Name of the university: A transitional phase from childhood to adulthood

Running head: PSYCHOLOGY
PSYCHOLOGY
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note

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Introduction:
Adolescence is considered as a transitional phase from childhood to adulthood, which is
characterized by pubertal maturation and independence from the parents. Developing the
changes from dependence on parents to relative independence is not an exclusive demand for the
youth of this generation, these behavioral changes are often described as delinquents (Li et al.,
2016). The children of 12 to 19 years usually experience this transition. Drastic bio-psychosocial
development such as independence, influenced by peers, have the ability for complex thought
and pubertal maturation in the transition phase of adolescent further shaped the children of 12 as
a mature adult. While some changes are positive changes during these transitional areas,
negative changes are also observed in children. Hence, this paper is aimed to provide an in-
depth discussion and application of theories suitable for this phase for providing parents and
children knowledge of positive behavior that is required to consider while children are going
through a transition phase. This paper will consider children of 12 years who are in grade 6 of
Singapore Primary School to develop this coherent assay. This paper will also reflect on a short
description of personal experiences in the last part of the essay.
Discussion:
The years of late childhood and adolescent bring numerous changes to the social and
emotional lives of life. While the vast number of researchers showed diverse changes in the
behavior of the children of 12 who are experiencing transformation from late childhood to
adolescent, this paper will limit the discussion to crucial changes in the behaviors that are
required the attention of parents and teachers (Vijayakumar et al., 2016).

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Physical, psychosocial and Cognitive Development:
Puberty is considered as the most important indicator of the beginning of adolescence
and the end of the child. This period is a period of rapid physical maturation involving bodily
changes and hormonal cages which occurs primarily at early adolescent. Genetic factors
also altered at this age. Mukherjee, Leong & Wong, (2016), stated that at this age, body mass
index tends to increase and while high body mass index can lead to abnormal obesity, this
increase in body mass index is crucial for triggering menarche in
girls. Therefore, in teenage years, gaining of weight is the positive changes which is required
for the Menarche. Considering hormonal changes, powerful hormone secretion by the
endocrine gland is common in puberty which is facilitate the increase of height, facial hairs and
development of genitals in boys and dramatic development of breast, uterine, and skeletal
development of girls are very prominent in the children of 12 years who are leaving primary
school (Gibbons & Poelker, 2019). Rasmussen et al. (2016) conducted a study with total 898
children and 1173 parents and result highlighted that children often conduct self-assessment of
pubertal maturity at this age and often align it with their body image. Early maturation is
commonly observed in school going children as compared to the boys who experience late
maturation.
Considering Sexual development, in this transition phase, children of the late childhood
who are experiencing early adolescent’s tend to engage themselves in sexual behaviors and
gather the understanding of sexual activities. However, many researchers argued that men tend to
involve reckless behavior during this time which further impacted their lives. Blevins et al.
(2016) conducted an exploratory study with adolescents of 12 years and the result of the study
highlighted that due to hormonal changes and disruptive view of world facilitate

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reckless behavior amongst adolescents and they tend to involve themselves in reckless
sexual behavior which further leads to adolescent pregnancy. Freud’s Psychosexual Theory is
suitable for this age where the researchers suggested that human go through five stages of
psychosocial development (Silverman, 2017). Children of 12 years usually experience the phase
in-between genitals stage where few school-going children repress sexual interest and others
experience reawaking of sexual pleasure someone outside of the family and they become
sexually mature (Dobinson et al., 2017). In this phase, parents are required to focus on the
behavior of the children to facilitate positive development.
Considering cognitive development, Paget’s cognitive development theory is the most
suitable theory which suggested that children actively construct their understanding of the world
and they go through four stages for their cognitive development. At the age of 12, 6-grade
school-going children experience formal operation stage where they develop more idealistic and
abstract thoughts to understand the world (Siegler, 2016). On a contradictory note, Vygotsky’s
sociocultural cognitive theory highlighted that in cognitive development, social interactions and
culture play a crucial role and more skilled parents and peers can bring positive changes in this
transition phase (Lantolf, Thorne & Poehner, 2015). Sanders et al. (2015), conducted a literature
review where 605 adolescents were the participants. The result of the study highlighted that
positive parental practice with careful observation of the parents and peers can develop high self-
esteem and positive thinking in parents.
Children of 12 years and egocentrism: