Although the issues that concern us are individual for each person, there are some questions that resonate with most people.
Yulia Kuznetsova, a psychologist at the online platform Gran.rf, spoke about the problems that concern teenagers.
Moreover, these difficulties may vary depending on age and other socio-demographic characteristics.
And teenagers are no exception: many of them face problematic experiences that are typical for this age. What can these experiences be connected with?
The need to be in contact with others. According to the cultural-historical approach in psychology, human development involves going through certain stages that differ in the features of the functioning of the psyche, the social situation of development, the leading activity, and the tasks of development.
In adolescence, the leading activity becomes intimate and personal communication with peers. During this period, a person learns to build relationships with others: friendship, love, cooperation, etc.
Therefore, it is important for a teenager to feel a sense of belonging to some group.
This also explains the phenomenon of the popularity of various subcultures among teenagers: through unification through external attributes, internal unity develops and social connections are created.
And if a teenager feels isolated, it can cause distress.
First love. Continuing with the first point about the development of relationships. Adolescence also becomes a period of self-knowledge in a new format of relationships – falling in love.
On the one hand, this is due to biological changes in the body, awakening sexuality. On the other hand, it is due to the need to create a social connection through which you can learn something new about yourself.
Since self-awareness is also actively developing during this age period, answers to questions about “what am I?” are important.
That is why first love, no matter what it is – mutual or unrequited – is so special in our life.
High intensity of emotional experiences. The peculiarities of adolescence consist of a certain exacerbation of certain character traits, and the mobility of the maturing nervous system creates the basis for a more violent emotional response to certain situations.
A teenager really feels everything more acutely than an adult, and may not yet be able to deal with these feelings correctly. And various negative experiences - anger, sadness, resentment, disappointment, etc. - are also felt more acutely.
At the same time, the teenager may not find understanding of his feelings from those around him, to whom they may seem excessive, which only intensifies negative experiences.
Lack of understanding from parents and others. During adolescence, a person strives to gain independence in decision-making, to defend the right to their own opinion.
This is a normal process of separation, preparing a person to separate from the parental family in order to live his own life. Therefore, for example, a teenager can protest against what he considers unfair towards himself.
Here, manifestations of youthful maximalism can be traced. From the parent's side, this can be felt in different ways, including not meeting understanding.
At the same time, since the teenager is looking for answers to the question “what kind of person am I?” and is immersed in his own world of emotional experiences, he may feel “dissimilar” to others, a certain spiritual isolation from those around him.
And this is also normal, because in order to gain an understanding of myself, I must first understand how I differ from other people, so that in the future I can again see what unites me with them.
Acceptance of oneself, one's own body. Since a teenager's self-awareness is still quite unstable, his self-esteem can also be volatile.
When communicating with other people and establishing new relationships, a person, firstly, compares himself with others, and secondly, strives to be attractive in order to have the opportunity to create new social connections.
Added to this are the rapid external changes to which the teenager needs to adapt. That is why the issue of accepting oneself, one's shortcomings and virtues, one's external attractiveness becomes so important.
The need to decide on the direction of life's path, the fear of making a mistake when choosing. At the same time, society sets its own task for the teenager - the need to decide on the direction of professional development.
Choosing a profession, preparing to enter college or university, upcoming exams, etc. are often associated with a build-up of tension, which provokes additional anxiety.
Having to make your first major life choice is stressful enough in itself.
And when it is combined with additional external stressors, it only intensifies the anxiety.