Appendix 1. Adolescence and the Transition from Childhood to Adulthood

Adolescence, regardless of the age parameters set or the milestones used as signposts, is the period one enters as a child and emerges as an adult.¹ It is the time when youth need to develop the skills, attitudes, competencies and values needed to successfully navigate adult life and avoid the choices and behaviours that will limit their future potential.²

An understanding of adolescent development, according to Beatty and Chalk, "...begins with the recognition that different sets of changes occur along separate trajectories during the second decade of life - and that changes in one arena affect development in others".³ Many of the changes associated with adolescence begin in the early years, sometimes clustered into a '10 to 14 years' age bracket.  During this period, young people experience the most dramatic biological changes, are the most susceptible to peer influence and, for the first time, begin to have the cognitive capacity to engage in formal reasoning.  This is also the period when young people typically experience a transition from junior to secondary school.^{4 5}

As they grow older (often clustered into a '15 to 18' year group), family conflicts tend to diminish. Young people's susceptibility to peer influence decreases, while family influences remain strong.  The biological systems stabilise and cognitive skills increase, and personal and social identity concerns become more important, particularly in relation to occupational, sexual and ethnic identities.⁶

The process of adolescent development has undergone considerable change over the past few decades.  The length of adolescence has been drawn out into the mid-late twenties and the pathways into adulthood have become more numerous and less clear.  According to the OECD, the transition phase from school into paid employment now averages 7.4 years; averaging five years in the UK through to an average of 11.3 years in Italy.⁷ This has occurred within a broader context of dramatically changed landscapes of family and community life and vastly different expectations of and on young people.⁸

The increasingly drawn-out nature of adolescence, now seen to reach into the mid-twenties, has created a new phase of adolescent development sometimes termed 'emerging adulthood', involving the 18 to 25 year old population. Some adolescent specialists consider this lengthening of the transition period one of the most importance sources of change in adolescence over the past 100 years.⁹ I found it difficult to locate much specific information on the developmental tasks of this emerging adulthood group.  For the most part, it seems the extension of adolescence into this older age group emphasises a continuation of the social aspects of development, such as personal, social and sexual role and identity concerns, transforming peer relationships into deeper friendships and intimate partnerships, and developmental activities related to economic independence. More recent research has demonstrated, however, that some aspects of biological development, such as cognitive maturity, actually occur within this older age group rather than in younger adolescence as was previously believed.¹⁰

While most young people make a successful transition to adulthood, some young people struggle to do so. Viewed in terms of developmental tasks, Eccles and Gootman identify the following as the key risks facing young people during adolescence:

• renegotiation of the relationship with parents is so turbulent that a permanent rift occurs between youths and their families
• adolescents become involved in deviant [sic] peer groups and get involved in behaviours and circumstances that seriously endanger their ability to transition to mainstream adulthood
• adolescents fail to make social connections with the kinds of adults and social institutions that can help them transition to mainstream adulthood
• educational opportunities can be so limited that young people fail to acquire the intellectual and soft skills needed to move into the labour market
• minimal or poor experiences with civic engagement and social institutions result in adolescents failing to develop either the will or the skills necessary to participate fully as adult community members
• experiences of racism, prejudice and cultural intolerance alienate adolescents so they withdraw from or rebel against mainstream society and conventional social institutions.¹¹

Footnotes

¹ McLaren, 2002, op cit

² Eccles and Gootman, 2002, op cit

³ Beatty and Chalk, 2006, op cit, p6

⁴ Eccles and Gootman, 2002, op cit

⁵ Beatty and Chalk, 2006, op cit

⁶ Ibid

⁷ OECD (2000), From initial education to working life. Making transitions work. OECD: Paris

⁸ Finlay et al, 2007, op cit

⁹ Beatty and Chalk, 2006, op cit

¹⁰ Beatty and Chalk, 2006, op cit

¹¹ Eccles and Gootman, 2002, op cit