Module 1 - Lesson 1 Adolescence

Stages and Aspects of Adolescent Development

Physical, Cognitive and Socio-Emotional and Moral
Development

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to Module 1 -Lesson 1

While an individual has a unique personality and interests, there are also many
developmental milestones or issues that everyone faces during adolescence. In this module,
we will focus on defining and describing the physical development particularly in the major
change of puberty. The stages of adolescent development and theories will be discussed,
while identifying the needs, threats, and opportunities of a growing child. Researches related
to adolescence on social media will be highlighted and its implications around issues such as
self-esteem, gender stereotypes, and the roles and responsibilities of the family, school and
the government. At the end of the day, you would come to realize the beauty of growing
adolescent. Enjoy and keep reading!

Lesson 1 Physical Development of Adolescence

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:

describe the physical and sexual changes accompanying puberty
identify the factors affecting physical development

describe the behavior and attitudes of adolescent physical development

craft a profile on the needs and characteristics of adolescence during

physical development
 Adolescence is a developmental stage that begins with puberty and ends the transition
to adulthood (approximately ages 10–20). The pubertal growth spurt begins on an average
age of 10 years for girls and 12 for boys. Growth during puberty appears to be strictly
genetically regulated. However, there are a number of factors that may influence directly or
indirectly to pubertal growth spurt including, gender, nutrition, endocrine regulation, physical
activity and ethnicity. It is the interaction among these factors that may affect pubertal
growth and maturation in complex ways.

Children entering adolescence are going through many changes (physical,

intellectual, personality and socio-emotional development). Adolescence is viewed as a stage
in one's life when there are plenty of threats and opportunities for personal growth.
Therefore, relationships with parents, peers, and teachers are important in this period since
they are the sources of support and companionship during their journey in the adolescence
stage.

Key Concepts

Defining Adolescence

Adolescence is a transformative period that involves profound physical,

psychological, emotional, and social growth. The period of adolescence begins at around
age 10 and ends around age 21. Biologically, adolescence is marked by the onset of puberty,
cognitively, adolescence is characterized by improvement in abstract thinking, knowledge
and logical reasoning. In term of social and emotional aspects, adolescence is a period of
preparation for social adult roles such as being as worker or a romantic partner. This is a
dramatic changing phase that describe this period include an identity crisis, normal to be
abnormal, a normative psychosis, etc.  Historically, the growing adolescence indicated that
this stage is lengthening of individuals that puberty start earlier and transition to adulthood
later than in the past.

Adolescence can be broken into three stages (i) early adolescence the first stage that
occurs from ages 10 to 13 where puberty begins (ii) middle adolescence characterized by
identity crises ages 14 to 16 years (iii) late adolescence a preparation for a major transition to
adulthood at ages 17 to 21.

Stages of Adolescence
Adolescence is a complex time in one’s life, characterized by many changes. These
transformations can bring anticipation and anxiety for both children and their families. The
following concept can help you understand what you are going through on this stage. Click
this link for stages of development . (https://apps.who.int/adolescent/second-
decade/section/section_2/level2_2.php)

Puberty

Entering puberty signals the physical changes of adolescence, a growth spurt and
sexual maturation. This is the period in which growing boys and girls will undergo the
process of sexual maturation. It is associated with a series of physical stages and the
development of secondary sex characteristics and rapid growth. A series of biological or
physical transformations happens during puberty, and these process can also have an effect
on the psychosocial and emotional development of the adolescent.
The onset of puberty varies among individuals. Puberty usually starts in girls between
the ages of 10 and 14, while in boys it generally occurs late, between the ages of 12 and 16.
Girls reach puberty stage at the earlier age than what were recorded previously. Menarche
signals the sign of puberty, the first menstrual cycle while spermache is the beginning of
development of sperm in boys' testicles. Hormonal change, nutritional and other
environmental influences are the responsible for this change.
As an adult, you probably remember pubertycauc — a time when your body went
through a lot of changes. And now you’re the parent of a child who’s experiencing these
changes. You’ll want to know what to expect so you can help your child through each stage
of development. Refer to this link for stages of puberty.
https://www.healthline.com/health/parenting/stages-of-puberty

To illustrate more the above concept, the figure below maps the difference between
the gender identity and sexual identity.

Biologic gender
body parts assigning male/female Gender ….is who we are
sex, usually at birth

Gender identity
Person’s basic sense of being
Biologic
Biologic
male or female, especially as
Gender
Gender
experienced in self-awareness and
behaviour
It cannoy be the same from their
sex assigned at birth.
Gender
Identity Gender
Gender expression
Ways in which person expressed
through behavior, clothing, haircut
Gender
Gender
and which may or may not Expression
Expression
conform to socially defined
behaviors and characteristics
typically associated with being
either masculine or feminine.
 Sexuality … is how we feel
Biological sex – physical characteristics of
the child from birth such male, female,
or intersex. Biological
Sexual orientation person's sexual identity sex
in relation to the gender to which they
are attracted; straight, gay, lesbian,
bisexual).
Sexual
orientatio Sexuality
Sexual Identity based on your feelings,
attractions, and desires. n

Sexual
identity

Factors Affecting Physical Development

Gender and Sexual Identity

Parents care and supports and nutrition and Activity

Activity

Make a collage through chain of events of your real life experiences from the start of your
puberty stage in terms of :
 Physical change (what you observed);
 Emotional reaction on menarche for girls and wet dreams for boys (low self-
esteem, happy, conscious, looking good, attractive);
 Parental relationship (as teenager you want privacy, independence).

Note: Make a story out of the collage you have created. Put a caption in every picture
of events.
 Chain of Events

Puberty Stage
(Physical/ 4th major
Change physical
Parental change
relationship)
3rd
major
physical
2nd
change
First major
major Physical
Physical change
change
observed

ANALYSIS

1. Based on the experiences you wrote, what do you think are the common physical
changes for female and for male?

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

2. Did you encountered parental difficulties during your puberty age?

____________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
 APPLICATION

Big Book Making:

Follow the instructions below to make a big book for physical development of
adolescence on the identified topic above.

a) Write your real life experiences story during your transition phase of adolescence
stages of physical development.
b) Write the story with simple sentences.
c) Put text and pictures onto a short bond paper. – pictures with caption and matching
text go on separate page.
d) Make a table of content and be sure that the you have the pages correctly ordered.
e) Use short bond paper, double space, arial font 12.
f) Include an inside title page.
g) Have it proofread by another person.
h) Have it ring binded

Summary

References
Corpuz, Brenda B., Lucas, M.R.D., Borabo, H.G.L. & Lucido, P.I. (2018) The Child
and adolescent learners and learning principles. Lorimar Publishing, Quezon
City, Metro Manila

Laganao, E. et al (2015). Child and Adolescent Development. St. Andrew Publishing

House: Bulacan

Congratulations! You have successfully completed lesson1. Indeed, you have just
taken a meaningful learning journey in physical development of adolescence. This lesson
has helped you deepening your understanding about physical and sexual changes
accompanying puberty. By this time, you are now ready to learn the cognitive development
of adolescence.