When does adolescence begin and end?

At 10? At 20 or maybe 30? Knowing when adolescence begins and ends seems to be a mystery in recent decades.. In our parents’ time, for example, it was common to assume that someone at 30 years old already had their life made up and with a future almost assured with a job, home and family. Currently, however, the future is so uncertain that even life cycles enter into crisis.

Likewise, there is something obvious: Biological maturity does not exclusively define when a person enters adulthood. In this case, psychosocial factors are what define this transition from adolescence to maturity in many cases. In this way, our society and its complex dynamics are prolonging this stage in time.

Thus, there is also another aspect to consider. Sometimes, We label as childish or irresponsible a generation that, due to current factors, cannot fulfill itself as it would like.. Prolonged academic training and, above all, the difficulty of accessing the labor market, lengthen processes and create new realities that we should understand better.

When does adolescence begin and end?

Research work, such as those carried out by the Canadian Pediatric Society, points out something interesting. Adolescence is a biological phase in human development that, at least physically, is easily appreciated. However, It is not so easy to define and know when a teenager becomes an adult..

What’s more, it would also be useful to clarify what “being an adult” really means. Thus, to respond to the latter, it is usually pointed out that an adult is a person who has developed his or her identity, is fully responsible for his or her life, is judicious and shows adequate emotional control. As we can well deduce, sometimes, even in our thirties, we have not resolved or reached these milestones.

However, with regard to adolescence, there are reports that indicate that In recent decades, there has been a delay in the acquisition of the roles that traditionally define the adult.. Let’s now see what the experts tell us.

WHO, 10-19 years. According to recent studies: 10-24 years

If we ask ourselves when adolescence begins and ends, It seems that there is a consensus on its beginning: 10 years. What’s more, we even know that this onset was later (age 14) several decades ago. However, thanks to improvements in nutrition, the hypothalamus begins to release those hormones that promote sexual development earlier.

For their part, and regarding the completion of this stage, organizations such as the WHO or Unicef ​​agreed many years ago that it was at 19.

Now, in a study published three years ago in the journal The Lancet notes that It would be convenient to place the end of adolescence at 24 years of age. The Royal Children’s Hospital and Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne (Australia) justify this data for the following reasons:

There is a clear delay in the acquisition of adult roles. The social and structural context affects adolescents now more than ever. Difficulties in accessing the labor market and even new technologies and marketing affect the psychosocial development of young people.

When adolescence begins and ends: the three key stages to understand its variability

As we can see, when determining when adolescence begins and ends, there seem to be certain discrepancies in this last dimension. Its completion. Perhaps and for this very fact, it is stipulated that this stage of human development goes through three phases. The fact that this clarification appears is due to variability.

Not all young people develop biologically and psychosocially in the same way

early adolescence: It would start around the age of 10 and end around the age of 14-15.Middle adolescence: in this case, it would appear around the age of 14 and end around the age of 18-19.Late adolescence or post-adolescence would have a duration that would even go beyond twenty, coinciding with the data of The Lancetthat is, 24 years old.

This variability in each phase depends on multiple factors. Nutrition and psychosocial maturation mediated by the society in which the young person develops are elements that determine it.

Reaching maturity: does it really depend on how responsible the young person is?

Often, we do. Almost without thinking, we label teenagers as immature. We are slaves to the brain’s tendency to save energy, taking very poor information as a basis for our judgments. Furthermore, in many cases, we accept the conclusions without hesitation because they agree with our starting hypotheses:

The areas of the brain linked to impulse control and more rational judgments do not reach their full development until after the age of 25. The family and social context facilitates or slows down the psychosocial development of the child and adolescent.Factors such as overprotection infantilize young people prolonging adolescence even further.

Likewise, there is another indisputable fact. We encourage our children and adolescents to make an effort, to study, to compete to be the best… However, later the social situation does not respond to that effort. What’s more, what it does is slow down and lengthen stages, so that it is increasingly difficult to achieve independence and the label of “mature person.”

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