What is meant by adolescence?
Adolescence is understood as the transition period from childhood to adulthood. This transition can be characterized differently depending on the perspective adopted, whether physiological, psychological, cultural, or the interaction between these.
The onset of adolescence is accompanied by the manifestation of puberty, that is, the development of sexual characteristics in the individual’s body, which leads to significant changes in hormone production, which in turn trigger transformations in the adolescent’s body. Conventionally, puberty begins at 10-11 years for females and 13 years for males, although different situations may naturally occur.
The rapid bodily transformations trigger various delicate psychological processes related to the person’s identity, and these processes are considered differently depending on the cultural context.
What are the three phases of adolescence?
Adolescence is generally placed in the second decade of an individual’s life, although some characteristics may appear earlier and/or disappear after this period.
The decade of adolescence is then divided into three phases:
- Early adolescence (10-12 years): This initial phase coincides with the onset of puberty and rapid physical growth. These bodily manifestations are accompanied by the search for greater independence in family relationships and a new development of abstract thinking ability. We can observe the emergence of the search for one’s identity.
- Middle adolescence (13-15 years): In this phase, pubertal development is completed, and the so-called “risky behaviors” begin, i.e., the search for experimentation and limits, such as substance abuse, early sex, and, in general, a confrontational relationship with the adult world. The development of a personal identity correlates with defining oneself by contrast and the search for models to emulate.
- Late adolescence (16-20 years): The final phase of the process in which the individual moves towards adult life with an interest in social integration, reduced conflict, and usually the cessation of risky behaviors.
Why is adolescence a crucial period?
Adolescence is a time when profound transformations occur in a relatively short period, thanks to particular physiological conditions. It is, therefore, inherently a moment of transition with all the opportunities and uncertainties that this can entail, both for physical and emotional and cognitive development, as well as for identity formation. The strong emotional fluctuations prompted by hormonal flooding can lead to risky behaviors or new motivational impulses in the individual’s life, consolidating characteristics that may accompany them throughout their life. Indeed, during this period of growth, transformations occur more easily in various directions, much more than in subsequent years.
Pedagogy Resources for the Third Millennium
“Discovering Emotions – An Adolescent’s Eyes Meet the World”
Patrizio Paoletti dedicated a pedagogical narrative text to adolescence titled “Discovering Emotions – An Adolescent’s Eyes Meet the World”. It is the second volume of the trilogy composed of: “When Learning is Easy”, dedicated to childhood, and “Life in Your Hands” dedicated to entering adult life.
In “Discovering Emotions”, through concrete examples, Paoletti guides us to get in touch with the various aspects of the delicate phase of adolescence. Here is an excerpt from the preface:
Communication at the Center
“As an educator of my two wonderful children and as a communicator who gives hundreds of lessons worldwide every year on the necessity of learning to communicate and the most effective ways to do so, I felt it necessary to write a text on adolescence that gives a positive signal to families, a proactive signal to all humanity.
The strong signal I intend to give is that everything is education: every gesture, every breath. Therefore, it is necessary, to steer the ship to the safe harbor that everyone desires for themselves and their child, to learn to communicate; to learn to position oneself as a guide always attentive to one’s manifest behavior, making it an intentional behavior aimed at giving oriented and orienting signals at every moment of life. The education of an adolescent begins at zero years when the child absorbs every message, every modus vivendi from their parents. It is between zero and twelve years that the happy adolescent of tomorrow is built.”
You can find “Discovering Emotions” in the Foundation’s shop: https://fondazionepatriziopaoletti.org/prodotto/alla-scoperta-delle-emozioni/
Prefiguring the Future: childhood and adolescence emergency – The free e-learning course that responds to the educational challenges of our time
The Patrizio Paoletti Foundation has created a free course to offer concrete tools, resulting from the most recent and innovative neuroscientific and pedagogical discoveries, that can be used immediately, at this delicate moment, by adults: parents, educators, social workers, helping professionals, and teachers.
The project is accredited by the MIUR and is entirely carried out by the Fondazione Patrizio Paoletti, a non-profit research organization active for over 20 years in the educational and didactic field.
The long emergency we are experiencing has affected all areas of our daily lives. This project was created to respond to the educational emergency that is hitting children, pre-adolescents, and adolescents hard. It is an action that aims to enhance individual positive resources, to increase resilience (understood as the ability to transform pain and difficulty into growth opportunities) and to enhance the ability to manage emotions, effectively communicating with children and adolescents.
