Warped reality challenge12/21/2023 Institutionalization, urbanization, technological advances, geographic mobility, and cultural diversity have radically transformed the world, and the interaction between biology and this new environment has fundamentally altered the circumstances of growing up as an adolescent in the United States. Although the biology of puberty has remained essentially the same for many generations, the social context in which these biological events occur has changed dramatically. These hormones have powerful effects on many tissues of the body, including the brain, and lead to significant changes in social, emotional, and sexual behavior. Triggered by preprogrammed events in the brain, the pituitary gland products hormones that in turn stimulate the secretion of sex hormones. Puberty is often used to define the onset of early adolescence. Each phase has a unique set of developmental challenges, opportunities, and risks. Late adolescence, for those who delay their entry into adult roles because of educational or social factors, can stretch from age 18 into the early 20s. Middle adolescence is a time of increased autonomy and experimentation, covering ages 15 to 17. Early adolescence encompasses the biological changes of puberty as well as sexual and psychological awakenings, extending roughly from ages 10 through 14. In the United States, the period called adolescence is considered to extend over many years, so it can be usefully subdivided into three developmental phases. The events of this crucial formative phase can shape an individual's life course-and, by extension, an entire society. Its beginning is associated with biological, physical, behavioral, and social transformations that roughly correspond to the move from elementary school to middle or junior high school. This rapid rise in racial and ethnic diversity in the United States is expected to continue through the coming decades.Īdolescence is one of the most fascinating and complex transitions in the life span: a time of accelerated growth and change, second only to infancy a time of expanding horizons, self-discovery, and emerging independence a time of metamorphosis from childhood to adulthood. The Asian population will also continue its rapid increase, from 4 to 6 percent by the year 2020. Bureau of Census is estimating that by the year 2020, more than one in five U.S. Black children were the largest minority population prior to 1997, but now their numbers are slightly superseded by Hispanic children (each making up about 15 percent of the total child population). In 1993, more than one-third of the population of adolescents ages 10 to 19 were Hispanic or nonwhite. Although 74 percent of all children in the United States in 1980 were white, this proportion has steadily decreased ever since and is projected to continue to have a downward trend through the year 2050 ( Figure 2-2). In addition, the increasing racial and ethnic diversity in the general population of the United States has resulted in increasing proportions of adolescents belonging to racial and ethnic minority groups. In terms of this new definition, a very different profile emerges with respect to future population projections: the adolescent and young adult population will continue to increase well beyond the year 2050 ( Figure 2-1). This trend is also likely to continue into the 21st century, and increasingly researchers, service providers, and policy makers are arguing that the age frame that defines adolescence should include youth up to age 24. As of 1990, however, this pattern was reversed: 49 percent of adolescents between ages 10 and 14 and 51 percent between ages 15 and 19. Until recently, more of the adolescent population consisted of younger people: 52 percent (18,529,000) between ages 10 and 14, compared with 48 percent (17,278,000) between ages 15 and 19. This increase is expected to continue until the year 2020, gradually leveling off between the years 20 ( Figure 2-1). In 1993, there were close to 36 million (35,807,000) adolescents, ages 10 to 19, representing nearly 14 percent of the population. Following a steady decline since the mid-1970s, the number of adolescents in the United States began to increase in the 1990s. The demographic profile of the adolescent population has changed dramatically during the past few decades, and these changes are expected to continue well into the 21st century.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |