the present and preparation for the future.

It is in adolescence that new motives for learning appear, associated with the formation of life prospects and professional intentions, ideals and self-awareness. Teaching for many acquires a personal meaning and turns into self-education.

In adolescence, elements of theoretical thinking begin to form. Its specific quality is the ability to reason hypothetically-deductively (from the general to the particular), i.e. on the basis of some general premises by constructing hypotheses and testing them. Here everything goes on a verbal plane, and the content of theoretical thinking is a statement in words or other sign systems.

What is new in the development of the adolescent's thinking lies in his attitude to intellectual tasks as those that require their preliminary mental dissection. Unlike elementary school student, the teenager begins the analysis of the problem by trying to identify all possible relationships in the available data, creates various assumptions about their relationships, and then tests these hypotheses.

The ability to operate with hypotheses in solving intellectual problems is the most important acquisition of a teenager in the analysis of reality. Thinking by assumptions is a distinctive tool of scientific reasoning. The peculiarity of this level of development of thinking lies not only in the development of abstraction, but also in the fact that the subject of attention, analysis and evaluation of the adolescent becomes his own intellectual operations. Therefore, such thinking is called reflexive.

Of course, not all teenagers reach equal level in the development of thinking, but in general they are characterized by:

1. awareness of their own intellectual operations and their management;
2. speech becomes more controlled and manageable;
3. intellectualization of perception processes;
4. formation of a mindset.

A significant indicator of inadequate assimilation of theoretical knowledge is the inability of a teenager to solve problems that require their use (in geometry, physics, mathematics) - children do not see problems in data transformation known way, laws, rules, theorems. Therefore, a frequent problem in the teaching of a teenager is verbalism and formalism in the assimilation of knowledge. Another common defect independent work younger teenagers - installation on memorization, and not on understanding the material, and the habit of memorizing it by repeated repetition. This brings great harm, since in adolescence memory develops in the direction of intellectualization, like other processes - perception, attention, emotions.

Adolescence is also characterized by the fact that at this time the first professional orientation of interests and life plans appears.

But the most significant changes occur in the personal sphere.

The first thing that catches your eye here is the formation of features of adulthood, a sense of adulthood. Types of adulthood are well studied and described by T.V. Dragunova: this is an imitation outward signs adulthood, alignment with psychosexual models of one's gender, social adulthood, intellectual adulthood.

The easiest way to create adulthood in oneself is given to a teenager in imitation of its external signs: the appearance and behavior of adults, some adult privileges (smoking, playing cards, drinking wine, a special vocabulary, striving for adult fashion in clothes and hairstyles, cosmetics, jewelry, receptions coquetry, ways of recreation, entertainment, courtship, freedom in the "daily routine", etc.). The acquisition of these signs of male or female adulthood for a teenager is a means of manifesting, asserting and demonstrating one's own adulthood to parents and peers. This is the most easy way demonstration of adulthood, visible to everyone, and it is important for a teenager that his adulthood be noticed by others. Therefore, this adulthood is very common in adolescence, is distinguished by its stamina and is difficult to debunk. Sociologists and lawyers call imitation of a special style of a cheerful, easy life a “low culture of leisure”, while cognitive interests are lost and a specific attitude is formed to have fun with the corresponding life values.

Another direction in the development of adulthood is associated with the active orientation of adolescents to a certain content of the male or female ideal - those qualities that need to be mastered in order to feel like a "real man" or " real woman". The ideal is formed by teenage consciousness as a set of traits and qualities of characters from books, films, acquaintances, parents, etc. A teenager always wants to be like a typical peer of his gender with a set of consecrated by tradition or fashion qualities: for example, for a teenage boy, this is strength, courage, courage, endurance, will, loyalty in friendship, etc. Sports often become a means of self-education. It is interesting to note that many girls nowadays also want to possess qualities that have been considered masculine for centuries. The desire to follow the male (female) ideal makes a teenager imitate others, and often they are very similar to each other in clothes, hairstyles, jargon, manners.

Another direction in the development of adulthood can be designated as socio-moral. It is carried out in conditions of cooperation with adults, if a teenager begins to look up to an adult as a model of activity and tries to act as his assistant. This is usually more clearly observed in families experiencing difficulties, where a teenager actually takes the position of an adult and care for loved ones, their well-being takes on the character of a life value. Many psychologists note that adolescents in general tend to master various adult skills. Boys love carpentry, plumbing, driving, taking pictures, shooting, etc.; girls - to cook, sew, knit, and also possess some masculine skills. The beginning of adolescence is a very favorable time for this. Therefore, psychologists emphasize that it is necessary to include adolescents as assistants in the corresponding activities of adults: the more a teenager is involved in such activities, the more an adult trusts a child in it, the better social and moral adulthood is formed. Participation in work on an equal basis with adults creates such qualities as responsibility, independence, makes him adopt not only external, but also inside norms by which adults live.

Many psychologists also talk about adulthood in the cognitive sphere and interests - intellectual adulthood: it is expressed in the desire of a teenager to know something and be able to really. This stimulates the development cognitive activity, the content of which goes beyond the school curriculum (circles, electives, sections, etc.). A teenager has interests related to science, technology, art, religion, crafts, and they are far from always connected with future professional intentions. Passion can be in the nature of passion, to which everyone surrenders. free time and all activities of a teenager (library, materials, tools, exhibitions, museums, acquaintances, etc.). This is a very important step in the development of interests and productive activity: the need for new knowledge is satisfied independently, through self-education. A significant amount of knowledge in adolescents is the result of independent work. Teaching acquires a personal meaning in such adolescents, and one can notice the dominant orientation of cognitive interests.

The entry of a child into adolescence is marked by a qualitative shift in the development of self-awareness. The emerging position of an adult does not yet correspond to the objective position of a teenager in life, but its appearance means that he has subjectively entered into new relations with the surrounding world of adults, with the world of their values. The adolescent actively appropriates these values, and they constitute the new content of his consciousness; exist as goals and motives for behavior and activity, as requirements for oneself and others, as criteria for assessments and self-assessments. In terms of content, self-consciousness is social consciousness transferred inward.

In pre-adolescence, self-image and self-esteem are built mainly on the value judgments of adults. The emergence of the need for knowledge of one's own characteristics, interest in oneself and reflection on oneself - salient feature teenagers. This need arises from the need to meet external and internal requirements, to regulate relations with others.

The first function that self-awareness performs in a teenager is socio-regulatory. In thinking about himself, a teenager is first of all turned to his shortcomings and feels the need to eliminate them, and later - to the characteristics of the personality as a whole, to his individuality, his merits and capabilities. But Special attention to shortcomings persists throughout adolescence and in some cases even increases. Reflection is intentional, it becomes an independent internal process.

The relationship of a teenager with peers, the search for a close friend are also the subject of reflection. The strengths and weaknesses of others are compared with one's own. Very often a teenager wants to be friends with those whom he considers better than himself.

Most teenagers look up to several adults at the same time; desired image own personality is created from virtues different people. The samples are dominated by real people, and not literary, film or television heroes, and peers occupy a very large place. Among the desired qualities, the dominant position is occupied by two groups: moral (primarily comradely) and courageous (strong-willed). Often the carriers of the desired qualities are peers who seem older to the teenager. Such a peer model is, as it were, an intermediate step between a teenager and an adult on the way to acquiring the qualities of an adult by a teenager.

It is easier for a teenager to compare himself with his peers than with an adult: in such a comparison, he is more aware of his own shortcomings and progress, successes. An adult is a model that is difficult to achieve in practice, and a peer is a measure that allows a teenager to evaluate himself at the level real opportunities, to see them embodied in another, on which one can directly, directly equal.

Self-esteem of a teenager is easily formed in communication with a peer. Here there are observations, imitations, conversations about their qualities, actions, relationships. It is important that at first such cognitive-evaluative activity is deployed in the external verbal and interpersonal plane. In adolescence, ideas about oneself expand and deepen, independence in judgments about oneself increases, but children differ greatly in the degree of self-knowledge and adequate self-esteem. For many adolescents, it is overestimated, and the level of their claims to parents, teachers, and peers is higher than their real capabilities. Often, on this basis, adolescents have a feeling of an unfair attitude towards him, of misunderstanding. Therefore, they can be affectively offended, suspicious, distrustful, often aggressive and always extremely sensitive to value judgments addressed to them.

The teenager reacts affectively to the first, but repeated failures, chronic failures give rise to self-doubt. For some, as a result, the level of claims decreases, while others, on the contrary, prove to everyone and to themselves that everyone can overcome. In general, adolescents have a pronounced need for a positive assessment and good attitude surrounding. Therefore, they are very sensitive to opinions about them and almost all crave self-affirmation in any form. A teenager especially cares about his own independence, independence. The older the teenager, the wider the scope of claims for independence; most want to express their "I" in assessments, judgments, actions. At this age, the formation of one's own positions on a number of issues and some life principles begins, which indicates the emergence of self-education.

The end of childhood and the beginning of adolescence are marked by a common biological event - physiological puberty. Within a relatively short period, the child's body undergoes many morphological and physiological changes, accompanied by profound transformations in appearance. Pubertal development proceeds according to the general pattern; the sequence of stages of puberty is identical everywhere, however, some environmental factors (nutrition, climatic conditions) affect its onset and the severity of some of its manifestations. Puberty, more than any other age, is under the control of biological factors. The genetic potential of a person affects his height, weight, development of the reproductive system and endocrine mechanisms. However, the complex influence of psychosocial factors cannot be excluded from the analysis of puberty.

The so-called body image plays a central role in the formation of personality. The speed with which somatic changes occur breaks the childish image and requires the construction of a new bodily "I". These changes accelerate the change in psychological positions that the adolescent must make; the onset of physical maturity, which is obvious both to the adolescent himself and to his environment, makes it impossible to maintain child status.

Studies show that at this time, the level of anxiety, concern and dissatisfaction with one's appearance sharply increases (in some cases, this even acquires the character of dysmorphophobia, experienced at first only in relation to individual components of the body image - feet, legs, arms, then in relation to general image bodies - length and weight, and, finally, in relation to socially significant parts - faces, voices). At this time, even to express unloved traits of their character, adolescents often turn to physical characteristics(later as such characteristics they will call personality traits or features social behavior). About 30% of adolescent girls and 20% of boys are worried about their height: girls are afraid of being too tall, and boys are too small. It is the physical “become” that is one of the central characteristics of the ideal image of a person of the same sex for adolescents. So, among boys, only those who, at the age of 15, have a body length of more than 1.9 m, seem too tall for themselves.

Excess weight in adolescence is also an acute problem, especially because it is acquired at this time. Obesity runs counter to ideal criteria for physical attractiveness, leading to weight rigidity in obese adolescents and non-obese adolescents alike. But there are also gender differences. According to numerous studies, boys have little concern for weight gain and rarely restrict themselves in food, while 60% of their peers believe that they are overweight and have already tried to lose weight through diet, although in reality only 16% of them experience real difficulties associated with obesity.

Both boys and girls experience specific anxiety related to genital development. Boys show a keen interest in this development, and the onset of puberty provides food for troubling questions and comparisons with peers. Girls are less interested in the development of the genitals, their concern is mainly with the growth of the breast - this clear proof of femininity. Girls are much less interested in the first menstruation, which is considered by all researchers to be the main phenomenon of female puberty (more than 50% of girls react calmly or indifferently to their appearance, 40% experience negative feelings, and only 10% show positive emotions interest and pride). This is due to sufficient awareness of girls about the negative aspects of menstruation; most of them have long been prepared for this event and meet it meekly, resigning themselves to this biological reality.

Early or late puberty leads to different psychological consequences. Thus, premature sexual development can cause some transient difficulties in adolescents who, having an adult body, but a childish consciousness (“the body of a calf, the soul of a child”), cannot meet certain social expectations. However, the positive aspects of this situation are obvious. At the age of 14, adolescents, who reach physical maturity earlier than others, have a high social status both among their own and among the opposite sex. A comparison of groups of 30-year-old people with different times of puberty showed that people who had early sexual development followed a more socially conformal model of behavior: their judgments and attitudes were more socially acceptable, they were more often included in traditional forms of social and political activity. It seems that the apparent benefits of early puberty contribute to the premature adoption of a socially approved worldview.

Late sexual development, on the contrary, causes serious problems, especially in boys, who in this case have a lower social status, experience a sense of physical inferiority and some difficulties. psychological nature: Negative self-image, feelings of social rejection and feelings of dependency. These problems persist in adults as well. A longitudinal study of two groups of men with late and normal puberty showed that at the age of 33, when any physical differences between them disappeared, those with late puberty had the same psychological difficulties as 16 years ago.

In girls with late development, everything is different. Although they are more anxious than their normally developing peers, this anxiety concentrates on physical problems without being accompanied by the difficulties that are characteristic of boys with this type of development. Thus, the psychological significance of puberty is highly dependent on social stereotypes, the impact of which is different for boys and girls.

Adolescent anxiety about their appearance is largely associated with subjective sexual conformity, i.e. the desire to look adequate to their gender. The ideal body image during adolescence is largely unrealistic, as puberty at this time is particularly subject to the tight control of cultural norms and the media, especially in the peer group. Physical development during adolescence is characterized by great individual variation, and this diversity contrasts sharply with social demands to conform to the ideal models that dominate the peer group.

Stereotypes associated with the body are formed very early, even before adolescence. Research shows that from kindergarten most boys choose athletic models of physical development, preferring them to all others and attributing to them such character traits as intelligence, good breeding, friendliness. With age, the attribution of negative traits to persons with an endomorphic constitution and positive ones to those with a mesomorphic constitution increases.

But social pressure affects boys and girls differently. While in girls the onset of puberty alleviates temporary anxiety, in boys the psychological consequences of late adulthood remain noticeable until the age of 30. Since the criteria for manhood are defined quite unambiguously, any violation of the canons of masculinity entails the danger of being ostracized and, thereby, psychological difficulties. Society and the peer group are more tolerant of female sex roles that can play out in a broader register: for example, girls can choose to model "her boyfriend" and gain acceptance from their family and social environment.

The formation of male identity occurs in adolescence within a narrow corridor, which, perhaps, explains much more than in girls, the rejection of one's “ancestral” affiliation, a greater percentage of male homosexuality and transsexual attractions in boys.

Although girls are more prone to adopting their "generic" identity than boys, their body image is much more affectively colored and extends to the entire image of the "I". Girls are more likely to say that they are less physically attractive than their girlfriends, most of them would like to change something in their appearance, while boys are quite satisfied with their appearance.

The relationship between subjective assessments of one's physical attractiveness and the "I"-concept is manifested in the fact that in both sexes, body stereotypes affect the subjective assessment of one's attractiveness. But the assessment of the girl's own physical attractiveness significantly correlates with other, personal and social, parameters of self-image, which is not observed in boys. In other words, a teenage girl who considers herself outwardly unattractive also negatively evaluates other aspects of her "I", while a boy clearly distinguishes these aspects: he can negatively evaluate his appearance and at the same time highly value his social or intellectual qualities.

In general, girls are more unstable and contradictory way body and low self-esteem than boys. Girls tend to unfavorably assess their present and future sexual roles and experience body changes, overemphasizing female beauty and its canons in culture.

The culture in which a teenager is brought up forms various psychosexual and social attitudes. For example, there are marked differences between adolescents in Asia, Europe and America. English and Norwegian teenagers are more relaxed and prone to sexual experimentation than their Canadian peers, who are generally more conservative. In addition to cultural factors, one must take into account gender, age, learned sexual stereotypes of behavior, socio-economic background, etc.

Behind last years psychosexual attitudes of adolescents have undergone significant changes: there is growing tolerance for such issues as the preservation of virginity before marriage (this, oddly enough, is a greater subject for reflection and claims for boys than for girls), attitudes towards premarital relationships, freedom of relationships in marriage, contraception, homosexuality, etc. For example, if in 1965, in one survey, 47% of adolescents considered homosexuality a punishable crime or at least immoral action, then in 1977 only 12% of teenagers thought the same, and now a part of teenagers shows a keen curiosity for trial contacts of this kind.

Older adolescence is more tolerant than younger adolescence when it comes to the realities of sexual life; most older teenagers think, want and are ready to talk about sex, to discuss issues related to it at a high level of frankness. Adolescents who have experience of sexual contacts are much more open in relation to sexual life and include sex in the system of interpersonal relationships, compared to those who do not have such experience. Girls' sexual attitudes are more influenced by social and parental attitudes; the feeling of love plays a decisive role in the formation of their sexual norms. Tolerance for premarital sexual relations is typical for 93% of boys and 82% of girls, but in the absence of love, 63% of boys and only 47% of girls admit the possibility sexual relations.

All adolescents, regardless of gender, adhere to the "double sexual standard", i.e. different sexual morality for women and men, characterized by greater tolerance for the sexual activity of men.

It is also important to note the fact that for adolescent boys, such a phenomenon as masturbation is quite constantly and culturally stable, which in modern interpretation is understood as a kind of prelude to normal heterosexual behavior and, at the same time, to changes leading to the final formation of sexuality. At 12 years old, about 12% of children are familiar with it, at 15 years old - 85%, and at 18 years old - 92% of young people. Curiously, adolescent behavior always follows the same cycle: about 2 years after puberty, boys experience a jump in masturbation practice that coincides with maximum orgasmic capacity. At 16 years old, the average number of orgasms in boys during masturbation is 3-4 times a week. Girls do not have masturbation as a general phenomenon, their frequency is low and the spread of individual variants is significant (at the age of 12, 12% of girls are familiar with it and by the age of 18 this percentage reaches 24; moreover, only a third of girls achieve orgasm through masturbation), although modern data show an increase in female masturbation since the 70s. 20th century The female peak frequency of masturbation and orgasm is observed much later - about 30 years.

Masturbation, more than any other sexual behavior in adolescents, is confronted with defense mechanisms that cause feelings of embarrassment and disgust, superstitious fears and loss of self-esteem. Although masturbation is often described as a pleasant activity, it can be accompanied by feelings of shame, anxiety and guilt, internal conflict. Masturbation is usually a covert behavior, and the covertness heightens the guilt of chaste attitudes and prohibitions against genital manipulation; moreover, the fantasies accompanying masturbation are usually built around directly accessible objects: brothers, sisters, parents, thus taking into account the connection between sexual reality and violation of prohibitions.

Masturbation will only be pathological when it reinforces childhood fixations, especially those associated with fantasies that feed masturbation, or when it becomes coercive.

Virtually all teenagers have experienced dating, petting and kissing, genital caressing, etc., but deeper sexual experiences are not so typical, although they have become more common in recent years. It is noted that girls, to a greater extent than boys, have the experience of "romantic behavior", and boys more often - the experience of real intercourse (in many countries, the first experience is gained with prostitutes). In addition, in surveys, boys often overestimate and exaggerate such contacts, while girls underestimate them, not wanting to be seen as easily accessible in the familiar environment of their peers (but if girls begin later than boys sex life they have more frequent sexual contact).

In general, adolescents from the work environment have earlier, more frequent and varied experiences of heterosexual relationships; the practice of sexual relations is largely influenced by the family, religious attitudes of the adolescent and socio-economic status. Psychologically, sexually experienced teenagers are "tougher" included in the teenage subculture and have more intense relationships with their peers. Nothing indicates that they have special psychological difficulties; rather, they have high self-esteem and a number of personal achievements, such as a high degree of personal autonomy, a sense of responsibility for intimacy, assertion of their own gender identity, respect for peers.

The growing experience of close relationships, the needs and changes in one’s body become the property of consciousness in adolescence (children’s sexuality itself existed before) and are adjusted to the social norms adopted by the adolescent (in psychoanalytic terminology, the “intrapsychological scenario” is now realized in the space between Id and Super- ego).

Adolescence is characterized by noticeable changes in self-image. In many ways, psychologists associate this with the formation of "I"-identity, the beginning of the study of which was laid by the work of E. Erickson "Identity: Youth and Crisis" and the work of K. Levi-Strauss "Identity".

In adolescence, all children's identifications are restored, as it were, included in new structure identity, allowing to solve adult problems. "I"-identity ensures the integrity of behavior, maintains the internal unity of the personality, provides a connection between external and internal events and allows one to identify with social ideals and group aspirations. J. Marcia defines adolescent identity as an internal structure of drives, habits, beliefs and previous identifications. It covers gender identification, the formation of a certain ideological position and the choice of one or another vocational guidance.

J. Marcia describes 4 “statuses” of identity that are possible in adolescence:

1. realized identity: he included adolescents who survived a critical period, who began vocational training and having their own worldview; they move on to a period of active posing of meaningful life questions, seriously assessing their future choices and decisions based on their own ideas; they have already revised their childhood beliefs and moved away from the attitudes of their parents; they are emotionally involved in the ideological, professional and sexual aspects of life; in this status, adolescents have stable ideas about parental roles and experience positive feelings to parents;
2. moratorium: a teenager is in crisis and tries to "show himself in ideas"; his questions about life are broad and contradictory; here an important quality of a teenager is manifested - an expression of active confrontation with various social opportunities; the classic problems of adolescence largely consist of the compromises that a person comes to, reconciling own desires, the will of parents and social requirements; it seems that the teenager is in difficulty, life's problems seem insoluble to him; in a situation of a moratorium, adolescents have a high level of anxiety and a painfully sensitive attitude towards themselves, as well as an ambivalent attitude towards their parents;
3. diffusion: an adolescent in a state of identity diffusion may or may not experience symptoms of a crisis; diffusion is characterized by little concern for the problem of choice, low level independence and self-control (they are more "external"), the absence of any ideological, professional and gender models; distinctive feature this situation is the lack of affective and cognitive contributions to the various zones of identity; adolescents of this status often feel lonely, abandoned, useless, misunderstood;
4. predecision (this status is especially noticeable in families with authoritarian, dominant fathers who make teenagers conform to parental values): the teenager has not yet experienced a crisis; he cannot determine the period for making a decision, but is already focused on his future, on his worldview and his gender role; he becomes what others want him to be; the experience of adolescence only confirms his infantile attitudes: in this status, the teenager adheres to authoritarian values ​​(“irreconcilable” and intolerant) and manifests himself more cruel than in others.

Factor analysis allowed the French researcher R. Tome to identify 3 dimensions of adolescent identity:

1. R. Tome calls the first dimension “the state of I”: the abstract pole of this dimension is “I am such and such or belong to such and such a category of people”; he calls the other pole of this dimension "active self", which is based on specific "references" - "I love this or do this"; in younger adolescents, the “active self” prevails; with age, specific dimensions of the “self” are replaced by abstract categories and self-states;
2. another dimension is built around the next two poles - "official" social status, on the one hand, and personality traits and self-descriptive characteristics, on the other; this transition from an externally observable identity to a more hidden one always correlates with the sex of adolescents: girls generally prefer the second option, and boys prefer the first;
3. the third dimension does not depend on sex and age; it ranges from socially approved traits ("I'm persistent, I have many friends") to socially frowned upon; we are talking about the most evaluative dimension of personality, which is accompanied by an expression of satisfaction and well-being or dissatisfaction with oneself.

One of the aspects of the formation of identity in adolescence can be considered the stabilization of ideas about oneself and the comparison of one's own "I-image" with other "social images". For example, the work of Rodriguez Tome (1980) showed that all adolescents have a closeness between social images of the same order (mother-father, friends-girlfriends), which increases with age. Thus, for example, the idea that I think my mother has of me is close to that which I think my father has of me, and so on.

With age, the differentiation between "own image" and "social images" increases: the adolescent increasingly separates his idea of ​​himself from the impression that he thinks others have about him. This, according to R. Tome, is the mechanism of the formation of self-consciousness in adolescence.

First of all, adolescence is characterized by intense changes both physically and psychologically. The growth rate during adolescence is comparable to how a child grows up to 2 years old, while the peculiarity of adolescents is the faster growth of the skeleton. Muscle tissue grows somewhat more slowly, which is why many teenagers seem awkward and awkward. Internal systems organs also develop intensively.

An important point is puberty, which begins precisely in adolescence and is accompanied by intensive production of hormones in adolescents of both sexes. Since the changed hormonal background affects the mood, this period is characterized by sharp emotional swings, as well as a tendency to conflict and aggression.

Communication with peers comes to the fore, while study becomes secondary for some. Under the influence external factors, as well as the internal formation of one's own "I", there is a reassessment of values ​​​​and self-determination for the future. The contradiction of adolescence lies in the fact that the child seeks to demonstrate his own growing up, but at the same time is not ready to take responsibility.

The period of adolescence covers the time period from 12 to 17 years. Due to the fact that during this time a large number of changes, it is advisable to divide this stage into two periods - younger and older adolescence.

younger adolescence

Early adolescence refers to children between the ages of 12 and 14. This time coincides with the transition of the child to new system learning: if primary school lessons were held under the guidance of one teacher, then after the 5th grade, students get acquainted with a large number of subject teachers, which makes it necessary to adapt to new conditions.

More and more important is communication, which is primarily focused on peers. In the process of this communication, a teenager learns certain social norms of interaction, and on the basis of feedback from peers forms a certain self-esteem.

older adolescence

The period from 15 to 17 is defined as the older adolescence, sometimes also referred to as early adolescence. The main neoplasms of older adolescence include professional and life self-determination, because it is in high school that a teenager needs to decide what he will do in the future after school. At this age, the image of one's own "I" continues to form, which is based primarily on what assessments the teenager receives from those with whom he communicates. Emotional contacts become extremely important, including getting recognition from the opposite sex.

What is the difference between adolescence and adolescence

Although adolescence is separated from adolescence, defining it as a period from 17 to 20 years old, the line of transition from a teenager to a young man is rather vague. Adolescence and adolescence are next on the age scale, and they have some differences. If a teenager is still in the process of forming his own worldview, which often makes it difficult for him to decide on certain decisions, then in adolescence the psyche becomes more stable, there is a tendency to logically think about his own actions and their consequences. Physically, young men also differ from teenagers. Their body loses its teenage angularity, the differences in terms of male and female physique are more pronounced.

During adolescence, noticeable psychological changes occur, which are a necessary part of the process of growing up.

Personality in adolescence

The emerging own "I" is most often perceived by the teenager himself as an inevitable stage of growing up. He feels like an adult and at the same time strives to prove it to everyone around him - both parents and peers.

A feature of the psychology of adolescence is a fairly strong dependence on the opinion of a certain group of significant persons. It is noted that adolescent boys are more likely to rely on the opinions of their peers, while adolescent girls gravitate towards the usual way of life established in their own family. However, the authority of parents in both cases becomes significantly lower, and communication with peers comes to the fore. If it is acceptable for a teenager to cheat in front of an adult, for example, to come up with some kind of reason for leaving class, then lying to your friends is considered unacceptable behavior of adolescence.

An important point in the psychology of adolescence is increased criticality to own shortcomings and looking for ways to fix them. Dissatisfaction with oneself, concerning both external manifestations and internal features, is characteristic of the vast majority of adolescents, therefore reflections on oneself become constant companions during this period.

Adolescence behavior

Intimate interpersonal communication becomes the leading activity in adolescence, during which the teenager receives the necessary material for the formation of his own picture of the world, a system of values ​​and an image of his own "I". This change of interests can negatively affect academic success, which is why many parents make the mistake of starting to limit teenagers in communication. This should not be done, because without sufficient communication, full-fledged psychological development in adolescence is impossible.

The changes taking place both in the psyche and in the physiology of a teenager leave an imprint on his behavior. Puberty, which occurs just in adolescence school age, leads to a change hormonal balance resulting in behavior that is often highly unpredictable. Purposefulness in achieving the goal can be replaced by impulsive and thoughtless decisions, and self-confidence - by a sharply fallen self-esteem. If today a teenager craves communication, then tomorrow he may want to be alone with the same force. At the same time, adolescents show the most intense reaction in those moments when someone hurts their pride.

The crisis of adolescence is rightfully considered the most difficult crisis for both the child himself and his parents. It falls on the period from 12 to 14 years and is the longest of all other age-related crises. In rare cases, the manifestations of the crisis are absent or pass poorly. This is largely determined by the social situation and the model of education in the family.

Features of the manifestation of the crisis

The main manifestation of the crisis is the exacerbation of adolescent negativism. Adolescent children begin to come into conflict with adults more often, even in cases where there is no objective reason for confrontation. Against this background, there may be a desire to overcome previously set prohibitions, which is why many try cigarettes, alcohol or drugs in adolescence.

However, these are only external manifestations. At the same time, the inner world of a teenager also changes significantly: there is a reassessment of values, self-determination, a gradual and increasing separation from their parents, a feeling that no one understands them. This makes children withdraw into themselves, they have hypersensitivity to any criticism, especially from significant people. The reaction to such criticism depends largely on the personality of the adolescent; the same remark can become a reason to prove the opposite in one teenager, and a reason for apathy in another.

Signs of a Crisis

The crisis of adolescence has two main features. The first is a significant decrease in productivity, which even affects the results in those subjects or activities for which the teenager had previously seen an obvious talent. The second and most noticeable symptom for adults is negativism, which consists in a tendency to quarrels and provocations. At the same time, a teenager may strive for isolation and loneliness.

Negativity can manifest itself in different ways:

• Pronounced.

According to statistics, negativism affects absolutely all areas of a teenager's life in about 20% of cases. This acute period may last several weeks.

• Medium pronounced.

Negative reactions are observed sporadically, as a response to a situation in the family or school. Such symptoms are typical for three adolescents out of five.

• Missing.

It happens that the teenage crisis is asymptomatic - about one in five children. Considering that such adolescent children, as a rule, live in families with a trusting atmosphere and the absence of excessive authoritarianism (democratic parenting style), we can conclude that negativism during adolescence is, among other things, a consequence of upbringing.

How to help a teenager overcome a crisis

The teenage crisis is a natural stage in the development of a personality, therefore it cannot be “cured” - during this period, a teenager needs help and support. In order to determine a plan of action, it is important to understand which version of the crisis the child is in.

There are two options for the course of the crisis in adolescence:

• Crisis of independence.

The most typical teenage crisis, in which the child seeks to prove to everyone his own adulthood. In this case, it is important to show maximum patience and provide the teenager with a sense of protection and trust.

• Crisis of addiction.

IN Lately teenagers who do not want to grow up are more and more common; the condition is typical for families in which there is overprotection. The child becomes infantile, does not want to grow up, but excessive obedience can please adults. However, in adolescence, absolute obedience and the absence of one's own opinion negatively affect the child's psyche and may indicate a lack of maturity. In this case, it is necessary to help the child to accept new social roles, to interest him in something new and to provide reasonable support.

It is necessary to leave a teenager alone with his own thoughts during this period, but not always, because parents and the atmosphere in the family are still very important.

How to behave to parents

How to behave as parents of a teenager during a crisis? Psychologists recommend accepting the fact that the child is growing up, and, accordingly, requires a different attitude. At the same time, to show aggression and force means only to demonstrate one's own impotence, moreover, such reactions clearly do not contribute to the formation of a trusting atmosphere. The following tips will help you connect with your teen during a crisis:

• Treat your child sincerely. Teenagers are very sensitive to falsehood and respond in kind.
• Accept it as a fact that a teenager needs a lot of time to communicate with friends, and do not be offended by his busyness and inattention.
• Do not arrange interrogations with partiality. If you want to know something, wait until the teenager comes to a calm state.
• Tell him about your plans, consult as an equal - this way you will let him know that you accept his growing up and changes.
• Support, praise and approve. Of course, criticism should be present, but within reasonable limits - remember that teenagers are quite vulnerable.
• Take an interest in the child's well-being. Physical changes during adolescence can be intense and not always clear to the child, thereby causing fear and exacerbating psychological discomfort.

When to contact a psychologist?

The crisis of adolescence can be acute enough that sometimes parents begin to doubt whether they can help. own child on your own - or is it better to turn to a specialist? In the following cases, the help of a psychologist is highly recommended:

• A sharp decline in academic performance
• Apathy, lack of desire to do something
• Extreme negativity towards oneself, one's body, character
• Enhanced Level aggressiveness
• Lack of social circle coupled with reluctance to make friends
• The pursuit of wanderlust
• Deviant behavior

Teenage depression is an extremely dangerous condition, and that is why a child needs help.

In adolescence, the formation of self-esteem occurs on the basis of communication with people around him, and, first of all, with peers. Some collectives have a forced nature, for example, classroom, in which the child is determined even when entering school. Others, such as interest companies, are already being formed based on common attitudes and needs. At the same time, in any such team there is a certain structure and hierarchy, the place in which has a significant impact on the development of a teenager.

Roles in the team

If we single out a school class as the most permanent team in which a teenager is present, then in any class there are several categories of roles:

• Leaders.

You can become a leader involuntarily, for example, when you are appointed a teacher to the role of headman, or you can become a leader at the expense of your own qualities. Those children who are leaders by nature are the authority for the majority of the class.

• Preferred.

This is a significant majority of the class, basically sharing the positions of leaders.

• Neglected.

It's also quite large group children, but due to some circumstances they do not receive serious attention from the rest.

• Isolated.

small group; if you ask other students about these teenagers, they are unlikely to be able to say anything specific about the "isolated" ones.

• Outcasts.

The most difficult role for a teenager, which he obviously takes unintentionally. Children's groups can be cruel, namely, outcasts, for some reason, are usually bullied. Common to all types of outcasts is self-esteem, formed on the basis of the principle “I am the worst”.

To accurately identify roles, special questionnaires are used, but most teachers, with due attention and without them, can tell who is the leader in the class and who is the outcast.

Children of younger adolescence communicate mainly with their peers of the same sex. However, as teenagers get older, they show more and more interest in opposite sex. In connection with the sexual development taking place during this period, issues of a sexual nature occupy a special place. Over time, communication between boys and girls becomes more intense. Often, a teenager is embarrassed to communicate, which can be disguised as imaginary swagger.

Communication with friends is increasingly going beyond school topics, covering common interests, joint activities, becoming a separate and extremely important area of ​​life. Psychologist D.I. Feldstein identifies three options for communication in a teenage team:

• Intimate personal.

It occurs on the basis of personal sympathy, in the form of the participation of one teenager in the problems of his interlocutor and vice versa. Such a variant of communication is possible only in the case of common values ​​and understanding of each other by communication partners. This is what friendship and love are all about.

• spontaneous group.

Random communication on the principle of "I-they", which is typical for various informal associations and teenage groups. hallmark such communication is a high level of anxiety and aggression.

• Socially oriented.

In this case, adolescents are in contact in the course of some socially important activity. This communication option contributes to the realization of the social needs of adolescents.

Possible problems in the team

Since in any team of teenagers there are a variety of children, whose interests, characters and upbringing can differ significantly, problems in adolescence are not uncommon.

In children's groups, cruelty can be stronger than in adults, so negativity often falls on a child who is different from others in any way. Nationality, a noticeable difference from the standard norms (overweight / severe thinness, different colour eye, acne in adolescence, etc.) can cause problems in the team.

One more possible problem lies in the fact that in the teenage team certain material values: smartphones, branded clothes, pocket money size. Often, on this basis, there is a stratification of the student group of teenagers into “golden youth”, the middle class and the so-called poor.

As already mentioned, the leading activity in adolescence is communication, schooling and additional hobbies or activities.

Additional education

To methods additional education include various courses, circles and other forms of classes designed to provide a teenager with access to knowledge, skills and abilities that are not included in the course of the school curriculum. Although a teenager, as a rule, is already a member of various informal associations, formalized groups are distinguished by the ability to productively organize children's leisure time, and also help them in professional self-determination.

Additional education for teenagers may concern absolutely different areas: study of foreign languages, practice of public speaking, programming, robotics, art schools and much more. However, parents seeking to organize the child's leisure time as efficiently as possible should, in choosing such activities, rely primarily on what the teenager himself aspires to.

Sports and healthy lifestyle

Adolescence is a time when it is especially important to have the right physical development, because during this period there is an intensive growth of the body, in particular - the development of the cardiovascular system. Whether the teenager receives regular physical activity depends on how hardy and strong it will be in the future. In addition, playing sports helps the proper development of muscles and training of the whole organism as a whole. However, the main thing is not just to motivate the child to play sports, but also to correctly dose the duration of classes and the load. The most suitable types of exercise for teenagers are fast running, gymnastics, cycling, swimming, and outdoor games. It is important to remember that the average duration of physical activity for a teenager is 8-10 hours a week, but this figure is individual and depends on the characteristics of the body of a particular teenager.

No less than physical activity A healthy lifestyle is important for teenagers. includes not only activity, but also a number of other points that can lay a solid foundation for the health of a teenager in the future. These are measures for hygiene, hardening, proper nutrition and a positive psychological state.

The following factors can interfere with normal physical and psychological development:

• lack of movement (which is relevant for modern children, who spend a lot of time either at a desk or at a computer),
• irrational nutrition, including the habit of fast food,
• stressful situations,
• bad habits (after all, many teenagers, in order to demonstrate their own coolness or just out of interest, begin to try alcohol, smoking, and even drugs),

The main responsibility for instilling the basics of a healthy lifestyle in adolescents lies with the parents, who should first of all demonstrate their own positive example. In addition, the benefits of a healthy lifestyle and the harm of some habits need to be explained in detail, and not just introduced unreasonable prohibitions.

In adolescence, sexual desires arise, while adolescents are characterized by increased excitability. Hormonal restructuring leads to an increase in the level of sexual desire, which often puts a teenager in a dilemma: on the one hand, he wants to try something new, unknown, and on the other, all sorts of prohibitions and restrictions that exist in society put pressure on him.

First love

First love is a very common occurrence in adolescence, and it is not only strong and new sensations for the teenager himself, but also the increased anxiety of parents. Very often, first love is synonymous with unhappy love, as children are just learning the art of understanding and accepting a partner. But this in no way means that parents should limit their child from contacts with their chosen one - this experience is required in order for the child to learn to build relationships and be successful in this in the future.

Adolescence in girls

Puberty in girls during adolescence begins earlier than in boys, by about a couple of years. During this period, the body develops intensively, the production of sex hormones increases, due to which the figure is formed according to female type. There is a development of not only muscle, but also adipose tissue, while a certain amount of the latter is a necessary condition for the formation of the menstrual cycle. The production of estrogen hormones is also responsible for the formation of the menstrual cycle. Such a hormonal explosion entails not only changes in the physical plane, but also affects the mood. The psyche becomes unstable and vulnerable, the girl worries about her own appearance and relationships with significant peers.

For the appearance of the first menstruation, a teenage girl must be prepared by telling her about the meaning of this process and that this is a natural phenomenon. It is also important to teach the necessary hygiene procedures during this period, since non-compliance with hygiene during menstruation can cause various diseases and infections.

Adolescence in boys

The period of puberty of teenage boys lasts about five years, and its onset is quite individual. When the process begins, the boys begin to sharply overtake the girls classmates in height and weight, while their figure is formed according to a different type than that of girls - the pelvic bones are narrower and have a more elongated shape. The production of sex hormones is activated, which is associated with the appearance of facial hair and a change in the timbre of the voice. At the same time, the restructuring of the vocal cords is more intense than in girls, which can bring some psychological discomfort.

Puberty leads to intensive growth of the genital organs. In addition, teenage boys have their first wet dreams. Therefore, as with girls, it is necessary to talk with boys about changes in his growing body.

Adolescence is a rather turbulent period, and anyone can face all sorts of problems, which, due to emotional instability and the lack of formation of their own "I", perceive them extremely sharply. Parents should not leave a teenager alone with his problems, providing him with support and creating an atmosphere of understanding and trust.

Acne in adolescence

Acne in adolescence has an extremely negative effect on self-esteem, since both girls and boys during this period are extremely critical of their own appearance. The reason for the appearance of acne in the first place is the intensive growth of the skin, which is associated with the rapid growth of bones. To protect the skin from stretch marks and damage, the activity of the sebaceous glands is activated, and this is already the cause of acne. Additional factors for the appearance of acne in adolescence can be improper skin care, malnutrition, lack of vitamins and hormonal changes.

For teenage acne, there are special treatment complexes, but the most effective would be a visit to a dermatologist who will determine the cause and prescribe a treatment that affects both it and the manifestations of acne in adolescence.

Bad habits

Adolescence is a time when children test the strength of previously established limits, in addition, they try to prove that they are already becoming adults. Because of this, and also because of the desire for new things, teenagers can try smoking, alcohol and drugs, and these bad habits very quickly become part of life and cause a significant impact on health.

The older he gets, the more likely it is that he will become addicted to one of the bad habits. Despite existing age restrictions, both tobacco and liquor can be sold to teenagers, not to mention drugs - dealers see teenagers as one of the most "soft" categories of potential buyers of lethal substances.

Attitude to bad habits It really depends on how the teenager was brought up. If an example of a healthy lifestyle is initially demonstrated in a family, conversations are held about the dangers of such habits, then adolescents from such families are more resistant to provocations about alcohol, smoking or drugs.

Psychological addictions are a separate specific class of problems of adolescence, which is defined as an obsessive attraction to a particular activity or object. A teenager can fall under the following types of addictions:

• Computer addiction in its various forms.

It could be gambling addiction social networks or from watching TV shows - in any case, the pathological impact of addiction on personality development in adolescence is obvious.

• Sect dependency.

Since adolescence is a period when a child seeks himself and tries to form a certain worldview, a competent influence on his psyche will easily make him a member of a sect, which is not so easy to get out of.

• Shopaholism.

Obsessive desire to make meaningless and aimless purchases is another type of psychological addiction. Acquired things often become the meaning of replacing inner uncertainty and emptiness, but they bring only temporary relief.

The object that has taken possession of the psyche of a teenager replaces many activities, including those that are vital. Therefore, when a teenager’s behavior is deformed and his versatile interests are shifted towards one thing, parents need to help their children, if necessary, visit a psychologist.

How can parents find a common language with a teenager

In any difficult situation, including during the teenage crisis, it is important for adolescents to have some support in the form of a stable situation in the family, an atmosphere of support and trust. If you doubt that you know how to build a productive dialogue with your child in adolescence, you should stick to the following plan:

1. Create a certain mood for the conversation: do not conduct a dialogue in an excited state, you need to calm down.
2. Be clear about the question or topic you want to talk about with your child.
3. Find a moment when the teenager is ready for a dialogue, state to him a pre-formulated situation and let him know that the decision belongs to him, but you are ready to help.
4. Encourage your child by saying that you believe in his strength and that he will cope.

Excessive pressure is best tool for productive interaction with a teenager.

Adolescent school age and learning activities

With the onset of adolescence, there is a change in the type of learning activity. If earlier all classes were held under the guidance of the same teacher, now teenagers are forced to adapt to a new system of education with numerous subject teachers. Considering that during this period, learning itself fades into the background, and communication with peers becomes the leading activity, it is not surprising that some adolescents experience a decline in academic performance (as well as interest in learning). Additional negative factor that affects learning is the physical restructuring of the body of a teenager, as a result of which increased fatigue and a decrease in working capacity may appear.

All these features of adolescence lead to the fact that it becomes difficult for children to do absolutely all school assignments. For this reason, it is important not to force the child to learn under duress, but to teach him to set priorities correctly and plan his own time. Additional help to the growing body will be provided by properly selected vitamins and minerals, preferably in a complex specially designed for teenagers.

By the end of school, teenagers face the need to decide where and what specialty to enter in order to get a full-fledged professional education. Throughout adolescence, the formation of "I" - the concept leads to the emergence of a certain vector of interests, which determines, among other things, the professional interests of the child.

An important role is played by vocational guidance centers for adolescents, which are created to assist in choosing a profession, including through special tests, the results of which show what the child is predisposed to. A visit to such centers can answer many questions regarding professional self-determination.

Adolescence is a difficult period during which a global physical and mental restructuring of the body takes place. Although a teenager is no longer a child, it is not yet possible to call him an adult, and that is why the help of parents in difficult situations during this period will help to overcome many problems and features of adolescence.

His child, this is especially acute when the child's adolescence makes itself felt.

This difficult period begins at about the age of ten. Children at this age become "explosive" and vulnerable, so it is very important to be able to correctly perceive the problems of the child and find an approach to him.

It should be noted that experts single out the younger adolescence, which has its own characteristics and is the first signal for parents that their child is at the turn of his maturation. During this period, the main difficulties are observed in the attitude of the student to study and to peers.

All this is somewhat aggravated with the onset of middle adolescence, and this is 12-13 years old. Although, it is impossible to say unequivocally when exactly this period begins, because it does not depend on the calendar age, but on the individual characteristics of the organism and is directly related to the moment of the onset of puberty of a teenager.

Incredible changes occur in the child's body, expressed in the physiological restructuring of the body. It is during this period that mental and psychophysiological deviations of a person are observed. as a rule, they are characterized by increased excitability and irascibility. Adolescents during this period are characterized by a picky attitude towards themselves and their appearance, as a result of which self-esteem decreases.

Children become no less demanding towards their relatives, therefore, often any behavior of loved ones causes irritation and even anger in them, as a result of which tension in relationships and frequent conflicts increase.

A teenager has an internal contradiction, which is associated with a discrepancy between reality and his inner peace. It turns out that physically he has matured and matured, and his status in the family and school has not changed, so teenagers begin their struggle and want to be heard so that their opinion and voice become more significant. However, they are trying to achieve this in their own way, as it seems to them, the only the right way.

Adolescence in boys is manifested in more child. Many guys start smoking, because this is an adult habit, in their opinion, makes them even more independent and mature. At the same time, with puberty comes the desire to try sex, especially if it has settled in the heart of a teenager, which is very often another difficult test if she is unhappy.

Teenagers unite and create companies of interest, over time these groups may break up, and perhaps become a solid basis for further friendship, it is very difficult to say in advance. The passion of the child and the choice of company can be another reason for quarrels and misunderstandings between him and his parents.

At a time when a child's adolescence is at its peak, a teenager has his own hobbies in which he finds a real outlet. Conventionally, such hobbies can be divided into three types:

Intellectual and aesthetic hobbies (radio engineering, music, history, drawing, etc.);

Accumulative hobbies (collecting CDs, stamps, etc.)

Eccentric (when a teenager seeks to attract attention and prefers extravagant clothes, this includes fashion trends ready, emo, etc.).

During this period, it is possible with a teenager to achieve mutual understanding. A respectful attitude to the interests and hobbies of the child at this age will allow him to feel his importance and authority in the family.

Adolescence is not a simple test not only for the child himself, but also for his parents, because it is on understanding and respect for the matured child that it depends on how exactly he will treat himself, others and plans for the future. future life and study.

The boundaries of adolescence are rather vague (from 9-11 to 14-15 years). Some children enter adolescence earlier than others.

Social situation of development

Adolescence "begins" with a change in the social situation of development. In psychology, this period is called a transitional, difficult, critical age.

This age was investigated by many prominent psychologists. For the first time, S. Hall described the psychological characteristics of adolescence, who pointed out the inconsistency of adolescent behavior (for example, intense communication is replaced by isolation, self-confidence turns into self-doubt and self-doubt, etc.). He introduced into psychology the idea of ​​adolescence as a crisis period of development. S. Hall associated the crisis, negative phenomena of adolescence with the transition, the intermediateness of this period in ontogeny. He proceeded from the concept of the biological conditioning of developmental processes in adolescence.

As V.I. Slobodchikov, the grounds for such an explanation are obvious. Adolescence is characterized by rapid changes in the anatomy and physiology of the adolescent. It grows intensively, body weight increases, the skeleton grows intensively (faster than muscles), develops the cardiovascular system. There is puberty. During the restructuring of the body of a teenager, a feeling of anxiety, irritability, and depression may occur. Many begin to feel clumsy, awkward, anxious appearance, short (boys), tall (girls), etc. At the same time, it is recognized in psychology that anatomical and physiological changes in the body of a teenager cannot be considered as a direct cause of his psychological development. These changes have an indirect meaning, they are refracted through social ideas about development, through cultural traditions growing up, through the attitude of others towards a teenager and comparing oneself with others.

As we have already noted, adolescence is essentially a crisis.

There are both external and internal (biological and psychological) prerequisites for this.

External preconditions. Changing the nature of educational activities: multi-subject, content educational material represent theoretical basis sciences, proposed for the assimilation of abstraction, cause a qualitatively new cognitive attitude to knowledge; there is no unity of requirements: how many teachers, so many different assessments of the surrounding reality, the behavior of the child, his activities, views, attitudes, personality traits. Hence the need for one's own position, emancipation from the direct influence of adults; the introduction of socially useful labor in school education. A teenager becomes aware of himself as a participant in social and labor activities; new requirements are made in the family (help with the housework, they begin to consult with a teenager); the teenager begins to reflect himself intensively.

Internal preconditions. During this period, rapid physical growth and puberty occur (new hormones appear in the blood, there is an effect on the central nervous system, there is a rapid growth of tissues and body systems). The pronounced uneven maturation of various organic systems during this period leads to increased fatigue, excitability, irritability, and negativism.

From the point of view of internal psychological prerequisites, the key problem is interest and their development in transitional age(L.S. Vygotsky).

L.S. Vygotsky identifies several groups of interests of a teenager according to dominants:

"egocentric" - interest in one's own personality;

"Dali dominant" - installation on a large scale;

"dominant of effort" - craving for volitional tension, for resistance (stubbornness, protest);

"dominant of romance" - the desire for risk, heroism, for the unknown.

The researcher of adolescent psychology M. Kle formulates the tasks of development in adolescence in relation to four main areas: body, thinking, social life, self-awareness.

1. Pubertal development. Within a relatively short period, a teenager's body undergoes significant changes. This entails two main development tasks:

1) the need to reconstruct the bodily image of the "I" and build a male or female identity;

2) a gradual transition to adult sexuality.

2. Cognitive development. The development of the adolescent's intellectual sphere is characterized by qualitative and quantitative changes that distinguish it from the child's way of knowing the world. The development of cognitive abilities is marked by two main achievements:

1) development of the ability for abstract thinking;

2) expansion of time perspective.

3. Transformation of socialization. The predominant influence of the family in adolescence is gradually replaced by the influence of the peer group, which acts as a source of reference norms of behavior and the acquisition of a certain status. These changes proceed in two directions, in accordance with two development tasks:

1) release from parental care;

2) gradual entry into the peer group.

4. Formation of identity. The formation of psychosocial identity, which underlies the phenomenon of adolescent self-awareness, includes three main developmental tasks:

1) awareness of the temporal extent of one's own "I", including the childhood past and determining the projection of oneself into the future;

2) awareness of oneself as different from internalized parental images;

3) the implementation of a system of choices that ensure the integrity of the individual (profession, gender identity and ideological attitudes).

Central neoplasms

Against the background of the development of leading activity, the development of central neoplasms of age occurs, covering all aspects of subjective development in this period: changes occur in the moral sphere, in terms of puberty, in terms of the development of higher mental functions, in the emotional sphere.

So, in the moral sphere, two features should be noted: reassessment of moral values; stable "autonomous" moral views, judgments and evaluations, independent of random influences.

However, the morality of a teenager is not supported by moral convictions, is not yet formed into a worldview, and therefore can easily change under the influence of peers.

The ideal acts as a condition that increases moral stability. The ideal perceived or created by the child means that he has a permanent motive. As the child develops, moral ideals become more and more generalized and begin to act as a consciously chosen model for behavior (LI Vozhovich). Central neoplasms: abstract thinking; self-awareness; gender identity; sense of "adulthood", reassessment of values, autonomous morality.

L.S. Vygotsky considered the feeling of adulthood to be the central and specific neoformation of this age - the emerging idea of ​​oneself as no longer a child. A teenager begins to feel like an adult, strives to be and be considered an adult, which is manifested in views, assessments, behavior, as well as in relationships with peers and adults.

T.V. Dragunova notes the following manifestations in the development of adulthood in a teenager:

Imitation of the external manifestations of adults (the desire to be like outwardly, to acquire their features, skills and privileges);

» Orientation to the qualities of an adult (the desire to acquire the qualities of an adult, for example, in boys - a "real man" - strength, courage, will, etc.);

Adult as a model of activity (development of social maturity in the conditions of cooperation between adults and children, which forms a sense of responsibility, care for other people, etc.);

Intellectual adulthood (the desire to know something and be able to really; there is a formation of the dominant orientation of cognitive interests, the search for new types and forms of socially significant activities that can create conditions for the self-affirmation of modern adolescents).

Leading activity

Leading positions are beginning to be occupied by socially useful activities and intimate and personal communication with peers.

Socially useful activity is for a teenager the area where he can realize his increased opportunities, the desire for independence, having satisfied the need for recognition from adults, "creates the possibility of realizing his individuality in common cause, satisfying the desire in the process of communication not to take, but to give ”(D.I. Feldshtein).

A teenager has a strong need to communicate with peers. The leading motive of a teenager's behavior is the desire to find his place among his peers. Moreover, the lack of such an opportunity very often leads to social unadapted and offenses (LI Bozhovich). Comrades' grades start to get greater value than the assessments of teachers and adults. A teenager is most exposed to the influence of the group, its values; he has great anxiety if his popularity among his peers is endangered. In communication as an activity, the child assimilates social norms, reassesses values, satisfies the need for a claim to recognition and the desire for self-affirmation.

Trying to establish himself in a new social position, the teenager tries to go beyond student affairs into another area of ​​social significance.

It is in adolescence that new motives for teaching appear, associated with the ideal, professional intentions. Teaching acquires personal meaning for many teenagers.

Thinking

The elements of theoretical thinking begin to take shape. Reasoning goes from the general to the particular. A teenager operates with a hypothesis in solving intellectual problems. This is the most important acquisition in the analysis of reality. Such operations as classification, analysis, generalization are being developed. Reflective thinking develops. The subject of attention and evaluation of a teenager is his own intellectual operations. A teenager acquires an adult logic of thinking.

Memory develops in the direction of intellectualization. Not semantic, but mechanical memorization is used.

Development during adolescence there is talk, on the one hand, due to the expansion of the richness of the dictionary, on the other hand, due to the assimilation of many meanings that the dictionary of the native language is able to encode. A teenager intuitively approaches the discovery that language, being a sign system, allows, firstly, to reflect the surrounding reality and, secondly, to fix a certain view of the world (V.S. Mukhina).

A teenager easily catches irregular or non-standard forms and turns of speech from his teachers, parents, finds a violation of the undoubted rules of speech in books, newspapers, in the speeches of radio and television announcers. Normally developing adolescents turn to dictionaries and reference books to clarify the meaning of a word.

teen force age features(peer orientation, conformism, etc.) is able to vary his speech depending on the style of communication and the personality of the interlocutor.

For teenagers, the authority of a cultural native speaker is important. Personal comprehension of the language, its meanings and meanings individualizes the adolescent's self-consciousness. It is in the individualization of self-consciousness through language that the highest meaning of development lies.

Slang has a special meaning for the teenage subculture. Slang in teenage associations is a language game, a mask, a “second life”, which expresses the need and opportunity to escape from social control, to stand apart, giving a special meaning to one's association. Here, special forms of slang speech are developed, which not only erase individual distances between those who communicate, but also briefly express the philosophy of life.

self-awareness

The formation of a teenager's self-awareness lies in the fact that he begins to gradually highlight qualities from certain types activities and actions, generalize and comprehend them as features of their behavior, and then the qualities of their personality. The subject of assessment and self-assessment, self-awareness and consciousness are the qualities of the individual, associated primarily with educational activities and relationships with others. This is the central point of the entire transitional age.

Self-consciousness is the last and highest of all restructurings that the psychology of a teenager undergoes (L.S. Vygotsky).

The active formation of self-consciousness and reflection gives rise to a lot of questions about life and about oneself. constant anxiety"What am I?" forces the teenager to look for reserves of his possibilities. Psychologists associate this with the formation of "I"-identity. During this period, “... all children's identifications are restored, as it were, being included in a new identity structure that allows solving adult problems. "I"-identity ensures the integrity of behavior, maintains the internal unity of the personality, provides a connection between external and internal events and allows one to identify with social ideals and group aspirations.

IN AND. Slobodchikov notes that with all the difficulties in determining specific ways to overcome the developmental crisis in adolescence, one can formulate a general

The psychological and pedagogical requirement for its successful resolution is the presence of community, compatibility in the life of a child and an adult, cooperation between them, in the process of which new ways of their social interaction are emerging. The creation of a community in the life of an adult and a teenager, the expansion of the sphere of their cooperation and meaningful contacts are the necessary conditions for overcoming the crisis of adolescence.

Issues for discussion

1. The social situation of the development of children in adolescence.

2. Characteristics of neoplasms in adolescence.

3. Development of mental processes.

4. Development of the personality of a teenager.

5. Features of relationships with peers and adults.

1. Name and describe the external and internal prerequisites for changing the social situation of development during this period.

2. Describe the adolescent's sense of adulthood as a personality trait. Give examples of its manifestation in adolescents.

3. Conduct a study of interpersonal relationships in the team of the school class:

A) using methods of observation and conversation;

B) using the method of sociometry. Analyze the received data.

4. Fill in the blanks.

The personality crisis of a teenager is associated with ________ changes __________ maturation, search for ___________ among others, loss

5. Leading activity according to D.B. Elkonin.

Choose the correct answer:

A) educational;

B) socially useful;

C) intimate-personal relationships; d) all answers are correct;

D) There is no correct answer.

6. The central neoplasm of adolescence is:

A) the formation of self-consciousness;

B) the formation of a system of motives;

C) professional self-determination;

D) all answers are correct;

D) There is no correct answer.

7. Conduct a survey of adolescents to identify individual personality traits.

8. Study the temperament, accentuation of the character of a teenager during the period of pedagogical practice (psychological workshop). Give advice on interaction, taking into account the prevailing type of temperament and character accentuation (see Diagnostic methods).

9. Carry out the technique "Drawing of a non-existent animal" in order to study the personality of a teenager.

10. Compose psychological picture modern teenager.