Early adolescence: what is it and what changes occur in it?

What is early adolescence and how does it manifest itself in the development of young people?

Human beings go through different stages throughout their lives. Broadly speaking, these stages are three: childhood, adolescence and adulthood. However, each of these stages includes sub-stages or brief sections in which there are different changes in our development, both physical, psychological and social.

At the beginning of adolescence there are important physical changes, especially between the ages of 10 and 14, changes that are known as the "growth spurt". This growth spurt and other processes that occur at this age make up what is called the make up what is known as early adolescence..

Below we will discover what are the main changes and characteristics of this first stage of adolescence, in addition to understanding its importance on an emotional level for the young adolescent.

What is early adolescence?

Adolescence is the transition period between childhood and adulthood and it is the time of one of the most important changes in a person's life: sexual maturity is reached, the prelude to adulthood and reproductive capacity..

This maturity begins with puberty, a set of physical changes that bring about the development of secondary sexual characteristics, some of them not directly related to the development of the sexual organs, such as the change of voice in the male sex or the widening of the hips in the female sex.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), adolescence is a stage that could be placed more or less between the ages of 10 and 19, although it should be said that everyone begins, lives and ends it at different times.

As with childhood and adulthood, adolescence is a gradual process, with changes appearing at different ages depending on the individual, since everyone matures at his or her own pace. In other words, there are individual differences in how and when human beings develop.

Within adolescence there are three stages that indicate the ages at which certain changes are more likely to occur and to happen at a faster paceEarly adolescence, middle adolescence and late adolescence.

The physical changes that occur in the first stage are so important that they influence the psychological, social and emotional, causing the person to form expectations about how they are maturing, which also generates anxiety and doubts, emotions that also arise in their families who are witnesses in second person of the entry into adolescence.

Changes in this period

As we mentioned, the first stage of adolescence brings with it several changes at the physical level, changes which are a time of certain crisis for the child, who ceases to be a pre-adolescent and enters, albeit gradually, into puberty..

Their way of seeing the world changes radically and leaves behind the innocence of childhood. Below we will see the main physical, social, psychological, cognitive and sexual changes that occur during this period, but not before talking about the ages at which it takes place.

Early adolescence is considered to be a sub-period of adolescence that goes from 10 years old to 14 years old.although, as with any other stage, there are people who begin and end it earlier or later.

In fact, there are cases of boys and girls who could be said to have begun to show the first changes of adolescence as young as 8 years old; and adolescents who are already in middle adolescence at 12 or 13 years old. Others may start later, but it is rare for them to take until the age of 13 to begin early adolescence.

Physical and neurophysiological changes

The most characteristic physical change of early adolescence is the famous "pubertal growth spurt," something that many mothers and fathers identify as the sign that their sons and daughters have entered this turbulent period.

We call "growth spurt" the fact that the bones begin to grow very quickly and unevenly, causing some joint pains in addition to giving a somewhat clumsy appearance and problems in the coordination of movements, something that although it is annoying is not serious or cause for concern.

In this phase the secondary sexual characteristics appear. The body begins to manufacture sex hormones which induce physical changes that occur progressively. Among these changes are breast development and the onset of menstruation in girls, which usually appears at age 12, while in boys the size of the testicles increases and the penis grows. Normally, girls begin to present these physical changes about 2 years earlier than boys.

Body hair appears, especially in the armpits and genital area, in addition to increased sweating and consequently a change in body odor. The skin becomes oilier, which causes many adolescents to develop acne, especially on the face and back.

But in addition to external physical changes, there are also internal changes, less evident but equally profound. Early adolescence is a time when the brain undergoes a major electrical and physiological change. The number of brain cells can double in less than a year and neural networks are completely reorganized, something that influences both physically, cognitively and emotionally.

The frontal lobe, which is the part of the brain responsible for executive functions such as reasoning and decision-making, begins to develop in early adolescence. in early adolescence. As boys on average start this stage later than girls and their brains mature later, it is typical for adolescent boys to behave more impulsively and uncritical of their actions compared to girls.

Social changes

Social changes do not have a great development during early adolescence if compared with those of middle and late adolescence, although it must be said that some do occur. These changes are rather consequences or derive from the physical changes and how these are perceived both by the individual and by the people around him, both of the same age and adults.

Observing how his body develops and changes, the adolescent feels curious and, also, a strange sensation towards it. These transformations bring him closer to his group of friends, who are probably also undergoing the same changes, which serves them to strut or claim that they are already in adolescence, fostering a group identification. Boys and girls stop seeing themselves as children and, although they know they are not adults, they are approaching adulthood..

Because they identify with their adolescent reference group and look to them for psychological and emotional support, boys and girls begin to attach greater importance to their friends than to their parents, who take a back seat and even begin to question their authority. With 11 or 12 years is when they begin to not obey parental orders or break some rules. They ignore what they are told and look for ways to be more independent from their family, besides valuing intimacy.

Cognitive and psychological changes

Associated with physical changes, especially the development of sexual organs and secondary sexual characteristics, adolescents may undergo significant psychological and emotional changes.. The reason for this is that these physical changes are external, very obvious and notorious, and depending on what expectations they have, how they perceive these changes, how their peers perceive them and how advanced they are for their age, adolescents can experience them with a lot of anxiety, confusion and fear or with a lot of enthusiasm and swagger.

It is also normal for young people at this stage to focus their thoughts on themselves, which we could call egocentricity.which we might well call egocentrism. As a result of this and combined with how the physical changes are experienced, many preteens and teens often feel self-conscious about their appearance, thinking that everyone is judging them because everyone is looking at them.

As we have mentioned, the frontal lobe begins to mature during this stage, which has some consequences on a cognitive level. However, most adolescents in this period are still thinking in concrete, without having developed the abstraction of thought. They do not perceive the future implications of their actions and are still far from thinking like an adult. In fact, the youngest ones have a very dichotomous and nuanced thinking (e.g., good or bad, black or white, terrible or fantastic...).

Sexual changes: sexual orientation and gender identity

In principle it is rare that in early adolescence sexuality is a very important aspect of girls and boys. In fact, contacts with the other sex in case of heterosexuality have a rather exploratory character, far removed from adult sexual desire.far removed from adult sexual desire. It is quite likely that the individual assumes that he or she is heterosexual because it is statistically more likely, without feeling sexual attraction of any kind. It will be a little later when they suspect whether they are heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual or asexual.

But even though their sexual orientation is not yet fully formed, they do begin to have a greater awareness of their gender than they did as children.

Boys and girls adjust their behavior and appearance to the sociocultural norms associated with the gender they identify with or have grown up with, with boys trying to appear more "masculine" by playing more sports, especially contact sports, and girls trying to appear more "feminine", giving importance to aspects such as facial image.

It should also be said that what is considered "masculine" and "feminine" in terms of gender depends very much on society and, of course, over the decades the typical behavior of adolescent boys and girls varies greatly. While it is likely that girls place importance on beauty and boys on sports, this is only a broad generalization.

As we mentioned body changes generate curiosity and anxiety, and may induce the individual to form a gender identity, which may or may not be more in tune with the physical changes he or she observes.This may or may not be more in tune with the physical changes observed. Some individuals begin to question their gender identity at this stage, living a very difficult time especially if they are a transgender child, being potential victims of bullying and psychological discomfort associated with feeling confused about their gender.

Reflection on early adolescence

Given the physical changes that occur in early adolescence, synonymous with the definitive end of childhood, the individual may suffer emotionally as they see the major bodily changes they are experiencing.

Whether you are a boy or a girl, puberty, the growth spurt and some social changes can be experienced with equal parts curiosity and anxiety.. This stage is also the beginning of a period of great stress for transgender people, a discomfort that will not get better in the following two stages of adolescence.

Taking all this into account, it is necessary to be aware that adolescence, unlike what many considered, is not a social construct, but a physiological reality that implies great consequences at emotional, psychological and social levels.

This is why people who work with children-pre-teens between 9-14 years of age should pay special attention to the changes these boys and girls are going through, in order to make it a period that is lived with the least possible discomfort, a discomfort that could ruin their development if it is very badly handled and condition the rest of adolescence.

Bibliographical references:

• Gaete, Verónica. (2015). Psychosocial development of the adolescent. Revista chilena de pediatría, 86(6), 436-443. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rchipe.2015.07.005
• Águila Calero, Grettel, Díaz Quiñones, José, & Díaz Martínez, Paula. (2017). Early adolescence and parenting. Theoretical and methodological foundations about this stage and its management. MediSur, 15(5), 694-700. Retrieved November 30, 2020, from http://scielo.sld.cu/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1727-897X2017000500015&lng=es&tlng=en.