Adolescence is considered the transitional stage from childhood to adulthood typically occurring between 13 and19 years. This transitional stage is characterised by changes in brain structure and function (Fuhrmann, Knoll, & Blakemore, 2015). During adolescence, a lot of uncontrollable changes occur which can disrupt the adaptive processing of emotion regulation among adolescents. This emotional dysregulation has then been linked to increased vulnerability to mental health difficulties (McLaughlin, & Hatzenbuehler, 2009; McLaughlin et al., 2011). One in five adolescents experience mental health difficulties (Sawyer et al., 2000; Kieling et al., 2011). This increased vulnerability could be attributed to various themes such as environmental, biological, relational, and social changes that occur specifically during adolescence.
During adolescence, there are social themes such as significant changes to relationships. Research has shown that adolescents turn to their peers to fulfil attachment functions of proximity seeking more often than children (Nickerson & Nagle, 2005). This social change is exacerbated by environmental changes like moving from primary to senior school, which causes a drastic change in friendships groups. This change in relationships provide an opportunity to develop new, deeper friendships based on similar aspirations. The relationships in adolescence tend to shift from friendships largely based on shared interests, to relationships based on shared ideas and feelings with the development of mutual trust and understanding. The development of friendships during adolescence is a unique opportunity because adolescent social ties have been shown to have direct and indirect influences on brain development (Lamblin et al., 2017). However, this change in relationships may lead to increased challenges for the adolescent such as increased peer pressure and risk of bullying.
Peer pressure is the social influence from people in one’s own peer group. Adolescents are particularly sensitive to peer pressure (Steinberg & Monahan, 2007; Bursztyn & Jensen, 2015) and peer pressure has been shown to be a strong predictor of adolescent behaviour (Santor, Messervey, & Kusumaker, 2000). Peer pressure is a challenge for many because adolescence is a time for developing independence, whereas peer pressure reduces independent behaviour by pressuring conformance to the group norm. Peer pressure can lead to individuals placing important emphasis on materialism (placing a lot of importance on money and material gains) which has been shown to also increase during early adolescence as a by-product of low self-esteem (Chaplin & John, 2007). Evidence suggests that materialism is caused by a susceptibility to peer influence and used to increase self-esteem (Lachance, Beaudoin, & Robitaille, 2003; Beaudoin & Lanchance, 2006). Materialism may exacerbate challenges during adolescence because economic restrictions may mean that individuals cannot keep up financially with their peers. However, this emphasis on materialism also leads to opportunities for the adolescent to explore and portray their own sense of style and self-identity. Early adolescence is the first time that many individuals have the independence to choose what they wear. Clothing has been found to be an essential social tool in the lives of adolescence which is closely linked to their self-concept and used as a means of self-expression (Piacentini & Mailer, 2004).
Adolescents who fail to comply to peer pressure may be at risk of ostracism and bullying. Ostracism is the general process of social rejection and exclusion (Gruter & Masters, 1986). It is a complex set of behaviours that can range from ignoring someone’s presence to actively expelling them from the group (Leary, 2010; DeWall & Bushman, 2011). Bullying is an intentional behaviour that is meant to hurt and dominate another person. There are many different types of bullying including verbal, physical and cyber bullying. Adolescence has the highest incidence rates of bullying higher than any other demographic with only 19% of samples reporting not being bullied (Espelage, Bosworth & Simon, 2000). The most modern from of bullying is cyberbullying which is where the aggression occurs through modern technological devices (Slonje & Smith, 2008). The highest prevalence rates for bullying have been found for verbal bullying, followed by physical and then cyber bullying (Williams & Guerra, 2007), but all remain highly prevalent challenges for many adolescents. Bullying is a common challenge for adolescents which may exacerbate difficulties for individuals. Bullying has been associated with a higher risk of both suicidal ideation and suicidal attempts among adolescents (Hay & Meldrum, 2010; Messias, Kindrick, & Castro, 2014). Cyberbullying has been more strongly related to suicidal ideation compared to traditional bullying (Van Geel, Vedder, & Tanilon, 2014). This shows how bullying increases the chances of an individual suffering from mental health difficulties. Being bullied during adolescence can also lead long-term effects for example victims of bullying have elevated rates of psychiatric disorders including generalised anxiety disorder, panic disorder and depression (Copeland et al., 2013).
Another social change that occurs during adolescence as part of changes in relationships is the emergence of romantic relationships. Before adolescence, most children have fairly limited contact with opposite-sex peers because children play in mainly sex segregated groups. Adolescence provides the opportunity to have opposite sex relationships, on both a friendship and a romantic level. The beginning of sexual urges during adolescence due to biological changes often leads to romantic relationships and sexual experimentation. Over half of adolescents report romantic relationships by the age of 16. 30% of men and 26% of women report sexual intercourse before the age of 16 years with the median age of sexual intercourse being 17 for both genders (Wellings et al., 2001). Research has shown adolescent sexual activity to be strongly associated with descriptive norms and peer pressure (Van de Bongardt, Sandfort, & Deković, 2015). The emergence of romantic relationships provides several opportunities during adolescence such as entertainment, socialisation, companionship, understanding and status attainment. There is growing evidence that adolescent romantic relationships are significant for individual adjustment and development (Collins, 2003; Collins, Welsh, & Furman, 2009). However, adolescents who engage in early sexual activity may face challenges such as sexually transmitted diseases and teenage pregnancy. These challenges can lead to increased vulnerability to both physical and mental health difficulties.
Teenage pregnancy causes challenges during adolescence which could exacerbate difficulties such as an increased vulnerability to mental health difficulties Adolescent mothers have been shown to experience higher rates of depression relative to adult mothers (Dinwiddie, Schillerstrom & Schillerstrom, 2018). 53-61% of teenage mothers are affected by postpartum depression (Deal & Holt, 1998; McGuinness, Medrano, & Hodges, 2013). This is because adolescence becomes especially challenging when an individual has to master the changes that occur during adolescence as well as parenthood (Lowenthal & Lowenthal, 1997). A key challenge many adolescent parents face is an increased risk of becoming ostracised and socially isolated because their peers are unable to share or relate to their parenting experiences. Another challenge that faces adolescent parents is the ability to make appropriate decisions because of the lack of experience and as mentioned previously the brain is still developing during adolescence (Fuhrmann, Knoll, & Blakemore., 2015).
Puberty is the physical maturing that makes an individual capable of sexual reproduction. This biological change occurs during adolescence. Puberty causes mood swings due to the hormone fluctuations and sexual desires as well as drastic physical changes to the individuals body such as growth spurts and voice changes. An opportunity that arises from puberty is that it allows the individual to sexually reproduce, which may be desirable to the individual in later life. Puberty has also been shown to stimulate crucial brain development and neurobiological maturation (Vijayakumar et al., 2018). Nevertheless, these drastic biological changes cause distinct challenges that may exacerbate difficulties for individuals for example if an individual physically matures before their peers this may leave them vulnerable to ostracism and promote low self-esteem.
Both males and females who experience early pubertal maturation relative to their peers appear to be an increased risk of psychopathology (Ullsperger & Nikolas, 2017). The negative feelings adolescents have about their bodies contribute to a higher prevalence of depressive symptomology and a lower self-esteem (Siegel et al., 1999; Siegel, 2002), this may be because, as mentioned previously, large amounts of uncontrollable change such as the onset of puberty can lead to increased vulnerability to mental health difficulties (McLaughlin, & Hatzenbuehler, 2009). This shows how biological changes directly related to adolescence could exacerbate difficulties for teenagers and therefore increase vulnerability to mental health difficulties. The hormone fluctuations and mood swings that occur during puberty may also impact the individual’s behaviour and therefore influence the emerging friendships and romantic relationships. This means that it is not just the distinct changes that occur during adolescence that exacerbate difficulties but also the interactions between these changes.
To conclude, there are many interlinked environmental, biological, relational, and social changes that occur specifically in adolescence. These include changes in social relationships, the emergence of romantic relationships and biological changes. These transformations provide both unique opportunities and specific challenges which make adolescents vulnerable to mental health difficulties. This increased vulnerability leads to one in five adolescence experiencing mental health difficulties (Kieling et al., 2011). However, the many opportunities that arise in adolescence allow individuals to develop into independent thinking adults.