ABSTRACT
Adolescence is a time of physical, cognitive, and emotional changes. The onset of adolescence by and large coincides with puberty. Puberty designates the marked physical maturation that occurs in almost every system of the body. The child’s chronological age is too non-specific a guide to his or her maturational level. P. H. Mussen and M. D. Jones found that late-maturing boys were more likely than normally maturing boys to have feelings of personal inadequacy, feelings of rejection and domination by others, and prolonged dependency needs toward their parents. The young adolescent is still very much a child at this stage, who depends on family, is concerned about body changes, and is prone to anxiety. Adolescent girls who mature early are at greater risk of depressive and anxiety symptoms than are girls who mature at the “normal” time, and get into more behavioral problems. To create an integrative understanding of neurological development and psychoanalytic concepts is undoubtedly a challenging task.
