MIDDLE ADOLESCENCE: AGE, PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL CHANGES - PSYCHOLOGY - 2025

The middle adolescence is one of the stages of adolescence that between 15 and 17 years. This stage corresponds to the intermediate stage between early and late adolescence. During this period the physical changes are less obvious and rapid than in early adolescence, achieving almost the total appearance of an adult.

In addition, the adolescent will also have marked changes in the psychological field during this time. In middle adolescence, the changes in interpersonal relationships become much clearer, due to the fact that there is a distancing from the family and, at the same time, there is a closer relationship with the peer group.

In middle adolescence, peer groups take on great importance

The adolescent also seeks greater autonomy and begins to think about his life project and his own values. Similarly, this independence process commonly causes conflicts between parents and children. During early adolescence the person has not yet reached maturity in many of its areas.

Since they have not yet reached maturity, they can use what they learned in previous stages when situations exceed their current capabilities.

During this stage the adolescent will usually make his own decisions, experiment with his image, create lasting relationships and seek new experiences.

Age of middle adolescence

Like other stages of adolescence, the age range of 15 to 17 that is usually handled with the middle adolescence only serves as a rough reference.

Although most authors place age in that range, there are others who extend it to 18 years or indicate that it starts from 14 years.

This time usually coincides in different cultures with a change within secondary school (for example, in Spain from secondary to high school) and in others with the end of secondary education.

For this reason, the demands and expectations regarding academics and work increase, and the adolescent is expected to have a certain maturity to think about their future.

In this way, the adolescent is in a time when he is not yet fully mature and, nevertheless, he must make decisions that can affect his life in the long term, such as studying or working, choosing a future career, among other decisions.

Physical changes

During the middle adolescence, growth and maturation continue until the adolescent reaches approximately 95% of his adult size.

These changes occur more slowly, and most teens will have already had the changes associated with puberty.

Among other things, this explains why in the middle adolescence there is a greater acceptance of the body and the person feels more comfortable with himself.

However, it is usual for the adolescent of this stage to experiment with different types of changes in their appearance, such as different styles of clothing, makeup, new hairstyles, tattoos and piercings.

Psychological changes

At the same time that changes in the physical sphere are slowing down, during middle adolescence there are more changes in the cognitive, emotional and social areas, and the changes that have occurred until now continue to strengthen.

Cognitive changes

At this time, cognitive skills related to abstract thinking and reasoning, which began to develop in early adolescence, are consolidated.

Thus, at this stage they can reason about more complex issues and go further in their way of analyzing situations, since they more easily admit multi-level situations in which there is contradictory or multifactorial data.

On the other hand, it is usual that when faced with certain stressful situations that exceed their current capacities, adolescents return to their more concrete thinking skills.

Similarly, although the capacity for self-control or cognitive control is maturing, the adolescent does not have sufficient capacity to regulate under emotional situations or situations in which peers are present.

Therefore, it is common for parents or adults to be surprised by the apparent maturity in some situations, but to give impulsive responses in others.

Emotional changes

Regarding their emotional development, adolescents in this stage increase the range of emotions they can experience, as well as the ability to think about what others are experiencing and their empathy.

Although it may be easier to think about the emotions and feelings of others, narcissism still predominates.

Due to incomplete maturity in some brain systems, the adolescent of this stage may have impulsive behaviors thanks to a feeling of invulnerability and omnipotence. Therefore, the typical experimentation of this stage can go hand in hand with risky behaviors such as unprotected sex, use of drugs and alcohol, among others.

At this time romantic approaches are usually related to unreal romantic fantasies, usually of the type of eternal or perfect love.

These fantasies are still present to some extent in terms of your expectations for the future; however, by your own development and the demands of society, you may already have more realistic expectations about what you want to do.

Social changes

At this stage, the importance of the peer group for adolescents is more clearly seen, since it is much more marked than in early adolescence because it reaches its peak in these years.

The adolescent's self-concept is closely related to his peer group, which in these years is very influential. This influence can be seen in the group's clothing, behavior, values, and codes.

Peer influence is so strong that it can significantly negatively or positively affect adolescent behaviors.

Peer groups are experienced as a space to explore new roles outside of the roles that had been established in the family, in order to achieve autonomy and separate from the family group.

Therefore, it is usual at this stage for the adolescent to spend less and less time at home and to challenge and challenge the authority of their parents, in what is usually identified as adolescent rebellion.

During this stage, couple relationships can be established; in fact, at this stage these relationships are much more important and tend to be more stable than in early adolescence.

References

1. Barett, D. (1976). The Three Stages of Adolescence. The High School Journal, 79 (4), pp. 333-339.
2. Casas Rivero, JJ and Ceñal González Fiero, MJ (2005). Adolescent development. Physical, psychological and social aspects. Pediatr Integral, 9 (1), pp 20-24.
3. Gaete, V. (2015). Psychosocial development of the adolescent. Revista Chilena de Pediatría, 86 (6), pp. 436-443.
4. Halpern, R., Heckman, P., and Larson, R. (2013). Realizing the Potential of Learning in Middle Adolescence.
5. Krauskopof, Dina. (1999). Psychological development in adolescence: transformations in a time of change. Adolescence and Health, 1 (2), 23-31.
6. Moreno, FA (2015). Adolescence. Barcelona: Editorial UOC.