Understanding Adolescence

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

The twentieth century has witnessed a quantum leap in the number of specialisations in science and social science, each one being carefully cordoned off by its own technical terms and jargon.

Adolescent psychology is one such discipline. The term 'adolescence' is derived from the Latin word adolescere, 'to grow'. It is a period in childhood when there is a growth spurt with maturation of the reproductive system in both sexes. The transformation of this period of rapid physical growth into a period of psychological upheaval was initiated by G. Stanley Hall of Clark University in the USA, who published two volumes on the theme at the turn of the century. Psychologists and counsellors in the USA discovered the problems of adolescence, and the phrase 'youth culture' was coined to indicate the socio-cultural aspects of this developmental stage.

Philippe Aries in Centuries of Childhood has argued the case for childhood as perceived today, being a post-industrial revolution feature in Europe. With the advent of machines, the use of which needed more strength and greater skill, the period of training necessary to work with them became ex-tended. Schooling as an institution was established and it enabled society to take children out of the workplace into the classroom. It is here that they learn a large range of sub-jects and cultivate abilities and attitudes that equip them to make a choice about the kind of livelihood they would pursue and not be restricted to hereditary or traditional family occupations. Thus the years spent in the middle school and high school constitute the years of adolescence, which are also the years of widening the horizons of knowledge and developing emotional maturity to handle relationships.

While social scientists were discussing the problems of adolescence in the developed countries, a question raised was whether the phenomenon applied to all human societies or whether it was culture-specific. Was it related to the nuclear family structure, to the ownership and inheritance of property, to the State's decision on the number of years of schooling, the minimum age of marriage, the legal beginning of adulthood? These factors definitely need to be fed into any analysis of the universality of adolescence.

There are components of this stage of human development that can be considered to apply to the species Homo sapiens and are therefore universal; there are other components that are filtered through the social and cultural experiences. One would have to accept that there are as many kinds of adolescence as there are sub-cultures and that these would be further qualified by the specific family constellation in each individual case. The balance required between the specific and the general is well maintained in the author's approach.

Currently there is a movement towards the demystification of knowledge systems and the sharing of expertise with the public. This book can be seen as one of these at-tempts by members of the academia to communicate with a large group of readers: teenagers and those responsible to provide them with optimal settings to grow into adulthood.

I am very happy to introduce this book to young people all over the country, who might recognise themselves or their friends in these pages and to students of Psychology and Child Development, who will find the Indian context familiar and the material readable and relevant.

Understanding Adolescence is a clear and concise presentation of the various aspects that constitute the troubled and rouble some, confused and confusing stage in the span of human development.

When the National Book Trust invited me to write this book, I was sceptical for two reasons. Being used to writing research-based papers and books for university-level scholars, I was apprehensive of writing without the assistance of research and theory in the text. Additionally, it is difficult to write about Indians as a homogeneous people. Almost every example has to be qualified with phrases such as 'in northern India', 'among rural people', 'with reference to a particular religious group'. The diversity in lifestyles, beliefs and practices is immense and this led to my apprehension about writing a slim volume on adolescence.

This initial hesitation soon got replaced by a sense of responsibility towards the society and prodded me to write about teenage years in the Indian context. As a lecturer in Child Development, I had been teaching the course on adolescence to undergraduate students since 1972. The only textbooks and reference books we had were American or British, which naturally depicted the experiences of growing up in those cultures. I often wished that Indian scholars would research and document childhood and adolescence in India, so that our students could have a familiar context when reading their books. This became the motivation for my doctoral research which I undertook on 'the identity of the adolescent girl'. When this invitation was extended to me, I thought it appropriate to convert the challenge into an opportunity, took time off from teaching and worked on the book.

Even after I had done my best, I knew that the manuscript needed the input of a sharp critic who would suggest improvements. I could only think of my guru Dr S. Anandalakshmy, who had been my first teacher in Child Development and remained my guide up to Ph.D. She agreed to undertake the review of the manuscript and edited it expeditiously to its present form. My sincere thanks to her for the detailed scrutiny and tightening of the text. Her moral support in the course of this interaction proved invaluable.

Two friends with whom I had several discussions while I wrote the first chapter are Bhanumathi and Nandita. My father was too happy to participate as a reviewer. They read the first chapter and gave me suggestions which provided the basis for many changes and additions. This experience helped me to settle down to writing the rest of the text. I express my deep gratitude to all three of them. A group of college students agreed to interact with me on several issues to be discussed in the book. I thank them for their interest and time.

Acknowledgements are due to Dr Bindu Prasad and Dr Sujata Sharma, clinical psychologists, for their professional views on Indian adolescents.

When a professional, who is also a homemaker, a mother, a spouse and a daughter-in-law, takes on the additional role of a writer, in my view, her success in completing the task at hand is largely determined by her family's support. As this book grew, so did my indebtedness to my family, consisting of my husband, two adolescent daughters and my parents-in-law. The girls were my experimental readers who combed the chapters to validate the text. Both of them sat at the computer, typing most of the manuscript at home. My husband understood my need to work for long hours and also helped me in typing and printing the manuscript. I owe a great deal to my parents-in-law for their unfailing support and encouragement in working through this book.