Often categorized with teenagers, youth, young people and young adults are adolescents who form a distinct

population group due to their unique biological, psychological and social characteristics. These unique features derive mainly from the implicit process that they experience: adolescence. Adolescence1 may be viewed as a transition stage in human development from childhood to adulthood. During this period, an individual goes through many changes including the formation of ones values, attitudes and behavior to adapt and adjust childhood behaviors to culturally acceptable adult forms.

Biological Perspective of Adolescence Adolescence is considered a distinct stage of human development. Hall in 1904 posited that humans develop in stages: Infancy (birth to age 4), Childhood (4-8), Youth (812), Adolescence (12 to mid 20s), and Maturity (Dusek, 1996). He saw adolescence as a period of storm and stress (S&S), i.e., turbulent and transitional, which concurs with Rousseaus views of adolescence. Many people still adhere to Halls view. First, parents find this a convenient explanation to mask their own difficulty in letting go or permitting their adolescent children to become independent. Second, the media promote this view through television programs so many are tempted to generalize to the adolescent population as a whole. Adults also write about adolescents, which may be both unfair and unrealistic. However, there is neither convincing scientific evidence to support the idea of emotional instability during adolescence nor research indicating dramatic changes in personality or social relations (Dusek, 1996). Erikson (1963 cited in Rice, 1999) shifted the emphasis of psychoanalytic theories of adolescence from the sexual nature of the stage to the psychosocial realm. He emphasized the acquisition of ego identity and sense of who and what one is and the cultural determinants of development. He viewed development within a series of psychosocial stages that are in

part biologically determined. Associated with each of Eriksons Eight Stages of Development6 is a crisis, which is simply a psychosocial task that is encountered. Each crisis involves conflict and has two possible outcomes. Erikson believed that there is a disruption of identity during adolescence resulting from both physical and social factors (such as increasing emphasis on making educational decisions and beginning to consider future occupations) that force the adolescent to consider alternatives. He noted the importance of developing a vocational identity and a personal philosophy, which shall provide the adolescent with a reference for evaluating and coping with life events; otherwise, the adolescent may not be capable of forming a coherent and acceptable identity leading to self doubt, role confusion and indulgence in self-destruction activities (e.g., juvenile delinquency or personality aberrations). Marcia (1980) refined Eriksons view of identity. He saw identity as a continually changing organization of ones attitudes, values and beliefs. For him, the process of identity formation involves facing a crisis (a period of questioning and thinking) and making a commitment (adoption) to a set of values and beliefs that guides behavior Piagets Theory of Intellectual Development is further clarified by Selmans Social Cognition Theory (1980), which states that adolescents have the ability to consider not only their own perspectives but also those of others. This is made possible through social cognition and social role taking skills. Social cognition refers to how we think about others and our relation to them, about the relation between people and society and how we infer others intentions and feelings. However, social role taking skills relate to adolescents views of the nature of friendships and their view of the social system, which include laws, morality, and importance of mutual consensus. Ruth Benedicts Theory of Adolescent Transition to Adulthood (1938) provided further specification of cultural influence on adolescent development. She argued on the importance of differences and similarities in roles children and adults are expected to play. A discontinuity in adolescent and adulthood roles produces emotional strain, which in turn produces conflict. However, cultural continuity produces a smooth and gradual growth from childhood to adulthood with relatively little conflict. Three dimensions of continuity vs. discontinuity she considered important in understanding adolescent development are: 1) responsible vs. non responsible role status, 2) dominance vs. submission, and 3) contrasted sexual roles. Since

cultures vary in the degree of continuity in child-adult roles, the nature of transition from childhood to adulthood is expected to vary as well. In the Western Culture where children must relearn new behaviors and must unlearn childhood behaviors in order to become adults, transitions to adulthood are relatively more difficult than in other cultures where there is continuity in child-adult roles. REFERENCES Ausubel, D. P. (1954). Theory and Problems of Adolescent Behavior. New York: Grune & Stratton. Blos, P. (1962). On Adolescence. New York. Free Press Blos, P. (1967). The Second Individuation Process of aAdolescence. In R. Eissler, A. Freud, H. Hartman, & M. Kris (Eds.), Psychoanalytic Study of the Child (Vol. 22) New York: International Universities Press. Blos, P. (1972). The Function of the Ego Ideal in Late Adolescence. In R. Eissler,

REFERENCES Arnett, J. (1992). Reckless behavior in adolescence: A developmental perspective. Developmental Review, 12, 339-373. Arnett, J. J. (1995). Broad and narrow socialization: The family in the context of a cultural theory. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 57, 617-628. Arnett, J. (1999). Emerging adulthood: A conception of development from the late teens through the twenties. Manuscript submitted for publication. Barber, B. R. (1995). Jihad vs. McWorld: How globalism and tribalism are reshaping the world. New York: Ballantine. Bios, P. (1962). On adolescence: A psychoanalytic interpretation. New York: Free Press. to negative affect in young adolescent girls. Child Development, 60, 40-55. Buchanan, C. M. (1998). Parents' category-based beliefs about adolescence:

G. S. Hall's (1904) view that adolescence is a period of heightened "storm and stress" is reconsidered in light of contemporary research. The author provides a brief history of the storm-and-stress view and examines 3 key aspects of this view: conflict with parents, mood disruptions, and risk behavior. In all 3 areas, evidence supports a modified storm-and-stress view that takes into account individual differences and cultural variations. Not all adolescents experience storm and stress, but storm and stress is more likely during adolescence than at other ages. Adolescent storm and stress tends to be lower in traditional cultures than in the West but may increase as globalization increases individualism. Similar issues apply to minority cultures in American society. Finally, although the general public is sometimes portrayed by scholars as having a stereotypical view of adolescent storm and stress, both scholars and the general public appear to support a modified storm-and-stress view

Anna Freud (1958, 1968, 1969) viewed adolescents who did not experience storm and stress with great suspicion, claiming that their outward calm concealed the inward reality dial they must have "built up excessive defenses against their drive activities and are now crippled by the results" (1968, p. 15). She, much more than Hal!, viewed storm and stress as universal and immutable, to the extent that its absence signified psychopathology: "To be normal during the adolescen! period is by itself abnormal" (19 Hall (1904) viewed adolescence as a time when "the wisdom and advice of parents and teachers is overtopped, and in ruder natures may be met by blank contradiction" (Vol. 2, p. 79). He viewed this as due not only to human evolutionary history but also to the incompatibility between adolescents' need for independence and the fact that "parents still think of their offspring as mere children, and tighten the rein where they should loosen it" (Vol. 2, p. 384). Contemporary studies have established that conflict with parents increases in early adolescence,

compared with preadolescence, and typically remains high for a couple of years before declining in late adolescence (Laursen, Coy, & Collins, 1998; Paikoff & Brooks-Gunn, 1991; Smetana, 1989). A recent metaanalysis by Laursen et al. (1998) concluded that within adolescence, conflict frequency is highest in early adolescence and conflict intensity is highest in midadolescence. One naturalistic study of early adolescents' conflicts with parents and siblings reported a rate o 2 conflicts every three days, or 20 per month (Montemayor & Hanson, 1985). During the same time that the number o daily conflicts between parents and their early adolescent children increases (compared with preadolescence), declines occur in the amount of time they spend together and in their reports of emotional closeness (Larson & Richards, 1994). Conflict is especially frequent and intense between mothers and early adolescent daughters (Collins, 1990). This conflict makes adolescence difficult not just for adolescents but for their parents. Parents tend to perceive adolescence as the most difficult stage of their children's development (Buchanan et al., 1990; Pasley & Gecas, 1984; Small, Cornelius, & Eastman, 1983). However, it should be added that there are substantial individual differences, and there are many parents and adolescents beMay 1999 American Psychologist 319 tween whom there is little conflict, QUESTION 2
Children have also been severely affected by the economic crises faced by the country in 1999, which has led to an increase in the number of children living in poverty or extreme poverty. Among other dangerous consequences, poverty made more children to live and/or work in the street and has increased their vulnerability to trafficking. Moreover, there is a severe lack of financial resources allocated to the protection and promotion of childrens rights. Consequently, mechanisms for protection and promotion of children remain "weak, uncoordinated and not in line with Nigeria's obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women"12. Although statistics differ somehow depending on the source - "Nigeria has one of the world's worst rates of maternal and infant mortality"13. According to the United Nations population Fund (UNFPA), "more than 72 children out of every 1000 born alive die before their first birthday,14 while the UNPD places the infant mortality rate on 110/100015. HIV/AIDS virus has reached tragic dimensions and harmful traditional practices, such as forced marriage, female genital mutilation, widowhood practices and boy preference continued to have a

negative effect on the life and welfare of the girl-child. But discrimination also affects other groups of children, such as orphans, street children, disabled children or children born out of wedlock. A large amount of children also continue to be subjected to domestic violence or corporal punishment at school or in detention facilities. In Nigeria, due to inconsistencies in legislation and the absence of any stipulation of a minimum age for marriage before the adoption of the Child Rights Act 2003, early marriages continue to take place, in many cases as a means to preserve chastity. Section 18 of the Marriage Act allows persons under the age of 21 to get married, provided that parental consent is given.37 The official report admits that the age of marriage is a highly controversial issue and varies from place to place. Whereas in the North West and North Central Nigeria, 14 years is the age of marriage. While in the North Central part the age of marriage is between the 2nd and 3rd menstruation, while