One goes through many phases of life accompanied with difficulties since taking birth. Among many phases is the stage of adolescence in which one goes through transition from childhood to adulthood facing developments and problems. Following can be seen as some of the outstanding problems of Indian adolescence:
Perplexity with Regard to Somatic Variation: Every adolescent to go through many hormonal changes related to puberty and adjusting to them is a difficult task initially. Fear and anxiety grip girls, in connection with the flow of blood during menstruation, and boys, in relation to nocturnal emission. Ours being a conservative society, these physical changes during puberty are not talked about openly in family, resulting in youngsters having less information about the issue. They try to satisfy this anxiety and lack of scientific information about sex hygiene and philosophy by gaining crude and perverted knowledge about sex-related matters. Considered a sin, this makes them an introvert and secretive personality, thereby affecting their growth process.
Problems Related Intensification of Sex-consciousness: The sudden urge to know about sex-related topics results in intensification of sex consciousness. As the Indian parents generally do not talk sex problems openly with their children as compared with the parents of Western countries, Indian children opt for unacceptable and unwanted ways to satisfy their curiosity and satisfy their sexual needs. In addition, misguiding information in print and electronic media finally results in sexual maladjustment in adolescents.
Adjustment Difficulties with Parents: The stage of adolescence comes with the rebellious attitude where one longs for freedom and independence. However, often this freedom is curtailed the intervention of parents. In Indian context, parental opposition extends areas such as choices of friends, choice of education, recreational interests, dress, lifestyle, going from and coming to the home, mode of behaviour, etc. This normally leads to a conflict between children and parents as adults find it difficult and unnecessary to meet the demands of parents. Failure to adjust with the parents may result in revolting against parents and authority.
Childhood-Adulthood Conflict: In our society, the adolescent is considered as a phase between childhood and adulthood. On the one hand, one has to be depended on parents for all the needs to be fulfilled; on the other hand, one wants to work as per his/her discretion and be independent. Being treated in an ambiguous manner by parents and teachers leads them to a state of confusion whether they need to behave as children or adults.
Adjustment Difficulties with School Discipline: Adhering to discipline in schools turns out to be a very difficult task for adolescents as they want a life free of shackles and interventions. Schools should not implant habits of unquestioning obedience that inhibits the growth of young people towards true independence.
Adjustment Difficulties with Community: Societal pressure and expectations play a negative role in the life of adolescents. They are always pressed to do as per required by their seniors keeping in view the competitiveness in the society. As the expectations build very rapidly, they find it difficult to live up to the demands of the community. At this critical stage, most adolescents react by withdrawing into a nondemanding and non-working world of pleasure and satisfaction.
The Ideal and Reality Conflicts: It is during adolescence that an adolescent goes through the maximum changes, and others may not know how they feel about themselves, but we should.
Confusion and maladaptation can raise due to disparity between ideal and actual, or this disparity can be a source of motivation and aspiration for adolescents who are searching for identity. Characterised by the emergence of new-found cognitive capacities and changing societal expectations, adolescence represents an interesting transitional period.
Parental help and initiatives, such as deliberate expression of affection, concern about the adolescent’s problems, harmony in the home, participation in family activities, availability to give organised help when needed or asked for, setting clear and fair rules, understanding peer influences on self-esteem, etc., can be very important to tackle adverse effects of the adolescents to a great extent.
Adolescent-Parent Attachment: Encounter between adolescents and parents is not the result of poor quality of relationship, but it is mainly due to the rapid neurological, cognitive and social changes that make them anxious and rebellious. Adolescents then have the responsibility to maintain connection with parents while exploring new social roles away from the family and developing attachment relationships with peers and romantic partners.
This issue arises a new question, what adolescents expect from their parents to sustain healthy attachment? It is a fact that the successful transition of adolescence cannot be achieved by making distance from parents, and to make sure of healthy transition to autonomy and adulthood, it is necessary that they secure attachment and emotional connectedness with parents. Parents clearly know that adolescents who understand their opinions and stay committed to the relationship, even in the face of conflict, can easily move forward toward early adulthood in a hassle-free way.
The capacity of parents, teachers, the elders, etc. to maintain a ‘goal-directed partnership’ with adolescents in their daily life by all means will help in making them confident and keeping away from all modes of newly emerged social evils that are nowadays proving out to be really dangerous.