Influence on Adolescent Behaviour

Hello friends trust we all are doing great. Just about weekend anytime from now. This week's contest is about Adolescent Behaviour. This topic is of interest to me because some of us have passed through this stage of life, some are into it right now while others are yet to reach that stage. What are these behaviours that are unique to people at this stage of life and their causes?

The contest tips will guide us through as we explore this topic.

What is Adolescent Behaviour? Explain in 150 words.

First we need to know what Adolescence mean? This is a period of time in someones life, usually between the ages of 10 - 19, known as a transformative or transitive time of a person from childhood to adulthood. It is usually characterised by so many changes in a person. This changes will be physical changes, cognitive changes, emotional and social changes. It is at this stage that we have the puberty stage caused by hormonal changes in the body which leads to changes in physical development, rapid increase in height, breast development, weight gain, faster processing of information in the brain, etc.

These hormonal changes brings about the adolescent behaviours. These behaviours include but are not restricted to these below:-

1. The individual starts having an increased ability to think and reason over issues while thinking about its moral justification.

2. The child starts thinking about his personality, having an identity of his own and tries being independent from their parents.

3. The child would want to take hia own decisions and would require genuine reasons for whatever you ask him to do.

4. They are susceptible to mood swings which is largely as a result of hormone fluctuations and societal pressures.

5. There is this tendency to act impulsively about issues, trying to be quick with its resolution.

Many other forms of adolescent behaviours are embedded in the 5 bullet points listed above.

Explain at least 3 factors influencing adolescent behaviour.

¢ Hormonal changes: This is a time when the body produces hormones that leads to physical and mental growth or a child. This hormonal production causes them to behave the way they do. Some may start getting easily irritated while others may suddenly decide to stay away from people.

¢ Peer pressure: At this stage, they want to be identified as an individual, accepted for whom they are. This is where acceptance by there friends becomes almost imperative. If not guided well, the pressure might be a very negative peer pressure.

¢. Changes in their body: The changes they suddenly observe on their body may cause a dissenting attitude. Noticing the growth spurts that comes with physical body changes can be a cause for serious concern to them. Like consistent body odor, skin acne, pimples, etc Additionally, The strong sexual drive they start having can also be driving them crazy.

How does social media and family influence adolescent self-esteem and perception of others?

The family remains and provides the best form of assistance to an adolescents perception of others and his self esteem.

This they do by informing them beforehand of the changes they are expecting, the resultant effects and how to cope with it. They also provide emotional and practical support to these ones, helping them to ride the road of adolescence.

With the parents and guardian help, an adolescent would be helped to appreciate what is happening to him, have his self esteem intact and right perception of others.

I do not personally subscribe to using the social media to build his personality. Why? Because information is distorted and the presentation of matters would not be true.

Do you think their mental health is affected by peer pressure or social media?

The social Media and peer pressure have been a major factor in shaping many young minds. Unfortunately, it has always been mostly on the negative side. These two forces have affected the mental health of many young ones. Many things seen on social media handles are just fake and pretentious lives.
This have led to so many mental health problems amongst adolescent.

This is equally the case with peer pressure. Young ones try to become acceptable to their peers. Thus they try to live a life which is acceptable to their peers but detrimental to their mental health.

As much as possible, the family have a lot of role to play in guiding these adolescents to the right path thus protecting them from susceptible mental issues.

If that is done, we will see these young ones becoming responsible adults in the future.