Introduction

Defining Adolescence

Most likely, similar to the comments above made by teens of various ages on internet blogs (Feldman 2008), you found it difficult to really answer these questions based on individual markers. Additionally, if we were to take a look at the responses to this question across the entire class, I bet we would find quite a bit of variety in answers as well. Thus, it probably won’t come as a surprise to you that if we take a look in the literature, theorists and researchers have yet to reach a unanimous decision on how to exactly define adolescence either (Steinberg, 2008).

Keeping this in mind, here is a list of the more common characteristics for defining the initiation and completion of adolescence, based on various perspectives found in the literature:

1. The Chronological Perspective: refers to describing adolescence based on reaching particular ages. From my experience, most researchers utilized this perspective to define the time period of adolescence, as it tends to be one of the most concrete and easily measurable approaches. However, the argument then becomes: what should be the accepted age range of this time period? For example, Steinberg (2008) refers to adolescence as encompassing the second decade of life (from 10-20 years of age), but not everyone agrees on this demarcation (Santrock, 2008). Adding to the confusion, many researchers divide adolescence even further, describing an “early” versus “middle” versus “late” stage of adolescent development. As you’ve probably already guessed, the assignment of exact age ranges for these categories is also quite varied. Finally, some researchers have even gone to describe the edges of adolescence as separate distinct periods of development that are uniquely different than adolescence itself. For example (as we’ll discuss in lesson 3) some researchers feel that by the late teens we’ve entered into a distinctly different period of development that is no longer adolescence, but is not quite adulthood. This transitional period has been referred to by researchers as emerging adulthood (Arnett, 2000). At the other end of the age range, you’ve probably heard the term “tweens” used to describe roughly ages 9-12 who are considered to be between childhood and being a teenager. Needless to say, as you read through the various articles and pieces of information keep in mind that not all researchers use the same chronological boundaries when describing adolescence.


2. The Biological Perspective implies that the beginning and ending of adolescence follows the development and completion of certain biological markers. For example (as we’ll discuss in lesson 2) some researchers analyze the development of certain puberty-related changes (such as pubic hair growth or breast development) while others look at hormone levels (e.g. changes in testosterone) or changes in brain development to describe adolescence and its boundaries. However, as with the chronological perspective, there are definitely some disagreements and concerns with this perspective as well. For example, what should the exact biological markers included? What is the appropriate ordering of these markers? Who should be analyzing these markers and are there actual differences between raters (e.g. between self-ratings and physician-ratings) on these markers (Dorn, Susman, & Ponirakas, 2003).


3. The Cognitive Perspective deals with defining adolescence based on mental abilities. For example, you probably remember hearing about Jean Piaget and his theory of cognitive development from an Introductory Psychology course. According to Piaget, one of the differentiating markers between child and adolescent thinking is the ability to practice hypothetical deductive reasoning as well as using other elements of abstract thinking. As we’ll discuss in the 3rd and 4th lesson, you’ll see that there are a great deal of cognitive markers we can use to differentiate children and adolescents in the realm of mental processing. You’ll also find that while these advancements have their benefits, there can be some pitfalls as well. In these lessons we’ll also discuss the “mental pitfalls” of cognitive development for adolescents and their implications on behavior and future development.