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Adolescence
Adolescence is the transitional period of growth, development, and maturation that begins at the end of childhood (about 10 years of age). The onset of puberty can begin as early as age 8 or as late as age 15 in girls and as early as age 9.5 years and as late as age 15 in boys. It is the defining marker of the start of adolescence. The end of adolescence generally occurs between the ages of 17 and 21 years and is marked by the individual reaching full physical and developmental maturity or young adulthood. This developmental phase involves significant physical, hormonal, cognitive, emotional, and social changes. A neurodevelopmental perspective of adolescence holds that most changes occur occurs in three overlapping stages: early, middle, and late. Early adolescence marks the onset of puberty, middle adolescence is characterized by peak growth and physical maturation, and late adolescence marks the end of puberty and the integration of all functional skills. The concept of adolescence is primarily a product of Western culture where youth are viewed as needing a time to mature from being children to taking on the responsibilities, values, and norms exhibited by the adults in their culture.
Developmental Process
A neurodevelopmental view of adolescent development involves examining how the human grows and matures with respect to the component skills necessary to perform various age-appropriate tasks. Those components are referred to as the functional domains. The developmental or maturational process of youth occurs across several distinct functional domains, is not always even, but is sequential; however, there is individual variation in the manifestation of that process. The skills learned and mastered are commonly divided into several functional domains: physical, motor, visual, auditory, perceptual, language, cognitive, psychosocial, and specific integrative-adaptive. All basic skills in these domains are mastered by the end of childhood in the normally developing individual. Physical and psychological trauma, as well as deficits in any of the functional domains, can impede normal development.
Physical Growth and Development
The physical growth of young adolescents involves significant changes in the height, weight, and brain development that are exceeded only during two other time periods: when the fetus is in utero and between the ages of 1 and 3 years. Although 75% of brain growth (in weight) has developed by age 2, the process of central nervous system maturation takes place over a lifetime.
Motor Skills Development
The motor skills domain includes all fine and gross motor skills. Fine motor skills include precise, specific, and fine neuromotor responses such as pincer grasp and the ability to write legibly, cut paper designs with scissors, button, fasten, sew, draw match-to-sample designs, and control motor responses (i.e., tics, tremors, fidgeting, jerky motions, uncontrolled motions). Gross motor skills usually refer to whole body movement, including coordination of skeletal muscles, postural control, balance, coordination of motor planning, agility, muscular strength, and endurance (examples of such skills include the ability to hop, skip, jump, walk, run, crawl, walk a balance beam, walk a straight line toe to toe—forwards and backwards—throw, catch, and hit an object with another object).
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