Louie Patrick S.

Roluna Educational Psychology

Kemuel H. Dizon Prof. Isabelita Celestino

Profile: Grade 10 Students

Human development is a lifelong process of physical, behavioral, cognitive, and emotional

growth and change. In the early stages of life— from babyhood to childhood, childhood to
adolescence, and adolescence to adulthood—enormous changes take place. Throughout the
process, each person develops attitudes and values that guide choices, relationships, and
understanding. Sexuality is also a lifelong process. Infants, children, teens, and adults are sexual
beings. Just as it is important to enhance a child’s physical, emotional, and cognitive growth, so it
is important to lay foundations for a child’s sexual growth. Each stage of development
encompasses specific markers. The following developmental guidelines apply to most children in
grade 10. However, each child is an individual and may reach these stages of development earlier
or later than other children the same age.

Physical: The differences between genders are never as apparent as it often is around age
16. Girls are starting to slow down in physical development, while boys are sometimes just getting
started. Expect physical changes to continue on boys, such as rapid growth in height. With that,
you might see your teen—of either gender—to be both sleeping more and eating more to keep up
with growth. Need for sleep increases and the times change, given a teenager’s biological wiring
for staying up and waking up later. They are starting to complete puberty and the physical
transition from childhood to adulthood.

Cognitive: No longer is your child simply thinking about his/her own life. In the mid-teen
years, teens start to consider how the entire world works and how their life fits into it. They are
mastering abstract thinking—that is, considering what is and what could be—as well as improving
their reasoning skills. Grade 10 students are, for the most part, able to communicate like adults. In
school, they can understand both concrete and abstract thoughts, fully understand punctuation and
grammatical rules and write and read complex sentence structures. Teenagers are often
overscheduled, which isn’t necessarily good for their development. They need free time to pursue
interests, whether it’s arts, sports, or otherwise, as well as time to rest and relax without
expectations. During this time, they might prefer to unwind by watching TV, reading books, or
playing video games. Aside from that, changes in language and behaviors between school, home,
and other settings might occur.

Socioemotional: A grade 10 student knows that adulthood isn’t far away, and they will
begin making decisions with that in mind—but it might not always feel like the right decisions to
their parents. It is important to pay attention to changes in behavior, particularly if students
seem sad or depressed, and reach out for professional help if necessary. At this point, they might
show concern about physical development and looks, show more independence but also engages
in less conflict with parents, goes through periods of inquiries and thinking what might happen
next.

Moral: Grade 10 students are entrenched in a social world that includes friendships and
romantic relationships. They spend less time with their families and more time with their friends
or dating interest, or they might prefer to spend more time alone than they used to. Teenagers often
have strong sexual desires and may become sexually active. At the same time, they might begin to
understand more about sexual orientation and become aware of their preferences. They also enter
into deeper platonic or romantic relationship in search for intimacy while showing signs of
confidence and try to enhance resistance to peer pressure. However, when it comes to maturity
about the issue of love, intimacy, and pregnancy, Laurence Steinberg, PhD, a professor of
developmental psychology at Temple University stated that "adolescents likely possess the
necessary intellectual skills to make informed choices about issues such as terminating a pregnancy
but may lack the social and emotional maturity to control impulses, resist peer pressure and fully
appreciate the riskiness of dangerous decisions."

References
Barbara Huberman, R. M. (2016). Retrieved from advocatesforyouth.org:
https://advocatesforyouth.org/resources/health-information/parents-16/

Morin, A. (2018, October 19). Retrieved from verywellfamily.com: https://www.verywellfamily.com/16-

year-old-developmental-milestones-4171922

Steinberg, L. (2009, October 7). While Adolescents May Reason As Well As Adults, Their Emotional
Maturity Lags, Says New Research. Retrieved from apa.org:
https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2009/10/teen-maturity