1 Psychology and human development1.12 Stages of human development
1.12.10 Adolescence as a developmental phase
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Written by Resident Doctor Committee · Published
Phases
Phase | Main features |
|---|---|
Early | Pubertal change and conformity to peers |
Middle | Negotiating autonomy, stronger peer influence and risk-taking |
Late | Identity, intimate relationships and vocational direction |
Puberty
Puberty usually starts at 8 to 13 years in girls and 9 to 14 in boys, and takes about 3 to 4 years from the first physical sign to adult maturity.
Tanner stages run from 1 (prepubertal) to 5 (adult), rating breast or genital development and pubic hair separately.
Feature | Girls | Boys |
|---|---|---|
First sign | Breast budding, Tanner stage 2 | Testicular volume of at least 4 mL |
Growth spurt | Early, Tanner breast stages 2 to 3 | Late and larger, Tanner stages 3 to 4 |
Girls therefore reach peak height velocity about two years before boys, and before menarche.
Menarche comes at about breast stage 3 to 4, roughly 2 years after breast budding.
Parents and peers
Conflict with parents rises early, peaks in mid-adolescence and then settles, and it is mostly about everyday matters such as curfews and clothes, not values.
Adolescents choose confidants by topic: friends of their own age for sex, relationships and private worries, and parents for future decisions such as education and career.
Fear of rejection by peers emerges at 11 to 13 years, peaks at about 15 and declines by 17.
Storm and stress
Storm and stress (G. Stanley Hall, 1904; revisited by Arnett) holds that adolescents show more negative behaviour than younger children or adults, as an age-typical pattern.
Domain | Evidence |
|---|---|
Externalising | Substance experimentation, injury and offending increase |
Internalising | Mood variability, depression and anxiety increase, depression especially in girls |
Parent-adolescent relationship | Conflict rises modestly |
Inevitable crisis | Unsupported: most young people keep functioning and good relationships |
Regular drinking from early adolescence predicts later alcohol misuse and dependence in UK young people.
Culture and the transition to adulthood
Communities that mark adulthood with a single, public, formal initiation ceremony conferring adult status generally show less negative transition and less adolescent risk-taking.
Normal development or disorder
Persistent low mood, hopelessness, suicidal thinking, developmental regression or a decline in functioning need assessment, not dismissal as ordinary moodiness.
Clinicians judge change against the young person's own baseline, its duration, their developmental stage and their culture.