Challenges During Adolescents

Thursday, 22 April 2021 8:25 AM

Adolescence is often characterized as a period of transformation,

primarily, in term of physical, cognitive, and social-relational change. It is
a vulnerable time when children might develop unhealthy habits that
grow into problems in their adult life.
This period is not an easy time for children or parents. The only way to
deal with needs and problems at this age is to know about them and be
ready to face them.

The common challenges normal adolescents encounter:

1. Physical Development
2. Attitudes and behavior toward sexuality and sexual relationships
3. Academic Concerns
4. Group Belongingness
5. Developing or regaining self-esteem
6. Role
7. Family Situation (Parent/s Working Abroad)
8. Career Choice
9. Relationships

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Physical Development
Monday, 10 May 2021 6:38 PM
Ways to Deal:
• Be aware of these changes.
Physical Development
• Understand that everyone goes through puberty differently in a lot of
The rates of physical development vary so widely among teenagers, puberty can be a aspects-time, nature, and degree.
source of pride or embarrassment. Physical changes happen due to change in the
teenager’s hormone levels. • Adapt to these changes – acknowledge the change and accept it.
• Early Maturing Boys: • Stay healthy and fit through a nutritious diet and exercise.
✓ Tend to be stronger, taller, and more athletic than their later maturing peers. During the age of being conscious of one’s physical appearance, an
individual tries a lot of physical modifications to figure out what fits his or
✓ Pubic hair growth, as well as armpit, leg, chest, and facial hair. her preferences most. Do not be someone another person’s identity
✓ Change of voice. completely. Be yourself. It takes time

✓ Having regular nocturnal emissions (wet dreams).

These maturing boys are usually more popular, confident, and independent, but
they are also at a greater risk for substance abuse and early sexual activity.
• Early Maturing Girls:
✓ Breasts development.
✓ Pubic hair, armpit, and leg hair grow.
✓ Having menarche (the beginning of menstrual periods)
Girls may start to feel conscious about their figure. They may be teased or overtly
admired, which can cause them to feel self-conscious about their developing
bodies.
These girls are at a higher risk for depression, substance abuse, and eating
disorders.
Late-blooming boys and girls (i.e., they develop more slowly than their peers) may feel
self-conscious about their lack of physical development. Negative feelings are
particularly a problem for late maturing boys, who are at a higher risk for depression and
conflict with parents.
• Other Changes are:
✓ Acne breakout.
✓ Muscle gain sometimes leads to excessive body weight in teens.
✓ Body odor

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Attitudes and Behavior toward Sexuality and Sexual
Relationships
Monday, 10 May 2021 6:40 PM

• Puberty drives the adolescent to experience surges of sexual

desires, which often lead them to experimentation and exploration.
• Adolescents exploring their sexuality should be able to draw their
limits in terms of sexual expressions and should be responsible
enough to see the future results or consequences of their behaviors.
• Sexual relationship is healthy when the adolescent sees this as part
of a loving relationship and not as something that is just for
exploration or pleasure.
Ways to Deal:
• The proper and healthy attitude toward sexuality and sexual
relationships is being responsible. It implies that entering into
relationships is all about genuine loving and caring for the other
person, and not just to satisfy one's urges and needs which can lead
to bigger problems like teenage pregnancies or sexually transmitted
diseases.
• Love is based on respect for the other person's uniqueness, which
means accepting and respecting that he or she is different from you;
has a different set of priorities in life; different values that he or she
gives more importance to; has a personal plan for the future; and
has different emotions and feelings, attitudes, thoughts, and likes
and dislikes.

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Academic Concerns
Monday, 10 May 2021 6:41 PM

• The role of a student is the primary role of an adolescent who is still

in school. Many adolescents become problematic with their
academic studies.
• Quizzes and tests, home works and projects, oral recitation,
quarterly and final exams, and grades most especially, epitomize
the kind of stressors adolescents have when it comes to studying.
Although grades are not the only gauge of what one has learned, it
is what the educational system relies on when trying to measure
one’s learning capacity.
Ways to Deal:
• Manage your time. Invest in a daily planner and keep one calendar
for assignments, exams, and family events.
• Ask for help. Don’t be afraid to ask for help from family, friends,
and other support groups as you try to balance work, family, and
school.

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Group Belongingness
Monday, 10 May 2021 6:43 PM

• An adolescent wants to belong. While there is an urge to be

independent and autonomous from his family and parents, there is
also an urge to seek a replacement of this support system, this time
in the form of social groupings such as school friends, memberships
in organizations, and community.
• An adolescent with low self-esteem might be drawn toward
organizations that promise camaraderie in the form of "Walang
iwanan," "do or die," or "one for all and all for one" kind of social
support. However, there is a possibility that these types of
organizations may be more destructive than constructive.

Ways to Deal:
• Healthy and wholesome organizations whose objectives aim to help
individuals develop themselves are better choices.
• Avoiding organizations that adhere to violence and other anti-social
behaviors is a responsibility of the adolescent because he is
responsible for his welfare, his family, his friends, and his school.

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Developing and Regaining Self-esteem
Monday, 10 May 2021 6:44 PM

• Related to self-esteem is one's perception of one's body type.

Adolescents at this stage are very self-conscious and often view
themselves as unattractive, lacking the kind of physical look that is
often dictated by the advertising and the image business.
Ways to Deal:
• Adolescents who are creating their self-identity should be objective
and balanced when viewing themselves. Being objective means
seeing one's self as having both strengths and weaknesses of
having positive and negative characteristics. Balancing how one
sees oneself means avoiding over-emphasizing an aspect of one's
identity to the detriment of another aspect.
• They have to learn to be gentler and kinder, and less demanding for
them to maintain a balance in their view of what and who they are.

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Role
Monday, 10 May 2021 6:45 PM

• All human beings have roles to play in their lives.

• Roles are part of one's identity, such as being a son or daughter to
your parents, being a brother or sister to your siblings, being a
student in your school, or a member of your organization.
Ways to Deal:
• Although these roles seem separate and different from each other,
adolescents must learn to integrate all these roles and it should be
clear that these roles are related to the tasks expected of them by
others.
• Balancing his or her time and energy in addressing the
responsibilities demanded by each role can be achieved through
discipline and time management.

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Family Situation
Monday, 10 May 2021 6:47 PM

Parents Working Abroad

• Many Filipino families experienced have parents who leave their
families to work abroad to support the needs of their families.
• Sadness, loneliness, and thoughts of being abandoned are often
experienced by adolescents in this given situation.
Ways to Deal:
• There must be recognition of the emotions and feelings brought
about by the situation.
• Turn the unpleasant situation into an opportunity and challenge for
growth and improvement to achieve higher and greater results in
whatever they do. An example of this is getting good grades and
learning desirable qualities like discipline and hard work

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Career Choice
Monday, 10 May 2021 6:48 PM

• The adolescent who is creating an identity for himself is faced with

an urgent need to identify what course to take in college and
establish a career path for the future.
Ways to Deal:
• While many private schools provide career counseling and guidance
which involves testing and interviews, the adolescent can be more
proactive by accessing many resource materials found on the
internet to help him identify his capabilities and skills and the wide
choices of work that he can take.
• When finding the right career, adolescents need to know what their
interests are, what things they find exciting and challenging, and
what their skills are.

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Relationships
Monday, 10 May 2021 6:48 PM

• Maintaining a healthy relationship requires a certain level of

maturity. An adolescent who is still in the process of acquiring
maturity may often find maintaining relationships challenging.
• Healthy friendships are necessary for adolescents' social
development, but the challenge in maintaining them is also equally
challenging. Envy due to comparisons is also a major cause of
breakdowns in relationships.
• At home, a female adolescent who desires autonomy and
independence will encounter more parental objections. She may not
be allowed to attend social gatherings without chaperones, or go on
out of-town trips with males in the group
• When this happens, relationships at home are strained, and the
adolescent who does not see the real purpose of why her parents
are restricting her will react negatively to such restrictions.
• When this happens, relationships at home are strained, and the
adolescent who does not see the real purpose of why her parents
are restricting her will react negatively to such restrictions.
• Breakups in romantic relationships occur very frequently among
adolescents because of immaturity. However, experiences such as
breakups are positive ways to grow toward emotional maturity.
Ways to Deal:
• An adolescent can learn to understand and deal with conflict by
accepting there is a conflict that exists, between him and another
person, and understanding what is causing the conflict

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