Understanding teen development
As young people in middle and high school, you will experience countless transformations in your development, including:
Physical
- Hormone changes
- Increased height and weight
- Body hair
- Acne
Mental
- Developing more abstract thinking skills
- Starting to use more logic and reason in decision-making
- Questioning authority
Emotional
- Quickly shifting moods
- Intense feelings
- Increased risk-taking/impulsive behavior
Social
- Experimentation with different social and cultural identities
- Actions, thoughts, and values of friends become more important than family’s influence
- Increase in peer pressure
- Awareness of sexual identity
- Learning to manage both platonic and romantic relationships
- Managing social media
These major changes may lead you to experience things like self-doubt, confusion, isolation, low self-esteem, or feelings of embarrassment. On top of these negative feelings may come stress from being overextended with school and extracurricular activities; negative peer interaction such as bullying; family dysfunction including fighting, separation, or divorce; trauma; or mental health challenges like Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, anxiety, or depression.