Early Adolescents: Their Developmental Characteristics.

Abstract

youth in American society. They vocalized and acted upon their concerns for American life, their individuality, and perceived social and political inequities. The attention they received from all segments of the society make it clear that they were a large group of important individuals who could not be taken lightly nor have their lives and futures predetermined for them by others. Gradually throughout the 1960s and 1970s this conviction manifested itself in a variety of ways. It also had a saturation effect which gradually caused it to be considered and endorsed, first by adolescents, then by early adolescents. Thus, we find ourselves, as we move into the decade of the 1980s, with a large group of early adolescents (throughout this issue defined as ages 10 to IS) who have embraced many ideologies once embraced only by older adolescents and youth. We have an emerging group of adolescents who are saying, developmentally, socially, and behaviorally, that they are important and cannot be ignored. Neither do they indicate that they will passively attend to adults and society. Rather, they are taking on the characteristics of adolescents of a decade ago; actively involved in their own lives and in the decisions affecting them.