Adolescents

dolescents is the period of time

At this point their language skills are

between age 12 and adulthood at

developing at a slower more gradual rate than

age 18. At this stage children will be reaching

the previous years. They are learning more

their adult height and weight along with their

sophisticated language skills as they reach

fully developed adult bodies. Boys voices

adulthood, working on pragmatics, syntax

will begin to deepen and girls will begin their

and semantics. They can now write large

monthly cycles. Girls will on average reach

essays for class and college applications, they

their peak growth at around 16 years of age,

know

boys can continue to grow until around 17

conversational speech and they joke around

or so (Berk, 2013).

with their friends and family (Nippold,

Cognitively,

adolescents

adult

grammar,

talk

in

full

2000).

are able to think more

Red flags for this age would

abstractly at this age. They

include

signs

of

any

also can think more about future events such

significant weight gain or

as college, life goals and career intentions.

weight loss as this can be signs of an eating

They are able to plan, be more organized, and

disorder, drug use, or pregnancy (in the case

better able to explain their choices, they

of girls). Antisocial behavior or extreme or

become more independent in all of their

prolonged sad or depressive behavior should

decisions from their school activities, to

also be watched for (Berk 2013; CDC, 2016).

work, to the friends they spend time with

(CDC, 2016).

Peers have an increased influence on

adolescence at this age. Socially children

want to be accepted and are still trying to

both sides of the story and determine the

figure out where they belong, family can help

moral

them by being there to answer any questions

conventional level (Berk, 2013).

they may have or comfort them when they

need it. Adolescence

need a lot

of

encouragement and help in remembering

what is the right and wrong, whether peers
agree or not (Berk, 2013). The culture a child
grows up in can also impact a childs social
and emotional development. In some cultures
such as Jewish, they celebrate certain
milestones in the adolescent years, such as
the Jewish bat mitzvah that recognizes a 13
year old as an adult, but only in their culture
(Berk, 2013).
Moral reasoning in adolescence is very much
like adults. Children have a few ways to look
at different situations. One would be to see it
as authority is always right, and one should
never challenge it. These children have not
yet come to terms with the idea that there are
more than two viewpoints to every story.
Once they realize there are, they can look at

dilemma.

This

is

called

the

alk to your child. Communication is

key for most adolescents. Keeping an

open line between you will allow them to

know they have someone to talk to if they
ever do need help (Berk, 2013). Be informed
but not too pushy! Know where they are
going, who they are with and what they are
doing!

References

Berk, L. E. (2013). Child development. (9th

ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:
CDC (2016). Teenagers: Developmental
Milestones. Retrieved from http://www.
cdc.gov/ncbddd/childdevelopment/posit
iveparenting/adolescence.html
Nippold,

M.

PhD.

(2000)

Language

Development during the Adolescent

Years: Aspects of Pragmatics, Syntax,
and Semantics. Topics in Language
Disorders

20(2):

15-28.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/M
arilyn_Nippold/publication/240595827
_Language_Development_during_the_
Adolescent_Years_Aspects_of_Pragma
tics_Syntax_and_Semantics/links/5704
245308ae74a08e246082.pdf