ADOLESCENTS FACING CHALLENGES AND PROBLEMS OF THE NATURAL AND SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The attitude of adolescents to the challenges and problems of the natural and social environment is key for them to develop their abilities and to obtain well-being.

The most important challenges that young people and adolescents face in general are related to their own behavior.

Some of the most frequent problems are increased aggressiveness, bullying, sexual harassment and uninhibited sexuality, alcoholism, drug addiction and strong dependence on technology.

For adolescents and their parents it is a real challenge to cope with life in an environment plagued with multiple dangers and vices to which they are exposed daily.

Top 5 challenges for teens

1- Aggression and violence

According to the World Health Organization, youth violence and increased aggression represent a public health problem on a global scale.

This violence manifests itself through acts ranging from fights and killings, to intimidation, coercion, and sexual and physical assaults.

Parents should be aware of these types of problems, which arise mainly at school or in the community.

When a young person is a victim of youth violence, they present certain characteristics and behaviors that allow the problem to be detected. Some are as follows:

- Shows a change of character and becomes withdrawn.

- Refuses to attend class.

- Shows a high degree of nervousness and irritability.

- Suffer the so-called "Sunday afternoon syndrome", reflected in an apathetic and tedious attitude.

- Has unexplained bumps and bruises.

- Melancholic or sad behavior.

- He suffers from headaches and abdominal pain.

- Does not show desire to share with friends or wants to leave home.

- Lose money from allowances or items of value to him or her.

2- School bullying or

School bullying, or bullying in English, is a form of permanent psychological, verbal or physical violence and abuse between children and adolescents.

The victim is frequently harassed at school, in the neighborhood or through social networks, where emotional violence predominates.

Statistically, girls are more likely to be victims of this form of violence that adolescents and young people face today.

Bullying is committed by other children or adolescents in a methodical and systematic way, who submit their victims with the complicity of other colleagues.

3- Uninhibited sexuality

This is another challenge or problem that adolescents currently face, due to changes in cultural patterns and the increase in pornography through social networks.

Problems of early pregnancy, the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and abortions are very frequent now, precisely because of the lack of protection and lack of maturity. Sex has become games.

4- Alcoholism and drug addiction

The consumption of alcohol and drugs during adolescence is another problem of social concern and a challenge for young people and their families. Drugs and liquor are associated with fun and enjoyment of leisure.

It starts out as a form of teenage fun on the weekends, and then it can become a permanent habit that leads to addiction.

The consumption of alcohol disinhibits the adolescent and leads him to enter other dangers such as drugs.

This puts his physical integrity and his own life at risk, given that he sometimes performs dangerous actions, such as driving while intoxicated or playing games and competitions with other young people.

5- Dependence on technology

Experts in communication technologies affirm that technology is generating in adolescents and adults an almost total subordination to the digital world.

The hours dedicated to games, applications and social networks are altering the time of young people to share with the family, educate themselves or socialize healthily.

School performance is sometimes affected by this cause. Although addiction to the Internet and electronic devices is not yet considered a mental disorder, there are concerns about their psychological effects.

Compulsive use of technology through cell phones, tablets and other digital devices is on the rise in all social groups and ages.

Although technology helps young people in their education and recreation, the problem occurs when it becomes an addiction and goes from use to abuse.

For this reason, psychologists and other therapists advise rationing the use of digital technologies in children and adolescents. It is about protecting, guiding, preventing and advising children.

The challenges of adolescence

To overcome the five problems mentioned above, it is necessary to maintain permanent and open communication with the children, so that they can be helped when they are victims or are in a situation of risk.

Young people should be encouraged to be aware of the problems they are exposed to in their environment and help them choose what is best for them, as rational subjects and subjects of change.

Adolescence is a crucial stage in which young people search for identity, independence and responsibility; they want new experiences and they begin to discern what is good and what is bad.

They can be influenced more by friends than by their parents and this could be a very great risk.

It is a difficult and complex stage for children and parents. Additionally, it is during this stage when young people feel most emotionally affected by the hormonal and bodily changes they experience.

These physical changes usually appear in women between the ages of 10 and 12 and between 12 and 14 in men.

When young people have academic performance problems due to multiple individual, family, economic and methodological factors, they become depressed and anxious.

Likewise, when they suffer a love disappointment, a family loss or the divorce of their parents, they are usually very affected.

When adolescents are immersed in depressive pictures as a result of this type of problems, it is when they are more exposed and more vulnerable to alcohol and drug consumption problems.

They are also exposed to extreme situations such as suicide, as well as unwanted pregnancies and dropping out of school.

References

1. Social and emotional changes in adolescence. Retrieved December 7 from raisingchildren.net.au
2. Adolescents facing the challenges and problems of the social environment. Consulted from haikudeck.com
3. The challenges and problems of the natural and social environment. Consulted of secondarias.tamaulipas.gob.mx
4. Adolescents facing the challenges and problems of the natural and social environment. Consulted from estudioraprender.com
5. Espada, José P., Méndez, Xavier, Griffin, Kenneth W and Botvin, Gilbert J. Adolescence: consumption of alcohol and other drugs. University of Murcia / Cornell University, New York. Recovered from papeldelpsicologo.es
6. The challenge of young people in today's society. Consulted of entreeducadores.com