The text takes into account some reflections on adolescence. The goal is to make it accessible to everyone who is interested. I use Dias Sexual Identity Development theory, based on a Developmental perspective. It bears similarities with Erickson and Aberastury’s developmental view. It means that the focus is on sexual development and, more specifically, in the onset of puberty and sexual energy.
I am considering the concept of adolescence establish in the beginning of the 20TH century : a time of biological growth and of psychological changing followed by emotional balance towards a new phase: youth.
Additionally, according to Savage, during the Second World War (WWII), teenagers start to work and have some financial autonomy, thus becoming a new power as art and fashion consumers. Consequently, we see the emergence of a new social class with their own aspirations and individual needs.
Eighty years and a sexual and moral revolution later,
we still see the teenagers the same way we used to at that time concerning expectations for an adult’s life: success in social performances, such as getting married, having a good jog, raising a family.
The entrance in adulthood, however, is postponed because of the demands of professional specialization, causing them to stay longer at parents’ home. Besides, nuclear families are dissolved because of high rates of divorces, second and third marriages, bringing up new familiar configurations and the compulsory share of different values, ideas and beliefs in daily lives (Vargas and Nelson, in Schoen-Ferreira and Cols, 2010).
Lastly, the digital revolution brings about a gradual change, not only in communication but also in the way people relate to one another and to themselves: new forms of expression, self-expression, need of belonging. To sum up, it silently brings about changes in moral values that have a huge impact 50 years later.
1 According to T.H.Schoen-Ferreira, the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted the term youth to contemplate the people from 12 to 24 years old age . The goal is to include “extended contemporary adolescence” or, in others words, the delay in adulthood entry . To be continued on Post 2: Puberty
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