Adolescence is associated with significant changes determining the person’s overall development. During this period of life, there are physiological and psychological transformations that influence adulthood. Adolescents are inclined to extremes in behavior, the demonstration of specific conduct patterns, and variability in character changes. Brain development, self-identity, and hormonal changes are important factors for such traits. Changes in hormonal background and related brain activity are crucial to adolescents’ behavioral and physiological changes. Due to the release of significant amounts of sex and other hormones, a person acquires character traits that were not typical before (Galván, 2017). For instance, a sharp increase in testosterone in adolescents can often lead to increased levels of aggression. Such significant changes are also characteristic of other hormones. Brain development also leads to elementary changes in a person’s behavior and largely determines the personality’s further development. Overall, the changes typical of adolescence are crucial to the individual’s overall development and the characteristics of the teenager in society.
New characteristics acquired due to changes in the hormonal background and brain activity lead to a severe development of self-identity. This process can be expressed in the teenager’s desire to take leadership positions in society or to belong to a specific social group. However, low levels of certain hormones in an adolescent can lead to withdrawal and antisocial inclinations due to difficulties interacting with peers (Galván, 2017). Moreover, an essential factor is an instability of hormone secretion in adolescents, which can be expressed in the form of frequent changes in personality and attitudes. Hence, the processes causing changes in a hormonal system influence a person’s social conduct and self-identification directly. In general, a significant number of changes in the behavior and self-identity of an adolescent are primarily determined by changes in the hormonal system and brain development. Together with physiological transformations, such factors are one of the leading causes of the unstable, stressful nature of the transition to adulthood.
Reference
Galván, A. (2017). The neuroscience of adolescence. Cambridge University Press.