In this phase, an adolescents tries to adjust him/her self to the external atmosphere and an automatic collection of physical and psycho-social traits appear of an individual personality following are the common concern of adolescents:
Personal Concerns
These concerns can be further grouped into:
(a) Emotional concerns
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(b) Physical concerns.
(a) Emotional concerns
At this stage social changes are reflected under the influence of the peer group. New values in friendship, social acceptance and rejection and selection of leaders are seen. Some concerns related to personal emotions are:
(i) Drug abuse:
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It is generally observed that adolescents are particularly more at risk for drug abuse. Most of the drug addicts start using drugs out of curiosity, quite often under the influence of friends and peer group. They wrongly believe that drugs will help to overcome their boredom, depression and fatigue.
It has also been found that some adolescents start taking drugs because of the lack of love and understanding on the part of those who have been very closely attached to such persons. Most of the drug addicts are found to suffer from frustration in life.
Adolescents in India are equally vulnerable. According to the India Drug Country Report, 1955 most of the drug abusers are of adolescent age. Physical and psychological dependence on drugs leads them to the state of euphoria.
(ii) Increased peer influence:
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It is the peer group in which an adolescent continues to formulate and revise his concept of individuality and he correlates his problems from which he is struggling to free himself.
The peer group offers the adolescent a world in which he may associate in a climate, where the values that are set not by adults, but by others of his own age. Sometimes a group is formed and anit-social behaviours like theft, gambling, prostitution, alcoholism etc. are seen due to peer pressure and influence.
(b) Physical concerns
(i) Homosexuality
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Psychologists and biologists have made a good deal of study for biological bases of adolescent personality. Important external and internal bodily changes take place in sexual characteristics. Three different phases mark the development of sexual urge at adolescence. These are autoerotism, homosexuality and heterosexuality.
Homosexuality is a major concern of physical development of adolescents these days as it is increasing day to day. During this period, passionate friendship develops between the members of same sex.
This kind of abnormal and unnatural sexual behaviour may lead adolescents to sex related diseases and HIV/AIDS transmission. It will be better that the teachers and parents should give instructions about sex carefully and frankly.
(ii) Prevention of Drug Abuse
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Our socio-cultural environment does not approve the use of tobacco, alcohol, or other linked drugs. Attitudes concerning smoking, drinking and other forms of drug abuse usually are found during early adolescence and hence interventions for prevention must begin early.
Parents and teachers play decisive role in helping child to cultivate proper attitude towards drugs. To tackle the problem they must take great care and deal the solution psychologically
Social-cultural concerns
Juvenile delinquency
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Juvenile delinquency is the broad-based term given to juveniles who commit crimes. Juveniles are defined as those people who haven’t reached adulthood or the age of majority. What defines adulthood or the age of majority in a court system may be predetermined by law, especially for minor crimes.
Major crimes may force the courts to decide to try a juvenile as an adult, a very important distinction, since sentencing can then mean not just spending adolescence, but a lifetime in prison. Delinquency can be defined as the committing of those things considered crimes by the state, although delinquent can also mean abandoned. Thus juvenile delinquency can cover anything from’ small crime to very serious crimes like felony theft and murder.
There are many schools of thought as to the primary factors that contribute to juvenile delinquency. Many of these are tied to nature/ nurture arguments. It is certainly the case that children who are neglected, abused or impoverished are statistically more likely to fall into delinquency patterns.
Though this may be statistically relevant, it fails to account for the delinquency of those who have good and loving parents, and suitable living circumstances. More frequently, geneticists are refuting the idea that children are a tabula rasa, or blank slate.
Genetic makeup may play a factor in juvenile delinquency, but it may only establish a predilection toward behaviour, while nurturance or lack thereof may create circumstances necessary to cause the behaviour.
Furthermore, knowledge of early onset mental illness helps determine suitable rehabilitative efforts for juvenile delinquents. Consideration can be given to a juvenile’s “reasonable ability to control his/her own behaviour, based on factors like mental illness, drug use, and upbringing.
Key to determining the best rehabilitation in juvenile delinquency trials is the attempt to understand why a child was delinquent, and what circumstances contributed to this delinquency.
Child labour refers to the employment of children at regular and sustained labour. This practice is considered exploitative by many international organisations and is illegal in many countries. Child labour was utilized to varying extents through most of history, but entered public dispute with the advent of universal schooling, with changes in working conditions during the industrial revolution, and with the emergence of the concepts of workers’ and children’s rights.
In many developed countries, it is considered inappropriate or exploitative if a child below a certain age works (excluding household chores or school-related work). An employer is usually not permitted to hire a child below a certain minimum age. This minimum age depends on the country and the type of work involved.
States ratifying the Minimum Age Convention adopted by the International Labour Organisation in 1973, have adopted minimum ages varying from 14 to 16. Child labour laws in the United States set the minimum age to work in an establishment without restrictions and without parents’ consent at age 16.
The incidence of child labour in the world decreased from 25 to 10 per cent between 1960 and 2003, according to the World Bank.
Suicide is the act of a human being intentionally causing his or her own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair, or attributed to some underlying mental disorder which includes depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism and drug abuse. Financial difficulties, interpersonal relationships and other undesirable situations play a significant role.
Over one million people commit suicide every year. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that it is the thirteenth-leading cause of death worldwide. It is a leading cause of death among teenagers and adults under 35. There are an estimated 10 to 20 million non-fatal attempted suicides every year worldwide.
Views on suicide have been influenced by broader cultural views on existential themes such as religion, honour, and the meaning of life. In the West it was often regarded as a serious crime. Conversely, during the samurai era in Japan, seppuku was respected as a means of atonement for failure or as a form of protest.
In the 20th century, suicide in the form of self-immolation has been used as a form of protest, and in the form of kamikaze and suicide bombing as a military or terrorist tactic. Sati is a Hindu funeral practice in which the widow would immolate herself on her husband’s funeral pyre, either willingly, or under pressure from the family and in-laws.
Medically assisted suicide (euthanasia, or the right to die) is currently a controversial ethical issue involving people who are terminally ill, in extreme pain, or have (perceived or construed) minimal quality of life through injury or illness. Self-sacrifice for others is not always considered suicide, as the goal is not to kill one but to save another; however, Emile Durkheim’s theory termed such acts “altruistic suicide”.
Recreation is an important necessity for a person. Today’s world is the world of information and technology. A boom of technology can be seen in print and electronic media for the recreational purpose. We can see these days that adolescents are also mishandling this boon. In fact, leisure has become nuisance in its commercial form.
It is the result of amusement enterprise organised for the mere purpose of profit and it does not meet any value. Misuse of computer Internet, mobile phones and other audio-video devices has been commonly seen. The use of mobile phone and audio video devices are popular among the adolescents these days.
It not only keeps our younger generation in daydreaming and raw knowledge of sexual behaviour but also enhance the danger of indulgence in abnormal activities leading to sexually transmitted infections. These diseases affect sexual organs and can seriously affect the entire health of an individual.
Prevention
The international code of satellite use and ban on pornography can be a strong measure to overcome the problem. Proper sex education and recreational use of mass media can be a tool for the purpose.
The advisory panels and censor boards must do something in this field and there should be principles for the guidance of mass media in the interest of Adolescents today.
Gender role issue and adolescence
It is increasingly accepted that gender issue influences all aspects of human life in the way individuals grow in the family, the schooling they receive, the healthcare services, the social roles they play, the way they participate in the decision making process in family, social and political situation and the power and authority they command in different context.
In many ways the notion of sex-linked concept of gender, is also socially contracted. Gender roles are sets of behaviours, which are determined by the society for males and females. In almost all societies Men and women are assigned different roles but they do not get equal position of power in society. Males are valued higher than females.
There has been a perceptible change in the traditional gender roles during the last three of four decades consequent upon the efforts to promote gender equality.
This embodies the principles of equality of rights, status and mutual respect between male and females. But, still a lot of efforts are needed for the evil of discrimination against women.
There is an urgent need to eliminate all forms of discrimination against the girl child and the root causes of son preference, which results in harmful and unethical practices. It is equally essential to appreciate the value of girl child and to strengthen her self-esteem and status.