Adolescence

Adolescence is the period of life between childhood and adulthood in which life-affecting changes occur. Many academics have called adolescence an invention of modern society. They claim that people in more primitive and earlier times, even as late as the nineteenth century, did not view people between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five as being in a special time of growth and development. Certainly this time period was not filled with the stresses and struggles that we often associate with contemporary adolescence. While there is some truth to their assertion, one can find many historical references to the fact that the period we call adolescence is significantly different from childhood and adulthood. Some references go back as far as Socrates, who decried the behaviors of youths in his day. It would be worthwhile for us to acknowledge these changes and work with them to facilitate the growth and development of youths from childhood to adulthood.

A Time of Inner and Outer Change

Adolescence is a special time of development in all areas of a young person’s life. Development occurs as youth grow from less to more mature in all areas of their lives within their own social and cultural environment. Because of their development in several domains, adolescents sense new powers, abilities, interests and processes at work in them. Exploring these new avenues leads to new creations both internally within the adolescent and also externally between the adolescence and his or her world.

Internally, adolescents restructure and develop values, and ultimately a new understanding of the self, of “who I am.” This occurs in the six domains of human development: physical—growing from a child’s body to an adult body; cognitive—developing the ability to think abstractly (perform formal operations); social—learning to recognize and accept adult social and sex roles; affective—gaining control of one’s emotions; moral—moving from making egocentric moral judgments and actions to those that are other-centered, then principle-driven and ultimately agape-based; spiritual—forming a personally owned, examined and internalized faith.

Externally, adolescents make many changes in their relationships with others. These changes take the forms of new processes by which adolescents relate to their entire world, new modes of behavior, new relationships and experiences, and new feelings and meanings about others and the external world.

These internal and external processes and relationships produce intrapersonal disruptions, changes, stresses and at times turmoil, as well as interpersonal conflicts between self and parents, relatives, friends, siblings, teachers and many other authority figures.

In short, adolescent development is the process within the total personhood from approximately age twelve through twenty-five by which various structural and development changes occur at identifiable stages along the way.

Adolescent development is manifested in various forms of behavior, some of which are socially acceptable. Other forms are questionable, and some are socially and personally destructive.

Culture and Adolescence

The world of adolescence in both Western and non-Western societies is composed of major dimensions or factors that are characteristics of any subculture. The astute youth worker or parent will want to keep in mind that youth subcultures go through dynamic changes. What might be in vogue today may be out tomorrow; something new will become all the rage for anywhere from a few weeks to a few years or even longer. Only one thing is certain. Youth culture does not remain static; it is in a constant state of flux.

How can one address the needs of youth when the subculture is constantly changing? By becoming a social anthropologist, that is, one who studies youth culture and seeks to understand what is going on. All cultures have certain common factors, but particular subcultures exhibit them in unique ways.

Consider these major dimensions (for 1-8 see Sebold):

Values and norms. These are the basis for decision-making and behavior. They are usually unique to youth and are often not understood by adults.

In-group language, their argot. Youths have their own words and language to communicate with each other that are unique to their own culture and time. This language is not shared by children or adults. In this way adolescents keep their secrets and keep out nonadolescents from their world.

Distinct channels of mass communication. MTV is their station. Rock music radio stations are also theirs. They have their own magazines, Internet pages and forums. This is how they communicate with each other and how the subculture of adolescents is made more homogenous worldwide.

Unique styles and fads. Adolescents have distinct hair and clothing styles, mannerisms and so on. These styles are usually fads that change often within a year or two.

Sense of solidarity. Adolescents feel like they are in their own clan, and they are correct to a large degree. They are segregated into schools, offered low-paying after-school jobs and generally kept separate from the adult world. They hang out together because they are pushed by social institutions.

Status criteria. They have developed a way of measuring successful achievement, ownership and use of their subcultures’ status symbols—language, fads, values, channels of communication and identification with their subculture. People who do not measure up are often shunned or treated badly because they do not confirm to the criteria.

Influence and power of leaders. Adolescents are influenced by heroes and charismatic leaders, especially those that are disdained by adult cultures.

Subcultural institutions. Specialized institutions meet the needs that the main culture cannot, or does not, desire to meet; the entertainment/recreational industry caters to teens by offering youth-oriented magazines and electronic malls.

Geography. This is where adolescents reside and, almost equally important, where they go to learn, hang out, work, have fun, recreate, be entertained and play. They have their own locations, be it a street corner, someone’s house or a mall. It is their own bit of turf. Almost all American high schools have particular sections on their campuses where various subgroups assemble.

Use of technology. Mechanical and electronic technology allows adolescents to escape (or leave) their immediate surroundings and go somewhere else literally or figuratively. Teens escape by means of cars, bikes, skateboards, body/surfboards, radio and TV stations (MTV), youth-oriented movies, video games, amusement parks and concerts. Of great and increasing importance to adolescents are the Internet and other electronic means of communicating with those of like mind.

In many ways adolescents today are in their own world. They are a subculture to themselves. This world is only more complicated by the fact of the irregular but sure development from immature to more mature persons. What youth need today, as in any other day, is loving acceptance of them as real human beings, not some sort of otherworldly creatures that have to be tolerated until they “grow up.” Adolescents are people now. They are people whom God loves, for whom Christ died and in whom the Holy Spirit may dwell. Christian teens are spiritually gifted people called into ministry just as are adults.

Jesus as an Adolescent

Jesus was a teenager! For many, this might be a revelation. Luke 1 and Luke 2 tell of his conception, birth and growth as a normal human being. This does not denigrate Jesus’ divinity; he was entirely God. Luke is careful, however, to tell us that Jesus was also very much a total human being. Hebrews 2:17-18; Hebrews 4:15 also state explicitly that Jesus was just like any other human being. In fact, the writer of Hebrews makes it very clear that Jesus had to be human. If he were not, then he could not identify with us, and his reconciling act of redemption would not be complete.

What is most amazing is that Jesus’ adolescent behaviors in Luke 2:51-52 are similar to those that many teenagers evidence today—and with the same reactions from their parents as Jesus had from his! So the temple narrative provides parents with a great deal of encouragement that their own adolescents, whether they are twelve or twenty-two, are quite normal. Adolescents themselves can find comfort in this story if they recognize that the problems Jesus encountered are similar to their own, and that he can be a model for how to handle similar ones today.

The age of twelve was critical for a Jewish male. This age was the transition from childhood to adulthood, much like modern adolescence is for today’s youth. In Jesus’ day life was less complex, temptations were less prevalent, and society was of one mind in how to raise up children into adulthood, so adolescence may have been less turbulent than now. Yet it was at the age of twelve that Jesus went to the temple, full of the excitement that anyone his age would have contemplating the holy city and the temple rituals associated with the Passover feast.

The narrative of Jesus in the temple illustrates all six of the previously stated major developmental domains or areas.

Physical development. Jesus was evidently a physically mature person, enough for him to take care of himself alone in the capital city of Jerusalem for at least three and perhaps up to five days. Perhaps he even looked older than the normal twelve-year-old.

Luke states: “Jesus grew in wisdom and stature” (Luke 2:52; see also Luke 2:40). Jesus grew up physically just like any other human, and just like young people today. This verse along with Hebrews 2 and Hebrews 4 suggests that Jesus’ physical body went through the same growth and development as any other adolescent. If this is so, then we can assume that he developed structurally and muscularly like any other teenager. His body proportions changed from a boy to a man. He began to grow body hair and develop sexually just like any normal youth. His voice changed from a child’s to that of an adult. He developed hand-eye coordination so that he could pound a nail in the carpenter shop in Nazareth without destroying either the wood or his fingers. He could run and play and had lots of energy. He probably ate as much as possible so that his parents wondered if he had a bottomless pit for a stomach.

Cognitive development. According to Jewish custom, Jesus would at this age begin to study the Law (Talmud) and to take on the responsibilities associated with the Law. His parents evidently felt he could be trusted to make informed judgments about what to do. They had to have allowed him much unsupervised time in Jerusalem, otherwise how could he have been left behind? Jesus evidenced independence from his parents, seeking out his own interests and concerns. He knew enough about himself and what he was about to begin to enter into dialogue with the teachers in the temple.

Mary and Joseph did not seem to understand Jesus. First they thought he was with the pilgrims on the return trip; then they looked for him all through the city. Seemingly in exasperation and not without some sense of hopelessness, they finally went to the temple, not really expecting to find him there. We can almost hear one of Jesus’ earthly parents saying to the other, “Well, we’ve searched everywhere and can’t find him. Let’s start where we last saw him and go from there.” And surprise of all surprises, there he was!

Why did Jesus go back to the temple? He was like any other cognitively growing adolescent. He had questions about life, about his experiences in the temple, about what he saw and heard as he went through the feast of the Passover. One wonders what he might have been thinking if he recalled the words of Isaiah 53 and of the suffering servant of other parts of Isaiah. His parents found him among the teachers in the temple, listening to them and asking them questions. He was using his mind to inquire and learn. One can only speculate as to his questions. It would seem natural that he had questions about the Feast of the Passover which they had all just experienced. Whatever he asked and said, he amazed those around him with his understanding, insights and replies. The teachers and other adults present treated him as a person on a par with themselves. They did not dismiss him as some little child. They allowed him to interact with them. Adults are amazed when a younger person today, like Jesus, listens carefully, asks thoughtful questions and offers responsible answers. So Jesus surprised those teachers in the temple.

In typical adolescent fashion, he was developing a sense of self-identity and mission that would eventually lead him to Calvary. But in the temple, he knew that he was not just the son of Mary and Joseph. He, like adolescents today, had begun to distinguish self from others, to know what he was not and what he wanted to become, and to articulate that self-identity even though in only partial ways. His reply to Mary is instructive about his self-identity. He distinguished between Joseph and his heavenly Father and the need to be in his Father’s house, and by implication, to be about his Father’s instead of his father’s business.

In one sense, Jesus demonstrated what many adolescents want to demonstrate, namely, that they are growing up; they do not want to be considered children any longer; they are searching for new and exciting experiences to test their own sense of identity and development. Jesus’ young life was awakening to his mission and to the very essence of his being.

Social development. Jesus’ parents evidently thought he was a “social” person, that he was somewhere with the crowd of friends and family on the return trip to Nazareth. They must have considered other occasions when Jesus would be gone for a long part of the day and had no great concern for his safety. They probably thought, He’s probably with his friends. Jesus, however, wasn’t with his usual associates; he was holding his own with teachers and priests. Evidently, he could talk and interact socially with many people in such a way that they did not think to consider his young age and his apparent lack of supervision.

Today’s youth are similar to Jesus. They are increasingly socially adept in various situations. With the advent of the first totally TV generation already in history, and now a second and even third TV generation, adolescents around the world are ever more sophisticated in situations that would have totally discomforted their grandparents of the 1950s. Today’s adolescents surprise many adults when given a chance to ask questions and state their thoughts or insights. The problem many adolescents face is not that they lack social skills but that adults will not carry on a serious conversation with them. Often most of the communication from adults to youth is in the form of commands or prohibitions. The “Just Say No” campaign is a good example of well-meaning adults’ failure to recognize the social and cognitive development of today’s youth and the temptations surrounding them. Merely telling youth not to do something without giving them a chance to talk, share, inquire and question is a recipe for failure.

Affective development. Both Jesus’ parents and Jesus himself showed affective, emotional development in the incident in Luke 2 (see Emotions). His parents showed their astonishment and exasperation, if not even panic. Upon finding him in the temple, seemingly calmly interacting with the teachers, his mother let out a typical “Jewish mother” shout. She exclaimed, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” She was emotionally upset. It is no wonder: Jesus had been missing for three or more days, depending on how one counts the days in the text. There had been no hint of where he could be. They were upset, and rightly so. They did not understand why he had done what he had done.

This is a common plight of just about every parent in the world when it comes to their adolescent sons and daughters. Parents continually ask the emotionally laden question “What have you done and why did you do it?” The often-asked question of parents is “What has become of our little boy/girl? You used to be so good. Now look at you. We don’t understand what is happening to you.”

Jesus, on the other hand, showed typical adolescent lack of thought about what consequences his actions might have for other people’s feelings. He was looking for new experiences; he was caught up in the emotion of the event, finding great personal satisfaction by being in his Father’s house. There is no suggestion that “the devil made him do it” or that he was driven to stay in the city by the Holy Spirit. It was his free choice, flowing from his decision to encounter more of the great delight that he found at the temple. Undoubtedly he was excited by the big city of Jerusalem compared to the small town of Nazareth. The activities of the Feast of the Passover with its sacrifice and meals stirred his heart, mind, and soul to reflect on the lamb that was slain. His response would be similar today to an adolescent who attended the Super Bowl and then sneaked his way on the team airplane.

Moral development. Moral development focuses on the way one decides what actions to take and which actions are considered good or bad. Children usually make moral judgments based on what is best for themselves. If they are punished, they know something is bad. If they like what they are doing and there is no punishment associated with it, then it must be good. In the temple story we see Jesus making a moral judgment that it was fine for him not to tell his parents where he was, to remain in Jerusalem without permission, and not to be accountable to any earthly person except himself. He was focused on his own needs, identity, and desire to interact in the temple. He did not think about his parents and their needs. This should sound familiar to parents worldwide. Jesus evidenced typical moral judgments of a twelve-year-old. He may have been physically mature, precocious in intellectual or cognitive development, and well adept at social relationships, but he was typical of early adolescence when it came to moral development.

When Mary rebuked him by her comment, Jesus responded with mild rebuke to her in the form of a question: “Why were you searching for me? . . . Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” Regardless of Jesus’ sinlessness, he responded typically of someone at his stage of moral development. Unfortunately, that response is often taken by authoritarian parents as being disrespectful, insolent and therefore offensive.

If we understand Jesus’ developmental stage, we would not see it this way. Jesus’ response to his mother’s question should be taken as it is meant to be understood: a statement of a well-meaning young person who cannot understand why his parents were all upset by what appeared to him as innocent behavior. They should have know where to look for him. Why? Because Jesus knew what he was doing and where he was. He assumed, like most adolescents, that his parents would somehow know what he was thinking if he was thinking it. It takes a higher level of moral development for a young adolescent to be able to switch places with others to learn how they might understand a particular moral situation. Jesus was not mature enough at this point to do so and therefore responded in a typical way to his mother’s excited question and statements.

Jesus demonstrated the way many adolescents make their moral choices. They view things only from their limited moral viewpoint: it takes time for normal adolescents to move from their immature egocentrism to a more mature stage.

Jesus, however, willingly submitted to his parent’s authority. Though he had just alluded that Joseph was not his father, yet he went with his parents to Nazareth and was obedient to them. He recognized that they had authority over him and that his role was to obey that rightful authority. Jesus’ sinlessness comes to the fore at this point. Although all adolescents are tempted and often succumb to defying their parents’ authority, Jesus, being tempted to do the same at the temple, did not. This is where Jesus’ actions differ from those of adolescents: he did not consider his parents’ lack of understanding of him, his actions and motives as sufficient grounds to disobey them. Parents would very much like to see Jesus’ behavior copied by their own adolescent children.

Spiritual development. Jesus’ faith development was evidenced in several ways in the narrative. He was in the temple with the teachers, obviously interested in the faith of his parents and nation. His cognitive and social development helped him to be comfortable asking questions, listening and processing the teachers’ comments. He also was seemingly quite at home in his “Father’s house.” It seems by implication that he had spent a good amount of the days separated from his parents in the temple. His developing sense of who he was and what he was to do was growing on him. One can imagine the intense look on his face and the thoroughness of his questions as he sought to understand what was being taught.

Like all adolescents, Jesus had a genuine interest in religious things, more so since he grew up in a society that enculturated the Jewish faith from infancy through adulthood. To be Jewish meant believing in the one true God of Abraham and the law of Moses. Today the vast majority of adolescents have a sense of religion and a high interest in spiritual matters. Few are truly atheists, especially younger adolescents. Not until young people arrive in university or college classes do they begin to “lose their faith,” or at least begin to have serious doubts about what they have been taught.

Because Jesus was human, likely he had doubts about many things as he grew up. His faith development, however, continued and did not waver. Luke states, “And Jesus grew . . . in favor with God and men.” His strong identification of himself with his Father’s house indicated that his faith development was more mature than that of most adolescents his age. Yet while he was precocious in faith development, he was not totally off the normal faith development scale. He had questions to ask about his faith. Many youth have a strong identity with God and do not waver into unbelief even though they may have doubts from time to time. Many youth have a strong spiritual sense that continues to cause them to seek God and to keep on growing. It is not until the “cares of this life” in adulthood come upon them that they begin to lose some if not much of their enthusiasm for spiritual things. More than one adult has commented on the spiritual enthusiasm of youth by saying, “Just wait until they get to be adults and they see how difficult it is to be a Christian in the world. They’ll not be so excited about Christ then.” If we assume that spiritual and faith development get thwarted by the cares of this world, perhaps these adults are correct. The message of Jesus’ own life and the teachings of the Epistles suggests that while lack of continual spiritual development may not be too unusual, it is by no means the biblical norm. Jesus showed us that a young adolescent could be actively engaged in his own faith development and that such action is normal and welcomed.

Adolescence is a normal part of human development, as Jesus’ example shows. Adults need to recognize the signs of normalcy in the lives of all the adolescents with whom they have contact. Adults should help adolescents along their developmental paths so they may continue as smoothly as possible in their growth and development into more and more mature adolescents and then adults.

» See also: Faith Development

» See also: Family

» See also: Life Stages

» See also: Parenting

» See also: Spiritual Growth

References and Resources

D. P. Ausbel et al., Theory and Problems of Adolescent Development (New York: Green and Stratton, 1977); M. Brake, The Sociology of Youth Culture and Youth Subcultures: Sex, Drugs and Rock ’n’ Roll (Boston: Kegan Paul, 1980); J. M. Dettoni, Introduction to Youth Ministry (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993); D. Elkind, All Grown Up and No Place to Go: Teenagers in Crisis (Reading, Mass.: Addison-Welsey, 1984); T. Lickona, Raising Good Children: Helping Your Child Through the Stages of Moral Development (New York: Bantam, 1983); D. Offer, E. Ostrove et al., The Teenage World (New York: Plenum, 1988); S. Parks, The Critical Years (New York: Harper & Row, 1986); L. Parrott, Helping the Struggling Adolescent (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993); Q. Schultz, R. M. Anker et al., Dancing in the Dark: Youth Popular Culture and the Electronic Media (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991); H. Sebold, Adolescence: A Social Psychological Analysis (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1984).

—John M. Dettoni

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