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THE ADOLESCENT

His Development and His Major Problems

Henry C. Schumacher, M.D., B.Sc.

Fourth Edition 1 9,500

December 12, 1947

Printed in U.S.A.

The Catholic Conference on Family Life

1S12 Massachusetts Ave., N. W.

Washington, D. C.



imprimatur:

Hh JOHN FRANCIS NOLL, D. D.
Bishop of Fort Wayne

Nihil Obstat:

REV. T. E. DILLON
Censor Librorum

Published by

OUR SUNDAY VISITOR PRESS
Huntington, Indiana



This is one of a series of brochures published by the

Catholic Conference on Family Life with the coopera-

tion of Our Sunday Visitor Press. The series aims at

providing a popular Catholic literature in the field of

marriage and the family. The individual booklets deal

with topics selected from the wide reaches of parent edu-

cation, the sociology of the family, and home economics.

While the best findings of the natural sciences are made

use of, every reasonable effort is made to keep the re-

ligious element uppermost in the series. The booklets

should appeal not only to individual readers but also to

study clubs, discussion groups and school classes.

The author of this number of the series is Dr. Henry

C. Schumacher, Director of the Child Guidance Clinic of

Cleveland and President of the Catholic Conference on

Family Life.



Introduction

It is really surprising, in view of the great impor-

tance both to the individual and to society, of the adoles-

cent period of life, that a suitable popular literature

dealing with it has not yet been developed. It is hoped

that this brochure will make some helpful contribution

toward supplying this literature. It aims to cover at

least in fairly detailed fashion the main characteristics

and major problems of the period.

OeaMeci



THE ADOLESCENT

Table of Contents

Chapter Page

I Adolescent Physical Maturation and Its Ef-

fects 7

II Social Developments of Normal Adolescence 14

III The Emotions in the Life of Normal

Adolescents 21

IV Moral and Religious Growth of the Normal

Adolescent 28

V Mental and Intellectual Developments of

Adolescents 34

VI Interests of Normal Adolescence 41

VII Factors in Juvenile Delinquency 47

VIII Personality Disturbances of Adolescents 56

IX Educational and Vocational Guidance of

the Adolescent 62

X The Adolescent and His Family 70

XI The Adolescent and Society 76

XII The Hygiene of Adolescence 83





Chapter I

Adolescent Physical Maturation And Its Effects

The period in growth and development termed ado-

lescence has no sharp beginning nor sharp ending.

Roughly, it corresponds to the junior-senior high school

period. And just as some children enter junior high

school earlier than the average age and others finish high

school several years retarded, so also the period of

growth and development which we propose to consider in

this series of chapters varies in age time with different

individuals. Puberty, or the period in life at which a

person of either sex becomes functionally capable of gen-

eration, is usually thought of as initiating the onset of

adolescence. However, important changes are going on

in anticipation of puberty. In this chapter we shall con-

fine ourselves almost entirely to a discussion of the

physical maturation and development at this age period

and their effect on the personality.

Normally, growth is rapid in the early years of ado-

lescence and this rate of growth varies in the sexes. Girls

are taller than boys for a few years, roughly from the

12th to 15th year, and weigh more. However, the boys

tend to overtake them and after the 15th year continue

their growth in height and weight for several years

while the curve of increase in the girl definitely flattens

out. This difference in growth in the two sexes holds

good for the various body organs and shows itself also in

the earlier onset of puberty in girls than in boys. These

facts are of considerable importance in the training and

education of the sexes as we shall bring out in a later

section of this brochure.

Growth rates are not the same for all organs of the

body. For example, the heart grows faster than its ar-

teries. As a result the blood pressure is usually higher

in early adolescence than either before or after this



8 THE ADOLESCENT

period in the normal individual. It is because of this

disparity in growth of the circulatory system that one

hears so frequently from adolescents the complaints of

palpitation, faintness, dizziness, headaches and restless-

ness. To be sure, one ought always to have a careful

physical examination of the complaining youth in order

to rule out true organic disease of the heart. Should no

disease process be found it is well not to baby such chil-

dren into thinking there is something seriously wrong

with them. A word of caution, however, is in order. Our
present system of competitive athletics is not without

danger. High school boys and girls ought not to be en-

couraged to overstrain their hearts as can so readily hap-

pen in athletics. But danger also lies in such follies as

marathon dancing, roller skating, walkathon and bi-

cycle races, which seemingly are the vogue at present, as

well as in continuous late hours, much smoking and over-

work, both physical and mental, such as attempting to

carry two jobs, the school work and after school hours

physical work. Here particularly the girl in her teens

should be protected for she, more than her brother, may

find herself exploited in so-called school wage homes.

Many an adolescent has been greatly concerned over

the rapid growth of his nose. Not all parts of the face

grow at the same rate. However, in due time, the sym-

metry of the face will be reestablished. A similar dis-
proportional growth of muscles and bones is character-

istic of early adolescence. To this has been ascribed some

of the awkwardness of body carriage and his own feeling

of physical inadequacy.

The rather marked changes in appetite at the ado-

lescent period may be, at least in part, accounted for by

the increase in total body development including the size

of the stomach. There is need, therefore, for more food

to furnish the energy requirements of the growing or-

ganism and adolescents need as much food as the work-

ingman; and this holds true for girls in their early

years of adolescence as well as for boys. Probably one



ADOLESCENT PHYSICAL MATURATION 9

reason for the failure to achieve as consistent a decrease

in the tuberculosis rates in adolescent girls as has been

achieved in adolescent boys is due to the greater number

of food fads to which girls are so much given. The cap-

ricious appetite at this period accounts for much of the

gastric distress so frequently complained of; for what

can one say of a lunch of hot dogs, hambergers, or chile

con came; washed down with milk shakes, malted milk

or ice cream sodas and for desserts, pies and cakes to-

gether with candy bars?

There is therefore an obligation resting on parents

and teachers to instruct the growing youngster in a bal-

anced dietary free from fads. Certainly every school

cafeteria owes it to its diners to see to it that a well bal-

anced lunch is ordered and eaten and parents should pro-

vide those who must bring their lunch with a soundly

balanced dietary in place of the inevitable sandwiches

and sweets and the few pennies customarily spent for

more sweets.

Of more than passing moment is the increase in

sweat glandular activity that takes place at adolescence.

The nerve supply to these sweat glands is through the

autonomic or, as it is sometimes called, the sympathetic

nervous system. That is to say, the control of these

glands is not voluntary but involuntary and so any emo-

tional disturbance may cause an increased perspiration

which in turn adds much to the discomfiture of the up-

set individual.

It is indeed distressing to the fastidious adolescent

to find his clothes sticking to his body, and his damp

hands soiling the dress of his partner at the high school

prom, and worse yet, deodorants, generally speaking,

more harmful than not, offering little relief. However,

he can find some little hope in the assurance that in a

few years that distressing condition will also be a thing

of the past. In the meantime, frequent bathing with the

aid of any good soap and frequent changes of linen is all

that is necessary and worth while.



10 THE ADOLESCENT

Of more profound significance are the glands of in-

ternal secretion—the endocrine glands. At puberty, due
to the maturation of the sex glands there is, as it were, a

new alignment in function taking place. This leads to

the emotional upset state so characteristic of adolescence.

But in addition the maturation of the sex glands brings

about a new outlook on life. Life begins to take on mean-

ing of added depth and breadth. Consciousness of the

self as an independent being may heighten the already

present self-assertive drives or bring out more sharply

the feelings of diiference and inferiority, or, as is more

frequently the case, causes the adolescent to feel him-

self in a no-man^s land, neither child nor adult. Anxious

to take his place in the life of the world about him yet

because of civilization's demands not permitted to do so,

he tries one mode of attack and then another. For-

tunate indeed is that adolescent whose experiences on

the whole are integrating ones.

We have already indicated that puberty is not of
sharp, sudden onset. Rather, during the few years pre-

ceding puberty there is, as it were, a loss of the normal

integrations of childhood. The entire person is in a state

of flux; new integrations and new adjustments must now

be made. True, the self that will finally emerge is a self

built upon the old self but in a certain definite sense it is

a new self with a new outlook. This undoubtedly is what

has led many writers to talk of a new self being born at

adolescence.

Boys enter puberty later than girls but just how

much later is very difficult to ascertain since there is no

such characteristic phenomenon in boys as menstruation

is in girls. In passing, it should be stated that it is not

correct to say that puberty in girls always begins with

the first menstrual period. It has been shown that the

menstrual cycle may be initiated before ovulation occurs.

The average age of onset of puberty in girls is 13%

years. At this age most boys are still pre-pubescent.

Adequate information about menstruation and hy-



ADOLESCENT PHYSICAL MATURATION 11

gienic care should, of course, anticipate the beginning of

the menses. Unfortunately, there are still many parents

who permit their daughters to enter this trying emotion-

al period with little or no sound information. This is

nothing short of criminal. Such a girl is either thrown

into a panic or, knowing her parents’ reluctance to talk

about such matters, has gone to her school friends and

acquaintances for her information.

Boys, too, need information about their own puberty

and its problems. In fact, it can be said that girls as a

group are better informed and more sex-conscious than

boys. In particular every boy needs to know the normal-

ity of nocturnal emissions. Many a boy’s life is made

miserable because of much misinformation. Having no

one to confide in and believing in such superstitious non-

sense as ‘fiost manhood” resulting from perfectly natural

physiological functions, he is driven to seek help from

quacks and charlatans who in order to enrich themselves

add to his fears and anxieties.

Such a problem as when the boy shall commence to

shave may cause considerable family friction. Now, no

normal adolescent boy wants to be a sissy or to be con-

sidered a child. Even though the hair growth may be but

slight it is better for the boy’s personality development

to permit him to shave, a practice which is harmless,

than to lay him open to the insults of his classmates or

belittle him in the eyes of the opposite sex. Many a

mother has objected to her son’s shaving solely and alone

because she refused to let him grow up and be a child no

more.

Voice changes are another cause of great embarrass-

ment to boys. To keep such a boy in the choir is to run

the risk of alienating his interest in carrying out his re-

ligious duties. He may have been the best reciter of

poems, etc., on school programs only to refuse to take

any part because of the hurts to his ego, not only now

but later, in vocal activities such as dramatics and de-

bating if he has been made fun of. Such criticism may



12 THE ADOLESCENT

have profound and lasting effect on the total personality

development not only in youth but retain its force even

in adult years.

Girls may show great embarrassment in their men-

strual period. This is partly due to sex-consciousness and

partly to misinformation. There are still many parents

and teachers who believe the girl should take no part in

sports or other activities during this time. There is no

justifiable reason for this notion if the girl is normal. It

would probably be much better if the girl engaged in any

and all activities she felt capable of doing. This would

not expose her to the embarrassment of standing on the

side lines at games and cause her to run the risk of some

boy asking her why she wasn't playing. Few girls in-

deed have such painful menses that they are truly ill.

Sometimes menstruation is used as a convenient excuse

for a few days sick leave from school duties. Such neuro-

tic or delinquent behavior should be gone into at once

and the cause therefor reviewed.

The changes in body form, particularly the develop-

ment of the breasts and the widening of the hips lead

many girls to institute dieting measures, hoping thusly

to avoid such changes in bodily form. Needless to say, it

won't work but often injury is done through such inter-

ference in proper nutrition.

In this brief chapter we have tried to show that the

effects of physical development are all-pervasive. Phys-

ical well-being is intimately bound up with mental and

moral well-being. In subsequent sections we shall have

need to refer frequently to the physical development
;
not

in the sense that all is to be explained on this basis alone

but rather to have the reader pause and consider the

whole individual and not isolated parts.



ADOLESCENT PHYSICAL MATURATION 18

Study Club Questions

1. What differences are there in the growth of boys

and girls?

2. What are some of the results of the disparity of

growth of the circulatory system at adolescence?

3. What particular activities may prove dangerous at

this period?

4. What is to be thought of the food fads that some

adolescent girls are inclined to indulge in?

5. What influence have the endocrine glands at ado-

lescence?



Chapter II

Social Developments Of Normal Adolescence

Puberty always has been considered an important

epoch in the life history of man. Among most primitive

peoples the child at this time was initiated into the se-

crets and the customs and mores of the tribe. The initia-

tion rites were a method of socializing the youth and al-

though such puberty rites varied from tribe to tribe yet

they had certain features in common. One of these feat-

ures was the abasement of the individual. This was

brought about through isolation, the feeding of poorly

prepared and often obnoxious food, and the wearing of

unbecoming clothing. In such ways the youth was taught

to submit to the will of the group. No longer he as an in-

dividual in his petty selfishness was to have his way, but,

on the contrary, he must learn to bow before the de-

mands of the group. Another method of teaching the

same facts, namely that childish attitudes were to be put

away, was through the infliction of pain which was to be

borne without flinching. No longer was the youth to run

to his parents and have them fight his battles for him,

rather the responsibilities of maturity were to be borne

by him. Then came the imparting of the secrets of the

tribe and the traditional religious beliefs. Usually, too,

at this time the youth was instructed in the art of the

chase and of war as well as in such other occupations as

the tribe followed such as agriculture, skill in sewing

and weaving. And finally, there was much rejoicing and

the giving of praise and rewards.

Through such public rites the initiate became in-

creasingly aware of social pressures and social relation-

ships. He became aware of the peoples’ opinions and at-

titudes and learned to mould his in accordance with

them. This abject conformity is still a characteristic of

the adolescent period.



SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF ADOLESCENCE 15

Nor have all these public ceremonies disappeared

even in our modern culture. Take, for example, the debut

or ‘‘coming-out’’ ceremony of the modern girl. Here, too,

the girl is isolated in the sense of having been attending

a finishing school where in gradual steps she has been

prepared for her entrance into “society.” The emphasis

on the clothing to be worn is a further remnant of an-

cient practices, just as much as the rejoicing and con-

gratulations now in order. Now certain privileges for-

merly denied her are allowed. Commencement exercises,

formerly customary on finishing the eighth grade, now

more commonly at the completion of high school and col-

lege, are preceded by examinations, a period of prepara-

tion for the elaborate ceremonies, which in turn are fol-

lowed by praise and rewards in terms of gifts.

So also certain religious ceremonies are built upon

such earlier practices. The Church has always seen the

wisdom of utilizing primitive psychological values in her

ceremonies. Confirmation until relatively recently was

administered at adolescence. Among many Protestant

sects formal joining of the church takes place at adoles-

cence. Such actions are usually preceded by a definite

period of rigorous preparation. The ceremony itself is

impressive. In these ways it is borne home to the candi-

date that his actions are considered meritorious in the

eyes of the adults and they in turn now admit him into

membership and to share with them in all its rights,

duties and obligations. In many ways it is unfortunate

that many of these religious rites are no longer carried

out at adolescence but have been assigned to an earlier

age when their meaning is not as well understood by the

child.

What effects, then, do such practices have upon the

adolescent personality? In the first place, they teach the

virtue of obedience. For the young must be trained and

an integral part of that training is respect for authority.

But youth must also be emancipated from the family and

freed from maternal domination. Indeed, he must cease



16 THE ADOLESCENT

to be a child. Youth must also give thought to the selec-

tion of a vocation and to t?ie assumption of the responsi-

bility for becoming an earner. Also because of his sexual

maturity he must give thought to the responsibility

therein entailed, and finally and most important of all,

youth needs a philosophy of life and death.

In all probability these rites do materially change

the adolescent’s concept of self and aid in establishing a

consciousness of a new social status as well as achieving

a new world adjustment. Insofar as they do that they

are aides in the socialization of the adolescent.

Adolescents are keenly aware of other people’s opin-

ions and attitudes and particularly so of their own age

group. One problem faced by most parents relates to

clothing, and many a young adolescent has advanced as

an excuse for his truancy from school or absence from

church services his lack of suitable clothing. Clothing

seems to have a decided effect on the concept of self, and

particularly so in girls, since in such studies as have

been made on this subject the majority of girls admitted

that clothing affects their happiness and that they feel

they can work better when they are well dressed. Girls

seem to be more concerned with the concealment of de-

fects and tend to dress in such a way as to bring out

their best qualities. Then, too, they dress with the intent

of appearing to belong to a higher social status. Witness

how they resent finding that their costume as to style,

color and so forth is imitated by those of an inferior so-

cial station. To be sure, our culture permits women to

exercise distinctiveness in dress to a far greater degree

than is true of men.

This problem of clothing is of such social import

that many schools and academies have adopted a uni-

form. Often there is much opposition against this, par-

ticularly in day schools attended by pupils from different

economic and social levels. And usually the dissatisfac-

tion is voiced by those from the higher social strata of

society. Snobbishness is a factor in this.



SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF ADOLESCENCE 17

There are a few points to which attention can well

be directed in this matter of uniform clothing. First of

ail, the general style must be modern. Secondly, although

there well may be uniformity as to kind of material, it

probably is not wise to compel the exact same style of cut

or even the color and the trim. Anyone who has observ-

ed adolescent girls in school uniforms must have been

struck by the fact that the same pattern for all did not

bring out the best qualities of all. To do this, the adoles-

cent will need help in figuring out the best specific style

of cut, color and trim to bring out her best qualities.

A word, too, about those who are eccentric in dress
is in order. Overdressing is very likely to be a compen-

satory act for feelings of inferiority or as a defense

mechanism against such feelings. The more neurotic

person may dress for the sole purpose of directing at-

tention to himself and thus be evidence of a failure in

proper socialization.

Another problem of adolescence that sooner or later

comes to the attention of parents relates to friendships.

The pre-adolescent child more or less readily submits to

the parental dictates while adolescents are more inclined

to resent and resist parental guidance in this matter of

friendships. The adolescent feels himself thoroughly

competent to choose his friends. Unfortunately his

choice is not always wise. The safest and most practical

course for the parents to follow is to invite the friend to

the house frequently and thus permit their son or daugh-

ter to see why the friend doesn’t fit in. Only in this way

can the parents retain control of the situation. This is

particularly important when the friend is of the opposite

sex. Parental interference usually precipitates clandes-

tine meetings and sometimes eventuates in elopement or,

if the parents do successfully interfere, it may result in

extreme bitterness and antagonism to the parents.

If, on the other hand, the parents provide a suitable

and safe meeting place the infatuation usually in short

order wears itself out and the experience will have been



18 THE ADOLESCENT

of educational value. So-called puppy love is not without

value. Through it the adolescents learn to discount mere

excitement. Nothing is so sad as to see the over-shelter-

ed young man or young woman without previous experi-

ence and now no longer under home supervision caught

in an ill-advised and often morally disastrous love affair.

Fortunately in normal adolescence the pairing-off

process is usually preceded by the ‘‘crowd’’ age which

permits the establishment of normal social relationships

between the sexes. Just as the gang is a spontaneous so-

cial unit of the pre-adolescent age so the crowd is the

spontaneous social unit of the early adolescent years. The

crowd differs from the gang, however, in several re-

spects. The gang consists of members of the same sex

and it seeks adventure and excitement in activity. The

crowd, on the other hand, consists of both boys and girls,

usually in equal number. Its raison d'etre is the estab-

lishment of social relationships between the sexes. While

the gang is on the go seeking adventure, the crowd sits

around and talks. Those parents of adolescent children

are wise who are willing to permit the crowd to gather at

their house and enjoy under such a favorable setting

their adventures in social relationships. Under such cir-

cumstances, even in the love-making of the day, they are

protected from serious consequences and learn many les-

sons of tremendous importance for social living.

The value of social activities is further evidenced by

the growth of extra-curricular activities in high schools.

Unfortunately the schools have not as yet fully recog-

nized their value. The high school has or should have

two objectives. One, a mastery of subject matter within

the grasp of the student and, two, the development of its

students into socially acceptable and socially efficient hu-

man beings. In the average high school of today these

extra-curricular social activities came into being with

the advent of numbers of students with a heterogeneous

background. The more the subject matter became ill-

adapted to the needs of the students, the more the need



SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF ADOLESCENCE 19

was experienced for activities that had greater meaning

for the students. These extra-curricular activities should,

therefore, be inside not outside the curriculum and man-

ned by teachers who have tact and ingenuity in guiding

adolescents. Needless to say, the teacher’s schedule must

have time for such activities. This means that the two

programs, the academic and the social, must cooperate

and not compete with each other. Through such social

programs the adolescent obtains training in civic-social-

moral relationships as well as an opportunity to receive

practice in leadership and in cooperation. Of some impor-

tance, particularly in present day living, is the oppor-

tunity offered for obtaining training in leisure time ac-

tivities. To that end games and sports should be of such

a nature as can be played later in life and should provide

training in fairness and sportsmanship and not be pri-

marily competitive in nature.

Not all social groups, however, are to be encour-

aged. Some crowds or cliques are competitive in nature.

Others are made up of snobs. In the latter group fall

many of the high school fraternities and sororities.

Little indeed can be said for most of them and that

simply because they tend to prolong a childish attitude

toward life. Adolescents are as a class snobbish and in-

tolerant and need training through contact with outside

influences to correct such attitudes.

Socialization is a gradual and continuous process.

Early in life the child is egocentric but as he approaches

adolescence he discovers himself as a member of some

social unit apart from the family. As adolescence advan-

ces he more and more emancipates himself from the

family group. At first he is a member of a crowd in

which the socialization, commenced in the family and

later in the gang activities, is continued especially along

heterosexual lines. Gradually, however, he comes to rely

upon himself to a greater degree. Now, dependent upon

his training he becomes a member of society, reasonably

conforming to its demands, eager and willing to share in



20 THE ADOLESCENT

the responsibilities that age and training now demand of

him. This then has been the goal—self-realization in
conformity with the dictates of nature and society under

the hegemony of the Supreme Master of all.

Study Club Questions

1. Contrast puberty rites or practices, and their pur-

poses, among primitive and modern peoples.

2. Discuss the significance of suitable clothing in the

case of the adolescent.

3. What is to be said of the adolescent problem of

friendships?

4. What are the values of social activities to adoles-

cent boys and girls?



Chapter III

The Emotions In The Life Of

Normal Adolescents

Anyone who has attended a football rally or a poli-

tical rally must have been struck by the fact that the

chief appeal was not to the reason but to the emotions of

the crowd. And in watching the same crowd one could

note how the feelings stirred up in some soon come to

infect the many. Man prides himself on being a rational

being; and there are those v/ho would deny him his emo-

tions or at least would belittle his feelings as something

unworthy. However, the average man and woman, child

or adult, is swayed much more by his feelings than he is

guided by his reason.

Since then the emotions are so typically a part of the

human being’s mode of response, it might be well to try

to define what is meant by an emotion. However, there

have been proposed many definitions of an emotion as

well as theories of how they come about. In general it

may be said that an emotion is a complex mental process

brought about by some precept or idea that simultan-

eously stirs up the entire organism. Just because it is so

complex a state it is difficult to define.

This stirred-up state is open to observation in many

emotional upheavals. The tense muscles, the loud and

harsh voice, the set jaws and clenched fists, the heavy

breathing and dilated nostrils betoken a state of anger.

And so one can also note on more minute observation

that profound internal changes, visceral and glandular

in particular, take place in most, if not all, emotional

states. In anger, for example, there is a stoppage of the

ordinary processes of digestion—^the peristalsis of the
stomach and the intestines ceases. As a result, nausea

and even vomiting may occur. The chronically angry



22 THE ADOLESCENT

person may suffer from constipation because of the slow

and weak action of the bowels.

The glandular disturbance is best illustrated in the

effects of adrenalin—an internal glandular secretion
from the adrenal glands. In any strong emotion such as

anger, adrenalin is liberated in increased amounts. This

further retards digestion. It also causes sugar in the

form of stored-up glycogen to be liberated from the liver

and such sugar serves as food in that it is carried by the

blood to the muscles. As a result of the action of adre-

nalin the heart beats faster and with more power, blood

pressure rises, the breathing becomes more rapid and

deeper. It is because of all these changes within the or-

ganism that the angry person has greater strength and

endurance although by the same mechanism he is ren-

dered less cool and calculating; in a sense he is blinded

by his emotional state.

Within certain limits all deep emotions have effects

similar to that of anger. Intense emotions may keep the

organism stirred-up for many hours. It is important,

therefore, to train the emotional life. Now adolescence is

a period of dis-equilibrium and any further up-set state

adds markedly to this disorganization. Yet adolescence

in itself brings about a deeper feeling state than was

true in childhood. The adolescent must needs then come

to grip with his emotions.

Emotions are customarily divided into the primary,

or simple, emotions and the secondary, or derived, ones.

The chief primary emotions are three—anger, fear and
love. They are called primary and simple in that they are

unlearned reactions— the child is born with them. The
infant reacts in fear solely to a loss of support and loud

noises just as constricting his physical freedom will

cause him to become angry. He will love that person who

ministers to his needs. All other love, anger and fear

reactions in later life are built upon these simple stimuli

and his reactions to them, the result of his training and

experiences.



EMOTIONS IN LIFE OP NORMAL ADOLESCENTS 23

There are, as we have tried to show, three parts to

an emotion, stimulus, stirred-up state, and response, in

which the second part remains much the same tho the

first and third parts may vary from age to age. In ado-

lescence, for example, most anger outbursts are social in

causation. They occur in such situations as will cause

the adolescent to feel embarrassed or ridiculous.

Adolescents as a class have many fears. Fear, how-

ever, has come more and more into disrepute as a means

of control. Certainly fear is a negative means of control

and more positive means such as suggestion, imitation

and guidance should be employed. Education, therefore,

should control most fears. Fear is destructive. Fear

shows itself in rigidity and immobility, although one

may learn to run before such a congealing takes place.

Such running may be both real and figurative, namely

the avoidance of such situations as bring about the

arousal of the fear state. Fear is disintegrating and

hence never useful in learning. Fear, then has no posi-

tive value, in fact, it inhibits such positive values as

courage to meet life situations squarely, and the dis-

carding of inadequate habits and customs. Secondary or

derived fears such as states of dread, phobias, worry and

anxiety have no positive value whatsoever. In fact, such

states are clear evidence of poor mental health.

The more common fears of adolescents center about

such social situations in which they will appear to a dis-

advantage. What is needed is a better control of the so-

cial forces in the world which act as stimuli for so many

secondary fear states.

The first love object, namely the person who in-

spires the emotion of love, in the life of the child is its

mother or the person who takes her place. This is true

of both boy and girl babies. One hears frequently that

mothers are more partial to their sons than to their

daughters. There is truth in such a statement. Nor is it

strange that it would be so. The normal healthy-minded

adult woman has established a somewhat different atti-



24 THE ADOLESCENT

tude to the opposite sex than to one of the same sex. This

does not mean that she truly loves her daughter less—it
is a much more subtle thing than that. Then, too, fathers

rarely are as demonstrative toward their sons as to their

daughters for a similar reason and because of the atti-

tude of society that it is not the thing to do. Usually a

father, if he attempts an explanation at all, will say he

does not want his son to grow up to be a sissy.

A good mother, however, will always have a place
all her own in her children’s affection. However, she

must learn to share some of that love and affection. The

first person with whom she must share will in all likeli-

hood be the child’s teachers. The too-possessive parent

will resent this and show antagonism to the teacher by

belittling her in the child’s eyes. Next will come the

school chums. Here again the parents must share the

love of their child with that of his friends. The parents’

antagonism to this situation will show itself in their re-

fusal to let the youngster play with other children. Many

reasons will be advanced, such as, the children aren’t the

right kind, their own child is frail and needs rest, etc.

At adolescence the love object is now one of the

opposite sex and of approximately the same age. Now

Mie emotion experienced by the youth is much stronger

for a nev/ force has entered, namely, the energy derived

from the maturing sex glands. Love now is much more

deeply sex tinged. With the maturation of the sex glands

it is but natural that love attachments and its emotional

manifestations will be associated with them.

Every normal boy and girl passes through these, as

it were, stages. Only those who because of some inherent

disturbance in their bodily make-up or who because of

mis-training now cannot make the necessary social con-

tacts, fail to do so. Since this is so, when adolescence is

reached the child should have had such training in sex

that he can appreciate the changes occurring in him and

thus control himself. Training in sex does not mean



iliMOTlONS IN LIFE OF NORMAL ADOLESCENTS 2S

solely and alone instruction in the physiology of sex but

rather a deep appreciation of the meaningfulness of sex

in all spheres of human living.

In view of what we have already said about the emo-

tions and their effects on the body economy it is wise to

avoid as many emotional disturbances as possible. Family

harmony is a prime essential and next in order of impor-

tance comes the school. Teachers' attitudes about such

things as race, creed and social station are frequently

the cause of an adolescent's emotional reaction in that

they lay him open to criticism. The sarcasm of a teacher

has wounded seriously many a child, even to driving him

into delinquency or to suicide.

At this age, too, there may come the so-called

‘‘crush" relationship between a teacher and a pupil, gen-

erally a woman teacher and a girl pupil. This type of

over-developed emotional attachment between a teacher

and a student is undesirable because it tends to keep

alive a childish mode of love response and thus prevents

the girl from developing interests which will fit her for

healthy adult living. It is always a mistake on the part

of the teacher when she realizes that such a relationship

is forming in the mind of the girl to be brutal in crush-

ing it. Rather the teacher's object should be to direct

the girl's emotional interests into more healthy channels.

It is well never to be alone with the girl but also not to

shun her. Let her help with the tasks about the room,

run errands. In a few weeks, if she be otherwise a

healthy girl, this attachment will have run its course.

The failure to adjust the school curriculum to the

needs of the pupil causes many profound emotional

states. Today the average school is curriculum centered

in that it is an attempt to adapt the adolescent to the

curriculum. Because of the tremendous amount of mis-

grading, the school causes the misgraded adolescent to

develop feelings of inferiority, of discontent and of dis-

couragement.

Every parent and teacher should be able to recognize



26 THE ADOLESCENT

the signs and symptoms of emotional disturbance. One

common symptom is the substitutive response. The ado-

lescent will, in many cases, no longer make a direct emo-

tional response but will use some kind of substitute. For

example, he may blame his difficulties on another person.

He does this in order to ease his own emotional tension.

Of course, sooner or later he must face his problem or

become neurotic. Another adolescent may refuse to face

reality by avoiding his feeling of discouragement and in-

adequacy thru day dreaming. A third adolescent may
come to belittle others and others’ activities; a fourth

one may fall into the habit of finding ready excuses for

his acts through which he justifies them. All such meth-

ods have one thing in common—^they are ways and means
of avoiding reality, namely, the emotional situation that

underlies the need for using them. Marked emotional dis-

turbances may also cause withdrawal behavior or its

direct opposite, exhibitionistic behavior. The defiant in-

dividual may be using his defiance as an outlet for his

emotional state. Such behavior is in almost every case

an evidence of the individual’s feeling of insecurity or

inadequacy or both.

Since adolescents characteristically show a marked

amount of emotional instability the symptoms we have

mentioned should be carefully investigated as to their

causation and the cause removed if at all possible or the

individual taught a better means of handling himself. A
chronic unsolved emotional problem is highly conducive

to a neurotic state.

One should not get the impression, however, that

emotions serve no useful purpose. Life v/ould be a most

monotonous affair without emotions. Many a great mas-

terpiece has been produced under an emotional stress, al-

though it is true that generally speaking one’s life work

is better done if free from strong emotions. On the other

hand, an emotional shock may be the factor needed to jar

some people out of their complacency and stimulate them

to greater effort and more constructive work. Eight^us



EMOTIONS IN LIFE OF NORMAL ADOLESCENTS 27

anger, patriotism, altruism, all these higher emotions

give quality to the personality.

The object of emotional training is, then, not an at-

tempt at the elimination of the emotions but rather the

learning of self-control, the exercise of one’s will. Tenny-

son well says : ‘The happines of a man in this life does

not consist in the absence but in the mastery of his pas-

sions.”

Study Club Questions

1. What are some of the ways in which emotional dis-

turbances show themselves?

2. Distinguish the three parts of an emotion.

3. Discuss the emotion of fear.

4. Toward what individuals does the child normally

direct his emotion of love?

5. Give examples of substitute responses on the part

of the emotionally disturbed adolescent.

6. What are some of the values of the emotions?



Chapter IV

Moral And Religious Growth Of The

Normal Adolescent

The aim of moral education is to give the individual

knowledge of what is right and what is wrong with par-

ticular emphasis on the development of the desire and the

will to do right. Here as elsewhere we must consider the

whole man in our training. Moral teaching must be based

no only on what is good for man and society but also on

man^s responsibilities to God.

Much of a child’s morality is dependent upon the

source and nature of his ideals or his standards of ex-

cellence in conduct and behavior. In the young child, the

parents and older siblings serve as this source. The little

boy wants to be like father, the little girl like her mother

provided, of course, that the child is happy in the love

and affection of his parents; that is to sa3/, the child

must see in the parent the most desirable in the traits

or skills that he longs to have. As the child grows older

and becomes an adolescent the immediate home environ-

ment no longer furnishes him all his ideals. Hero wor-

ship now plays a large role. Such a hero may be an older

boy or girl, a teacher, a camp leader, or he may be a

character in history or even in fiction. It is evident, then,

that the character of the adolescent’s friends, the type

and kind of education he receives, be it in the class room,

in camp, on the street, or through reading has much to

do with the formation of his ideals.

To be sure, ideals are in large part dependent upon

the intelligence of the individual. The lower the intelli-

gence the less developed the ideals will be. Other factors,

too, such as imagination and daydreaming in a construc-

tive fashion, the state of one’s health, one’s feelings of

inferiority or superiority, one’s relation in a disciplinary



MORAL, RELIGIOUS GROWTH OF ADOLESCENTS 29

way to others, such as teachers, will influence ideals’

formation. Through ideals that have become more or

less habitual, attitudes are formed and such attitudes

tend to motivate conduct. Ideals’ formation, then, plays

a large role in developing morality.

Religion and morality are intimately related. All races

and nations have some sort of knowledge of a Higher

Good or God. In fact, it may be stated that there is

no true morality without religion, and that the religious

ideal is basic to all of youth’s ideals.

Religious ideals are formed in a similar manner to

other ideals. The little child’s religious beliefs and prac-

tices are in accord with his mental development and his

training. His knowledge of God is limited and incom-

plete. The child derives his idea of God the Father from

his own human father or perhaps even grandfather. His

concept of God, therefore, will contain those attributes

that he has experienced in the human image. If the child

is ruled by fear and punishment, his idea of God will be

that of a fear-inspiring and dreaded Deity but if the

human prototype embodies love and protection, the child’s

idea of God will be that of a kind and loving father. As

the child grows, his ideas of God will become more re-

fined and in adolescence his religion, in great part, should

be founded on reason. Here, of course, the adolescent’s

innate intellectual ability will be a determining factor

as to the degree his spiritual realities will be founded

on reason rather than emotion. On the whole, the normal

youth should have reasons for the faith that’s in him.

Hence religious instruction should be a progressively

more intellectual affair. The adolescent’s doubts and dif-

ficulties should be met frankly and honestly. The reason

for any given belief should be given him in a calm and

collected manner. Nothing irks the average adolescent so

much as to be put off with a childish quasi-explanation

or for his informant to become emotional, threatening

him with dire consequences if he doesn’t at once desist

in his doubts and queries. Such unanswered doubts and



30 THE ADOLESCENT

questions over matters of faith may cause the adolescent

to brood over his religious misgivings or to turn from

all religious practices as an escape from such doubts

and misgivings. All too many adolescents leave our

schools with little real knowledge of their religion. Much

of it was learned in a rote memory way and only so much

as was put into practice in a consistent and meaningful

way is really a part of the child’s nature. Note the ease

with which children who while attending school receive

the sacraments frequently and regularly, when vacation

time comes remain away from the altar railing the entire

summer.

Since the religious ideal is so all-important, training

in religion must continue during adolescence. The ‘‘ques-

tion and answer” definition of the penny catechism must

now be translated into meaningful concepts, and above

all, it must never be forgotten that the average adolescent

can not generalize. His training must be specific and that

in as many aspects of the given commandment or law

under consideration as possible. Only by so doing will

the average youth arrive at a reasonable understanding

of the Church’s teachings and a sound basis for his moral

code.

Since the time given to religious instruction as a

formal study must of necessity be limited, it is important

that religious truths and values be pointed out and em-

phasized in the other courses of study. History, liter-

ture and social studies lend themselves well to such uses.

Such pointing out of the truths and influence of religion

as well as the application of religious principles drives

home to the adolescent that religion has meaning in one’s

daily life and that it is an affair of the whole man in his

natural and supernatural longings and strivings.

In this day and age when the influences bearing upon

the adolescent are so heterogeneous it is even more im-

portant than was the need in former years for religious

instruction and religious education to be carried on

throughout the adolescent period. When people lived in



MORAL, RELIGIOUS GROWTH OF ADOLESCENTS 81

communities that held the same religious beliefs and

before the day of the daily newspaper reaching each lit-

tle village and hamlet and the radio reaching all members

of the family and when the adolescent rapidly took his

place as a responsible person in work and in the estab-

lishment of a home, the instruction and education re-

ceived in the elementary school system was to a consid-

erable degree sufficient. The community pressures kept

him in line and his doubts succumbed to this group pres-

sure. The rural as opposed to the city child has more

occasion to see and feel the powers of the universe about

him and thus to carry over his religious beliefs as to

the might and power of the Creator. Even today churches

receive greater support and are more meaningful in the

lives of people in our suburban areas than in our dis-

tinctly urban ones. The city child accepts the inventions

of man as of more importance than anything God has

done. The city-bred child rarely questions radio as to its

ultimate. He thinks he can control it by merely turning

the knob. To him the radio, the machine in the house, is

radio. The forces of nature with God as their author

rarely enter his mind. On top of this the adolescent if

he studies science comes to identify the open mind of the

scientist who knows that his basic assumptions are all

too frequently mere hypotheses with skepticism, with

modes of thought he carries over into all fields of activity.

Of course, other factors as a result of the socio-moral

transition that has occurred in recent times have added

to the religious doubts of the adolescent. The concentra-

tion of wealth in the hands of the few and the urban

church's hesitancy to come to grips actively with the

ideology that makes this possible, together with the tardy

and timid discussion of the encyclicals, has weakened the

faith of many in the Church as an institution and in-

directly in religious beliefs and values.

The failure to prosecute effectively and consistently

a thorough-going youth program has continued to permit

adolescent energies to find their outlet in unhealthy



THE ADOLESCENT

moral ways. Family life, as a result of our business and

factory systems, together with the employment of wom-

en as a result of such an economic order, has left the

child and particularly the adolescent without control. Yet

at the same time little to nothing has been done to teach

the adolescent how to use his new found freedom in a

constructive way.

Delay in the age of marriage has brought about

greater moral dangers in the field of sex. This, together

with the loosening of restraints in the general commun-

ity life, has caused many an adolescent to question the

Church’s teaching on the subject of sex and purity. Such

doubts are then resolved, in many instances, through

giving way to temptation or through the development

of moral scruples in this field of sex. In city life, too,

and that to a far greater degree than is true of rural

communities, there is a constant bombardment of re-

ligion and religious values. This comes not only from

the Communist and pink-radical groups but also from

the so-caUed liberal intelligentsia. The numerous systems

of theology to which the modem adolescent is exposed

further add to his confusion, but more imiK>rtant is his

recognition of the fact that many who profess his re-

ligion and may even be its accredited ministers deny

practically all fundamental religious concepts to say noth-

ing of Christianity. So from no belief in a God to salva-

tion through faith alone and predestination (to heaven

of the favored few), to belief in the religion as founded

by the Master and taught by His Church, the youth of

today is apt to take his choice dependent not on reasoned

conviction but on emotional bias. That ignorance and

emotional bias rather than reasoned conviction determ-

ine the morality of many of our youth today is well evi-

denced in the findings on questionnaires relating to eth-

ical, moral and religious matters. “Birth control is con-

sidered legitimate,” “Communism should be given a trial

and an open mind be kept about it” (that in face of its

history over the years in Russia)
;
“One may or may



MORAL, RELIGIOUS GROWTH OP ADOLESCENTS 33

not believe in God, it does not much matter,” are com-

monly expressed opinions.

To be sure, many teachers are dissatisfied with the

present state of affairs in moral development of adoles-

cents. The public school teacher is forbidden to teach

religion although she attempts through such ways as may

be open to her to teach a social morality. But such a

morality is a changeable thing as we have already shown

—it changes with time and place. Only a morality based
on man’s responsibilities to God and to his fellow men

is a sound morality. But such a morality is basically

religious in its orientation. Religious training and educa-

tion are therefore necessary for the sound development

of a moral code. Youth, however, being unable to gen-

eralize must needs have such training in a much fuller

and deeper manner than now given if the moral forma-

tion of the adolescent is to be assured.

Study Club Questions

1. Whence does the child get his ideals and standards

of conduct? Whence his religious notions and be-

liefs?

2. Why is more and better religious instruction needed
today than formerly?

3. Discuss the need, from the viewpoint of the adoles-

cent’s moral life, of a practical youth program.



Chapter V

Mental And Intellectual Developments

Of Adolescents

Many problems relating to mental developments in

adolescence are highly controversial. Undoubtedly devel-

opment is not uniform from any one year to the next

in either the child’s or the adolescent’s mental growth.

Moreover, just how or when a specific maturation takes

place may vary in the sexes and from individual to in-

dividual. It is important, too, to point out that as far

as it is known there is no new mental ability that makes

its appearance at adolescence. Rather there is a gradual

development, not necessarily uniform in speed and de-

gree, in the abilities of man from childhood to maturity.

Now, when one comes to study the changes that may

occur in, let us say, sensory capacities one finds relatively

little that is independent of other functions and factors.

For example, sensitivity to pain is said to decrease from

childhood through adolescence. However, it is also a fact

that an individual’s response to pain varies with his

total outlook on life. The adolescent as a rule is more

given to stoicism than is a child. Then, too, such a factor

as the thickness of the skin may play a role in one’s re-

action to sensory pain. On the other hand, certain sen-

sations may and do take on an added and deeper meaning

at adolescence due to emotional and social factors inci-

dent to the age. In general, one would say that in child-

hood, sensations are strong and that a child’s reaction

is typically a response to concrete sensations. As adoles-

cence advances and intelligence matures, the response

is. more in keeping with the piled up experience and

knowledge. All that this means, in the final analysis, is

that our mental operations are not independent variables

but intimately related for whenever an action takes place

in man it is the whole man that acts.



MENTAL AND INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENTS 35

Time was when it was thought that memory, imagin-

ation, reasoning were individual mental abilities more

or less independent of each other. They were referred

to as mental faculties, each, as it were, functioning by

itself and so possible of being trained independently of

all other powers and abilities. This eighteenth century

psychologizing must not be confused with the concept

faculty as used by the schoolmen. In Scholastic philos-

ophy the term faculty means the ability of the mind

to perform a certain operation or its capacity to undergo

a given activity.

One such mental power or ability that develops with

adolescence is imagination. Anyone who has had occa-

sion to read children’s compositions and to compare them

with the writings of adolescents must have been struck

by certain marked differences. The child’s composition

is written in a distinctly prosaic fashion. True, as pre-

viously noted, one child will differ markedly from an-

other. However, the adolescent will embellish his tale.

Descriptive adjectives, many of them superlative, will

be generously used. Emotion will be more skillfully ex-

pressed. He may even express his thoughts in poetry and

through the use of his imagination he becomes creative.

One’s imagination may run away with oneself.

Through it one may be lost in reverie and in unhealthy

phantasy formation and lose contact with reality. This

is apt to happen to the unhappy adolescent who has no

one to confide in. Punishing such an individual for his

day-dreaming and lack of attention may cause him to

withdraw the more into his unhealthy phantasy world

wherein he experiences only pleasure. So instead of a

doer he becomes a dreamer.

On the other hand, all day-dreaming is not un-

healthy. As we have already said, through the use of

one’s imagination one becomes creative. Many a person

seemingly lost in reverie is recalling past sensations and

building them into new combinations that lay the basis

for great inventions or discoveries. Such day-dreams



36 THE ADOLESCENT

keep in touch with reality and are not entered into for

the sake of escape and to obtain pleasure in an unreal

world.

Although day-dreaming may interfere with atten-

tion, yet the power of sustained attention increases dur-

ing adolescence. There are certain factors that influence

this growth of attentiveness. First of all, the ability to

see many things, or many relations, in the object attended

is of prime significance. This is an intellectual as well

as an age factor. The older and brighter child has a

wider range of experience and knowledge than he had

as a younger child so that the object to which he at-

tends is more likely to be richer in meaning for him. A
second important factor in the matter of sustained at-

tention is the emotional factor. One is more apt to attend

to that which is affectively pleasurable than to that

which is annoying. Practice in voluntary control of one’s

attention is still another important factor that needs

to be taken into consideration. Interest and ambition,

one’s mind-set, will, therefore, influence this function.

This means we must have a purpose which we set out

to reach. Voluntary interest is built through our desire

for a thing. The value that we place on a thing will

determine our attention. Hence, attentiveness is bound

up with values. The adolescent who values an education

and has the requisite intelligence to achieve his ambition

will be a greater student because of his attentiveness

than a student of like ability who has no such driving

desire and hence permits his attention to fluctuate.

Memory, too, tends to improve in adolescence and

particularly logical memory. The adolescent both because

of wider interests and greater attentiveness and, there-

fore, a piling up of experience and knowledge, is more

able to see logical connections and thus to unify mem-

ories into systems. This type of memory is to be dis-

tinguished from rote memory which is more a physiolog-

ical than a psychological function. Drill and the plasticity

of the nervous system are the basic factors in rote



MENTAL AND INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENTS 87

memory formation. But only as the youth's interests

widen and his experience increases does he come to see

the logical relationship between ideas. It is this failure

to understand relationships that makes many an in-

herently bright individual appear dull.

This, then, brings us to a discussion of intelligence

and the intellect. Although it is an accepted fact, as

Aristotle long ago explained, that there is nothing in

the intellect which was not first in the senses, yet the

intellect uses no organ. It is anorganic. The brain is not

the organ of the intellect. Intelligence is a function of

intellect. All men have intellect but their intelligence

may vary from idiocy to genius dependent on the devel-

opment of the brain, and its effectiveness as a result of

the training received. Now, the adolescent has no more

intellect than when he was a child but he does have more

intelligence. He can think to better effect
;
he sees logical

relationships and analyzes them, thus finding the solution

to situations that present themselves. This ability, of

course, varies from adolescent to adolescent.

Intelligence tests aim to test first of all what intellec-

tual abilities one has just because he is that person,

that whole man. To be sure, no test has yet been devised

that tests solely and alone one's innate ability. However,

some tests come closer to doing this than others. Tests

that measure how well one has mastered, let us say, the

three R's are known as achievement tests.

Tests of intelligence have been widely used for more

than twenty years. Hundreds of thousands of children

have been tested, many thousands of them retested one

or more times at varying intervals of time. As a result,

statistically, one can prophesy from a reliably determined

intelligence quotient what a person's mental capacity

is and will be during succeeding years. It is as a result

of such testing that we now have quantitative data in

regard to adolescent intellectual development. One very

interesting point is the seeming cessation of intellectual

growth as measured by tests during the middle period of



38 THE ADOLESCENT

adolescence. Usually this is stated as being at age 16,

although many observers would place this cessation of

growth as low as 14 years. It is further stated that all

increase in ability after this age (14 to 16 years) is due

to greater experience.

Althoufirh tests have many shortcomings, yet in tht

hands of competently trained observers they do have

value. Although intelligence tests were not intended as

guides of either scholastic or vocational success yet it has

been found that there is a correlation between one's in-

telligence and one's school progress and vocational suc-

cess.

It has been repeatedly found true that the boy or

girl whose intelligence quotient (I. Q.) is 95 or less will

not succeed in academic high school work. In fact, ex-

perience proves that an I. Q. below 110 does not qualify

one for academic high school. Now, roughly only about

30 percent of school children are above 100 I. Q. It is

this group to which the high schools now organized

are adapted and not for that majority of adolescents

whose I. Q.'s range from 80-110, and whose intellectual

ability warrants eighth grade or at most junior high

school training.

Since the World War many more adolescent boys and

girls continue school. Many more enter high school. The

result of all this is that the average mental age of high

school students has dropped more than one year. So it

has come about that approximately 25 percent of the

freshman class in many large city school systems are

intellectually too low to profit by the academic program

to which they are being exposed. True, over these same

years the content has been simplified to a great degree.

Yet, however modified, only one thing has been accomp-

lished, namely, the program now is too easy for the bright

students and still too hard for these dull ones. In another

chapter we shall discuss the school in relation to the ad-

olescent more fully. SujSice it to say that it would be

better to teach the youth in accord with his capacity for



MENTAL AND INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENTS 89

learning. In this way he would be encouraged to use his

ability and within his limits to reason soundly. As things

now stand many of these adolescents learn by rote mem-

ory only, cramming their minds with a smattering of

many things but acquiring little knowledge useful to

them either now or later.

Nor must one think that all mental (intellectual)

ability is solely of an academic, scholastic kind. Many

adolescents are non-verbal types but nevertheless have

good ability to deal with material objects present to

sense. Such mechanical ability also shows an increase in

adolescence. And in this machine age, training in me-

chanical activities is necessary if one is to successfully

compete in this culture. So too, there is what has been

called social intelligence or the ability to effectively deal

with one^s fellow-man. In the chapter on social develop-

ment we pointed out how greatly this develops in adoles-

cence. And then lastly there is artistic intelligence. The

intellect then has a multitude of functions which we call

intelligence. What type of function or correlation of

functions may express itself is dependent on the total

organism and its training.

Since, as we have previously remarked, it is the

whole man that functions, it is to be expected that there

will be a positive relationship between mental and phys-

ical developments. It is true that physical measures are

found to correlate so slightly with mental tests that they

are practically of no value for predicting mental ability

or scholastic success. However, what interrelationship

can be shown points to a positive correlation. The bright

child is as a rule a good physical specimen and vice versa.

It is the whole man that both exists and acts.



40 THE ADOLESCENT

Study Club Questions

1. Discuss the development of the imagination and

memory at adolescence.

2. What values have intelligence tests?

3. Why have our high school programs been modified or
"‘watered down’’ since the time of the World War?

4. Distinguish academic ability, mechanical ability, so-

cial intelligence, artistic intelligence.



Chapter VI

Interests Of Normal Adolescence

The term interest is ordinarily used in two senses

or meanings. As a physician, a medical topic interests

me. That is to say, my attention is easily aroused because

of a background of knowledge in medicine. In such a case

there may or may not be anything particularly pleasant

about the article that has aroused my interest. However,

the term interest is also used to connote the feeling of

pleasure resulting from giving attention to something.

Here my interest in something is a result, not a cause.

It is interest, then, that makes a difference, that is of

import to, and has value for one. Interest, therefore, is

a driving force in one’s life.

The study of the interests of adolescents is important

not only because of their significance in vocational coun-

selling but also for a wise use of leisure time. For it is

just as important to prepare youth for leisure as for

work. This is well recognized in modern youth programs

in which attention is given not only to study clubs but

also to recreation, amusement and relaxation. Such use

of leisure time is usually designated play.

Numerous theories of play have been proposed. To

many people, play means merely a working off of surplus

energy. It is, however, highly doubtful if play is a mere

working off of a surplusage of physiological energy. Play,

of course, uses up energy but it is motivated by urges

that demand expression. That is to say, psychological

motives furnish the driving force. The steam that is let

off may be energy derived from fhe expression of an

instinct, or as McDougall would have it, from derived

forms of instincts. Play is much more free and unham-

pered than work. End and means are more in harmony

than is true particularly in modern work which to a great

extent is mere drudgery. One plays because one wants

to, not because one has to. Play, then, permits achieve-



42 THE ADOLESCENT

merit through personal effort and skill and thus enhances

one’s feeling of power. Play, in brief, is a pleasant activ-

ity engaged in with a minimum of social restraints and

free from conflicting impulses, thus producing a feeling

of personal satisfaction in achievement.

Amusement differs from play only in that it is a

passive responsiveness, not a purposeful activity on the

part of the person amused. Seeing a movie, watching a

ball game, reading a novel, are examples of amusement.

It is possible in a given instance, as for example, a ball

game, that one may experience more than amusement

in that one so feels himself into the game that he actually

shows purposeful activity.

As the child enters adolescence his play interests and

amusements gradually change. Maturation and the so-

cial pressures bring about rather marked differences be-

tween the play interests of the child and those of the

adolescent. Such play interests tend to change, some

slowly, some more rapidly, as adolescence advances into

maturity. One need note only such games as ‘‘follow the

leader,” “cops and robbers,” playing with marbles, or

flying kites, to appreciate the change in play interests.

These games are played by practically all boys in their

preadolescent years but only a few will be playing such

games in middle adolescence. A ball game in preadoles-
cence is an individualistic affair. There is little evidence

of team play. Each boy wants to be the pitcher or the

catcher. But with the coming of adolescence the gang

appears and with it team play. As adolescence draws

near to a close there is less interest in the actual partici-

pation in team play although an active interest in such

group or team play remains and may furnish a source

of amusement throughout the rest of life.

In recent years there seems to be an increase of

interest in organized games of one kind and another.

Many theories have been advanced to explain this inter-

est. In all probability such growing interest in games

is due to both a greater amount of leisure time and to



INTEEESTS OF NORMAL ADOLESCENCE

the ever increasing complexity of life, which, on the

one hand, is contributing to great leisure and, on the oth-

er hand, is balking the expression of more normal and

natural outlets. Athletics and organized games, play in

other words, is to a great extent free from the social pres-

sure, the end result of the complexity of modern life.

Adolescents, therefore, as they become more cognizant of

these pressures, turn to games and obtain relaxation and

pleasure.

However, as adolescence advances there is a decrease

in active participation in organized athletics. This may

be due to a greater interest in activities in which both

sexes can participate as well as greater conformity to the

social code with less need to seek means of escape. Un-

doubtedly too, many participants soon find they can not

measure up to the standard of performance demanded

and drop out of the games. "Some will continue to find

amusement in witnessing games, and the antics of those

who participate through ‘‘inner imitations,’^ others will

attend solely because it’s the thing to do and their own

feeling of inadequacy and inferiority will not permit

them to appear different.

In childhood sex differences in play interests have a

larger role than in middle to late adolescence. Girls play

with dolls in their preadolescence and in general favor

play that requires less muscular exercise. Of course, the

conventions add markedly to this difference. Many more

girls are today participating in the same sports played

by boys than was true a generation ago. Both because

of the tendency to play similar games and also because

of the greater social intimacy in adolescence, there is an

increasing tendency in adolescence toward activities in

which both sexes may take part. One such activity is

dancing. Sex attraction undoubtedly plays a large role

here. Here, too, we see the effect of the social conventions

so that the type of dancing may vary from decade to dec-

ade. Dancing, of course, is a kind of play. Unfortunately,

however, modern dancing, because of its very freedom



44 THE ADOLESCENT

from social restraint and because it brings into such

intimate contact young people of opposite sex who con-

sciously may be motivated by a desire for a marriage

partner, may be morally corrupting. For this reason the

conditions surrounding the dance must be of the highest

order so that the ideals of the dancers are not further

lowered by evil influences.

One of the most common amusements of the day is

the movies. Here, too, we see age and sex differences.

Movies are frequented more by the preadolescent than

the adolescent and they are liked better by girls than by

boys. Boys are more interested in athletics than in mo-

vies in their daily teens and later, social activities dis-

place the movie. Although girls at all ages like the mo-

vies more than do boys, yet dancing and ‘‘dates’’ displace

the movies in their lives in later adolescence. There is a

difference, too, in the kind of movies enjoyed by the

sexes. Adolescent boys prefer adventure, sports and

comedy to romance and tragedy. Girls, on the other

hand, give first place to romance and are but little in-

terested in adventure and sports.

Movies undoubtedly influence dress, manner, ges-

tures and how to act, as well as arousing impulses to

crime, sexual urges and other emotional upheavals. The

movies are molding attitudes to life and the social in-

stitutions. And since the ‘educational’ film ranks very

low in the list of pictures liked by either sex it is more

than likely that in general the influence of the movies is

not a wholesome one.

Reading for pleasure is another amusement that

shows a decrease in adolescence. Here again the desire

for social contacts is the chief cause for the decline in

interest. Just as in the case of the movies so also in

reading interests there is a difference in the sexes. Girls

turn to fiction sooner and find it more interesting than

do boys. Boys prefer books on adventure, travel and

sports to fiction and are rarely found reading those

listed under girls’ books. On the other hand, girls not



INTERESTS OF NORMAL ADOLESCENCE 46

only express an interest in but read those listed as boys’

books.

Adolescents, however, are not solely and alone in-

terested in play and amusement. The question of voca-

tional advice looms large in the thought of the adolescent

boy and girl. And with the passing years in our time it

has become increasingly more baffling and perplexing.

The influence and pressure of the parents play a big

role in vocational choice. Unfortunately, this influence

is not always a safe and sound one. It may be that the

parent wishes his child to do what he himself had al-

ways wanted to do but could not. Or it may be that the

ambitious parent is desirous of his child reaching a

higher rung of the ladder than he was able to reach. In

such an instance the child is but a tool in the drive of the

parent. And should it happen, as it so frequently does,

that the child has neither the interest nor the ability to

measure up to the demand of the vocation, failure only

awaits the adolescent.

All too many young people today, realizing the diffi-

culties ahead, are making the mistake of just drifting

into the first job that comes along or preparing for one

that merely continues the school life and school days. The

world for such presents too many hardships and difficul-

ties and so they seek to escape it by not coming to grips

with a work adjustment. Then there is the adolescent

who has come to look down upon all honest toil and views

his work career solely in terms of social station. Ninety

percent of the high school students are looking for white

collar jobs although only about 10 percent will find em-

ployment at such jobs. Others again, think only in terms

of income, or security of tenure.

Vocational choice generally is not permanent in

early adolescence although some young people make up

their minds early and consistently stick to it. However,

since so many adolescents have no real knowledge of

vocations it is not surprising that many change their

minds from year to year. In general, the more intelligent



46 THE ADOLESCENT

boys know what they want to do and work fairly consis-

tently to achieve their ambition although even such may

have to change their choice for want of an opening. The

more intelligent girl, however, shows less permanency

in vocational choice than her intellectually inferior sis-

ter. Here again social factors play a big role. Compara-

tively fewer opportunities exist in our industrial civili-

zation for girls than for boys even though that same civi-

lization is destroying her interest in the home and fam-

ily.

In view of the value of interests in serving as an ex-

ploratory function it is desirable that adolescents have

contact with many worthwhile activities so that thwarted

in one field substitution may be facilitated. However, the

interests aroused in activities should be proportionate to

the individual's capacities and thus broaden and yet in-

tegrate the personality.

Today there exist numerous interest inventories

and questionnaires. Such questionnaires not only have

informative value but may have stimulative value as

we^I. Among the best known of such inventories are Min-

er s Analysis of Work Interest, Strong's Vocational In-

terest Blank, Garretson and Symond's Interest Ques-

tionnaire for High School Students, to mention only a

few. The information received in this way is of consider-

able value to the competent vocational counsellor and

thus an aid in preventing the vocational fitting of a

square peg into a round hole.

Study Club Questions

1. Explain the term ‘‘interest."

2. Why is the study of adolescent interests important?

3. What are some of the main theories of play?

4. How does amusement differ from play?

5. What are some of the chief differences between the

play of the small child and of the adolescent?

6. How can the interests of adolescents influence their

“choice of a vocation" ?



Factors In Juvenile Delinquency

Chapter VII

Delinquency and crime present problems of tremen-

dous importance to the student of adolescence. Delin-

quency has its highest incidence in the early years of

adolescence and crime today to a great degree is com-

mitted by youth in the late teens and early twenties. The

public generally thinks of the delinquent adolescent in

terms of juvenile court appearance and committment to

correctional institution. However, there are undoubtedly

many more adolescents who have been delinquent and

have never been taken to court than such as have been

arrested. Then, too, there are even more who are delin-

quent in behavior and conduct but not to such a serious

degree as to warrant arrest and a court hearing, formal

or informal.

Over the years three theories, or rather points of

view, have been proposed for the interpretation of delin-

quency. The first of these is the type theory. Lombroso,

an Italian criminologist, is the father of this theory. For

Lombroso the criminal was a throw-back to an earlier

kind of man—one more primitive than man today. This
type of man he thought he could identify as one possess-

ing a peculiar pattern of physical and mental make-up.

Projecting ears with the lobule attached, not free, large

cheek bones, receding forehead, prominent lower jaw,

these were some of the physical characteristics Lombroso

described as belonging to the criminal type. Mentally, he

believed them lacking in moral consciousness and to be

below par in the appreciation of pain and sympathetic

feeling. But the more Lombroso worked on his theory

the more he was forced to modify it. Today the consen-

sus of opinion inclines to no belief whatsoever in the

“born criminal,’' although evidences of degeneration may

be found in many criminals.



48 THE ADOLESCENT

Another theory is known as the native defect theory.

This theory is variously stated. According to one con-

cept, the delinquent is thought to be deficient in moral

sense. In some countries, as for example Great Britain,

such defectives are known as moral imbeciles. In no

sense is it possible to quantitatively measure moral sense

as one does intelligence. True one does find individuals

who seem to lack ability to really understand the moral

and social code. But much more study is necessary be-

fore one can truly say such individuals are inherently

morally defective apart from a general mental defective-

ness. It may be, however, that when the pendulum

swings back from the present reaction to thinking in

terms of instinct that research will delineate more clear-

ly moral differences and a morally defective type.

Much more emphasis has been placed by those hold-

ing to a native defect theory on intellectual inferiority as

a cause of delinquency. In the early days of mental (in-

telligence) testing a very high percentage of feeble-

mindedness was found among delinquents and criminals.

This was due to several reasons. First, a lack of knowl-

edge of the normal distribution of intelligence; second,

the wish was father to the thought (findings) and last

the fact that mental deficiency might be—and is—a con-
tributing factor but not necessarily the direct cause.

That mental defect does contribute causally no one

can deny. The mentally retarded child often comes from

a home where the parents are not too high grade or

where he is not given the training so essential to normal

social and moral conduct. The presence of the defect

makes such a child less capable of profiting by experi-

ence. Hence such a child needs more training in making

moral and social judgments than the normal person.

Usually, however, his training tends to arouse emotional

reactions of hostility and unhappiness. The school train-

ing of such a one often does nothing other than foster

conflict and engender hate. The end results all too often

in delinquency. It should be understood, however, that



FACTORS IN JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 49

mental defectiveness is never the sole factor in delin-

quency.

Another concept involving the native defect theory

of delinquency is that of constitutional inferiority. In

our present state of knowledge there is place for such a

concept. Examinations do reveal certain persons to be

below par in their general functioning. Unfortunately

this category of constitutional inferior has served as a

sort of waste basket—every other state or condition ex-
cluded the diagnosis of constitutional inferior. The de-

gree of such constitutional inferiority varies from per-

son to person. In general, such a condition is incurable.

It may, however, be ameliorative and hence one should

not be too pessimistic about the outcome.

The third theory might well be called the functional

theory. Probably this can best be stated by saying that

delinquency occurs when certain types of environment

act upon certain types of individuals. In other words,

in the majority of cases the delinquency is neither wholly

inherited nor wholly acquired.

The question now can be asked, ‘‘Do the roots of de-

linquency and crime lie in adolescence?” The answer is

they do not. The fact that overt delinquency and crime

do have a higher incidence at adolescence than at any

other age period does not mean that such behavior first

began at that age. Just as in the contagious diseases of

childhood there is an incubation period during which the

disease is not plainly evident, so also in delinquency there

is an incubation period. Adolescence is a period in the

life growth of an individual when the organism is under

great stress. The individual at this stage is less well in-

tegrated. Just because this is so is the reason that the

undercurrent of emotional disturbance can break

through readily and produce the behavior called delin-

quency. And just as in a contagious disease there is in-

creasing disturbance, such as malaise, loss of appetite,

fever, before the rash appears that characterizes the di-



60 THE ADOLESCENT

sease, so also there are premonitory signs and symptoms

of delinquency long before adolescence is reached.

Delinquency, in most if not all cases, is an expres-

sion of emotional difficulties of which the individual may

be, to a greater or lesser degree, unconscious. One fruit-

ful cause of such emotional conflicts grows out of the

broken home. Generally one thinks of the broken home

as caused by death, desertion, divorce, separation, im-

prisonment or chronic illness necessitating the removal

of a parent from the home. But there is also another

type of broken home, namely, one in which there is little

or no love or affection between the parents in marriage

and an unhealthy attitude toward the children. It is this

latter condition that is the important one.

The neglected child, the physically or emotionally

abused child, the child who develops strong feelings of

inferiority, or he who comes to feel not wanted for what-

ever cause, is the child who may in his adolescence be-

come delinquent. It must not be overlooked that how the

child feels is a much more determining factor in his be-

havior than what others may feel about him or his situa-

tion.

The home, then, is the starting point not only of

normal behavior but also of neurotic and delinquent be-

havior. Upon the home rest grave responsibilities. De-

linquency is an expression in conduct of the failure on

the part of the family to provide emotional ties that

make for a feeling of security.

At adolescence the child will not only feel his situa-

tion but he will also want to do something about it. If he

has never felt himself loved and secure in the affections of

his parents and teachers, he will never have experienced

an3’’ reason for relinquishing his personal desires in the

interest of parents or teachers. This lack of ability to

renounce personal strivings for society’s sake is a char-

acteristic of delinquents. This is why one reads^that the

characteristic traits of the delinquent are self-centered-

ness, exaggerated acquisitive impulses, a lack of sensitiv-



FACTORS IN JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 51

ity to social approval, temper outbursts. All such traits

are expressive of a lack of self-discipline, self control and

an absence of knowing how to live in harmony with

others.

Next to the home the neighborhood is of great im-

portance in conditioning delinquent behavior. ‘‘Bad’'

neighborhoods can be said to be of three types. These

are business districts, manufacturing districts and areas

of the city or district in which the population is in the

process of changing.

A business district does not cater to children—^there
is no supervision of them. But, on the contrary, there

are numerous opportunities for pilfering and shop lift-

ing. A manufacturing district is an unwholesome resi-
dence district in that only those who cannot or will not

live elsewhere will live there. Such neighborhoods are

unaesthetic in sights and smells. They, generally speak-

ing, lack parks and playgrounds. Because of the nature

of the population such areas often attract the criminal

groups and serve as hangouts for them. Saloons, houses

of prostitution, cheap dens and dives flourish in such lo-

calities. Children brought up in manufacturing areas

consequently see the vulgar and immoral all about them,

thus influencing their ideals and conduct. For the ado-

lescent, the behavior observed becomes the thing to imi-

tate. It is his notion of adult grown-up-behavior. Thus

“toughness” and criminal activity is engendered.

In areas of shifting population the child and adoles-

cent come to witness the breaking down of tradition and

social solidarity. As the population changes and those of

a different nationality or socio-economic status begin to

move in, all social cohesion breaks down. Quarreling

among the adults of such different groups is common.

Codes and mores may differ radically. Antagonisms

based on race, color and religion are frequently found.

Competing gangs are formed with the purpose of “class”

warfare. As a result delinquency rates are almost al-

ways higher in such areas than in areas of stability and



62 THE ADOLESCENT

social cohesiveness. The group mores is a tremendous

factor in influencing adolescent behavior.

The gang is said to be a factor of importance in de-

linquency. However, it is diflicult to prove that the gang

in itself is a cause of crime; rather it is a factor in the

development of delinquent attitudes and conduct. Al-

though a gang in the course of time may become delin-

quent as a group this is not the typical finding. The de-

linquent gang is more often than not made up of indi-

viduals whose behavior was delinquent previous to their

joining the gang. This is in keeping with the adage that

‘‘birds of a feather flock together.^’

The school may quite definitely contribute to delin-

quency. It would take us too far afield to discuss here

the change in public opinion concerning school attend-

ance. Suffice it to say that from relatively few children

attending school past the fourth or fifth grade in rural

America, we now have the majority attending under our

present compulsory education laws. The dull child or the

non-academic, non-verbal type of child must remain until

he is sixteen or eighteen, depending on the particular

State's compulsory age attendance law. The rigidity of

the curriculum—^the insistence on a 8R type of education
—makes such a child's adjustment to school difficult if
not impossible. The pre-adolescent and adolescent tends

to revolt. Bitterness and hostility directed against par-

ent and teachers is the outcome. This destructive atti-

tude is carried over to the larger environment and delin-

quency and crime is its expression in conduct and behav-

ior.

In recent years there has been much said and writ-

ten of the possibly degrading influence of attendance at

movies. It is extremely difficult to get an accurate esti-

mate of the effect of movie attendance. It is highly ques-

tionable whether any movie is a direct cause of a delin-

quent act. Undoubtedly the delinquent may have gotten

ideas from witnessing a movie which he later put into

action in some delinquent deed. Movies do tend to create



FACTORS IN JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 68

a false sense of values and evil suggestions are obtained

from the pictures. Then, too, the technique for commit-

ting a crime may have been acquired from witnessing a

movie picturing such an act. Sex delinquency also may

be stimulated in the already predisposed individual by

some of the movies. In general, one may say that certain

types of movies witnessed by an impressionable malad-

justed adolescent are a contributing influence to delin-

quency.

Certain physical disease states are productive ol

profound personality changes. Encephalitis lethargica

—

the so-called sleeping sickness—is a factor of consider-
able importance in the production of delinquent behavior

because of the conduct and personality changes that are

induced by it. Depending on the area of the brain most

seriously affected and the past personality integration

of the afflicted individual, this disease exhibits many

forms. Of particular concern to us are the conduct and

behavior oddities. Adolescents so afflicted become erra-

tic and impulsive. In such cases there seems to be a loss

of the ability to intellectually control their conduct. They

tend to be at the mercy of their disordered emotions. Al-

though knowing right from wrong—their intelligence
does not necessarily show any deterioration—thus knowl-
edge now fails to influence their conduct. This disease

tends to produce a markedly disorganized personality. As

a result, delinquent, anti-social acts are committed. Be-

havior such as an untrained child might quite logically

show, is very apt to get the adolescent into conflict with

society and its legal representatives. Unfortunately, too,

extreme forms of such behavior and conduct disturbance

may follow a very mild, even unrecognized, infection.

The diagnosis in some of these cases is made only after

the appearance of such marked personality changes and

the findings then in evidence.

Another disease state that must not be overlooked

wherever behavior oddities are encountered is epilepsy.

Now strictly speaking, epilepsy is not a disease but a



54 THE ADOLESCENT

S5Tnptom of some underlying disease. Hence one ought

to speak of the epilepsies since such disturbance can

occur in many different diseases. Much has been written

about the possibility of an epileptic personality and that

the symptoms that characterize the epileptic occur only

in one so predisposed. Such an epileptic personality is

said to manifest itself in attitudes of self-centeredness

and in recurrent spells of temper outbursts with little

motivation. Irritability and resentfulness, a feeling of

not having a fair chance, are commonly encountered in

the epileptic. When, in addition to such personality dis-

turbance, one considers society's attitude toward epilep-

tics, it is not difficult to see why they may become rebel-

lious and defiant and then express such attitudes in overt

delinquent behavior. To be sure, the total number of

cases of encephalitis and the epilepsies is relatively small

as compared to the total number of delinquents. But it is

manifestly unfair to overlook such disease states in any

discussion of the factors in juvenile delinquency. Treat-

ment to be effective must understand and deal with all

the factors involved.

Study Club Questions

1. What is to be said of the following three theories of

delinquency: The type theory; the native defect

theory; the functional theory?

2. Do the roots of delinquency and crime lie in adoles-

cence?

3. WTiat are some ways in which a home may lead to

delinquent behavior?

4. In what ways does a community condition delinquent

behavior?

5. How does the school at times contribute toward de-

linquency?

6. What physical diseases are factors in delinquency?



Chapter VIII

Personality Disturbances Of Adolescents

The adolescent years are prolific in emotional dis-

orders. Adolescence is a period of relatively loose inte-

gration. Those stable in their pre-adolescent years are

more likely to pass through adolescence and into matur-

ity in a healthy fashion. Unfortunately, however, there

is a fairly large number of adolescents who experience

a storm and stress period of sufficient moment to be

termed abnormal. In other words, all graduations of

emotional deviations may be encountered. Most adoles-

cents will come through more or less normal—^the diffi-
culty comes in defining what one means by normal. Some

adolescents, however, a percentage variously estimated

from 3 to 15, will become neurotic and even psychotic.

The late Alfred Adler made much of the ‘life style.’’

By this he meant that a person’s method of reaction is

noted in his earliest childhood and that he continues to

use that method throughout his life. If this be so, it is at

once apparent that a knowledge of the individual’s early

childhood will throw light on his adolescent behavior. In

fact, one may say that early childhood and adolescence

have much in common; adolescence tends to repeat,

modified somewhat to be sure, the development of in-

fancy. The boy or girl who was unusually shy and su-

persensitive as a little tot is the adolescent in whom

these traits will cause difficulty. Self-consciousness is

heightened at adolescence due to the rapid changes in

both physical and mental make-up that occur. The ado-

lescent longs for social approval. The shy, sensitive

youth, however, is even more than normally fearful of

exposing himself to the possibility of being ridiculed. As

a result he may attempt compensations in a neurotic

manner. Indeed, oversensitiveness is a serious condition.

Certainly it is never wise to try to “kid” or cajole such a



56 THE ADOLESCENT

one by forcing him into situations where he must dis-

play his weakness and such action will but heighten his

feelings of inadequacy and may cause him to retreat com-

pletely from reality into a phantasy world of his own

creation.

Jung, the founder of the school of analytical psy-

chology divided human beings into two t3^es. They were

either introverts or extroverts. Now it is doubtful if one

can fit people so nicely into such categories. Probably it

would be better to say that mankind exhibits some such

general trends or modes of reacting. Very simply stated,

Jung believes one type of person turns his interests in-

side himself, and the other type turns his interest out-

side himself. One, then, is subjective, the other objective.

For the introvert subjective determinants are not only

the important but the decisive ones. For the extrovert,

objective relations are the important and decisive fac-

tors.

Now, the shy, sensitive individual belongs to the in-

troverted type. It is not wise, therefore, to try to force

such a person into a situation calling for extrovert char-

acteristics. It is, then, a fallacy to believe that the intro-

vert, who may have turned to books as a compensatory

measure, should be made to indulge in social activities

and group games and sports. Rather what he needs is

understanding of his nature and not eiforts that will

drive him further from objective relations as a mode of

orientation. Too much entirely has been made of sociali-

zing through extrovert modes of reaction. Extroverts,

generally speaking, look upon the introvert as lazy,

or as a snob who feels himself too good for and is too

critical of his fellowman. So treated many of this type

will react to their conflicts by becoming oversensitive,

moody and give way to marked feelings of inferiority.

These reactions, therefore, not the original intro-

verted nature, are a real menace to mental health. For

a neurotic is at bottom an overemotional person. Neu-

roses are emotional in origin. The neurosis makes its



PERSONALITY DISTURBANCES OP ADOLESCENCE 67

appearance when the emotionally unstable person meets

a problem to which he cannot adjust himself in a normal

manner. In other words, there are two factors entering

into a neurosis, the individuaTs own temperament, which

is dependent on his constitutional make-up and his train-

ing, and the existence of a conflict which has caused a

chronic emotional strain.

There is a type of personality disturbance which is

characterized by fatigue, various poorly defined physical

complaints and a feeling of depression. This condition

is called neurasthenia. Fatigue is an ever present symp-

tom. Often it is ascribed to overwork. This, however, is

not the case, at least not in the sense of physical or in-

tellectual overwork. The exhausted condition is due to

the individual’s inability to solve his conflicts. Anxiety

and worry over conflicts can be more fatiguing than a

day’s hard work in school or on the playground. The neu-

rasthenic usually shows a withdrawal reaction. He is

socially isolated. He is too preoccupied with his own

problem to engage in social activities. His time is taken

up in ruminating over his conflict but about which he

really does nothing.

Since the neurasthenic has no normal mode of re-

ducing tension he is often given to masturbation. This

is a symptom in his illness and not the cause of it. Then,

too, he is preoccupied with the functioning of his body

as a whole or with certain specific organs. This is further

evidence of his self-centeredness and is to be interpreted

as a somatic repercussion of psychic (emotional) activity

and not an actual disease of the organs complained of.

In fact, somatic treatment often intensifies the mental

symptoms rather than cures them. It is not difficult,

therefore, to appreciate the neurasthenic’s feeling that

life is not worth the living and that his mood is one of

irritability and depression.

Hysteria is another type of response made to, for

the patient, an insoluble emotional difficulty. Now hys-

teria is a very complex medical entity and so we shall



58 THE ADOLESCENT

discuss it but superficially. Hysteria can simulate almost

any illness. And so one may find sensory disturbance,

such as pain in any and every conceivable site and organ

of the body varying in all degrees of intensity and dura-

tion, all in the absence of external stimuli. Then, too,

there may be loss of sensation or anesthesia. Such loss

of sensation is often of one half of the body with sharp

margins separating the anesthetic from the non-anes-

thetic areas, or it may be of the classical glove and stock-

ing variety. The striking fact is such areas do not cor-

respond to the actual nerve distribution to the parts

affected. Frequently one finds disturbances of vision and

of the other sense organs, such as hearing, taste and

smell.

Various paralyses may occur. These affect legs and

arms most frequently. Convulsive seizures, too, may

occur. In fact, the wealth of symptomatology is an out-

standing characteristic of hysteria. Inability to speak,

tics of one kind and another, abdominal complaints asso-

ciated with vomiting or other disturbances of like nature

all can and do occur. So also various psychic phenomena

such as sleep walking, amnesia, (memory disturbances),

dual and even multiple personality states and hallucina-

tions may be encountered.

Basic in this type of illness is a mental conflict which

the individual has not been able to solve in a normal

manner. Undoubtedly it takes a particular kind of per-

sonality, probably one showing some constitutional weak-

ness, to become an hysteric. The hysteric tends to identi-

fy himself with some other person in order that he may

fulfill some wish or desire. His symptoms express sym-

bolically such wishes or desires. The matter, however,

is not as simple as that may sound for all of this is not

in clear consciousness—it is not done deliberately—it is
unconsciously motivated. Suffice it to say that the symp-

toms also express a certain punishment for such desires

or wishes. The symptoms, then, are compromise meas-

ures through which the individual gains his desires yet



PERSONALITY DISTURBANCES OP ADOLESCENCE 59

is punished for desiring them. One point, too, it is

important to remember, namely that the individual so

afflicted usually gains something in the concrete world

of fact and such secondary gain from illness may, for

example, net him sympathy or escape from an intolerable

situation and he may wish to continue ill because of such

secondary gains.

Another type of neurotic disturbance encountered in

adolescents are the obsessive-compulsive neuroses. The

compulsion is an ever recurring idea or act, which to the

individual so afflicted may be appreciated as foolish, but

which nevertheless he must continue or carry out or be

possessed of an uncomfortable feeling of tension within

himself. Obsessive thoughts such as that one may kill

someone, or that one might become infected with germs,

or thoughts which concern themselves with obscene or

blasphemous ideas, are common. Scruples are an indi-

cation of such obsessive thinking. Such thinking may

lead to action of a compulsive kind. For example, the

individual may be obsessed with the doubt whether or no

he has locked the doors and as a result make numerous

trips back and forth yet never really satisfying himxself.

Certain social behavior is distinctly compulsive, such

as the compulsions to steal, to set fires, to exhibit oneself,

to drink, etc. One thing is certain, the individual so

afflicted cannot unassisted aid himself to any great de-

gree, neither can he be reasoned out of his peculiarities.

He knows they are foolish but he cannot without destruc-

tive internal tension control himself. Such disorders,

then, are due to conflicts and in this type of neurosis are

deep seated in nature.

Much has been written about the constitutional psy-

chopath or psychopathic constitutional inferior. Unfor-

tunately, this label is frequently attached when a more

careful study would have led to a totally different diagno-

sis. However, in our present state of knowledge there is

room for some such concept as constitutional psycho-

pathic states. It covers, then, a multitude of abnormal



60 THE ADOLESCENT

states. Such persons are usually genial, likable individ-

uals but they show an utter lack of responsibility so

that they are childishly unable to control themselves.

They just cannot accept responsibility. They do not seem

to learn by and through experience. Someone has de-

scribed them as rubber balls that bounce back to their

original state regardless of the impacts with life experi-

ences. At home and at school they are not amenable to

discipline. Punished one day for their transgressions

they repeat it the next and totally lack insight into why

one feels that they did wrong. At work such characters

lose their jobs due to their irresponsibility and accuse

their employer of being unfair. Such persons may be

found among the labor agitators who see only the injus-

tice of the employer. In brief, then, the psychopath

retains an immature and uninhibited personality. He

fails to grow into emotional maturity.

There are two classes of serious mental disease

—

psychoses—^that we must now consider. The first is de-
mentia praecox or schizophrenia. Once this disease was

called adolescent insanity because its victims are so often

of that age. Invariably one finds abnormalities in the

emotional life of the schizophrene together with an ap-

parent loss of intellectual interests. In fact, there is a

splitting of the psyche—^this is the meaning of the term
schizophrenia. These individuals do not meet their dif-

ficulties openly and frankly. Rather they tend to be shy

and seclusive. They do not make friends easily and do

not confide in them. Their type of personality is often

referred to as a ‘‘shut-in’’ personality. Undoubtedly this

type of personality rests upon mental conflicts tending to

faulty habit formation and instinctual maladjustments

and results in a continuous inability to adjust, thus

bringing about unhealthy biological reactions.

The second serious mental disease is manic-depres-

sive psychosis. This illness undoubtedly rests upon a con-

stitutional basis. The victims of this disease are char-

acterized by wide mood swings. The boy or girl who is



PERSONALITY DISTURBANCES OF ADOLESCENCE 61

the ‘‘life of the party” may actually be a hypomanic; the

rather marked pessimistic attitudes of another but evi-

dence of a mild depression. More serious are the periods

of elation on the one hand and the melancholic ones on

the other hand. It is, of course, possible for one suffering

from this disorder to have abnormal mood swings only of

elation or of depression with quite normal moods in the

interval.

There are many other emotional states which may

occur in adolescence. Those discussed, however, are the

more common ones. Our purpose in presenting them is

for the sake of pointing out the seriousness in refusing

to recognize such peculiarities of personality and seeking

aid for them at the earliest possible time. Parents and

teachers all too frequently still believe that children and

adolescents so afflicted will grow out of it. Unfortunately

this is not the rule, rather, the underlying attitudes be-

come more fixed and the symptoms more pronounced with

time.

All children and adolescents showing such peculiari-

ties of personality should be sent at the earliest possible

moment to a competent psychiatrist or a child guidance

clinic for observation and treatment. Delay is fraught

with danger.

Study Club Questions

1. What is the meaning of the term “life style” as used

by Alfred Adler?

2. Distinguish introvert and extrovert types.

3. What are the characteristics of a neurasthenic in-

dividual?

4. How does hysteria show itself?

5. Explain what is meant by obsessive-compulsive

neuroses.

6. What is meant by a constitutional psychopath?

7. Define the two mental diseases, dementia praecox or

schizophrenia and manic-depressive psychosis.



Chapter IX

Educafional And Vocational Guidance

Of The Adolescent

It is a well known fact that individuals differ in

intellectual capacity. From the standpoint of intelligence

they may be divided into idiots, imbeciles, morons, bor-

derline defectives, dull normals, normals, superiors and

geniuses. Idiots and low grade imbeciles are not to be

found in school at all. The low grade moron drops out,

generally speaking, before high school is reached or is

to be found in the special classes for the retarded school

child. In this chapter we will not concern ourselves with

such intellectual deviates. We shall pay particular atten-
tion to the ‘‘dull,’' and the very bright or “brilliant;”

that is to say, to the somewhat retarded and the dis-

tinctly superior adolescent.

Now schooling in itself is selective in effect. Chil-

dren who in the elementary grades were at the bottom

of their class, due to their intellectual retardation, will

have dropped out of school by the time the junior high

school is reached. And so there will be a gradual falling

down into a lower place of those next higher at any

given time during the years from school entrance to the

attainment of high school standing. That is to say, those

who were considered “average” pupils in the early grades

will be in the lowest category at the time high school

is reached and the “bright” pupils, most of them, will be

just average pupils in the high school. Put in another

way, this means that a higher and higher degree of in-

telligence is requisite for school achievement from the

grades through the university. But it is this selfsame

selective effect of schooling which is so much misunder-

stood and out of which misunderstanding grow the prob-

lems met with by the educational and vocational adviser.



EDUCATIONAL AND VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 68

Let us consider first the dull adolescent. It is only

in relatively recent years that he has become a high

school problem for the simple fact that only in relatively

recent years has he come to high school. The dull pupil

previous to the World War was not found in any consid-

erable number in high school. Since the Great War,

however, more and more of these dull adolescents attend

high school. This is due to several factors, chief among

them the high age school attendance law together with

child labor laws and the general dearth of jobs for youth.

Then also, the American ideals of more and more school-

ing has had its effect in giving these youths too the im-

pression that mere schooling in itself was desirable.

The borderline and dull normal adolescent in the

grades learned slowly but could w’ith drill and yet more

drill learn the material presented. Most of it at that

level is factual and it can be learned by mere rote mem-

ory. But when at the junior and particularly at the se-

nior high school level the matter presented tends to

become more abstract and theoretical the dull pupil is

lost. He is a non-verbal non-academic person. The curri-

culum of the average high school was never intended for

such an individual. As a result of his ever increasing

academic failure his sense of inferiority deepens. Hence

he becomes discouraged, disillusioned and unhappy. All

too often one can add, and delinquent too. In school he

is a failure. This unfortunately as a school attendant,

carries over to his extra-curricular activities both be-

cause of his feelings of inferiority and the reaction of the

brighter pupils toward him. As a result even in fields

in which the dull adolescent might achieve success he

finds himself not wanted.

Just because he is mentally dull, he will grasp rela-

tionships slowly and with difficulty, his attention span will

be short, his imagination limited, his interests narrow,

his reasoning and judging ability poor, his power to

generalize weak. No wonder then that in an urban com-

plex civilization his ability to form a strong moral code



64 THE ADOLESCENT

seems limited. His failure to live up to the code is not

of necessity due to immorality but rather to amorality

—

he is unable to grasp the underlying concepts and to

generalize therefrom. Such a person tends to be depend-

ent on others to keep him in line. But our civilization is

not longer homogeneous. Culture conflict tends to be the

rule particularly in the environment in v/hich so many

of these dull adolescents live. Instead, therefore, of com-

ing under the influence of others who would keep him

in line and acting according to the moral code, we find

all too frequently that he falls into the hands of the un-

scrupulous and becomes, if not the doer of the misdeed, at

least an accomplice. Due to his dullness, however, such

an adolescent cannot and does not grasp the idea that

his behavior as an accomplice is equally as wrong as

though he committed the deed himself. Such power to

reason and to draw conclusions he just does not possess.

Yet, knowing right from wrong learned as it were as a

rote memory exercise, he is held equally culpable.

Now need the dull adolescent be an educational,

moral and socio-economic failure? Our answer, of course,

is he need not be, provided he receives the proper train-

ing. The special schools for the retarded child as well

as the colony schools for the feeble-minded have shown

that many of the pupils trained in them have made good

social and vocational adjustments in the community.

But such children receive a differential education more

adapted to their abilities; a training that tends to in-

tegrate the personality, not to disintegrate it as does the

now commonly accepted school program. Educationally,

then, the dull adolescent needs a school program, adapted

to his needs. He needs comparatively few academic skills.

He does not need algebra nor Latin, physics or chemis-

try. He is not able to grasp and fruitfully apply such

subject matter. The traditional curriculum should be

scrapped
;
it is wholly irrelevant.

The curriculum for the borderline and dull adoles-

cent should first of all center about a review of the



EDUCATIONAL AND VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 65

essenttal skills in the elementary curriculum. He needs

to know how to make change, to keep a simple budget,

something about installment buying and so-called per-

sonal financing agencies—the loan sharks. Will his bud-
get permit buying on the installment plan? What is the

rate of interest charged by the majority of small loan

organizations ? Practical problems such as these based on

factual material are important problems in the lives of

such dull individuals. The loan sharks today thrive on

their kind. In English he needs to learn how to write

a simple personal and business letter. Further, he should

receive some training in what magazines and newspapers

he may find unbiased reports and which kinds offer only

biased accounts. The dull person, because he is limited

in reasoning ability, is terribly gullible. His training

should be aimed to protect him, not to lead him to the

slaughter.

Next, his training should aim to prepare him to

earn his living. Here we meet with resistance on the

part of many educators. They v/ill talk loud and long

about the culture value of education—a sort of education
for education's sake. Generally speaking such statements

come from the intelligentsia in our schools and colleges

who live in a rarified atmosphere far removed from the

concerns and problems of life as lived by the many as

opposed to the few. This, in passing, is the same group

who argue so strenuously for the traditional curriculum

and at best modify it by ivriting it down for those who

cannot aspire to scholarship—a modification worse than
useless for those not living in a quasi vacuum but in a

world of reality. It is possible to educate through the

learning of practical skills and more important yet it is

moral in that it tends to integrate the personality, not

warp and disintegrate as we have shown the traditional

subject matter does in the case of the dull adolescent.

What particular vocational courses to teach depends

on the supply and demand factor. A particular trade

today may not exist tomorrow because that work may



66 THE ADOLESCENT

be done by a machine. The schools must, therefore, keep

themselves informed as to the changes taking place and

likely to take place in business and industry. Suffice it to

say, the intellectually, academically, dull adolescent may

have good mechanical ability and so qualify for training

as a skilled mechanic. The semi-skilled trades offer op-

portunities well within the ability of the borderline and

the dull.

And lastly, the program for such adolescents should

offer direct moral and socio-civic training. We have ob-
viously emphasized the fact that the adolescent cannot

generalize and particularly so, the dull adolescent. His

moral training must, therefore, be specific for many pos-

sible life contingencies. It cannot stop with such an all-

embracing statement as Love thy God and thy neighbor.

His moral training must be grooved in, as it were. He

must have situations provided that will give him exer-

cises in right conduct. In other words, he must have the

factual data and the situation to test it. The first, of

course, is crucial but its reinforcement through specific

practice is important in the life of the adolescent.

Much in recent years has been made of the value

of the social studies in the education of the high school

pupil. There is grave danger of carrying this too far.

Time was when it was thought that the classics would

save the world, later it was science, now it is social sci-

ences. But the aim of education is the good. Social

studies alone will not make man moral. However, courses

in social living and social adjustment, as well as courses

on the family, child care and homemaking, have a definite

place in the curriculum of the dull adolescent. So also

does training in personal hygiene, and the right use of

leisure time which implies the imparting of a vocational

skill of one kind and another, such as the particular in-

dividual can reasonably well do and is interested in doing.

It is to be noted that our program for the dull adoles-

cent is indeed a differential one, not a dilution of the

existing academic high school program. There remains



EDUCATIONAL AND VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 67

only to be said that one dull adolescent differs from an-

other dull adolescent and that such differences must be

given due weight in arranging the individual program.

Health, physiological development, interests, personality

deviations, all these things must be considered by the

counselor. Probably the most difficult task will be to

convince the parents. Honest labor is looked down upon.

Schooling and more schooling is thought to be the pan-

acea. Next will come the educators. Here too the thought

that the traditional curriculum will raise the standards

and lift up the downtrodden is widely held and, most

unfortunately, preached by many. And lastly, the adoles-

cent himself will as a result of the current pressure
as-

pire to a white collar job or a profession. Careful guid-

ance in sympathetically bringing out strengths and weak-

nesses will usually be successful.

In contradistinction to the dull adolescent the very

bright or brilliant one grasps relationships readily, is

capable of sustained attention, has a high and active

imagination, is versatile in interests, capable of abstract

thinking, reasons well and can suspend judgment until in

possession of the needed data, can grasp the principles

involved and generalize from them more or less accurate-

ly. Furthermore, the brilliant adolescent is
physically a

good specimen, tall and heavy for his age. To be sure,

scholastically he usually is advanced in grade placement

so that his classmates are two or more years older than

he, which may give one the impression that he is not up

to size.

For the brilliant adolescents the high school curricu-

lum of a generation or more ago was intended. They were

the students that were being prepared for scholarship

and the professions. But with the changing of the high

school enrollment following the World War the curricu-

lum was altered; the standards were forced down to

meet the needs of the average pupil. As a result the bril-

liant student has not enough work of a character to

challenge his best efforts. He merely learns to loaf. The



THE ADOLESCENT

result of all this is that his preparation on entering col-

lege is faulty and unless awakened through contact with

a stimulating teacher he loafs through college as he did

through high school.

For these brilliant adolescents the high school stand-

ards must be raised. The classics, one or more modern

languages, mathematics, biology and the physical sciences

together with the social sciences, and wide reading should

form the basis of the curriculum. These students should

go on to college and the university. They are the ones

who should enter the ranks of the scholar, scientist and

the professions. Such brilliant adolescents come from all

socio-economic levels of society. Provision should be made

for those economically handicapped through student aid

in the form of scholarships, fellowships and assistant-

ships. Brilliant adolescents need not be social misfits. In

fact, such individuals usually are just as successful in

extra-curricular activities as in the classroom if suffi-

ciently stimulated by these activities. They usually occu-

py positions of leadership. They need not be snobs—^that
depends on their training.

To be sure, the superior individual also needs edu-

cational and vocational guidance. In educational guid-

ance his program must be planned to meet certain re-

quirements for the work he intends to engage in. The

academic subjects are the tools for further study and pro-

fessional training. Here, too, the health, physical devel-

opment, personality characteristics must all be evaluated

in light of the future training and the burdens it will

place on the individual. In other words, mere brilliance

is not enough for success. Needless to say a philosophy

of life based on sound morality should be acquired and

extended over the years of training. Upon these brilliant

adolescents future progress in the arts and sciences de-

pends. They, therefore, are worth saving and educating

to the highest possible degree, each according to his par-

ticular bent and ability. The maladjusted brilliant adoles-

cent, and there are many under our present system of



EDUCATIONAL AND VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 69

training, should receive every possible attention if for

no other reason than because they can damage society

to a greater extent than either the maladjusted, the

average or the dull if allowed to grow up with warped

personalities.

Vocationally, the brilliant adolescent needs to know

what vocations are open to him and what returns he can

expect. He will be willing to face the drudgery that goes

with the job if he wishes to reap the rewards. The aim

should be to find the ultimate place in life best fitted for

his talents so that he may be happy and successful in his

service, direct or indirect, to mankind.

Study Club Questions

1. Discuss the problem of the dull adolescent and his

schooling.

2. Discuss the problem of the very bright adolescent

and his schooling.



Chapter X

The Adolescent And His Family

Much emphasis has been placed in recent years upon

the significance of the family relationships in the forma-

tion of personality. Over the years of childhood this in-

fluence of the family situation has conditioned the in-

dividual and molded his character. Among other traits

so established were those of submission and dependence.

However, in the well-ordered home there also was in-

stilled into the child the belief that he would some day

become independent. In fact, healthy training recognizes

that the child is to be made into a self-reliant independ-

ent adult.

Adolescence is the crossroads—^now no longer a child
but not yet a man. This indeed places the adolescent in

a peculiar position in the family setting. The home now

no longer is in the most favorable position. It is probably

true that the family has exhausted its capacity to instill

new patterns by the time adolescence is reached, though

the old patterns and attitudes are still quite modifiable.

The adolescent is much more influenced by those outside

the family circle, more particularly by his own age group

and especially by his crowd.

A prime requisite, therefore, for every adolescent
is a family that will permit him to grow up and emanci-

pate him-self. Now no one can completely leave all traces

of his former status behind him^ nor would this be at all

desirable. What is meant by emancipation is a release

from parental domination. Often one finds that the

adolescent is ready for this release but the parents, one

or both, are reluctant and continue their firm control. As

a result there is friction if not open warfare between the

parents and the child. The process should be a mutual

one, that is, the adolescent should accept an ever increas-

ing amount of responsibility for himself, and the parents



THE ADOLESCENT AND HIS FAMILY 71

decrease their control and domination to a similar degree.

Because of this dual aspect the term psychological wean-

ing is much more descriptive of the total process.

Changes, then, must take place in both the parents and

the child if the adolescent is to achieve a normal self-

reliant, independent adulthood.

Much depends, therefore, on the attitude the parents

take toward the adolescent's desire to emancipate him-

self. Much of the aberrant emotional behavior of adoles-

cents is due to a conflict between parents who refuse to

release their control and the youth who wishes to achieve

independence from such domination. Hence it is of some

importance to discuss a few of the ‘‘problems" that mo-

tivate parents in their desire to retain control and domi-

nation.

One of these problems is the outgrowth of the rela-

tions between the parents themselves. If they be not

happily married one or both may attempt to bind the

child to himself or herself, thus resenting the adoles-

cent's interest in another person or persons. The at-

tempts to control in such instances may be by showering

love and affection upon the individual and making life

so easy for him that he cannot bring himself to break

away and stand upon his own feet, or, on the other hand,

to cast up repetitiously what the parent did and suffered

for the sake of the child and his selfishness and self-

centeredness now that the parent needs him. In particu-

lar, does one find this tendency in mothers who gave

themselves completely and selfishly to the task of rearing

their children and now that the children are growing up

see no future for themselves apart from the control of

the lives of their children. Many a mother-in-law con-

flict has its roots in some such motive.

Another cause for the parental desire to retain con-

trol is the parents' dissatisfaction with their lot in life.

Such parents seek to realize in their children what they

did not become. Many a father was himself so reared by

his parents that they literally forced him into a career



72 THE ADOLESCENT

which did not satisfy him and which therefore kept him

more or less in a state of rebellion. So now when his own

children arrive he does all in his power to influence

them toward the career he had hoped to carve out for

himself. Such a vocational choice may in itself be good

but it is not necessarily in keeping with the abilities and

interests of the adolescent and besides it is not self

selected.

Worse yet are those cases in which a parent is con-

stantly making the adolescent aware of the inferior

status, social or economic, incident to a particular job so

that by arousing feelings of inferiority the youth does

not prepare himself for such a career. Often this occurs

in the home where the parent cannot accept his own role

in life, believing it to be an inferior one and hence tends

to compensate by forcing his children into a superior

role as conceived by him.

Another serious problem is the attitude of parents

toward the modern world. Now parents are not of the

same generation as their children; their roots are in the

generation of their own parents. As a result their out-

look on life, except in rare instances, is quite at variance

from that of their adolescent children. Hence the conflict

between the generations that tends to such characteris-

tics as Youth in Revolt, and Flaming Youth.

Principles are eternal but program_s based thereon

are as shifting sand, influenced by each new invention and

advance in knowledge and the new (?) philosophy based

thereon. Change is therefore inevitable though not al-

ways progress nor without careful study should it be as-

sumed to be regression or corruption. Life in America

is of the vintage of the 1930’s, not that of the turn of

the century. Family life is different and children do have

a different place in it now than they did when the par-

ents were children. The automobile, the radio, the cinema

are the expressions of a profound change in American

life and hence in the unit of society—the family.
Women smoke and drink as never before. They



THE ADOLESCENT AND HIS FAMILY 73

work side by side with men in factory and office. Woman

today no longer has her husband picked out for her by

her parents. She is the equal of man in vices and virtues.

The emancipation of woman is a reality and must be

faced by all modern parents. The parental job is to so

train her that she may have the basic principles well

in mind upon which to formulate her own adult convic-

tions and to herself be true.

In the above paragraphs we have tried to indicate

some of the problems that the maladjusted parents tend

to create for the adolescent. The second requisite, then,

for normal adolescence, is parents free from maladjust-

ments of their own in relation to their state in life or

to modern society. Such parents contribute a stabilizing

influence which in itself is an aid in the growth of a

normal personality. To such parents the adolescent can

come with his own problems of life adjustment and hope

to find a real source of wisdom in dealing with the diffi-

culties that may present themselves. Of such parents

the children will be proud. Their lives will serve as a

model of what family life should be. Such parents know

the realities of life and can discuss them in an impersonal

fashion, leaving the adolescent to choose his own course

of action.

Parents must learn to stand aside. Adolescents will

make mistakes—^the severity of these depends in great
part on the pre-adolescent training. It is possible to pro-

fit by one's own errors and the parents ought to see that

the adolescent so profits. Hence there is value in putting

the adolescent on a budget and permitting him to buy his

own clothes and other necessities. Of course, he will

make mistakes but if his judgment was poor, to come to

his rescue by returning, let us say, the clothes bought

or harping on it forever, teaches him little of value, if

anything at all.

So too in regard to his friends. Let him bring them

to the house. Be not too critical of them. He will soon

see whether they fit into his social atmosphere and prove



74 THE ADOLESCENT

to be true friends. Moreover, their economic background

is no criterion by which to judge them.

Parents, too, must bear in mind that the developing

social consciousness of the adolescent will affect his atti-

tude toward the home. The old fashioned furniture, as

well as its position in the room, the hangings on the walls

and windows, the nature of the bric-a-brac and the pres-

ence of the family album may all be objects of annoyance

to the adolescent, particularly the girl. She may wish,

therefore, to change things about a bit. Within reason

such desires should be acceded to, often with tremendous

improvement, aesthetically speaking, of the house. But

much more important is the attitude of the adolescent

toward his parents when they so accede. Furthermore,

friends will then be brought to the home and the parents

will know where their adolescent child is.

Then, too, parents must be friendly but not monopo-

lize the time of friends. It is well for the parents to go

about their own business, leaving the young people to

themselves and trusting them. The day of chaperones is

over. To provide one now is an admission of distrust and

will be so interpreted by the adolescent.

Furthermore, it must not be disturbing to the par-

ents to have their adolescents consider their attitudes

old fashioned, or for that matter their manner of dress

and mode of speech. Here again within reason the par-

ents should learn to accommodate themselves to the

changing times. Though it be a bit difficult to under-

stand some of the requests made, it is wise to assume

that they are made in sincerity and to act upon them

with that thought in mind.

Parents of adolescents, then, will realize that they

will have to modify certain externals to conform to mod-

ern demands and to the age and sex of the adolescent.

However, not all adolescent difficulties are due to direct

conflicts between parents and their children. Conflicts

between teacher and pupil may be sufficiently disturbing

to cause emotional tensions which will be released in the



THE ADOLESCENT AND HIS FAMILY 76

home, and the more so just because the teacher will be

thought of as a parent surrogate. Unwise handling of

the adolescent by the teacher can greatly upset domestic

tranquility. Teacher and parents should approach the

adolescent's problems in a similar way, not at cross

purposes. Adolescents are very sensitive of their short-

comings. Unfair comparisons as to intellectual abilities

can engender profound feelings of inferiority and pro-

duce a condition akin to melancholia based on feelings of

unworthiness or a rebellious attitude in the struggle for

overcompensation. Such states, needless to say, will re-

flect themselves in the home life of the adolescent.

Quarrels with friends and lovers may for a time se-

riously affect the behavior of the youth and render his

conduct in the home quite unaccountable. So also may

petty jealousy flare up even when founded on so slight

a basis as overhearing the parents praise another child,

though no unfavorable comparison is made. Generally,

of course, such a jealous attitude was merely lying dor-

mant, its real basis being more likely than not a rivalry

for the affection of one or the other of the parents.

Finally the normal adolescent does attain adulthood

and a fair degree of emotional maturity. However

throughout this time, and even later, stresses and strains

of life will be bombarding him. Should they become too

severe he should feel free to fall back upon the home and

to look upon it as a haven of security and a tower of

strength from which he can march forth courageously

and again take up the struggle for the achievement of

self-reliance and independence.

Study Club Questions

1. What is meant by saying ‘‘adolescence is the cross-

roads?"

2. What are some of the problems that maladjusted

parents create for adolescents?

3. What are some positive or constructive ways in

which well-adjusted parents can help their adolescent

children?



Chapter XI

The Adolescent And Society

Adolescence tends toward maturity and adulthood.

As a consequence the home and the school influences

progressively lessen and the standards and mores of the

community play increasingly a more important role in

the life of the maturing adolescent. It is true that in

primitive societies the time period of adolescence is

relatively short compared to that of modern urban so-

ciety. But in such primitive societies the code is also

relatively simple and the possibility of transgression

relatively minor. This is in great part due to the simpli-

city and homogeneity of the community and the protec-

tion thus afforded.

However, in modern society the time period of

adolescence is relatively long. Furthermore the training

of the adolescent tends to be but a continuation of child-

hood training so that the adolescent is not in a position

to learn to assume responsibility and to weigh conse-

quences. Then, too, the modern community is in no sense

simple and homogeneous. The end result of this is that

as soon as the adolescent is out of and beyond the imme-

diate supervision of his family and the school the com-

munity is to only a minor degree interested in his wel-

fare. Then, too, the complexity of its organization and

the ease and speed with which one can get away from

all those to whom one is known, and thus in some sense

under restraint, makes transgression relatively easy.

The community's attitude to minors driving auto-

mobiles is a case in point. Laws even in a given metro-

IX)litan area may vary from age sixteen in one section

to age eighteen in another section of the same area.

Generally the suburbs will have a lower age ordinance

than the city proper. The reasons advanced are not chief-

ly the protection of the adolescents but rather the con-



THE ADOLESCENT AND SOCIETY 77

venience of the adults. Certainly the youth in the sub-

rub are not more mature than those in the city. General-

ly speaking, youth at sixteen is not physically and men-

tally mature enough to drive with discretion and safety

so high powered a machine as a modern automobile. How-

ever, it is problematical whether the chief danger in-

volved in permitting youngsters of sixteen to drive a car

is to life and limb or to the moral fibre. With the auto-

mobile it is easy to speed away from all restraining

influences. The automobile today is a greater cause of

sex delinquency among youth than houses of prostitution.

Alone on a secluded country road far away from all su-

pervision or danger of detection there is little if any

check on the appetite of sex. Innocent lovemaking under

such circumstances readily degenerates into carnal de-

pravity. And who is to blame for such corruption of

morals and the tragedies that so often result if not the

society that permits the issuance of driver’s licenses

to immature youth.

Another evil tolerated by society in which adoles-

cents are exposed to corrupting moral influences is the

cheap beer parlor. Now the saloon as a men’s club may

fulfill a need. But when open to both sexes and in par-

ticular to immature youth of both sexes it degenerates

into a house of iniquity. Under the influence of alcohol

which acts as a depressant of the higher (moral and

judgmental) centers thus permitting man’s animal na-

ture in contrast to man’s rational nature to operate un-

opposed, it is not at ail surprising that evil impulses and

desires com^e to the fore in the otherwise quite wholesome

youth. Dancing under such conditions and amid such

surroundings av/akens more fully and completely sex

desire. A joy ride following such experience alm^ost al-
ways ends disastrously.

Taxi dance halls and other public dance halls unless

reasonable standards are enforced, and in relatively few

are they enforced, are a definite danger to morals. By

their very nature the group attending is a promiscuous



78 THE ADOLESCENT

one, differing widely in standards of morality. The cheap-

er halls make no pretense of offering protection to their

patrons and in fact are often in league with underworld

characters who are lying in wait for their prey. Worse

yet are the night clubs of this calibre which in addition

to serving alcoholic beverages put on a filthy and mor-

ally degrading entertainment. Certainly such places of

amusement can exist only because adult citizens permit

it. Put in a different way, society as now organized is

more interested in not interfering with the profits of

any venture than in the protection of adolescents, and

let it be clearly stated that such places could not exist and

operate at a profit were it not for the patronage of youth

and the immature.

It may be stated that liquor is not sold to youth.

OflScially that is the rule. But no one can deny that many

a youth under eighteen has bought and consumed it. The

same thing is true of cigarettes, only here even less ef-

fort is made to control the illegal sale. Liquor and cigar-

ettes are obtained because of adult indifference to their

use by adolescents. It can be argued that moderate

smoking and drinking do no great harm. But youth in

its immaturity of judgment and mean’s ease in habit

formation make such statements false and misleading.

Too frequently of late newspapers have carried accounts

of drug addiction among high school pupils. Here the

indifference shown is not that of parents and the average

adult citizen but of the community as a whole in its atti-

tude to law enforcement and the prosecution of those,

sometimes in high places, who control these vice rings.

If society be lax in enforcing the law against crimes,

such as drug trafficking which it abhors, it is not to be

wondered at that it makes so little effort to control gamb-

ling houses and pool rooms and lesser fry of the same

kind. Many an adolescent has stolen to pay his gambling

debts or ventured more than he in any sense could afford

to lose. Slot machines have a certain fascination for the

young and because of their immaturity they seemingly



THE ADOLESCENT AND SOCIETY 79

cannot realize that they cannot win and that they are

just suckers. Bingo, no matter how hallowed the place

or the purpose for which the ill-gotten gain is used, is

a type of gambling and is conducive to further activity

of such kind. To talk about the small stakes and the

good sport and fellowship enjoyed is but a sham and

pretense and furthermore undermines respect for laws

against gambling and particularly so where there exist

city ordinances against bingo itself. The game of pool

in itself is harmless and under proper auspices it should

not be condemned. Poolrooms, however, tend to become

hangouts for vicious adults and can readily become the

centers of organized gangs. Once again let us remind

the reader that all these activities thrive on the expendi-

ture of young people. Society owes it to them that they

be not misled either directly or indirectly.

Burlesque shows and vaudeville to a great degree de-

pend for their effects upon the arousal of primitive pas-

sions. Costume, dance and story all appeal primarily and

that designedly to the sex instinct. Even in the mature,

the notion of emotional purgation cannot be applied and

particularly not when the spectators are adolescents. The

cinema may err in the same way. It was because of the

failure of so many movies to enhance the moral personal-

ity that the ‘‘Legion of Decency’’ was born. Now it is

extremely difficult to find evidence that a particular pic-

ture was the cause of someone’s sin. Behavior is due to

a multiplicity of causes and what the pictures chiefly

do is to crystalize the attitude and point of view already

held. It is true that the movies are today the most popu-

lar form of diversion and that it is reasonable to suppose

that a mode of doing something or a manner of acting

seen time and again will not be without its effect par-

ticularly on simple, immature minds. It follows then

the immoral movies are a graver danger to the young

when the moral sense is being formed than to the intelli-

gent adults. Pope Pius XI in His encyclical letter on

Motion Pictures states, “Everyone knows what damage



80 THE ADOLESCENT

is done to the soul by bad motion pictures. They are

occasions of sin; they seduce young people along the

ways of evil by glorifying the passions; they show life

under a false light; they cloud ideals; they destroy pure

love, respect for marriage and affection for the family.

They are capable also of creating prejudices among in-

dividuals, misunderstandings among nations, among so-

cial classes, and am^ong entire races.’' In the same en-

cyclical letter the Holy Father states, “Recreation in its

manifold variety has become a necessity of people who

labor under the fatiguing conditions of modern industry.

But it must be morally healthy. It must be elevated to

the rank of a positive factor for good and must seek to

arouse a noble sentiment. A people, who, in time of
repose, give themselves to diversions which violate de-

cency, honor or morality; to recreations which, especially

to the young (italics mine) constitute occasions for sin,

are in grave danger of losing their greatest, even their

national power.” It is self-evident, then, that there must

be supervision of the motion pictures. Pictures could

well be classified into three groups—^those appropriate
for children, adolescents, or adults. In all instances the

pictures should rest upon the principles of Christian mor-

ality. This society owes to itself and in an especial

manner to its youth.

Up to the present time the radio has not come in

for a great deal of criticism. Although many of the

programs are not very inspiring it must be admitted that

the average person has heard much good music and many

addresses of real worth by outstanding persons. A recent
skit, however, did much to call attention to potential

dangers to morals. The radio like the motion picture is

an instrument of great educational value and moreover it

is a recreational facility that keeps youth at home. So-

ciety should therefore safeguard its great inherent pos-

sibilities and exploit them for its own good.

There is need too for the protection of the adolescent

from the vendor of salacious literature. These persons



THE ADOLESCENT AND SOCIETY 81

are becoming bolder and are forcing their wares upon

those operating sales outlets, in particular the loan

library and small book store. Public libraries, on the

whole, are well supervised and only books of proven

worth are open to the general public. Certain loan librar-

ies and small book shops are catering to the demand for

such literature as is not to be had in the public library,

and that for reasons of decency and morality. Here too,

we find that it is the adolescent and the immature who

most frequently patronize such organizations.

So far our discussion of youth and society has cen-

tered upon the dangers, actual and potential, to youth

from the community’s neglect in providing adequate

supervision and control of actual or potential demoraliz-

ing influences. Now let us say a few words about a

positive program.

First and foremost the community should provide

numerous healthy outlets for emotional tensions. Youth’s

desire for play and sports could well be placed foremost

in the program. Playgrounds advantageously located and

in sufficient number are a prime consideration. Such

playgrounds should be extensive enough to avoid over-

crowding or having to wait a long time before space

and equipment are available. Swimming pools, tennis

courts, ball diamonds, football fields, facilities for basket-

ball, all these and more should be ample for the numbers

of youth resident in any given locality. Club houses and

social settlements have a valuable place in any community

program for youth. So also does the community theater

and music and other artistic projects. It is not wise to

center the youth program around any one sport or activ-

ity. Choice of activity is highly desirable; all tempera-

ments should be able to find an outlet for their emotional

tensions and such as will be morally constructive.

There is great need for the development of parish

facilities. But here too, the program must be a varied

one. Club rooms, opportunities for theatrical production

and for dancing should be provided. A parish library is



82 THE ADOLESCENT

a worthwhile investment. Furthermore, such parish ac-

tivities arouse the interests of the adults, fathers and

mothers, in all the adolescents of the parish. It will also

impress upon them the need to provide protection and

some supervision together with adequate facilities foi

play and recreation, and then youth will amuse itself

in a wholesome and constructive manner. This, certainly,

society owes its adolescents and for it the community

should be willing to make the necessary sacrifices.

Study Club Questions

1. Discuss the dangers to adolescents to be found in

the following factors
:
(a) The auto; (b) cheap beer

parlors (c) public dance halls; (d) night clubs; (e)

liquor and drugs; (f) gambling devices; (g) the-

atre and screen; (h) the radio; (i) salicious liter-

ature.

2. What should the community do by way of a positive

program?

3. What parish facilities should be developed for the

adolescent’s welfare?



Chapter XII

The Hygiene Of Adolescence

All evidence points toward considering adolescence

as but a phase in the growth and development of the

individual. In this growth and development adolescence

is not a unique stage which bears no relation to what has

gone before or will come after. Neither is adolescence

to be considered a necessarily critical period in the life

history of man. Unhygienic conditions, on the other

hand, do cause considerable morbidity among adolescents.

Good health in adolescence is, then, to a great extent de-

pendent upon good health before pubescence and the con-

tinuance of sound hygienic regimen.

Unquestionably the tendency of the day is to over-

stimulate the growing boy and girl of adolescent age.

Ambitious parents plan social affairs for them. School

systems keep them penned up within doors from eight-

thirty to three-thirty and then send them home to spend

several hours in preparing for the next day’s class assign-

ments. And worse yet, the average parent blames the

school system and the average school principle blames

both the parents and the school system for this state of

affairs but neither does much of a constructive nature

about it.

Attention has already been called to the nutritional

needs of the growing boy and girl. Far too little atten-

tion is paid in the schools to proper instruction in nutri-

tional needs, and especially with regards to instruction

directed against fads in foods and in dietaries. Hence,

there is no proper offset to the vagaries in such matters

proclaimed by radio and screen stars, to say nothing of

the dishonest advertisements. The cafeteria plan in many

schools is open to criticism in that relatively little atten-

tion is paid to seeing that the adolescent chooses his food

wisely. In many schools, too, insufficient time is allowed



84 THE ADOLESCENT

for the lunch period. In others no control whatsoever is

exercised over the free time and students may go with-

out lunch, spending their time in witnessing a movie

being shown in the school auditorium or in even less

wholesome and desirable ways. Health and good nutri-

tion are intimately bound up and hence matters pertain-

ing to good nutrition should receive a large share of

attention in any well rounded hygiene program.

Sleep, “the great restorer,’’ is another important

factor in preserving health. The tendency of the day is

to surround adolescents with so many activities of a

social kind, such as parties, movies, dances, that it in-

terferes with the obtaining of proper rest and sleep.

Good authorities recommend as essential to health not

less than ten hours of sleep for adolescents twelve to six-

teen years of age and not less than nine hours of sleep

thereafter. The unnecessary amount of home study

—

each teacher working on the assumption that hers is the

only subject either worth studying or the only one in

which extramural preparation is or ought to be re-

quired—adds to the difficulty. The conscientious and
slow pupil foresakes play and exercise in order to get his

studies up before the party, hence delaying its begin-

ning until ten o’clock or even later, or in other instances,

spends the early morning hours following the social

affair in such study. In either case his actual hours of

sleep are considerably below the minimum required for

the preservation of health.

Every adolescent girl as well as boy needs exercise

and outdoor activity. Boys, generally speaking, are in

this regard better dealt with than girls. Too many par-

ents still frown upon girls actively participating in out-

door sports. The school “gym” period cannot be con-

sidered as satisfactorily taking the place of healthful

outdoor activity. Gymnasium work is usually within

doors, and all too frequently in a none too well ventilated

structure and often in the school basement. The school’s

outdoor activity tends to center around the school team



THE HYGIENE OF ADOLESCENCE 85

and so only relatively few of the total number of stu-

dents actually engage in activities outdoors. Yet every

boy and girl ought to have opportunity for physical de-

velopment in the open. Because of the system of com-

petetive athletics, most adolescents lose interest in ath-

letics and many show an increasing dislike for such

sport. This is often a defense reaction. That boy or girl

who cannot compete successfully in the few games and

sports open to him or her comes to resent that which is

a constant reminder of inferiority. Opportunity in keep-

ing with ability is as urgently needed in athletics as in

any other scholastic undertaking. Games and sports in

addition to healthful exercise do furnish means for train-

ing in self-control and self-discipline. Then too such

games have value in providing opportunities for social

contacts, thus aiding in the development of group feel-

ing and in providing opportunity for exercising ability in

leadership.

Just as play so also work is an important hygienic

factor in adolescence. Experience of real life is gained

through work. Opportunities for work serve to arouse

interest in vocational choice. Work, needless to say,

should be proportionate to capacity. Many early work

failures are attributable to failure in providing congen-

ial tasks which can be successfully performed with reas-

onable effort on the part of the adolescent. Work is

drudgery if no reasonable satisfaction can be gained

from it. Schools owe it to the adolescent to provide him

with an opportunity to become acquainted with a wide

range of work interests as well as to give him opportu-

nity to find himself in relation to such interests. Many

worthwhile interests facilitate substitution in case of

thwarting in some one particular field or fields of work.

Adolescence, like all of life, is characterized by the

need for adaptation. Faulty adjustments are frequent at

all stages in human existence. Adolescence, however, be-

cause of ego discovery and conflict is marked to a great



86 THE ADOLESCENT

degree by the possibility of faulty adjustments. Faulty

adjustments are relatively common in the sex sphere.

It is a common experience that the normal grammar

school child exhibits little curiosity in sex. In fact the

preschool child may ask more frankly sexual questions,

such as where babies come from, as well as exhibit more

curiosity about things sexual. However, there is no such

thing as a definite time for sex instruction. Questions

should be answered as they are asked. Needless to say,

the answer should be in accord with the child’s ability to

comprehend. Too many children are rebuked when young

and come to feel from the rebuffs met and the shocked

emotional tone of the parents that the subject is taboo

and must not be inquired into. This brings about an un-

healthy state of mind in regard to sex matters.

Parents should avoid two extremes. The first is the

attitude that sex is bad, evil in itself, and that they had

best keep their children in ignorance of all things sex-

ual. And the second is the notion that sexual enlighten-

ment is the all in all of sex education. In this day and

age it is next to impossible to keep children from obtain-

ing sex information. It is essential, therefore, that the

information they obtain is sound scientifically on the one

hand, and, on the other, that they are through training

in morals and religion capable of so handling the infor-

mation that it will lead to positive, wholesome character

formation.

At the beginning of pubescence there is a marked

awakening of sex consciousness, probably in great part

stimulated by the anatomical and physiological changes

which are taking place. Certain new things now enter

the life of the adolescent. Sensory stimuli come stream-

ing in and demand attention. How these are handled

depends in great degree on the knowledge the adolescent

has plus his training in ethics and the aid he derives

from his religious practices, as well as his opportunities

in satisfying in more socially acceptable ways his

thwartiugs in this field.



THE HYGIENE OF ADOLESCENCE 87

Certain knowledge should be imparted previous to

its need. For example, the girl needs to know about the

onset of menstruation and how to care for herself at this

time. It is highly desirable that she come to look upon

this phenomenon as a normal physiological function, and

not as an illness or sickness. The terms illness or sick-

ness should never be applied. Wrong impressions re-

ceived at this time may color her entire future life. Much

of the chronic invalidism at the menstrual period is

mental and not physical and is due to the impression of

sickness acquired in her teens. The slight indisposition

normal to this period is not therefore to be looked upon

as illness. In general, a girl should participate in mod-

erate exercise throughout the menstrual period. The ado-

lescent boy should be prepared for the perfectly normal

nocturnal emissions. To many boys this comes as a shock

and leads to much senseless worry. Such concern and

worry tends to keep things sexual uppermost in mind and

makes control much more difficult.

Sex instruction is in great part a personal matter

and is therefore something which cannot be well pre-

sented in the classroom, not even to those of the same

sex. Not all adolescents mature at the same age. Fur-

thermore, what is new to some may be considered child-

ish to the more sophisticated. Harm therefore would

result rather than good in such classroom discussions.

Moreover each one would still have the problem of per-

sonal adjustment to the known facts. This depends on

previous training and experience and on one’s outlook on

life.

Adolescent boys and girls do need the social com-

pany of each other. And, moreover, they will need to

learn to adjust to each other as individual persons. On

how they have learned to integrate sex into the total

character, will depend their sex adjustm.ent in their busi-

ness, social and marital relationships.

Throughout these chapters we have aimed at

presenting the subject of adolescence as but a phase in



88 THE ADOLESCENT

the life span of the individual in his growth and develop-

ment from childhood into mature adulthood. We have
emphasized the roles of the parent and the teacher in this

preparation of the adolescent for adult living on a well

integrated plane. That, after all, is the purpose, namely

the living of purposeful, adjusted, efficient, adult life

—

period much longer than childhood and adolescence.

Study Club Questions

1. What are some of the factors leading to overstimula-

tion of the adolescent today?

2. Discuss the hygienic value to the adolescent of : (a)

Proper food; (b) sleep; (c) exercise; (d) work.

8. Discuss the problem of proper adjustment on the

part of the adolescent in the sphere of sex.





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