Adolescence has
been viewed in some societies as a very difficult period of life. To many
teenagers adolescence is almost like entering a foreign county without knowing
the language, the customs or the culture, only it is worse because the teenager
doesn’t even have a guide book (Spriathall and Spinthall, 1977). Being a period
of transition, the individual experiences various developmental changes which
sometimes are traumatic for him or her.
Hall
(1904) referred to it as a period of storm and stress, while Erikson (1964) saw
adolescence as a period of great turbulence when physical, emotional and mental
maturity occur at a
tremendous rate such that even the adolescent is often
unsure of what is happening to him.
Erikson
(1959) and Spirthall and Sprinhall
(1977) also perceived the period as one of “stress and storm”. This view holds
that teenagers status is ambiguous, vague and confused. Adolescent period is
viewed generally as a period of heightened emotionality, for developmental
reasons, they also feel that adolescence may be a time of peculiar
vulnerability to conflict and maladjustment.
There
are indications that Nigerian adolescents are in state of crisis. The
disturbing parameters include the rising level of violent deaths resulting from
armed robbery incidents and alarming rate of alcohol and drug abuse, low
literacy and mathematical competence as seen in their performance in the
internationally moderated West African school certificate examinations, the
prevalence of various forms of examination malpractices, increase in school
drop-out rates, high incidence of teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted
diseases, including AIDs.
For
this sad situation blames and exchanged among the main agents of socialization
of the child- the parents, the school and the society.
But
there seems to be a controversy on the characterization of adolescent
development as a period of storm and stress, even though there is a general
agreement that the period presents special developmental problems that the
adolescent must resolve.
For
instance, Uka (1973) contends that the adolescent period may or may not be a
critical period depending on the culture where youngsters find themselves.
Whereas Siaan & Ugwuegbu (1988) perceived it as a period in life when the
brightest and the best of every individuals abilities and talents become
manifest and could be discovered and almost gainfully utilized for achievement
of life goals.