What is youth: definition, age limits. Childhood, adolescence, youth, maturity, old age

In this material we will tell you what adolescence, childhood, youth are. Let's take a brief look at each period of human life, point out the generally accepted age distinctions.

Childhood

Ah, childhood ... It's a bright and beautiful time when a little man grows up. Step by step he gets acquainted with the world around him. This is a period when the baby begins to develop skills: he learns to speak, walk, read, count, dress himself. At this time, too, the baby begins to recognize, study and assimilate those cultural skills that are inherent in the society in which he exists. In different epochs of the development of mankind, among different peoples, the period of childhood implied unequal social, and most importantly, cultural content. As history progresses, the understanding of childhood changes. As an example, we can cite such a proverb, which was often applied to this stage in ancient Russia: “From birth to five years old, treat the child like a king-father, from seven years old to twelve - like a servant, and after twelve - like to equal." Currently, the sciences that study the period of childhood include pedagogy, psychology, sociology, history, ethnography, each of which considers this age period in its own way.

adolescence

The next stage that follows childhood is adolescence. The child grows, develops, learns and learns to learn to communicate. It is conditionally possible to divide this stage into two segments: elementary school, when teaching is the leading activity, and secondary school, where communication is dominant. Adolescence age in different historical periods has changed, now this period is determined from seven to fifteen years of a child's life. This stage of a child's life is also called adolescence. What is adolescence? This is also the period of development when a person becomes sexually mature. Irritability and hypersensitivity, slight excitability and restlessness, aggressive self-defense tactics and melancholic passivity - all these extremes in just such a combination are characteristic of this period of life. This is how modern society works, that every teenager strives to acquire the status of an adult as soon as possible. But alas, such a dream is inaccessible. As they say, year after year under its own power. Therefore, as often happens, a teenager at this stage of his life acquires not a sense of adulthood, but a sense of inferiority.

What is adolescence? This period is characterized by the influence of sign systems: a teenager becomes a consumer. Consumption is the meaning of his life. In order to maintain his sense of identity and acquire significance among his peers, a teenager becomes the owner of a certain set of things.

Youth

After adolescence comes youth. The main and most important feature of this period is the transition to an independent adult life. This is the so-called stage of maturity. By the end of adolescence, at about twenty-two years, the process of maturation of the human body is completed: growth, puberty, the formation of the musculoskeletal system. Facial features become defined. During this period, the degree of personal maturity is significantly inferior to the maturity of the organism. Professional self-determination at this stage is the leading criterion. This moment is a significant step towards independence. Many types of mental functions, such as attention, sensorimotor reactions, and some types of memory, reach their maximum development. The ability to lead an independent lifestyle, which during this period requires responsible behavior and initiative from boys and girls, is the main sign of social adaptation and, in general, shows a positive course in the development of a young person's personality. Personal attachments are prioritized over collective relationships.

So, childhood, adolescence, youth are the most important years in the formation of a person's personality.

growing up years

All three stages can be broken down into the following approximate timeframes:

Childhood, which covers the years of a child's life from birth until about the age of seven.
Adolescence is given years from the age of seven to fourteen.
From fourteen to twenty-two - twenty-three years old, time belongs to the stage of youth.

The described age limits are not strictly defined, for each culture and country they can be slightly shifted. But in general, the picture of age differentiation looks exactly like this, and it is currently well-established.

Instead of a conclusion

So, in the article we examined what adolescence, youth and childhood are. Each of these stages of life is important based on the impact it can have on the formation of a person’s personality as a whole, determining his professional development path, assimilating universal human values, forming moral consciousness and choosing a civic position.

Chapter 1

Childhood, childhood - the period of a person's life from birth to adolescence (from birth to 11-12 years). During this period, the child goes through the greatest path in his individual development from a helpless being, incapable of independent life, to a completely adapted child's personality to nature and society, already able to take responsibility for himself, his relatives and peers.

In the first decade of life, the child's psyche in its development passes such a "distance" that no subsequent age can be compared with. This movement is primarily due to the ontogenetic features of age - childhood, in its essence, is oriented by natural prerequisites to the intensification of development. However, one should not think that self-development determines this movement. Natural prerequisites, only combined with social conditions, advance each child in childhood from one age stage to another.

During childhood, the child's body develops intensively: growth is accompanied by the maturation of the nervous system and brain, which predetermines mental development. During this age period, the child develops from the side of mental functions, communication, will and feelings. He begins to realize his uniqueness and manifest himself as a person at crucial moments in life.

Having passed the path of achievements in subject, play and educational activities, having mastered reflection on oneself and others as a way of identifying with the ideal and with real samples, having learned to take a position of responsibility, the child becomes able to reflect on the totality of life phenomena. Of course, he still needs the companionship of an adult, but he is already making successful attempts to independently penetrate into the deep essence of nature and human relations.

In childhood, there is nothing more natural for a child than the feeling of love and security in his family. For a child, the family is a source of reverent emotional experiences. Therefore, no matter what futurologists interpret about the institution of the family, as long as the family exists, there is nothing more sacred and beautiful for those who have lived in it for childhood. In the retrospective of life, every person who in childhood had a family hearth, the disinterested love of loved ones, with cordial affection, gratefully recalls this happy time.

It is in childhood that deep differences between children begin to take shape, which largely determine the future essential characteristics of their individualities, and, consequently, the choice of a life path.

Age stages of mental development are not identical to biological development. Age periodization has historical grounds. Each society defines the boundaries of childhood, based on the traditionally established age periods of a person.

Society makes its demands on childhood as a period of development of the child in the context of special attention to him by society and the family. Although public institutions are focused on the needs of a person of each age period, childhood in modern civilized countries acts as a period that requires special attention from society in the field of health protection, physical, mental and spiritual development, as well as providing social protection to the child. This responsible position of the state and the public is connected not only and not so much with the culture of humanistic expectations, but also with the urgent need to prepare for the change of generations precisely in the sensitive period of childhood. Hence the task of protecting motherhood and childhood, providing preschool children with state kindergartens and private institutions, and providing conditions for primary education.

In fact, in the individual life of each child, its own special social situation highlights: it envelops some with pure love, develops spiritual and mental abilities; for others, it appears in the form of alienated conditions of existence, with all the deplorable consequences that follow from this. However, no matter how the individual conditions for the development of the child develop, he goes through a path that is close to some general developmental tendencies in all the main periods of childhood. Let us turn to the consideration of the stages of the most important age, which largely determines the structure of the soul, mental culture, and even the future fate of a person.

1.1. Early childhood (from 1 to 3 years old)

The possibilities of the child's activity contradict the emotional nature of his communication. A common object of activity of a child and an adult appears. During this period, the cognitive activity of children develops very quickly.

Early childhood is a poorly studied period. Only descriptive, and, moreover, only its negative characteristics are known. The child is a slave of visual perception (Stern). Objects attract the child (Levin).

The child cannot discover socially developed ways of using things.

Things are not “written” for what they serve.

The tool of an auxiliary means is different in that the action with it must be subject to the logic of this tool.

In the tool and the way it is used in the removed form lies the goal that can be achieved by this object.

The child traces the actions of the adult, trying actions appear. In young children, samples are observed.

During this period, the solution of intellectual problems is characteristic, speech develops. Communication with adults begins.

Crisis 3 years

Symptom of negativity. Negative reaction of the child to the suggestions of adults.

Stubbornness is not a reaction to a proposal, but to one's own decision.

The symptom is devalued. Children begin to call their beloved mothers, grandmothers, fathers with abusive words.

1.2. preschool age

The social situation of joint activity of a child with an adult is decided by the form of an ideal joint life with adults. The main activity is the game.

Units, game components:

The role of an adult, which the child takes on.

An imaginary situation created for the child to embody his role in life.

Game actions. The game is of great importance for the development of the personality of the child. The transfer of knowledge in the game is the way to symbolic thinking. Obedience to the rules in the game is a school of arbitrary behavior. In the game, the child "rotates", changes its position. It is necessary that the child study according to the program drawn up by an adult. Thinking in this period is visual-figurative.

Preschool age is a time of intensive development in children of the orienting basis of their actions.

The crisis of a 7-year-old child is the loss of immediacy by a child.

1.3. Junior school age

The leading activity is educational. Being sociable in its meaning, the content of forms, it is at the same time carried out purely individually, its products are products of individual assimilation. Obedience to rules forms in the child the ability to regulate his behavior and thus higher forms of arbitrary control of it. The main neoplasm of primary school age is abstract verbal-logical thinking. After primary school age comes a critical period of 11-12 years, and then adolescence and early adolescence.

Youth

Youth (Period of life self-determination and self-determination, time to complete studies and enter independent life)

In youth there are two phases: one on the border with childhood (early youth), the other - on the border with maturity (older adolescence), which can be considered as the initial link of maturity. The first phase of adolescence is characterized by preparation for an independent life path (accumulation of the necessary knowledge, skills, searches related to the choice of a profession, the acquisition of certain personality traits, etc.). For the second - participation in productive work and the use of acquired professional skills and knowledge, the desire to further improve the skills and moral qualities of one's personality.

A weighty characteristic, especially for a teenager, at this age is a change in attitude towards oneself, coloring all his actions and therefore harnessed quite noticeably in most cases, although sometimes disguised, which, however, does not destroy his effective role. This was precisely the motivating reason for, when studying adolescence, to follow the study of anatomical and physiological changes with the question of representation, of oneself at this age.
Youth is an important stage in the development of mental abilities: theoretical thinking, the ability to abstract, and make generalizations develop significantly. There are qualitative changes in cognitive abilities: students are characterized by a non-standard approach to already known problems, the ability to include particular problems in more general ones, etc. The development of intelligence is closely related to the development of creative abilities, which involve the manifestation of intellectual initiative and the creation of something new. Also a characteristic feature of junior students is the tendency to exaggerate their intellectual abilities, level of knowledge and independence. The most important condition for increasing the self-organization and activity of young students is a regulated intellectual load, carried out at a high, but accessible level for a student.

Features of the intellectual sphere of the personality are directly related to all its other substructures and personality as a whole. The development of thinking creates the prerequisites for the formation of a worldview, the stability and motivation of which ensures personal advancement. As a result of the integration and differentiation of motives and value orientations, life plans are formed, professional self-determination and the formation of an active life position of a young person.

The worldview is closely connected with the solution of meaningful life problems in youth, the awareness and understanding of one's life not as a chain of random disparate events, but as an integral directed process that has continuity and meaning. L. Cole and J. Hall in their book "The Psychology of Youth" listed the main problems that youth must solve before they enter the "paradise of adulthood." We are talking about the following nine points: 1) general emotional maturity; 2) the awakening of heterosexual interest; 3) general social maturity; 4) emancipation from the parental home; 5) intellectual maturity; 6) choice of profession; 7) skills of dealing with free time; 8) construction of the psychology of life; 9) identification of "I".

The central psychological neoformation of adolescence is the formation of a stable self-awareness and a stable image of the "I". At this time, there is a tendency to emphasize one's own individuality, dissimilarity to others. Young men form their own model of personality, with the help of which they determine their attitude towards themselves and others. Moreover, at this age, attention to the personal, internal qualities of people increases, and attention to appearance, clothing, manners decreases.

The emotional sphere at a student's age is characterized by a periodic experience of dissatisfaction with life, oneself, and other people. With inadequate pedagogical influence, such conditions can cause destructive tendencies in behavior. But when the energy of these emotional states is turned to solve complex and significant problems for the student, dissatisfaction can become an incentive for constructive and fruitful work.

In the new conditions of life, a young man or girl may have a false sense of freedom, which is due to the need to independently organize their work and distribute their own forces. In this situation, it is important for teachers to develop a control system (for example, reminders, systematic review of the material) to develop students' self-control. Lack of internal control often leads young men to overestimate their strengths and capabilities.

But years pass, complex physiological and mental processes come to an end, and "youth is a bright happy time." The unstable, restless time of adolescence passes into the time of internal balance and the full flowering of all forces. The time of youth is extraordinarily beautiful not by that innocent grace that so enchants in a child in early childhood and which is unique, but by that new grace, the source of which lies in inner freedom, in the prime of life, in a purely artistic approach to the world. The main attitude in youth is really aesthetic in nature. A young man, a girl is already strong enough intellectually, but they have not yet entered the sober and everyday time of their lives: standing on its threshold, in the fullness of understanding reality, but also in the full flowering of the inner forces of the soul, not yet crumpled, still rushing forward - young men , girls approach reality as artists, as creators. They are not its slaves, they are not rulers, they do not seek any use in it, but on the threshold of their maturity they oppose reality with all the strength of their creative impulses, all the energy of their ideas. That "obedience," the striving to cognize reality, to penetrate its mysteries, which so deeply determine the psychic originality of the second childhood, forms, according to the above formula of the "dialectical" development of childhood, the thesis; stormy, tense and unrestrained revelation of new feelings, awakening with the onset of puberty, pure, already conscious subjectivism, indifference to objective reality and the flowering of fantasy - all this will characterize the antithesis - adolescence. And youth is already a synthesis - here the ground has already been found forever for the correct correlation of the inner and outer world, freedom inside and necessity in reality, finally found that mental attitude that precedes the mature period, sets tasks for it. According to a well-known aphorism, in adulthood we carry out what in the real spring of our life - during youth - stood before us as a task, as a path of creativity. Youth is brilliant because such is its mental attitude, and therefore the most miserable and dull youth is still beautiful. The entire external world is precious and necessary, but as material for creativity, the goals and intentions of which are determined by the inner work of the spirit: there is neither one-sided immersion in the objective world, nor neglect of it, there is neither a slavish nor a fantastic attitude towards it. The world attracts youth, but it always smells of spiritual freedom: dreams become ideals, the highest tasks of activity - youth never sells its spiritual birthright. Aesthetic and ethical idealism, genuine disinterestedness in all passions unusually color youth, as if it is always turned to the Infinite, enveloping in His breath. Living in a world of idealistic aspirations and aesthetic ideas, youth is not afraid of reality, does not ignore it - on the contrary, it is precisely this that it strives to remake, transform. Youth is uncalculative - that's why it enters the system of childhood - and this is the source of its disappointments, its searches; youth often becomes a victim of its credulity and nobility, its idealism. But the whole psychology of youth is determined by the fact that it is the final chord of childhood, its synthetic phase. Before we enter the age of maturity, into the arena of independent struggle for existence, independent work, we experience adolescence, during which we, having already known reality, already knowing ourselves, having already mastered the basic material of social tradition, as if at the "main rehearsal" sum up preparatory work. The mental attitude of youth is not only not free from play, but is, as it were, predominantly determined by play, which is no longer either a means of activation or a protective cover in revealing and understanding internal movements, but acts as a position of creativity. After all, in any creativity the barrier between the real and the desired, the real and the ideal is overcome: the position of the game is realized in youth as a way to transform the world. Art is just one form of creative work; youth faces a broader path of aesthetic and ethical creativity.

What youth conceives, we carry out in adulthood. We have to plunge into the very "thickness of life", we have to endure many disappointments and lose a lot of strength - and youth, with its enthusiasm and faith in its own strength, with its faith in goodness, the search for beauty, fiery, sometimes even sacrificial service to the ideal, with its spiritual disinterestedness, purity and some kind of freshness is drawn to us in adulthood, as the best time of life. Yes, this is true, but, in essence, all childhood, at various periods, is full of irresistible charm and beauty.

middle age or maturity

Mature age is devoid of the specifics that are inherent in infancy, childhood and adolescence. This is an all-encompassing and rather vague category. Sometimes the “maturity” category is used to define people in their 30s, when men and women are supposed to have already “decided” on their families and professional careers. But the term is also used to refer to "middle-aged" individuals - those who are roughly 45 to 64 years old. Whatever meaning is ascribed to the term "adulthood," the basic goals remain the same as the goals facing men and women in youth and youth, and are related to love and work. (We will not discuss the “love factor” here, as this is the main theme of Chapter 8 - the role of love and friendship in people's lives and lifestyle options.)

Both men and women spend most of their adult lives at work. Although economic considerations dominate, work also helps to organize time, is a sphere of human communication with other people, a “cure for boredom”, maintains a sense of necessity and self-respect. If someone agrees to pay for our work, it means that other people need us and are woven into the social fabric as a necessary part of it. For a growing number of both women and men, paid work is beginning to serve as an indicator of their full membership in society. In general, job satisfaction is usually associated with the possibility of free choice and decision-making.

At the age of 30 and a little older, men, as a rule, look for their “niche” in life, “dig in” in it, “build a nest”, and also make long-term plans and begin to implement them. At the age of 35-40, men are trying to free themselves from the power of others and assert their independence. They often feel that their superiors are overly controlling and pressuring them to act on their own, that they are devoid of creative imagination and aggressive. After the age of 40, men begin to reflect on what they have achieved in life, and evaluate the results in achieving the goals that they set out at a younger age. They may feel a discrepancy between “what I have now” and “what I would really like”, which entails a period of mental anguish. At age 45 or so, some men go through a so-called midlife crisis. According to existing stereotypes, men at this age are prone to rash, frivolous acts, according to the principle “gray hair in the head, demon in the rib” - they leave their wives for the sake of young women who are quite suitable for their daughter, leave work and live on odd jobs or turn into bitter drunks. Nevertheless, most individuals manage to cope with this crisis, they gradually bring their desires into line with their achievements without serious moral worries and throwing.

Although there is increasing interest in the development of mature individuals, research on phases in adult female development is not as complete as research on male development. But the evidence does suggest that women go through exactly the same developmental stages as men (in Levinson's study) and around the same age. But although the age distribution of periods and the nature of development tasks are the same, the approaches to solving problems and the results achieved by women are different. To a large extent, these differences stem from the increased complexity of women's ideas about their own future and the difficulties that women experience when these ideas have to be abandoned. Unlike men, most women do not prioritize careers in their dreams of the future; it is more common for women to view work and career as a means of protection (insurance) in case they fail to marry, if their marriage fails, or if they have to live in a period of economic instability in society. In their dreams of the future, most women see themselves at the center of a hectic life, surrounded by loved ones and loving people, especially husbands, children and colleagues. Men prioritize independence and competition in their lives, while women view their lives as a means of "inclusion" in the complex web of human relationships and relationships.

Chapter 1

1.1. Early childhood (from 1 to 3 years old)

The child cannot discover socially developed ways of using things.

Things are not “written” for what they serve.

The tool of an auxiliary means is different in that the action with it must be subject to the logic of this tool.

In the tool and the way it is used in the removed form lies the goal that can be achieved by this object.

The child traces the actions of the adult, trying actions appear. In young children, samples are observed.

During this period, the solution of intellectual problems is characteristic, speech develops. Communication with adults begins.

Crisis 3 years

Symptom of negativity. Negative reaction of the child to the suggestions of adults.

Stubbornness is not a reaction to a proposal, but to one's own decision.

The symptom is devalued. Children begin to call their beloved mothers, grandmothers, fathers with abusive words.

1.2. preschool age

The social situation of joint activity of a child with an adult is decided by the form of an ideal joint life with adults. The main activity is the game.

Units, game components:

The role of an adult, which the child takes on.

An imaginary situation created for the child to embody his role in life.

Preschool age is a time of intensive development in children of the orienting basis of their actions.

The crisis of a 7-year-old child is the loss of immediacy by a child.

1.3. Junior school age

Youth

Youth (Period of life self-determination and self-determination, time to complete studies and enter independent life)

But years pass, complex physiological and mental processes come to an end, “youth is a bright happy time”. The unstable, restless time of adolescence passes into the time of internal balance and the full flowering of all forces. The time of youth is extraordinarily beautiful not by that innocent grace that so enchants in a child in early childhood and which is unique, but by that new grace, the source of which lies in inner freedom, in the prime of life, in a purely artistic approach to the world. The main attitude in youth is really aesthetic in nature. A young man, a girl is already strong enough intellectually, but they have not yet entered the sober and everyday time of their lives: standing on its threshold, in the fullness of understanding reality, but also in the full flowering of the inner forces of the soul, not yet crumpled, still rushing forward - young men , girls approach reality as artists, as creators. They are not its slaves, they are not rulers, they do not seek any use in it, but on the threshold of their maturity they oppose reality with all the strength of their creative impulses, all the energy of their ideas. That “obedience,” the striving to cognize reality, to penetrate its secrets, which so deeply determine the psychic originality of the second childhood, forms, according to the above formula of the “dialectical” development of childhood, the thesis; stormy, tense and unrestrained revelation of new feelings, awakening with the onset of puberty, pure, already conscious subjectivism, indifference to objective reality and the flowering of fantasy - all this will characterize the antithesis - adolescence. And youth is already a synthesis - here the ground has already been found forever for the correct correlation of the inner and outer world, freedom inside and necessity in reality, finally found that mental attitude that precedes the mature period, sets tasks for it. According to a well-known aphorism, in adulthood we carry out what in the real spring of our life - during youth - stood before us as a task, as a path of creativity. Youth is brilliant because such is its mental attitude, and therefore the most miserable and dull youth is still beautiful. The entire external world is precious and necessary, but as material for creativity, the goals and intentions of which are determined by the inner work of the spirit: there is neither one-sided immersion in the objective world, nor neglect of it, there is neither a slavish nor a fantastic attitude towards it. The world attracts youth, but it always smells of spiritual freedom: dreams become ideals, the highest tasks of activity - youth never sells its spiritual birthright. Aesthetic and ethical idealism, genuine disinterestedness in all passions unusually color youth, as if it is always turned to the Infinite, enveloping in His breath. Living in a world of idealistic aspirations and aesthetic ideas, youth is not afraid of reality, does not ignore it - on the contrary, it is precisely this that it strives to remake, transform. Youth is uncalculative - that's why it enters the system of childhood - and this is the source of its disappointments, its searches; youth often becomes a victim of its credulity and nobility, its idealism. But the whole psychology of youth is determined by the fact that it is the final chord of childhood, its synthetic phase. Before we enter the age of maturity, into the arena of independent struggle for existence, independent work, we experience adolescence, during which we, having already known reality, already knowing ourselves, having already mastered the basic material of social tradition, as if at the “main rehearsal”, sum up preparatory work. The mental attitude of youth is not only not free from play, but is, as it were, predominantly determined by play, which is no longer either a means of activation or a protective cover in revealing and understanding internal movements, but acts as a position of creativity. After all, in any creativity the barrier between the real and the desired, the real and the ideal is overcome: the position of the game is realized in youth as a way to transform the world. Art is just one form of creative work; youth faces a broader road of aesthetic and ethical creativity.

What youth conceives, we carry out in adulthood. We have to plunge into the very "thickness of life", we have to endure many disappointments and lose a lot of strength - and youth, with its enthusiasm and faith in our own strength, with its faith in goodness, the search for beauty, fiery, sometimes even sacrificial service to the ideal, with its spiritual disinterestedness, purity and some kind of freshness is drawn to us in adulthood, as the best time of life. Yes, this is true, but, in essence, all childhood, at various periods, is full of irresistible charm and beauty.

middle age or maturity

Psychologist: Human life can be compared to a long road. When a person is young, it seems to him endless, he lives with the feeling that he still has everything ahead and that he has a lot of time at his disposal. So many that sometimes he does not even know how to use it and how to fill it. At the end of life, when most of this road has already been passed, a person looks back and sees that the years have flown by like one moment. He realizes that time could not be wasted on trifles to the detriment of what was conceived, what he dreamed about. My friend Doctor will tell you more about the age characteristics of a person.

What is age?

Doctor: Age is one of the periods, stages or cycles of human development. The onset of each age is accompanied by changes in the body, in the mental development of a person, as well as in his very attitude towards people around him and the world as a whole.
It is believed that a person from birth to death goes through five main age stages, five epochs of his life: childhood, adolescence, youth, maturity and old age. Let's talk about each of them.

1. Childhood

What is so special about childhood?

Doctor: Childhood is the most active, most diverse period in a person's life. For 11-12 years, he goes a long way from a newborn to a teenager. It would seem that a child of the first year of life only sleeps, eats and cries, makes only awkward attempts to move in space, manage objects, and enter into communication. But it is during these months that a person forms an opinion about the world into which he has come. In childhood, everything is important: the environment, food, care, toys. But the most important thing is love. If the baby is deprived of the caress of the mother, he develops a deep mental and physical retardation.

Childhood can be divided into several periods?

Doctor: Absolutely right. Having taken the first steps, the child thus enters the period of early childhood - from one to three years. This is a very special, unique time when a person masters such fundamental and fundamentally new abilities for him as walking, speaking and thinking.
The age of three to six years is called preschool childhood. The child quickly expands his own abilities: he eats and dresses himself, learns to ride a bicycle, draw and cut with scissors. It is especially important during this period to improve small and precise hand movements. Psychologists have proven that such actions are directly related to the development of the brain.
A difficult test for a small person is the transition to the category of schoolchildren. The whole way of life changes dramatically, permanent duties appear, the circle of contacts expands. If this transition is successful, then from 7 to 11-12 years old, the development of the child proceeds smoothly, without any special problems. Relations with dad and mom, while still significant, still fade into the background. Teachers have great authority. Friendship is born, the first betrayals shake. A normally developing junior schoolchild is distinguished by a breadth of interests: he is fond of drawing, music, sports, tries himself in various fields.

2. This difficult transitional age

What is so special about adolescence?

Doctor: Adolescence is called transitional. In a very short time - from about 12 to 15 years old (girls a little earlier, boys a little later) - a person turns from a child into an adult. This process is associated not only with joys, but also with difficulties. During the period of the most rapid growth, boys add from 7 to 12 cm per year. Girls grow by 6-11 cm per year. The internal organs, which do not keep up with the growth of the body, work with tension - hence fatigue, drowsiness. Mental performance decreases, skin problems and overweight arise. The recent childish lightness and playfulness are replaced by clumsiness. A sharply stretched teenager sometimes does not walk, but drags himself, does not sit on a chair, but falls heavily, now and then touches the corners of the furniture, as if he is not used to the new boundaries of his body.

Why is adolescence called "difficult"?

Doctor: The physical changes are confusing. Every now and then questions come to mind: “Why am I so fat? Why do I have disproportionately long arms and legs? Why does a big guy have a high-pitched, childish voice or noticeable breasts in a girl who still feels like a child? It is hard for teenagers to believe that all these problems are temporary, and they lead many to despair.
Adolescence is the most dramatic in a person's life. This is largely due to the ambiguity of the position of a teenager in modern society. He suddenly loses most of the privileges of childhood. They expect adult seriousness and responsibility for their actions from him. Teachers and parents are not inclined to condescend to manifestations of frivolity and carelessness - all that they forgive children. However, adult benefits are not available to a teenager. He depends on his parents financially and morally, he must report to them where he is going, with whom and why. Between a teenager and an adult, there seems to be an endless dispute. "I'm not a child anymore!" - the young man declares, defending his right to independence. "But you're not an adult yet!" - answer him, limiting and controlling. "I'm not an adult yet!" he says, asking for support and tolerance. "But you're not a child anymore!" - he hears this and is faced with the constant demanding discontent of the elders.

Well, how not to get lost here!

Doctor: Yes, it is not surprising that a teenager is often distinguished by irritability, even aggressiveness. Sometimes he has a strained relationship with his family. The teenager, as it were, moves away from his parents, ceases to recognize their unshakable authority. Peers begin to play a special role in his life. Adolescence is the age of collectivism and imitation. A teenager strives to dress, speak and think "like all of us."

3. Youth and maturity

Do teenage problems go away with time?

Doctor: By the age of 16, the accelerated growth of the body is basically completed, well-being and appearance improve. It's time for youth. The child finally becomes an adult. Studies show that there is no significant difference between the thinking of a young man and an adult. Other abilities also flourish: in their youth they often compose poems and songs, draw, play in performances, and invent. The young man already, as a rule, knows what he needs and can manage himself. The attitude to study is changing: it is now perceived as part of one's own life plans. One of the basic questions of adolescence is “Who am I?” is replaced by questions about their life goals: “What do I want?” and “What can I do?”. The very circumstances of life make you make a serious choice: profession, circle of friends, style of behavior, and possibly a life partner. Gradually, relationships with elders are being established. Having experienced acute disappointment in adolescence, a person in his youth begins to relate to parents and teachers in a new way.

How is maturity different from youth?

Doctor: Adulthood or maturity is usually called the long stage between youth and aging, from about 25 to 60-65 years. The position in society of adults is higher than that of young people. And this, in general, is fair: life experience has already been accumulated, there are knowledge and skills that are acquired only with age. An adult person is an accomplished person with his own baggage of knowledge and skills. An adult is able to make independent decisions and, most importantly, to be responsible for the choice made, to be the master of his own destiny. At the same time, people with rich life experience are calm about life, accepting it as it is.

4. Old age

Everyone's age is different!

Doctor: Right. People live their childhood, youth, and mature years in different ways, but, perhaps, this difference is never so striking as in the declining days. Someone at 70 or 80 is full of vivacity, plans, ideas, others are drawn to him, they value his opinion. Another at the same age only "survives", completely absorbed by his illnesses and regrets about the past youth, and the constant grumbling and manner of teaching everyone can cause irritation even among loved ones.

What caused such a difference?

Doctor: It is believed that a person’s sense of self in old age largely depends on his assessment of the path he has traveled: whether he ultimately feels satisfaction from what he did and what happened or despair caused by the realization that everything was wrong, and now you can’t change anything.
The hardest thing in old age is to lose the meaning of existence. The main life tasks have been completed, no one expects anything from a person, and he sometimes begins to perceive himself as an unnecessary, accidentally forgotten piece of the past. For old people in full growth, the question of the approach of death becomes. You need to develop your attitude towards it.

Yes, old age is hard!

Doctor: But at the same time, this is the pinnacle of life, the point of maximum accumulation of experience, knowledge, and wisdom. It's time for maximum freedom from obligations and fuss. The famous English writer Bernard Shaw, who lived for 94 years and until his death retained an amazing capacity for work, vigor and a sense of humor, in a conversation about old age, emphasized: “There is no old age for people with a living soul and mind, absorbing life with all five senses. You can be old even when you are young, but you can live a long life without knowing it. A person often dies before he has exhausted all his spiritual and mental powers. And if youth is the element of passions and emotions, then old age is the element of thought, creativity, and reason.

Why do people get old and die?

Doctor: The famous Roman comedian Publius Terentius declared old age a disease. Many modern scientists agree with him. They believe that age-related changes are the result of damage accumulating at various levels of the body. To put it simply, the smallest particles that make up a cell inevitably get damaged, “spoil” in the course of their life. With such cells, the body's defense systems come into conflict. But they also accumulate spoiled molecules. As a result, with age, the ability to repair damage that occurs within the body is significantly reduced. Some of the next "breakdowns" kills a person ...

But is there another point of view?

Doctor: Some scientists see old age as a natural stage in the development of the body. Death, they believe, is "programmed" in him from his very inception. After all, death is invisibly present in each of us from the very first days of existence. The life of individual cells that make up an organism is noticeably shorter than the life of the whole organism. For example, every second about 4 million blood cells, millions of skin cells, the lens of the eye, bones, etc. die inside any person. Their place is taken by new, younger ones. But with each cycle of renewal, depressing changes accumulate in a person: skin elasticity is gradually lost, wrinkles appear, the lumen of blood vessels decreases, the heart wears out and there comes a time when cells in vital organs cease to be renewed. Organs begin to age and break down...

When thinking about what youth is, romantic songs, poems of poets, dates under the moon, high hopes and unlimited possibilities immediately come to mind. However, this is just the outer shell. Youth is a rather interesting and difficult period for psychologists to study.

What is youth: definition

Adolescence is a stage in the physical maturation of a person, as well as personality development, which lies between childhood and adulthood. From the point of view of psychology, this is a transition from the dependence inherent in a child to the independence and responsibility inherent in mature people. From the point of view of physiology, physical and puberty is completed at this moment. Such a concept as "youth" or "youth" is also characterized by achievement. Age limits are determined by the interval from 14 to 18 years, if we are talking about domestic psychology. Foreign experts believe that youth begins at the age of 16.

Approaches to the problem of youth

Given the need to acquire a profession, young age is accompanied by continuous learning. At the same time, it becomes more profound and conscious than at an earlier age. It is characterized by the following features:

broad and deep perception of educational material, aimed at the formation of future professional knowledge;
in addition to the passive perception of information, the individual resorts to an active and independent search for it.

Social motives of adolescence

Childhood, youth, maturity - each of the periods of a person's life is characterized by certain motives that determine his activity. Young people are full of aspirations and hopes for the future. In this regard, they are guided by the following factors:

conviction in the need for continuous development, which is achieved through continuing education;
professional self-determination, caused by the need to prepare for further independent life;
social motivation caused by the desire to benefit others.

Factors in choosing a future profession

Considering that a young person in his youth must choose a future occupation, psychologists pay great attention to motives. So, the main factors of choice are the following:

social - prestige and the opportunity to take a worthy place in society;
personal - the presence of qualities and traits of character necessary for a particular profession;
material - the opportunity to provide yourself and your family with a decent existence.

Main problems

A mass of life-giving problems characterizes such a period as youth. The years of a young person's life are made up of many key questions, the main of which are the following:

a preliminary choice of a future profession, which consists of a life position, abilities and a priority area of knowledge;
adherence to the values that determine the public consciousness, as well as interpersonal relationships;
the growth of social activity, which does not consist in a banal interest, but in the desire to take a direct part in events;
formation of a worldview on fundamental issues;
expansion of the sphere of interests, as well as vital needs, which leads to the need for more material resources;
social orientation of the individual, which implies the search for one's place in society;
search for an answer to the question of the meaning of life and the purpose of a person in it.

Formation of the personality of a young man

At a certain moment, a young person embarks on the path of becoming self-awareness, which is inextricably linked with the formation of the so-called "I". It takes place along the following lines:

the formation of a different attitude to the emotional sphere (feelings become not just a reaction to external events, but personal characteristics);
awareness of the irreversible passage of time (this fact makes a young person think more seriously about his future and drawing up an individual life plan);
the formation of a holistic view of not only one's body and internal structure, but also moral, volitional and intellectual qualities.

interpersonal relationships

During adolescence, a young person begins to reconsider relationships with others, in particular with peers. So, they are divided into two categories - friends and comrades. The former are the closest, those that have earned devotion and respect. With all the rest of their peers, young people build comradely relations that imply polite treatment, mutual respect and mutual assistance.

The tactics of communication and building relationships with peers are built largely on the basis of future well-being (both psychological and physical). The most interesting and "useful" people remain in the social circle. The rest find themselves in a kind of emotional isolation. Nevertheless, often youthful friendship is idealized and illusory.

Also, for a young age, the emergence of such a deep feeling as love is characteristic. This is connected not only with the completion of puberty, but also with the desire to have a close person with whom you can share problems and joyful events. A beloved person is a kind of ideal both in terms of personal and in terms of external qualities.

Youth in the modern world

What is a dynamic category that is not permanent. Over time, with the development of society, it changes significantly. So, in connection with the rapidly growing acceleration, youth comes much earlier. But social maturity comes a little later. This is partly due to the fact that modern parents take care of children for much longer.

As in any other time, young people strive to work in order to independently provide themselves with money. Nevertheless, the current trend is that young men do not want to do "dirty work", which brings little income and determines a low social status. There is a tendency to desire to get everything at once.

findings

Youth is the most beautiful time in a person's life. It is associated not only with romantic feelings and dreams, but also with great opportunities in terms of organizing your future. Research and recommendations from psychologists help guide young people in the right direction and push them to make the right decisions.