Understanding Adolescence

All of you are now in a transition period between childhood and adulthood which is called adolescence. In this unit, we will try to understand the process of growing up and other aspects surrounding adolescence. Adolescence is characterised by several physical, social, physiological, cognitive and emotional changes. Since each one of us is unique, these changes also occur in different ways and at different points of time. This is an exciting phase where you start to take independent decisions, identify your rights, enjoy your freedom, explore and try new things, improve your social skills, form your value systems, develop attractions towards others and so on. However, this is also a vulnerable period where you are left confused. Since this is a phase of experimentation, it is possible that your decisions may not be well informed and might have a negative impact on you. You are likely to experience a lot of peer, parental and societal pressure also. We will identify the potentials and capabilities in this stage that will allow you to make positive changes as well as discuss some of the challenges that you might face in dealing with them.