7 DESTRUCTIVE MANIFESTATIONS DURING YOUTH - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

When speaking of destructive manifestations during youth, reference is made to the approach and / or execution of risky behaviors, understood as all those voluntary or involuntary actions that endanger the physical and mental integrity of the adolescent and their environment.

In many ways, youth - and specifically adolescence, the stage that will be referred to in this article - has been the object of study, be it because of how intense and fleeting it seems to be, or because of how conflictive it ends up being.

Drug use and self-harm are some of the most damaging destructive manifestations for young people. Source: pixabay.com

In this stage of life, situations, experiences and decision making can occur that surely could determine what will happen next; This depends on the way in which conflicts are dealt with and resolved, which may fall as part of the learning and development demand of the evolutionary stage.

The World Health Organization (WHO) conceives adolescence as that stage of human development that arises after childhood and before adulthood, from 10 to 19 years. It is one of the most relevant transition phases; it implies rapid growth and many changes, only surpassed by those experienced in the lactation stage.

For most of the people who go through the process within normality, adolescence is a period positively remembered because many things happen "for the first time." It is a stage full of initiations in many ways; therefore, it has a very important significance. It is the transition towards autonomy and adulthood.

Most people, from whatever role - parents, teachers or individuals who live it - tend to remember their youth or adolescence associating it with very significant emotions. Despite being a set period, it can rarely be anticipated and / or planned, and even if there is some preparation, there is no guarantee of a low emotional cost.

Thus, not all development processes are equally satisfactory or easy; they have their difficulties and their challenges. Becoming a sufficiently differentiated person, with the ability to understand oneself and develop minimal and basic competencies for life is the product of a set of experiences and experiences that involve complexity.

What are the most frequent destructive manifestations in adolescence?

As mentioned above, there are actions that have a direct and indirect impact, progressively, in preventing the achievement of the life project and damaging both health and personal well-being. Some of these manifestations are the following.

Drug use and abuse

Among the exploratory behaviors that can manifest in adolescence could be approaches to drugs, occasional use with the real risk of reaching habitual use and even addiction.

There are many reasons, but they highlight the need to explore, to feel part of a certain group, by identification and by alterations in mood. Among the most consumed drugs are alcohol, tobacco and marijuana, among many others.

Risky sexual behaviors

These behaviors can be generated as a consequence of situations of confusion or apparent willfulness, which lead the adolescent to have unprotected relationships.

This leaves them exposed to unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. In addition, they can put their physical integrity at risk when participating in group relationships, since they are usually associated with the use and abuse of drugs.

These behaviors can generate scenarios in which adolescents face an abortion or an unwanted pregnancy.

Dropout of studies

This manifestation is associated with the lack of structure and of significant relational references in figures that function as father and mother.

It can also happen that these roles come from dysfunctional families and young people have a poor social adaptation. Given this, the most frequent is school dropout; it is one of the aspects that can have the most serious consequences.

Self-harm, self-harm, and depression

The most frequent self-harm behaviors are called non-lethal self-harm. These are cutting (consisting of cutting into different parts of the body), burning (which consists of burning different parts of the skin) and scarification (voluntary production of eschar in the dermis).

These occur in people with few or absent self-care or self-protection mechanisms. Although this is not necessarily the case, they can lead to suicidal behavior. These actions are used to manage intense emotions and can be very dangerous.

According to psychoanalytic theories, suicide in adolescence does not necessarily express literally wanting to end life. Rather, it is about attacking the body, trying to put an end to suffering in order to live.

Body modifications

This manifestation consists of voluntarily changing parts of the own body. For example, marking the skin with laser or metals at high temperatures, or inserting objects or elements to modify the structure of the body.

These actions, like the mutilations, reveal a conflict of acceptance towards the image itself and what it represents. Then this image loses its value, enough that you don't have the motivation to care for it.

Eating disorder

In this category are included those disorders or alterations of the normal nutritional process, with the obvious known consequences.

These would be anorexia, bulimia and obesity. They are seen more frequently in women, although men can also suffer from them. These behaviors appear because the level of anxiety is so high that these actions and everything that they imply function as an element of containment.

Violations of the law

Behaviors with little or no social adaptation are also indirect actions that compromise the personal life project.

Even when it seems that the adolescent could attack others, in the same way he is attacking himself because he attacks his environment, his possibilities and potential opportunities to obtain social gratification.

Alternatives

All the risk behaviors mentioned here may have a different origin; However, the important thing is to determine and enhance the protective factors that young people may have and reduce risk factors that threaten their well-being.

References

1. Seoane, A. "Adolescence and Risky Behaviors" (May 2015) Retrieved on June 5, 2019 from the Faculty of Psychology Information System: psico.edu.uy
2. Enriquez J, Cynthia. "Personality traits and their relationship with self-destructive behaviors in adolescents aged 16 to 18 from high school February 27 in the city of Loja, period 2017-2018". (2018). Retrieved on June 5, 2019 from the National University of Loja Digital Repository: unl.edu.ec
3. "Self-destructive behaviors in young people, problem of the modern era" (Nov 2014) in El Heraldo. Retrieved on June 5, 2019 from: elheraldo.co
4. "Definition of adolescence" (2019). Retrieved on June 5, 2019 from World Health Organization: who.int/es
5. Damon & Cotton. "The development of purpose during adolescence" (June 2010). Retrieved on June 5, 2019 from Stanford University: standford.edu
6. Applied Developmental Science, Vol 7, 2003- Issue 3. Retrieved on June 5, 2019 from Taylor and Francis Online: tandfonline.com