A Development Concept of Adolescence: The Case of Adolescents in the Philippines
Nimfa Ogena
Philippine Population Association
E-mail: ppaphils@yahoo.com
Reprinted from Philippine Population Review, 3 (1), January-December 2004

Often categorized with teenagers, youth, young people and young adults are adolescents who form a distinct population group due to their unique biological, psychological and characteristics. These unique features derive mainly from the implicit process that they experience: adolescence. This initial review looks at adolescents within a developmental frame as they transcend from childhood to adulthood. Changes that adolescents are experiencing within themselves redefine their roles as members of their family, peer group and the society as they, in turn, perceive these changes. While age tracking aids in describing general patterns of these changes, individual differences remain making each adolescent unique and deserving special attention. Hence, communicating with the youth is crucial in better understanding how parents, teachers and others stakeholders could make their experience through adolescence pleasant and less traumatic. This paper is one of the background papers for the 2003 State of the Philippine Population Report (SPPR II)-Pinoy Youth: Making Choices, Building Voices.