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ADOLESCENCE (Lat. adolescentia, from ...

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 211 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ADOLESCENCE (See also:Lat. adolescentia, from adolescere, to grow up, past See also:part. adultus, grown up, Eng. " adult ") , the See also:term now commonly adopted for the See also:period between childhood and maturity, during which the characteristics—mental, See also:physical and moral—that are to make or See also:mar the individual disclose them-selves, and then mature, in some cases by leaps and See also:bounds, in others by more See also:gradual See also:evolution. The See also:annual See also:rate of growth, in height, See also:weight and strength, increases to a marked extent and may even be doubled. The development in the See also:man takes See also:place in the direction of a greater strength, in the woman towards a fitter See also:form for maternity. The See also:sex sense develops, the love of nature and See also:religion, and an overmastering curiosity both individual and See also:general. This period of See also:life, so fraught with its See also:power for See also:good and See also:ill, is accordingly the most important and by far the most difficult for parents and educationists to See also:deal with efficiently. The See also:chief points for See also:attention may be briefly indicated. See also:Health depends mainly on two factors, See also:heredity, or the sum See also:total of physical and See also:mental leanings of the individual, and environment. In an ideal 'See also:system of training these two factors will be so fitted in and adapted to one another, that what is weak or unprovided for in the first will be amply compensated for in the second. In an ideal See also:condition See also:children should be brought up in the See also:country as much as possible rather than in the See also:town. Though adults may live where they like within very wide limits and take no harm, children, even of healthy stock, living in towns, are continually subject to many See also:minor ills, such as chronic See also:catarrh, tonsilitis,See also:bronchitis,and even the far graver See also:pneumonia. Removed to healthier conditions in the country their ailments tend to disappear, and normal physical development supervenes.

The See also:

residence should be on a well-drained See also:soil, preferably near the See also:sea in the See also:case of a delicate See also:child, on higher ground for those of more robust constitution. The child should be lightly clad in woollen garments all the See also:year See also:round, their thickness being slightly greater in See also:winter than in summer. An abundance of See also:simple well-cooked See also:food in sufficient variety, ample See also:time at table, where an See also:atmosphere of See also:light gaiety should be cultivated, and a period See also:free from See also:restraint both before and after meals, should be considered fundamental essentials. As regards the most suitable kinds of food—milk and See also:fruit should be given in abundance, fresh See also:meat once a See also:day, and See also:fish or eggs once a day. See also:Bread had better be three days old, and baked in the form of small rolls to increase the ratio of crust to crumb. Both See also:butter and See also:sugar are good foods, and should be freely allowed in many forms. The exercise of the See also:body must be duly attended to. Nowadays this is provided for in the shape of See also:games, some being optional, others prescribed, and such See also:sports as boating, See also:swimming, See also:fencing,-,&c. But severe exercise should only be allowed under adequate medical See also:control, and should be increased very gradually. In the case of girls, let them run, leap and climb with their See also:brothers for the first twelve years or so of life. But as See also:puberty approaches, with all the See also:change, stress and See also:strain dependent thereon, their lives should be appropriately modified. See also:Rest should be enforced during the menstrual periods of these earlier years, and milder, more graduated exercise taken at other times.

In the same way all mental strain should be diminished. Instead of pressure being put on a girl's intellectual See also:

education at about this time, as is too often the case, the time devoted to school and books should be diminished. Education should be on broader, more fundamental lines, and much time should be passed in the open See also:air. With regard to the mental training of both sexes two points must be See also:borne in mind. First, that an ample number of See also:hours should be set on one See also:side for See also:sleep, up to ten years of See also:age not less than eleven, and up to twenty years not less than nine. Secondly, that the time devoted to " See also:book-See also:work " should be broken up into a number of See also:short periods, very carefully graduated to the individual child. In every case where there is a See also:family tendency towards any certain disease or weakness, that tendency must determine the whole circumstances of the child's life. That diathesis which is most serious and usually least regarded, the See also:nervous excitable one, is by far the most important and the most difficult to deal with. Every effort should be made to avoid the conditions in which the hereditary predisposition would be aroused into mischievous See also:action, and to encourage development on simple unexciting lines. The child should be confined to the school-See also:room but little and receive most of his training in See also:wood and See also:field. Other diatheses—the tuberculous, rheumatic, &c.—must be dealt with in appropriate ways. The adolescent is prone to See also:special weaknesses and moral per-versions.

The emotions are extremely unstable, and any stress put on them may See also:

lead to undesirable results. Warm climates, tight-fitting clothes, corsets, See also:rich foods, soft mattresses, or indulgences of any See also:kind, and also mental over-stimulation, are especially to be guarded against. The day should be filled with interests of an objective—in contradistinction to subjective—kind, and the child should retire to See also:bed at See also:night healthily fatigued in mind and body. Let there be confidence between See also:mother and daughter, See also:father and son, and, as the years bring the bodily changes, those in whom the children See also:trust can choose the fitting moments for explaining their meaning and effect, and warning against abuses of the natural functions. For bibliography see CHILD.

End of Article: ADOLESCENCE (Lat. adolescentia, from adolescere, to grow up, past part. adultus, grown up, Eng. " adult ")

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