Adolescence is the period of life when the most apparent changes in the body occur, due to hormonal changes.
It starts around ten or eleven years of age, with girls having their first menstruation or menarche, the increase in vaginal hairs and the growth of breasts.
In boys, there is a change in the tone of the voice, an increase in pubic hair and the growth of the penis, which starts to have an erection and ejaculation.
According to D’Andrea, adolescence is divided into three phases:
- pre-puberty, when physical development accelerates and seeks greater proximity to adults. The emotional side is very confused, with oscillations of feelings such as hate and love, in the search for identification;
- puberty, which begins around the age of thirteen, is marked by the maturity of Organs reproductive organs;
- and post-puberty, between the ages of fifteen and twenty, a stage in which he must demonstrate responsibility for the demands of the social environment, such as professional choice, structuring relationships with the opposite sex and identity formation, requiring less and less intellectual help from adults.
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Search for freedom of expression and feelings
Teenagers usually look for groups of friends who have the same interests, tastes and desires, in order to identify less conflicting and friendlier.
At this stage of life, it is common to try to get away from the family, as this no longer satisfies them in terms of social interests.
Parents, not accepting the search for freedom, often take authoritarian attitudes, which further distance them from the family group. Another wrong attitude, normally taken by mothers, is the fact of not accepting the child's growth, thinking he is still a child and treating him as such. This attitude also leads him to withdraw, because at this age he no longer wants to be considered a child.
In a phase of so many transformations, it is important that there is friendship and a lot of dialogue in family life and that parents try to ease the conflicts experienced, being more flexible and understanding.
By Jussara de Barros
Graduated in Pedagogy
Brazil School Team
education - Brazil School
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
SCHOOL, Team Brazil. "Adolescence"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/educacao/periodo-de-transformacoes.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
