Growth and Development, Adolescent

• Growth and Development, Ages 15 to 18 Years

  How do teenagers grow and develop during ages 15 to 18? The ages from 15 to 18 are an exciting time of life. But these years can be challenging for teens and their parents. Emotions can change quickly as teens learn to deal with school, their friends, and adult expectations. Teen self-esteem is affected by success...

• Growth and Development, Ages 11 to 14 Years

  How do children grow and develop between ages 11 and 14? The ages 11 through 14 years are often referred to as early adolescence. These years are an exciting time of many varied and rapid changes. Your child grows taller and stronger and also starts to feel and think in more mature ways. You may feel amazed as you...

• Growth and Development: Helping Your Child Build Self-Esteem

  Self-esteem is a person's core belief about himself or herself. A person's self-esteem is reflected in his or her actions, both in how as well as what he or she does. Although self-esteem varies from time to time, the pattern usually leans toward a healthy or unhealthy view of self. With healthy self-esteem, a person is...

• How Adolescent Thinking Develops

  Adolescents typically think in concrete ways. This means that they have difficulty with abstract and symbolic concepts. Their thinking tends to be focused on the present. They are just starting to be able to gather information from experience, analyze information, and make critical decisions about future choices and...

• Helping Adolescents Develop More Mature Ways of Thinking

  Adolescent thinking tends to be focused on the present. But adolescents and teens are rapidly learning new skills related to complex reasoning, inductive and deductive reasoning, sensitivity toward others, flexibility, and problem solving. Remind yourself that it is normal for adolescents to have a sense of being...

• Cognitive Development, Ages 15 to 18 Years

  By age 16, most teens are developing the ability to think abstractly, deal with several concepts at the same time, and imagine the future consequences of their actions. This type of thinking in a logical sequence continues to develop into adulthood. Also by age 16, teens can learn to process more complex problems, to...

• Emotional and Social Development, Ages 11 to 14 Years

  Independence, individuality, identity, and self-esteem are buzzwords for early teen emotional and social development. Elementary school-age children have strong ties to their families and want to please their parents. The years 11 through 14 are a transition between childhood and adulthood. Appropriately, adolescents...

• Emotional and Social Development, Ages 15 to 18 Years

  Older teens may seem mature at times, but they often will still have periods of childish behavior. Those who have not yet established a personal identity and sense of independence may try defining themselves through rebellious or difficult behavior. Teens learn about themselves through expanding their relationships...

• Milestones for Ages 11 to 14

  Ages 11 through 14 are often called early adolescence. These years are an exciting time of varied and rapid changes. Your child grows taller and stronger and also starts to feel and think in more mature ways. You may feel amazed as you watch your...

• Milestones for Ages 15 to 18

  Ages 15 to 18 are an exciting time of life. But these years can be challenging for teens and their parents. Emotions can change quickly as teens learn to deal with school, their friends, and adult expectations. Teen self-esteem is affected by...

• Physical Development, Ages 11 to 14 Years

  Adolescence is a time of rapid growth in height and weight and of physical changes throughout the body. Most of these changes occur near the time of puberty, which in the United States and Canada usually begins for girls between the ages of 9 and 11, and for most boys between the ages of 9½ and 13. Breast buds—slight...

• Physical Development, Ages 15 to 18 Years

  By age 15, most girls have had their first menstrual period and have completed the rapid growth spurt that usually occurs during puberty. After the first period, teenage girls grow 1.5 in. (3.8 cm) to 3 in. (7.6 cm) on average. Other early changes of puberty, such as the growth of pubic hair and breasts, have also...

• Adolescent Sensory and Motor Development

  Before the adolescent growth spurt, the strength of boys and girls is about the same. But afterward, males most often have the advantage. During these years of rapid physical growth, adolescents may be somewhat awkward or clumsy as they get used to longer limbs and bigger bodies. Their brains need time to adjust to the...