ABSTRACT
Adolescents show a high level of general cognitive development. In Piaget's scheme of cognitive development many people enter the final, formal operations stage in late childhood. Whether or not the people accept the Piagetian account, the adolescent shows a high level of cognitive development in terms of attention, memory, flexibility of thought, and the ability to reason and experiment. Physically, adolescence is marked by the development of sexual maturity. The adolescent becomes unable to ignore other-sex peers and begins to feel sexual and romantic attraction to them. However, later in adolescence there appears to be little difference between early- and late-maturing girls. Dating in early adolescence is not considered to be primarily for the purpose of mate selection. Early-maturing girls, by contrast, do not have immediate social advantages. It has several functions; including being a recreational activity, maintaining status amongst peers, and exploring the nature of relationships.
