Developmental psychology: the crisis of adolescence. Teenage crisis Teenage crisis 11 15 years

At the beginning of the second decade, children's lives change dramatically, which causes their first conscious sexual desire. This is the reason why teenagers begin to be actively interested in the opposite sex, experiment in relationships: meet, fight, break up. Academic performance is falling, parents are arguing, and teenagers are too passionate about the new world - the world of human relationships, feelings and emotions.

Many parents are united by fear of their children. As soon as someone says: “I’m 14 now...”, those around them sigh sympathetically. Of course, it’s not for nothing that this age is popularly called “difficult”: teenagers often seem completely unpredictable to adults, but there are facts on the basis of which two types of teenage crisis can be distinguished.

So, first view the course of the teenage crisis can be called stormy, bright, intense. The teenager actively rebels against the whole world, looks shockingly and behaves accordingly: he becomes very loud and abrupt, slams the door during quarrels and runs away from the house. He often has problems, but he is a regular guest at teenage parties.

Usually it is this type of crisis that frightens parents the most: the child seems somehow alien, different, although a year ago he was an obedient schoolchild.

This openness is a resource for parents to maintain contact and trust with their teenager. Emotions and feelings are what now make up your child’s picture of the world. Talk about them with your teenager, discuss them, be sincerely interested in what is happening in his soul: feeling genuine interest, and not a desire to control him, the child will share his experiences.

You can remember yourself at his age, tell that you were also worried about your first love and quarrels with friends, you can compare your feelings and emotions. This experience will be interesting for both you and your rebellious child.

Second type the course of the teenage crisis - quiet and silent. Such teenagers experience the same range of very intense emotions in silence, locked in their room, with the hood pulled up to their eyes and headphones plugged in. They also rebel, they also scream, but within themselves.

This quiet rebellion is actually fraught with much more dangers than a loud one, because such teenagers become extremely withdrawn, do not share their experiences, and communicate mainly on social networks. Such silent people are more unpredictable, because one can only guess what storm is raging inside them.

For parents who behave this way, it is important to be patient and maintain the contact that was in place at the time of the crisis.

It is important to make it clear to your child that you will always be there, no matter what he does, that your love for him does not depend on any external factors: you simply love him for what he is, with all his shortcomings and complexes.

Don’t ask him to tell you about himself, let him experience the crisis within himself, but subtly remind him that you are his support and support - at any moment he can ask for help, and you will certainly support him. If a teenager has the feeling that the family is his refuge from the outside world, then he will not commit any terrible acts.

Regardless of the type of crisis, it is important for parents to remember a few rules:

Treat your teenager like an adult: respect him, his feelings, experiences, emotions, choices, actions, even if they seem wrong to you. teaches a teenager to think through consequences, take into account many factors and take responsibility.

Respect. You're not going to bother reading your work colleague's text messages, are you? It’s the same with a teenager: he has his own personal life, his own space, which should be inviolable. Don't read his correspondence, knock on the door before entering his room. Even little things like this will let him know that you respect his right to personal boundaries.

Don’t devalue by saying: “Have you quarreled again? Nonsense, make peace!” No, it’s not nonsense: quarrels for teenagers are the end of the world, and often the real end of friendship. Respect these experiences, because the world of relationships is the main world for a teenager.

Avoid punishments and orders. A teenager is no longer a child; he is extremely sensitive to the encroachment on personal freedom and self-expression. House arrests, bans, and coercion to engage in any activity will only aggravate the teenage crisis. You need to deal with a teenager the same way as with any adult.

Whatever the crisis - quiet or loud, mild or severe, it is important to maintain trusting relationships. Parents must take into account the age characteristics of their child so that further development is harmonious. If a teenager wants to walk, let him walk; if he wants to sit in the room, let him sit. The main thing is that he knows that he has parental support.

Ekaterina Safonova

Characteristics of the teenage crisis

Kuznetsov Konstantin Valerievich,

Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences.

Basic psychological characteristics of adolescents

Adolescence is the boundary between childhood and adulthood, associated with the age of mandatory human participation in public life. In many ancient societies, the transition to adulthood was formalized by special rituals, thanks to which the child not only acquired a new social status, but was, as it were, born again, received a new name, etc.

The boundaries of adolescence approximately coincide with the education of children in grades 5 - 8 of secondary school and cover the ages from 10 - 11 to 14 years, but the actual entry into adolescence may not coincide with the transition to 5th grade and occur a year earlier or later.

The special position of the teenage period in the development of a child is reflected in its names: “transitional”, “turning point”, “difficult”, “critical”. They document the complexity and importance of the developmental processes occurring at this age associated with the transition from one era of life to another. The transition from childhood to adulthood constitutes the main content and specific difference of all aspects of development during this period - physical, mental, moral, social. In all directions, the formation of qualitatively new formations is taking place, elements of adulthood appear as a result of the restructuring of the body, self-awareness, relationships with adults and friends, methods of social interaction with them, interests, cognitive and educational activities, the content of moral and ethical standards that mediate behavior, activities and relationships . In everyday life, in family and school, you can often hear the following conversations: he was an obedient boy, but now he has become wayward, even rude; was calm - became unbalanced; was timid, overly shy - became independent and decisive, etc.

So, let's look in more detail at some of the main characteristics of adolescence in order to understand the causes and mechanism of aggression in this age period.

The first general pattern and acute problem of adolescence, as we have already noted, is the restructuring of relationships with parents, the transition from childhood dependence to relationships based on mutual respect and equality. Adolescence is called transitional age. The psychological state of adolescence is associated with two “turning points” of this age: psychophysiological - puberty, and everything connected with it, and social - the end of childhood, entry into the world of adults.

The first of these points is associated with internal hormonal and physiological changes, entailing bodily changes, unconscious sexual desire, as well as emotional and sensitive changes.

The second point - the end of childhood and the transition to the world of adults is associated with the development in the consciousness of a teenager of critical reflective thinking in a rational form. This is the defining state of a teenager’s psyche. It creates the main leading contradiction in the life of a teenager. Rational, i.e. formal, rigid logic controls the mind of a teenager. That’s right: it is not he who owns this logic, but it arises in his mind as a kind of coercive force. It requires an unambiguous answer and assessment to any question: true or false, yes or no. And this creates in the minds of a teenager a certain tendency towards maximalism, forces him to sacrifice friendship, becomes antagonistic in relationships with close people, since the diversity and inconsistency of reality and human relationships does not fit into the framework of rational logic, and he is ready to reject everything that does not correspond to this logic , since it is she who is the dominant force in his mind, the criterion of his judgments and assessments. But, being equal in type of logic of thinking to an adult, in terms of life experience and content of consciousness, a teenager remains still a child. Protesting against the lies, hypocrisy and domination of the adult world over him, he at the same time needs spiritual warmth, affectionate understanding, approval and forgiveness of adults. Rejecting authority, a teenager needs authority. An adult he could trust completely. There is a tendency to isolate both from the world of childhood and from the world of adults to create their own world of peers, internally identical to each other.

The main contradiction of adolescence can be considered the contradiction between the rational form of the emergence of reflection in the consciousness of a teenager, which has become for him the leading form of a conscious attitude towards the world, and the impersonal world of adults, which does not fit into the framework of rationality, and at the same time proclaiming the rationality (consciousness) of its existence . The relevance of this topic is that almost every teenager, during adolescence, faces special difficulties and tries to find himself. Adolescence is the shortest period of life, but very important. And it is important to survive it without any special injuries.

The second feature and most valuable psychological acquisition of a teenager is the discovery of his inner world; during this period, problems of self-awareness and self-determination arise. Closely connected with the search for the meaning of life is the desire to know oneself, one’s abilities, possibilities, and the search for oneself in relationships with others. For a child, the only conscious reality is the external world, into which he projects his imagination. For a teenager, the external, physical world is only one of the possibilities of subjective experience, the focus of which is himself. Having acquired the ability to immerse themselves and enjoy their experiences, a teenager and young man discover a whole world of new feelings; they begin to perceive and comprehend their emotions no longer as derivatives of some external events, but as a state of their own “I”. Even objective, impersonal information often stimulates a young man to introspect, to think about himself and his problems. Youth is especially sensitive to “internal” psychological problems. “Discovering your inner world is a very important, joyful and exciting event, but it also causes a lot of anxiety and drama. Along with the awareness of one’s uniqueness, uniqueness, and difference from others comes a feeling of loneliness. The teenage self is still vague, diffuse, and is often experienced as vague anxiety or a feeling of inner emptiness that needs to be filled with something. Hence, the need for communication grows and at the same time the selectivity of communication and the need for privacy increases. The awareness of one’s own peculiarity, of being different from others, causes a feeling of loneliness or fear of loneliness, which is very characteristic of early youth.”

A teenager’s idea of himself is always correlated with the group image of “we” - a typical peer of his gender, but never completely coincides with this image.

“The exaggeration of one’s own uniqueness, characteristic of many high school students, usually goes away with age, but not at the cost of weakening the individual principle. On the contrary, the older and more developed a person is, the more differences he finds between himself and the “average” peer. Hence the intense need for psychological intimacy, which would be both self-disclosure and penetration into the inner world of another. Awareness of one’s dissimilarity from others historically and logically precedes the understanding of one’s deep inner connection and unity with the people around him.”

But just as the awareness of one’s uniqueness and peculiarity leads to the discovery of loneliness, so the feeling of the fluidity and irreversibility of time confronts a teenager with the problem of the finitude of his existence and the concept of death. This is another problem associated with the existential crisis of adolescence. Not all boys and girls are inclined to philosophical reflection. Some people move away from frightening experiences into everyday life, while for others it all comes down to the revival of an irrational childhood fear. A heightened sense of the irreversibility of time is often combined with a reluctance to notice its passage, with the idea that time has stopped. The young man alternately feels very young, then very small, then, on the contrary, extremely old, having experienced everything. During adolescence, ideas about the possibilities of different eras of human life are still extremely subjective: to a 14-year-old, a 25-year-old already seems old, and adulthood is often identified with immobility and routine.

Another characteristic related to adolescence is the great importance that boys and girls attach to their appearance, and the standards of beauty and simply “acceptable” appearance are often inflated and unrealistic. With age, a person gets used to his appearance, accepts it and accordingly stabilizes the level of aspirations associated with it. Other personality traits come to the fore - mental abilities, volitional and moral qualities, on which successful activities and relationships with others depend.

With age, the adequacy of self-esteem increases. The self-assessments of adults are, on most indicators, more realistic and objective than those of youth, and those of adolescents than those of teenagers. But this trend is not linear; it is necessary to take into account changes in the self-esteem criteria themselves with age. If in middle grades a child is strongly guided by the opinions of teachers and school grades and academic performance play an important role in his self-esteem, then in high grades the importance of grades decreases. What comes to the fore is the opinion of peers and self-assessment of one’s achievements in different types of activities, the significance of which - studies, sports, some kind of amateur activities - can be completely different. This sharply reduces the importance of grades as an incentive to study, but at the same time reflects an increase in independence, differentiation of interests, etc. Teenage self-descriptions are better organized and structured than children’s; they are grouped around several central qualities. However, the uncertainty of the level of aspirations and the difficulties of reorientation from external assessment to self-esteem give rise to a number of internal substantive contradictions of consciousness.

An increase in the degree of awareness of one’s experiences is often also accompanied by hypertrophied attention to oneself, egocentrism, preoccupation with oneself and the impression that the individual makes on others, and, as a consequence, shyness.

When we talk about the teenage period of human development, we always mean that it is a complex, difficult period. The difficulty of this period lies not only in the above-mentioned features of adolescence, but, first of all, in the puberty crisis, the crisis of teenage identity, the successful exit from which will be one of the most important conditions for the formation of correct, prosocial, non-aggressive behavior of a teenager in the future. This will be discussed in the next chapter.

Teenage crisis

A feature of adolescence is an identity crisis (E. Erikson’s term), closely related to the crisis of the meaning of life.

The process of forming one’s own identity accompanies a person throughout his life. “The basis of this process is personal self-determination, which has a value-semantic nature. The formation of identity, which takes place especially intensively in adolescence and adolescence, is impossible without changing systemic social connections, in relation to which a growing person must develop certain positions.” The complexity of the task facing a growing person is, on the one hand, to clarify his role as a member of society, on the other hand, to understand his own unique interests, abilities that give meaning and direction to life. Almost every life situation requires a person to make a certain choice, which he can make only by clarifying his position regarding different areas of life. “Identity structure includes personal and social identity. Moreover, identity contains two types of characteristics: positive - what a person should become and negative - what a person should not become. The formation of identity can occur against the background of a teenager’s socially prosperous environment with a high level of mutual understanding with close adults, peers, and with sufficiently high self-esteem. The choice of behavior patterns in this case is carried out in a real social circle. In an unfavorable situation, the more unreal these patterns are, the more difficult the teenager experiences an identity crisis, the more problems he has with others.” The acquisition of personal identity by a teenager and young man is a multi-level process that has a certain structure, consisting of several phases that differ both in the psychological content of the value-volitional aspect of personality development, and in the nature of the problems of life difficulties experienced by the individual.

One of the reasons for the teenage crisis and conflicts with others at this age is an overestimation of one’s increased capabilities, which is determined by the desire for a certain independence and independence, painful pride and resentment. Increased criticality towards adults, an acute reaction to attempts by others to belittle their dignity, belittle their maturity, and underestimate their legal capabilities are the causes of frequent conflicts in adolescence.

Orientation towards communication with peers often manifests itself in the fear of being rejected by peers. The emotional well-being of an individual begins to depend more and more on the place that he occupies in the team, and begins to be determined primarily by the attitude and assessments of his comrades.

Moral concepts, ideas, beliefs, and principles that adolescents begin to guide their behavior are intensively formed. Often, young men develop systems of their own requirements and norms that coincide with the requirements of adults.

One of the most important moments in personality is the development of self-awareness and self-esteem; Young people develop an interest in themselves, the qualities of their personality, a need to compare themselves with others, evaluate themselves, and understand their feelings and experiences. Self-esteem is formed under the influence of other people’s assessments, comparison of oneself with others; successful activity plays a major role in the formation of self-esteem. .

The adolescent crisis is also understood as a state in which distortions in the adolescent’s relationship with reality may occur” (N. Remschmidt, 1992). One of the cardinal signs of this crisis is the experience of alienation of one’s self (depersonalization), one’s loneliness and isolation from the world.

Depersonalization is a key phenomenon of personality crisis. It covers a wide range of disorders, from a weakening of the figurative component of perception of the environment, loss of empathy for it, to cases of delusional split personality. Various authors attribute to depersonalization both deeply pathological phenomena with phenomena of complete alienation of one’s own will, thoughts and feelings, and manifestations of desocialization with a violation of the “legal sense”, the ability to distinguish between good and evil, justice and meanness, etc.

In relation to the concept of personality crisis, depersonalization acts, first of all, as an existential-phenomenological feature. The process of discovering one’s self, the tendency to introspection, the clash between exaggerated self-esteem and evaluation by others leads to contradictory puberty conflicts: from the denial of authorities to the desire to depend on them.

The teenager feels unprotected, doubts his identity and autonomy, he is deprived of a sense of consistency and coherence of his actions. This leads to the fact that his life is aimed at self-preservation, and life circumstances are perceived as threatening his existence.

Uncertainty about the stability of one’s inner world, concern that this world may be lost, form the basis of constant stress.

A subjectively painful feeling of internal discord, change in one’s own self, one’s identity, which form the core of depersonalization, is mixed with a feeling of discomfort, a decrease in affective mood towards the environment, difficulty concentrating attention, and reflection. Attitudes, motives and orientations arising from an altered sense of self-awareness and emotional background cause disturbances in the behavior and activity of the individual.

Specific adolescent grouping reactions, the significance of which in the formation of crime motives is enormous, are closely related to crisis processes of self-awareness. Obeying the laws of the group, sometimes as irrational as they are inevitable, teenagers commit incredibly cruel crimes in order, as it seems to them, to restore the vital connection between their own self and the group.

The crisis of adolescence is an absolutely normal phenomenon, indicating the development of personality, but in the presence of some unfavorable factors and conditions, this crisis state leads to aggressive behavior.

Literature

1.Kon I.S. Psychology of early adolescence. - M.: Publishing house "Eksmo Press". - 1989.

2. Kon I. S. “How do they see themselves?” Popular psychology for parents, ed. A. A. Bodaleva. - M.: Pedagogy. - 1988.

3. Savina O.O. “Features of identity formation in adolescence and youth” // http://www.new.psychol.ras.ru/conf/savina.htm .

4. Marinina E., Voronov Y. A teenager in a “pack” // Education of schoolchildren. 1994. No. 6.

The difficulty of adolescence consists not only of the above-mentioned features of this period, but also in the emergence of teenage crises, such as:

- puberty crisis
- identity crisis.

Overcoming them is one of the important conditions for the formation of correct social, non-aggressive behavior of a teenager.

Let's start with the puberty crisis.

Puberty crisis is the puberty of a child.

Puberty depends on the work of the endocrine glands, which begin to produce hormones that cause changes in the structure of the body. First of all, the pituitary gland and thyroid gland begin to work actively (they activate the work of the other glands). Intensive development begins, both physical and physiological: the child gains weight and begins to grow quickly. For boys, the period of active growth is from 13 to 15 years (sometimes up to 17-18), and for girls: from 11 to 13-15 years. Limbs increase in size - arms, feet and head grow to the size of an adult.

Stand out:

primary sexual characteristics - growth of mammary glands in girls, muscle development in boys;

secondary sexual characteristics - a change in the timbre of the voice: in boys it becomes lower (they cannot take high notes), in girls, on the contrary, the timbre increases.

Difficulties begin in the normal functioning of internal organs (heart, lungs) - pressure drops and frequent changes in physical states appear.

Due to physical instability comes emotional instability. The child is experiencing a “hormonal storm” and at the same time adapting to changes in his body. The first sexual attraction appears - in girls it is expressed in the need for love, care, respect. But teenagers cannot fully understand the reason for such desires.

More accurate ideas about masculinity and femininity appear - from this there appears dissatisfaction with one’s appearance, excessive pickiness about one’s body (because it has changed unusually). Due to the disproportion of the body, adolescents consider themselves clumsy, believe that they do not have correct facial features, and the appearance of defects on the skin. All this leads to the formation of a new physical “I”, which, as written above, is not always liked by teenagers.

As an example, we can cite girls who strive to lose weight in order to comply with generally accepted concepts of beauty. They go on a strict diet, not thinking about the fact that during this period their body needs adequate nutrition, and bring themselves to complete physical exhaustion - to anorexia.

The next crisis that appears in adolescence is an identity crisis (Erikson's term).

The basis of this process is the self-determination of the individual. The formation of identity, which takes place more actively in adolescence and adolescence, does not take place without changing systemic social connections, in relation to which the teenager must develop a certain opinion. The difficulty is to:

- clarify your role in society
- understand personal, unique interests, abilities that will give life purpose and meaning.

Almost every life situation requires a person to make a certain choice, which he can make only by clarifying his position regarding different areas of life. Identity includes personal and social identity. In the concept of identity, there are two types of characteristics: positive - what a teenager should become, and negative - what he should not become.

If the formation of identity occurs in a socially prosperous environment and with mutual understanding between the teenager and loved ones (parents, classmates), then this will contribute to the formation of normal, not low self-esteem and the development of a full-fledged personality. The choice of behavior patterns largely depends on your social circle. With an unfavorable social circle, the more unrealistic these patterns of “positive” behavior are, the more difficult the teenager experiences an identity crisis and the more conflicts he has with others. The acquisition of personal identity by a teenager is a multi-level process that has a certain structure, consisting of several phases that differ both in the psychological content of the value-volitional aspect of personality development, and in the nature of the problems of life difficulties experienced by the individual.

Some causes of identity crisis:

- overestimation of one’s capabilities (striving for independence and independence, selfishness and increased sensitivity), criticality towards adults (sharp reaction to attempts by relatives and friends to “humiliate” their dignity, underestimate their maturity - all this can lead to serious conflicts;
- fear of being misunderstood and rejected by peers;
- depersonalization - loss of self, loneliness, feeling of uselessness, this leads to increased reflection. Some scientists believe that depersonalization is a kind of pathology (since it can lead to complete alienation from the world because the teenager feels insecure) - this is the main cause of teenage crises.

To summarize, we can say that the crisis of adolescence is a completely normal phenomenon that tells us about personality development, but in the presence of various unfavorable conditions, this crisis state can lead to aggressive behavior.

The teenage crisis is the period of hormonal explosion, the transition from early adolescence to older adolescence. The crisis occurs in some children at 10-11 years old (girls), in others at 14-15 years old (boys), but most often in psychology it is noted as a crisis at 13 years old. This is the negative phase of puberty. The crisis period is usually difficult for both the child and the adults close to him. This is a crisis of social development, reminiscent of the crisis of 3 years (“I myself”), only now it is “I myself” in the social sense. In the literature, the teenage crisis is described as “the age of the second cutting of the umbilical cord, the “negative phase of puberty.” It is characterized by a drop in academic performance, decreased performance, and disharmony in the internal structure of the individual. The human self and the world are separated more than in other periods. The crisis is classified as acute.

The dynamics of group formation are changing - now these are mixed gender groups. The “We-concept” is being formed, i.e. the desire to dissolve in the group, although the need for privacy remains (especially in relation to adults). In the process of grouping reaction, the teenager learns to communicate, i.e. socialized. It’s good if he tries himself in different social statuses (leader, follower, expert) - this helps the formation of psychological flexibility.

The problem of the need for an adult leader among adolescents is acute. This could be any significant adult - a teacher, coach, circle leader, or maybe a representative of the criminal world, a courtyard ringleader, etc. A teacher can successfully manage a teenage group if he becomes a leader for it. The influence of parents is already limited, but a teenager’s value orientations, his understanding of social problems, and moral assessments of events and actions depend primarily on the position of his parents.

Symptoms of a teenage crisis:

1. Decrease in productivity and ability for educational activities, even in the area in which the child is gifted. Regression manifests itself when given a creative task (for example, an essay). Children are able to perform the same as before, only mechanical tasks.

This is due to the transition from visibility and knowledge to understanding and deduction (deriving a consequence from premises, inference). That is, there is a transition to a new, higher level of intellectual development. According to Piaget, this is the 4th period of mental development. This is not a quantitative characteristic of intelligence, but a qualitative one, which entails a new way of behavior, a new mechanism of thinking.

The concrete is replaced by logical thinking. This manifests itself in criticism and the demand for evidence. The teenager is now burdened by the concrete, he begins to be interested in philosophical questions (problems of the origin of the world, man). He loses interest in drawing and begins to love music, the most abstract of the arts.

The opening of the mental world occurs, the teenager’s attention is drawn to other people for the first time. With the development of thinking comes intense self-perception, introspection, and knowledge of the world of one’s own experiences. The world of internal experiences and objective reality are separated. At this age, many teenagers keep diaries.

New thinking also affects language and speech. This stage can only be compared with early childhood, when the development of thinking progresses following the development of speech.

Thinking in adolescence is not one function among others, but a key for all other functions and processes. Under the influence of thinking, the foundations of a teenager’s personality and worldview are laid.

Thinking in concepts also rebuilds the lower, early functions: perception, memory, attention, practical thinking (or effective intellect). In addition, abstract thinking is a prerequisite (but not a guarantee) that a person will reach the highest stage of moral development.

2. The second symptom of crisis is negativism. Sometimes this phase is called the phase of the second negativism, by analogy with the 3-year crisis. The child seems to be repulsed by the environment, is hostile, prone to quarrels and violations of discipline. At the same time, he experiences internal anxiety, dissatisfaction, a desire for loneliness, and self-isolation.

In boys, negativism manifests itself more clearly and more often than in girls, and begins later - at the age of 14-16.

A teenager's behavior during a crisis is not necessarily negative. L.S. Vygotsky writes about three types of behavior.

1) Negativism is clearly expressed in all areas of a teenager’s life. Moreover, this either lasts several weeks, or the teenager falls out of the family for a long time, is inaccessible to the persuasion of elders, is excitable or, conversely, stupid. This difficult and acute course is observed in 20% of adolescents.

2) The child is a potential negativist. This manifests itself only in some life situations, mainly as a reaction to the negative influence of the environment (family conflicts, the oppressive effect of the school environment). These are the majority of children, approximately 60%.

3) 20% of children have no negative phenomena at all.

On this basis, it can be assumed that negativism is a consequence of shortcomings in the pedagogical approach. Ethnographic studies also show that there are nations where adolescents do not experience a crisis.

4. Older adolescence

Adolescence is associated with the restructuring of the child’s entire body through puberty. And although the lines of mental and physical development do not run parallel, the boundaries of this period vary significantly. Some children enter older adolescence earlier, others later; a puberty crisis can occur at both 11 and 13 years of age.

Starting with a crisis, the entire period is usually difficult for both the child and the adults close to him. This is why adolescence is sometimes called a protracted crisis.

The leading activity is intimate and personal communication with peers. This activity is a unique form of reproducing between peers the relationships that exist among adults, a form of mastering these relationships. Relationships with peers are more significant than with adults; the teenager becomes socially isolated from his family.

6.4.1 Psychophysical development

Puberty depends on endocrine changes in the body. A particularly important role in this process is played by the pituitary gland and the thyroid gland, which begin to secrete hormones that stimulate the work of most other endocrine glands.

§ Activation and complex interaction of growth hormones and sex hormones cause intensive physical and physiological development. The height and weight of the child increase, and in boys, on average, the peak of the “growth spurt” occurs at 13 years of age, and ends after 15 years of age, sometimes continuing until 17 years of age. For girls, the growth spurt usually begins and ends two years earlier.

§ Changes in height and weight are accompanied by changes in body proportions. First, the head, hands and feet grow to “adult” sizes, then the limbs - the arms and legs lengthen - and lastly the torso.

§ Intensive skeletal growth, reaching 4-7 cm per year, outpaces the development of muscles. All this leads to some disproportion of the body, teenage angularity. Children often feel clumsy and awkward during this period.

§ Secondary sexual characteristics appear - external signs of puberty - and also at different times in different children. Boys' voices change, and for some, the timbre of their voice sharply decreases, sometimes breaking on high notes, which can be quite painful. For others, their voice changes slowly, and these gradual shifts are almost not felt by them.

§ Adolescents are characterized by changes in vascular and muscle tone. And such changes cause a rapid change in physical condition and, accordingly, mood. A rapidly growing child can kick a ball or dance for hours, hardly feeling any physical activity, and then, during a relatively calm period of time, literally collapse from fatigue. Cheerfulness, excitement, rosy plans are replaced by a feeling of weakness, sadness and complete passivity. In general, during adolescence, the emotional background becomes uneven and unstable.

§ Emotional instability increases the sexual arousal that accompanies the process of puberty. Most boys are becoming increasingly aware of the origins of this excitement. Girls have more individual differences: some of them experience the same strong sexual sensations, but most experience more vague ones, related to the satisfaction of other needs (for affection, love, support, self-esteem).

§ Gender identification reaches a new, higher level. An orientation towards models of masculinity and femininity is clearly manifested in behavior and the manifestation of personal properties. But a child can combine both traditionally masculine and traditionally feminine qualities. For example, girls planning a professional career in the future often have masculine character traits and interests, although at the same time they may also have purely feminine qualities.

§ Interest in one's appearance increases sharply. A new image of the physical “I” is formed. Because of its hypertrophied importance, the child acutely experiences all the flaws in appearance, real and imaginary. Disproportion of body parts, clumsiness of movements, irregularity of facial features, skin losing its childlike purity, excess weight or thinness - everything upsets, and sometimes leads to a feeling of inferiority, isolation, even neurosis. There are known cases of anorexia nervosa: girls, trying to become graceful like a fashion model, follow a strict diet, and then completely refuse food and bring themselves to complete physical exhaustion.

Severe emotional reactions to one’s appearance in adolescents are softened by warm, trusting relationships with close adults, who must, of course, show both understanding and tact. Conversely, a tactless remark that confirms the worst fears, a shout or irony that tears the child away from the mirror, aggravates pessimism and further neuroticizes.

6.4.2 Personality development in late adolescence

S. Hall called this age a period of “storm and stress.” Development at this stage, indeed, proceeds at a rapid pace, especially many changes are observed in terms of personality formation.

Motivational sphere of a teenager

Motivational sphere – aimed at communication with peers, educational and creative (sports) activities. The main feature of a teenager (G.S. Abramova, 2000) is personal instability. Opposite traits, aspirations, tendencies coexist and clash with each other, determining the inconsistency of the character and behavior of a growing child. In relationships with peers, teachers and parents, opposing motives may appear.

§ The motive for achieving success is the desire to achieve success in various types of activities and communication.

§ The motive for avoiding failure is a relatively stable desire of an individual to avoid failures in life situations related to other people’s assessment of the results of his activities and communication.

§ Affiliation is an individual’s desire to be in the company of other people. For teenagers, it is aimed at communicating with peers and is the leader.

§ The motive for rejection is the fear of being rejected, not accepted in the group.

§ The power motive is the desire to dominate others, manifested in teenage groups.

§ Altruism is the motive for helping people.

§ Selfishness is the desire to satisfy one’s needs and interests regardless of the needs and interests of other people.

§ Aggression – the desire to cause physical, moral or property harm to other people.

The basic need of age is understanding. For a teenager to be open to understanding, previous needs must be met.

Development of self-awareness:

1. Feeling of adulthood. The teenager does not yet have objective adulthood. Subjectively, it manifests itself in the development of a sense of adulthood and a tendency towards adulthood:

§ Emancipation from parents. The child demands sovereignty, independence, respect for his secrets. At the age of 10-12 years, children are still trying to find mutual understanding with their parents. However, disappointment is inevitable, since their values are different. But adults are lenient towards each other’s values, and the child is a maximalist and does not accept leniency towards himself. Disagreements occur mainly over clothing style, hairstyle, leaving home, free time, school and financial problems. However, in the most important way, children still inherit the values of their parents. The “spheres of influence” of parents and peers are delimited. Usually, attitudes towards fundamental aspects of social life are passed on from parents. They consult with peers on “momentary” issues.

§ A new attitude to learning. The teenager strives for self-education, and often becomes indifferent to grades. Sometimes there is a discrepancy between intellectual capabilities and success at school: opportunities are high, but success is low.

§ Adulthood manifests itself in romantic relationships with peers of the opposite sex. What is at stake here is not so much the fact of sympathy as the form of relationships learned from adults (dating, entertainment).

§ Appearance and manner of dressing.

"I-concept". After searching for oneself and personal instability, a teenager develops a “I-concept” - a system of internally consistent ideas about oneself, images of “I”.

The images of “I” that a teenager creates in his mind are varied - they reflect all the richness of his life. A teenager is not yet a complete mature personality. Its distant features are usually dissonant, the combination of different images of the “I” is inharmonious. The instability and mobility of all mental life at the beginning and middle of adolescence leads to variability in ideas about oneself. Sometimes a random phrase, compliment or ridicule leads to a noticeable shift in self-awareness. When the image of the “I” has sufficiently stabilized, and the assessment of a significant person or the child’s own actions contradicts it, psychological defense mechanisms (rationalization, projection) are often activated.

1) The real “I” includes cognitive, evaluative and behavioral components.

The cognitive component of a teenager’s Real “I” is formed through self-knowledge:

§ physical “I”, i.e. ideas about one's own external attractiveness,

§ ideas about your intelligence, abilities in different areas,

§ ideas about strength of character,

§ ideas about sociability, kindness and other qualities.

The evaluative component of the Real “I” - for a teenager it is important not only to know what he really is, but also how significant his individual characteristics are. Assessing one’s qualities depends on a value system that has developed mainly due to the influence of family and peers.

The behavioral component of the Real “I” - ideas about oneself must correspond to a certain style of behavior. A girl who considers herself charming behaves completely differently than her peer who finds herself ugly but very smart.

2) The ideal “I” depends on the relationship between the level of aspirations and self-esteem.

§ With a high level of aspirations and insufficient awareness of one’s capabilities, the ideal “I” may differ too much from the real “I”. Then the gap experienced by the teenager between the ideal image and his actual position leads to self-doubt, which can outwardly be expressed in touchiness, stubbornness, and aggressiveness.

§ When the ideal image seems achievable, it encourages self-education. Teenagers not only dream about what they will be like in the near future, but also strive to develop desirable qualities in themselves. If a boy wants to become strong and dexterous, he enrolls in a sports section; if he wants to be erudite, he begins to read fiction and scientific literature. Some teenagers develop entire self-improvement programs.

At the end of adolescence, on the border with early adolescence, ideas about oneself stabilize and form an integral system - the “I-concept”. For some children, the “I-concept” may be formed later, at senior school age.

Emotional-volitional sphere. Adolescence is considered a period of turbulent inner experiences and emotional difficulties. According to a survey conducted among teenagers, half of 14-year-olds feel so unhappy at times that they cry and want to leave everyone and everything. A quarter reported that they sometimes feel like people are looking at them, talking about them, or laughing at them. Every 12th person had thoughts of suicide.

Typical school phobias, which disappeared at the age of 10-13, now reappear in a slightly modified form. Social phobias predominate. Teenagers become shy and attach great importance to the shortcomings of their appearance and behavior, which leads to reluctance to date certain people. Sometimes anxiety paralyzes a teenager's social life to such an extent that he refuses most forms of group activities. Fears of open and closed spaces appear.

Self-education becomes possible during this period due to the fact that adolescents develop self-regulation. Of course, not all of them are able to show perseverance, willpower and patience in order to slowly move towards the ideal they themselves created. In addition, many retain a childish hope for a miracle: it seems that one fine day the weak and timid will suddenly knock out the strong and impudent leader in the class, and the C student will write a test paper brilliantly. Instead of taking action, teenagers are immersed in a world of fantasy.

6.4.3 Anomalies in the personal development of adolescents

Adolescence is a manifestation of those anomalies of personal development that existed in a latent state in the preschool period. Deviations in behavior are common to almost all adolescents. Characteristic features of this age are sensitivity, frequent sudden changes in mood, fear of ridicule, and decreased self-esteem. For most children, this goes away on its own over time, but some need help from a psychologist.

Disorders can be behavioral or emotional. Emotional ones predominate in girls. These are depression, fears and anxiety. The reasons are usually social. Behavioral disorders are four times more common in boys. These include deviant behavior.

6.4.4 Imagination and creativity

A child's play develops into a teenager's fantasy. Compared to a child's imagination, it is more creative. In a teenager, fantasy is associated with new needs - with the creation of a love ideal. Creativity is expressed in the form of diaries, writing poetry, and even people without a grain of poetry write poetry at this time. “It is not the happy who fantasizes, but only the dissatisfied.” Fantasy becomes at the service of emotional life, is a subjective activity that gives personal satisfaction. Fantasy is turned into an intimate sphere that is hidden from people. A child does not hide his play, a teenager hides his fantasies as a hidden secret and is more willing to admit to an offense than to reveal his fantasies.

There is also a second channel - objective creativity (scientific inventions, technical designs). Both channels connect when a teenager first feels out his life plan. In fantasy he anticipates his future.

6.4.5 Communication during adolescence

Formation of reference groups. During adolescence, groups begin to emerge among children. At first they consist of representatives of the same sex, subsequently a union of similar groups arises into larger companies or gatherings, the members of which do something together. Over time, the groups become mixed. Even later, a division into pairs occurs, so that the company consists only of related pairs.

The teenager tends to recognize the values and opinions of the reference group as his own. In his mind, they set the opposition to adult society. Many researchers talk about the subculture of children's society, the bearers of which are reference groups. Adults do not have access to them, therefore, the channels of influence are limited. The values of children's society are poorly aligned with the values of adults.

A typical feature of a teenage group is extremely high conformity. The opinions of the group and its leader are treated uncritically. The diffuse “I” needs a strong “we”; dissent is excluded.

Formation of the “We-concept”. Sometimes it takes on a very harsh character: “we are ours, they are strangers.” Territories and spheres of living space are divided between teenagers. This is not friendship; the relationship of friendship has yet to be mastered in youth: as a relationship of intimacy, to see in another person the same as oneself. In adolescence, it is more likely to be the worship of a common idol.

Relationships with parents. The psychological literature describes several types of relationships between parents and adolescents:

1) Emotional rejection. Usually it is hidden, since parents unconsciously suppress hostility towards the child as an unworthy feeling. Indifference to the child’s inner world, masked by exaggerated care and control, is unmistakably detected by the child.

2) Emotional indulgence. The child is the center of the entire life of adults; upbringing follows the “family idol” type. Love is anxious and suspicious; the child is demonstratively protected from “offenders.” Since the exclusivity of such a child is recognized only by those at home, he will have problems in relationships with peers.

3) Authoritarian control. Education is the main task of parents' lives. But the main educational line is manifested in prohibitions and manipulation of the child. The result is paradoxical: there is no educational effect, even if the child obeys: he cannot make decisions himself. This type of parenting entails one of two things: either socially unacceptable forms of child behavior or low self-esteem.

4) Conniving non-interference. When making decisions, adults are more often guided by their mood rather than by pedagogical principles and goals. Their motto: less hassle. Control is weakened, the child is left to his own devices in choosing company and making decisions.

Teenagers themselves consider democratic upbringing, where there is no adult supremacy, to be the optimal model of upbringing.

Main neoplasms of the period:

1. Holistic “I-concept”

2. Critical attitude towards adults.

3. The desire for adulthood and independence.

4. Friendship.

5. Critical thinking, tendency to reflection (self-analysis)

Internal manifestations of a sense of adulthood are a teenager’s attitude towards himself as an adult, an idea, a feeling of being, to some extent, an adult. This subjective side of adulthood is considered the central neoplasm of early adolescence.

Literature on the topic

1. Abramova G.S. Developmental psychology: A textbook for university students. – Ekaterinburg: Business book, 1999.

2. Bayard R.T., Bayard D. Your restless teenager. - M., 1991.

3. Developmental and educational psychology: Reader / comp. I.V. Dubrovina, A.M. Prikhozhan, V.V. Zatsepin. - M.: “Academy”, 1999.

4. Vygotsky L.S. Collected works in 6 volumes. T. 4 - M., 1984.

5. Dubrovina I.V. and others. Psychology: Textbook for students. avg. ped. textbook institutions / I.V. Dubrovina, E.E. Danilova, A.M. Parishioners; Ed. I.V. Dubrovina. - 2nd ed., - M.: Publishing Center "Academy", 2001. - 464 p.

6. Dubrovina I.V. Psychological health of schoolchildren. Practical psychology of education. – M., 1998.

7. Karandashev Yu.N. Developmental psychology. Introduction. – Minsk, 1997.

8. Kle M. Psychology of a teenager (psychosexual development). - M., 1991.

9. Kon I.S. Psychology of early youth. - M., 1989.

10. Craig G. Developmental psychology. – SPb: Peter. 1999.

11. Kulagina I.Yu. Developmental psychology (Child development from birth to 17 years): Textbook. – M., 1996.

12. Lisina M.I. Problems of ontogenesis of communication, - M., 1986.

13. Lichko A.E. Psychopathy and character accentuation in adolescents. - M., 1983.

14. Polivanova K.N. Psychological analysis of crises of age-related development. Question psychol. - 1994 - No. 1.

15. Psychology of age-related crises: Reader / Comp. K.V. Villager. – Mn.: Harvest, 2000.

16. Psychology. Textbook./ Ed. A.A. Krylova. – M.: “PROSPECT”, 1999.

17. Remschmidt H. Adolescence and adolescence: Problems of personality development. - M., 1994.

18. Sapogova E.E. Psychology of human development: Textbook. – M.: Aspect Press, 2001.

19. Slobodchikov V.I., Isaev E.I. Fundamentals of psychological anthropology. Psychology of human development: Development of subjective reality in ontogenesis: textbook for universities. – M.: School Press, 2000.

20. Snyder D. Survival course for teenagers. - Yekaterinburg, 1992.

21. Flake-Hobson K., Robinson B.E., Skene P. Peace to the incoming: The development of the child and his relationships with others. - M., 1992.

22. Tsukerman G. Self-development: a task for teenagers and their teachers. // Knowledge is power - 1995 - No. 5.

23. Tsukerman G.A. Psychology of self-development: tasks for adolescents and their teachers. - M., 1994.

24. Shakhova I.P. Workshop on laboratory work of the course “Age Psychology”. – M, 2002.

25. Erickson E. Life cycle: epigenesis of identity. /Archetype - 1995 - No. 1.

topic 7. EARLY YOUTH (15 – 17 YEARS OLD)

7.1 General characteristics of age

In Russian developmental psychology, the age of a senior schoolchild (grades 10-11, 15-17 years) is usually referred to as early adolescence. The content of early adolescence as a stage of personality development is determined primarily by social conditions. The position of young people in society, the amount of knowledge that they must master, etc. depend on social conditions.

At this age, the heterogeneity of their social status becomes significant for the personality of high school students. On the one hand, they continue to worry about problems inherited from the teenage stage - the right to autonomy from elders, today's problems of relationships - grades, various events, etc. On the other hand, they are faced with the task of life self-determination. Thus, adolescence acts as a kind of line between childhood and adulthood.

The social situation of development in high school age is determined by the fact that the student is on the verge of entering an independent life. L.I. Bozhovich and many other researchers of this age (I.S. Kon, V.A. Krutetsky, E.A. Shumilin) associate the transition from adolescence to early adolescence with a sharp change in internal position. The change in the internal position lies in the fact that aspiration to the future becomes the main orientation of the individual and the problem of choosing a future profession and further life path is in the center of attention, interests, and plans of the young man.

A significant point in the internal position of a high school student is the new nature of needs: from direct they turn into indirect ones, acquiring a conscious and voluntary character. The emergence of indirect needs is a stage in the development of the motivational sphere that makes it possible for a student to consciously manage his needs and aspirations, master his inner world, formulate life plans and prospects, which should mean a fairly high level of personal development. After all, early youth is characterized by a focus on the future. If at the age of 15 life has not changed radically, and the older teenager remains in school, he thereby delays his entry into adulthood. Consequently, during these two years it is necessary to draw up a life plan for yourself, which includes the questions of who to be (professional self-determination) and what to be (personal or moral self-determination). This life plan should already be significantly different from the vague one that was presented in the 9th grade. Accordingly, the personality of a high school student has new characteristics and new formations.

7.2 Conditions of mental development in early adolescence

The conditions of mental development in early youth are associated with the search for the meaning of life and can have several options (I.A. Kulagina, 1996):

1. Development is of a rapid nature of search and doubt. New intellectual and social needs arise, the satisfaction of which is difficult. The search for an ideal and the inability to find it leads to internal conflicts and difficulties in relationships with others. Despite the fact that this development option has an acute form, following this path contributes to the formation of an individual’s independence, flexibility of thinking, and a creative approach to business. This allows you to make independent decisions in difficult situations in the future.

2. Development is smooth, a high school student gradually moves towards a turning point in his life, and then is relatively easily included in a new system of relationships. Such high school students are conformist, i.e. They are guided by generally accepted values, the assessment and authority of others; they, as a rule, have good relationships with parents and teachers. With such a seemingly prosperous course of early adolescence, there are also some disadvantages in personal development: children are less independent, passive, and sometimes superficial in their attachments and hobbies.

3. Rapid, spasmodic development. Such high school students early determine their life goals and persistently strive to achieve them. They have a high level of self-regulation, which in situations of failure allows the individual to quickly adapt without sudden emotional breakdowns. However, with high arbitrariness and self-discipline, such a person’s reflection and emotional sphere are less developed.

4. Impulsive, stuck development. Such high school students are not self-confident and do not understand themselves well; they have insufficiently developed reflection and low self-regulation. They are impulsive, inconsistent in actions and relationships, not responsible enough, often reject the values of their parents, but are unable to offer their own instead. In adulthood, such people continue to rush about and remain restless.

Adolescence is the boundary between childhood and adulthood, associated with the age of mandatory human participation in public life.

A feature of adolescence is a crisis closely related to the crisis of the meaning of life.

The process of forming one's own identity accompanies a person throughout his life. The complexity of the task facing a growing person is, on the one hand, to clarify his role as a member of society, on the other hand, to understand his own unique interests, abilities that give meaning and direction of life. Almost every life situation requires a person to make a certain choice, which he can make only by clarifying his position regarding different areas of life.

Uncertainty about the stability of one’s inner world, concern that this world may be lost, form the basis of constant stress.

17. Cognitive development during adolescence

This age period is especially fruitful for the development of abstract thinking. During adolescence, the process of cognitive development is actively underway.

Memory.

During adolescence, memory restructuring occurs. Logical memory actively begins to develop and soon reaches such a level that the teenager moves on to the predominant use of this type of memory, as well as voluntary and mediated memory.

The development of memory is determined by the complication and increase in the volume of the material being studied. This leads to the final abandonment of verbatim learning through repetition. In the process of understanding, adolescents transform the text and, memorizing it, reproduce the main meaning of what they read.

For a teenager, remembering means thinking. His process of memorization comes down to thinking, to establishing logical relationships within the memorized material, and remembering consists of restoring the material according to these relationships.

As a reaction to the more frequent practical use of logical memory in life, the development of mechanical memory slows down. Due to the appearance of many new academic subjects at school, the amount of information that a teenager must memorize, including mechanically, increases significantly; he has problems with memory, and complaints of poor memory at this age are much more common than among younger schoolchildren.

Along with this, teenagers are becoming interested in ways to improve memory. Mnemonic techniques are actively mastered; if they were formed in elementary school, they are now automated and become the style of activity of students.

Perception.

There is a further intellectualization of such a mental function as perception. This process depends on learning becoming more complex in the middle grades. In geometry and drawing lessons, perception develops; the ability to see sections of three-dimensional figures, read a drawing, etc. appears.

Imagination.

Associated with general intellectual development and the development of imagination. The convergence of imagination with theoretical thinking gives impetus to creativity: teenagers begin to write poetry, seriously engage in various types of construction, etc. The imagination of a teenager, of course, is less productive than the imagination of an adult, but it is richer than the imagination of a child.

Developmental psychology: the crisis of adolescence. Teenage crisis Teenage crisis 11 15 years

Regardless of the type of crisis, it is important for parents to remember a few rules:

Similar articles

Read also