Physical activity and the adolescent
Introduction.
Characteristics of the adolescent period:
Within the stage of adolescence,
we can establish different substages since it is a period that is known when
it begins but not when it ends, hence we are going to frame a series of
characteristics in different substages of adolescence.
Substage between 11-12 years:
- He gets out of control easily, suffers from frequent fits of laughter and mood swings;
- If he is upset, his voice is easily raised, and when a really strong moral authority is lacking, it is difficult to control him;
- There is their rebellion against their parents, the fights and constant quarrels with their siblings, the opposition to helping with the housework, the resistance to adopting good manners, the constant protest, etc., phenomena that are largely simple manifestations of personal affirmation and self-absorption of the first phase of adolescence;
- Resistance to family norms, aggression almost without realizing it, to the parents themselves, although he indisputably loves them;
- He dialogues with adults to verify the reactions that his behavior produces in the interlocutors;
- Taste for group action, in the form of competition with his peers;
- Energy at work, spontaneity in behavior, and immediacy in action.
- At these ages, some hormonal changes of a sexual nature begin to take place: voice, acne, sexual organs, etc .; especially they are more precocious in women.
- After these first psycho-emotional and sexual changes, reactions such as:
- They passionately project themselves into human problems or current events, applying themselves to them or radically criticizing them, taking their reasoning manifested through action, criticism, rejection, or repulsion to the last consequences.
- Assemble theories - emanating from very complex reasoning and feelings - about the universe, society, social solidarity, peace or love, which, being the result of internal conflicts become the subject of endless and passionate debates that, directed by their portentous imagination and insightful fantasy, they take you: to the world of illusion, meditation, and pure intellectual speculation; or the fear of facing the real and the distrust of the social. That is why they develop a wide range of feelings, unleash innumerable passions, and transform relationships with the opposite sex and authentic effective romances.
- Experience feelings of guilt and anguish; complex and insatiable behaviors; live constrained and show aggressive, angry, or violent attitudes, or on the contrary, behave with extreme delicacy and exaggerated submission, are afraid of losing the friendship and affection of their parents and plan prospects (adventurous life, heroics, fantastic trips, etc.), ways of behaving that allow them to release an intense and dynamic effective charge.
Substage between 13-16 years:
We can say that at this stage the subject at the psycho-emotional level suffers what is called "internalizing consciousness", that is, the interior interacts with the exterior through an intellectual game and a dialectic of conflicts; internalization process that will lead him to the discovery of his own individual construction process and his personal maturation. . This leads the subject to self-reflection on himself and on the outside world, which leads to states of mistrust, moments of sadness, mood swings, contradictory attitudes, and insolent expressions.
Due to these characteristics,
reactions occur in the subject such as:
- They aspire to be elegant and to have aesthetic qualities, robustness, and physical strength, sports skills, and good looks;
- Self-control and sense of duty;
- To be intelligent and loyal, idealistic and active, tolerant and willing to have a good opinion of them; realistic and original.
Regarding the level of feelings, contrary to
what happened during childhood, the adolescent channels his feelings and
affections away from home, towards colleagues or adults, towards all people who
are interested in him, are sensitive to their problems and understanding with
their behavior. These feelings, in addition to providing you with personal
security and self-confidence. This affective situation leads the adolescent to
search for social meaning, meet others, and feel that he needs to complete
himself. It is at that moment when the tendency to the first flirtations
occurs. That is why the boy -more aggressive and viscerally impulsive- feels
the need for tenderness, protection, and affection.
The girl, in turn, feels the need for someone
to encourage her, understand her, and give her strength and support. It is the
moment of opening to the affective world and the discovery of the other and
oneself, a time of ephemeral romances and loves, which end as soon as they
begin - because they have only begun as a mechanism of flight and escape. At
that time the adolescent needs, more than ever, to be helped, to have parents
who are capable of their educational mission, teachers who understand the complex problem of adolescence.
The two components of a normal
sexual life, the genital and the sentimental, are able to fully develop at
puberty with great difficulty. In the girl the sentimental component is ahead
of the genital and in the boy, on the contrary, in the first phase of puberty,
it is the sexual that prevails over the sentimental. Only in the final phase of
puberty and adolescence, upon reaching full maturation and entering adult life,
is balance reached in the development of these two components.
The first phase of adolescence,
characterized by a deep and reciprocal attraction, is presented as the stage of
human development in which the biopsychological aspect of psychosexual growth
manifests itself through sympathies, affections, caresses, hugs, admiration,
respect, pride, submission, dedication, loyalty, friendship, aggressiveness, the desire for protection, power, or dominance.
Each element of this set of
emotions correspond to certain functions and roles in the development of the
adolescent's personality. They all exist as distinct entities and with
different purposes; but they are interacting, which is why it is essential to
understand the purpose and interaction of affectivity, sexuality, love, etc.
which are essential characteristics for the development of the entire human
personality to be whole and harmonious.
These constellations of feelings
and emotions, symptoms of their psycho-affective and sexual development, make
the adolescent's personality a fertile ground for conflicts.
At this moment (middle
adolescence, between 13 and 16 years old), the young man begins to detach
himself from his family, until then the center of his life and begins the path
of the process of his identity.
For this process to be carried
out with security and balance, it is necessary that the previous phases of
development has been carried out with normality and tolerance, especially the
oedipal stage, since, as we have seen, this stage supposes the overcoming of
the eroticized attachment to one of the parents. This progressive break with
the parents lead the adolescent to renounce his dominance and super
protection, to produce insecurity and restlessness, and to reveal his capacity
and his limitations. It is about the beginning of the generational conflict and
the prelude to the stage of affirmation of the individuality of the adolescent
in which, after removing the veil of the expression of sexuality, changes of
attitude is necessary for the manifestations of family authority and
modifications in the dynamics of his superego.
At this time, in late middle
adolescence, the young man is likely to initiate his first love, which, despite
the discovery of the other sex, has many narcissistic components. For example,
when a young man falls in love with a girl, he unconsciously sees in her the person he would like to look like if he had been born a woman. And something
similar happens in the young woman. Meanwhile, these crushes can be very
important to give greater security and meaning to his own sexual identity.
This process of psycho-affective development, which occurs in girls between the ages of 13 and 17 and in boys between 14 and 17, generally constitutes the most tumultuous and ardent period of adolescence. The emergence of new inner forces awakens in them:
- Burning and optimism;
- Need for independence and affirmation of their own I;
- Flowering of special qualities and attitudes
- Deepening of his personality;
- Passion for your ideals;
- Revaluation of your own image;
- Desire for professional success.
At the psychosexual level, the
adolescent, by internalizing the functions of his genital organs, removes his
libidinal tendencies from the family and directs them outwards; a fact that
requires reinforcement of their own identity, through a socio-psychological
process of identification with partners of the same sex, which is the way to
overcome the Oedipus complex, but also the unconscious origin of a large part
of generational conflicts, given the great need that the adolescent's identity the process creates him or her to be different from older generations.
This change ineffective and
sexual nature leads the adolescent:
- To become aware that his sexual organs, in addition to their pleasant function, have a reproductive function;
- At the socio-affective level, to the liberation of family authority;
- On a cultural level, to confront the socio-cultural legacy of the environment;
- At the social level, to question the order and dynamics of the surrounding society itself;
- At the affective level, to be solidly integrated into the school institution.
This process of successive
liberation from authority leads the adolescent:
- To the reunion of her own form of expression, to discover her own behavior;
- To learning the ideal way to communicate with oneself and with others;
- In short, to the development of his own personality.
Despite the fact that, often,
anguish invades him, originated sometimes by the need to accept his own social situation, and other times because he realizes that it is necessary to accept
the limits of his own human nature.
This is basically the dynamics of
the adolescent/adult split, carried out around the age of 16, and which is the
beginning of the third phase of the adolescent's evolutionary development, the
antechamber of their entry into adulthood.
This phase of his evolution,
characterized by the need he feels to increase his self-confidence to assume
the responsibilities he is contracting, makes the adolescent feel the need to
have free time, although he loves to be surrounded by other young people of the
same-sex. to discuss and test his independence and individual
self-determination, thereby demonstrating that he has a much more organized
mind than before, a more balanced spiritual stability, greater power of
self-control, fewer grumpy attitudes, and greater impartiality in his analysis
of the relationships, facts, and events, both in relation to their parents,
their classmates, their teachers, or society in general. Thus begins the process
of integration and search for his position in the adult world.
Such a state of the search for psycho-emotional balance, inner harmony, and adaptation to the demands of adult life, both in the field of behavior and in the economic and social sphere, is a period of much slower and quieter changes than the previous ones and it ends when the young person feels fully integrated, completely independent, without needing the emotional support of other people, without rejecting their own past, with a new assessment of their future and maturation of their way of thinking.
How it affects the self-concept and self-esteem in the development of the practice of physical activity in adolescence
Most of the emotional conflicts
that occur in the development of the personality are, mainly, due to the lack
of concordance between the image that the child has of himself and that
transmitted by society or the specific group to which the subject belongs.
Indeed, to get active young
people it is necessary to influence their self-esteem, defined as the degree to
which a person values the self-perception of their own image (Junta de
Andalucía, 1986: Glossary of health promotion). As Torre (1998) indicates, the
perception of the motor ability itself will influence the choice, practice, and the habit of certain physical-sports activities.
To influence self-esteem, first,
it is necessary to encourage the student to know himself and accept himself,
both in his possibilities and in his limitations. Thus, Epstein (1981) defines
the concept of himself as the set of mental representations and concepts
(descriptive judgment) that the individual has about himself, and that
encompasses his different bodily, psychological, social, and moral aspects.
Perceived aptitude refers to how
an individual compares his with that of her peers of the same age and sex
(Lintunen, 1987, cited by Piéron, 1998). This estimate revolves around the
skills and qualities of achievement in motor tests, which obviously will not be
high if not enough has been practiced.
Likewise, according to Sonstroem
(1978), cited by Torre (1998): “the subject who perceives a good level of motor
ability will be the one who presents the most positive attitudes towards
physical exercise, which will affect the degree of involvement in their
behaviors ”. Physical self-esteem, a consequence of the perception of motor
ability and physical appearance provides greater independence to the student
since they can choose and decide more freely. Thus, the activities designed to
reinforce it can be considered as health promoters. In short, in order to
improve this self-perception during Physical Education classes, different
authors (Fox and Biddle, 1988; Biddle and Goudas, 1994; Peiró, 1995; Sánchez
Bañuelos, 1996) indicate that it can be achieved taking into account some
aspects, like the following:
- Favoring participation more than performance, in favorable environments, where the objective will be effort and personal improvement, and not being better than others. Thus, we will reduce inequalities by gender or ability, since traditionally expectations towards physical activity are more positive in boys then in girls.
- Providing pleasant experiences that, in addition to pleasure, stimulate intrinsic motivation (through it, the child wants to improve and learn new skills). This depends on the convergence between motivation towards physical activity and the way this desire is achieved during participation (Piéron, 1998). Thus, the pride of what is well done or the discouragement that accompanies failure, affect said motivation and self-esteem.
- Informing about the importance of physical activity for health and promoting reflective experiences in students, in direct connection with the practical (cognitive component).
- Providing positive feedback from the teacher, parents, peer group, etc.
- Adopting compensatory measures on certain students with mild functional abnormalities. Testing the personal capacities of the students, as a challenge or achievement, with attractive and progressively achievable objectives, as indicated by the motivational theory of the achievement goals perspective (Peiró, 1995). Thus, classes cannot be mere recreations, with the simple search for fun, without considering their educational value.
- Encouraging the student to perceive a certain ability and physical condition, produced by physical activity (perception of competence), which will lead to a greater attraction to said activity. In addition, achieving good technical efficiency will result in lower energy consumption during activity, mainly in sports with a certain technical complexity, so the activity can last longer.
Hence, certain studies consider
self-concept and self-esteem as indicators of psychological well-being and
mediators of behavior. Hence, they are perceived as desirable characteristics
in adolescence that favor the achievement of objectives such as academic
performance, social achievements, healthy behaviors, satisfaction with life, and
achievements at the sports level. The adolescent stage is a key stage of life
when it comes to the formation of self-concept. In this period, important
cognitive changes occur that affect the development of self-concept. The
adolescent is incorporated into different areas or domains in which he has to
show his competence and therefore it is necessary to evaluate the level of
competence and/or adequacy that adolescents perceive in them (Harter, 1999).
Studies carried out with adolescents report a positive relationship between sports practice and global self-esteem (Mutrie & Parfitt, 1998). In recent years, attention has also been paid to the study of the relationship that sport maintains with the dimensions of self-concept, that is, with perceptions in specific areas of self-concept (Leith, 1994). In particular, scholars have analyzed the relationships established between sport and physical self-concept (Marsh, 2001; Sonstroem, 1997).
Benefits of physical activity in adolescence. Methodological criteria with the aim of creating healthy habits, through physical activity, in adolescents
1. Benefits of physical activity in adolescence
The benefits that physical
activity produces, in general, can be classified into 3 blocks: physiological,
psychological, and social.
a. At a physiological level,
physical activity produces a series of adaptations in our body:
- It reduces the risk of suffering from diseases: hypertension, DM, cardiovascular diseases, colon and breast cancer, etc.
- Helps control overweight and obesity.
- Increases the index of bone mineralization, thereby strengthening the bone tissue.
- Conditioning/muscle development.
- Improvement of the cardiovascular, respiratory, and muscular system, after achieving a good state of form after the development of "healthy" qualities: General Strength, aerobic endurance, and range of motion.
b. On a psychological level, the
following improvements occur:
- Improves mood and self-esteem.
- It reduces the risk of depression, anxiety, and stress (this at a normal level, without getting into high-performance sports, where there are many situations of stress, anxiety, etc., all caused by competition).
C. How to improve on a social level we can name the following:
- Increases autonomy and social integration.
- Encourage sociability.
The additional benefits of physical activity in adolescents are the following:
*Decreases cardiovascular risk
- Relationship between physical fitness level during childhood-adolescence and cardiovascular risk in adulthood.
- The role of low physical fitness as a cardiovascular risk factor even exceeds that of other well-established factors, such as dyslipidemia, hypertension, or obesity.
- Almost 1 in 5 adolescents have a future cardiovascular risk based on their aerobic capacity.
- Future cardiovascular risk is more conditioned by the physical form that is achieved (especially strength and aerobic capacity) than by the level of physical activity that is carried out.
*Increased mineralization of the
bones and decreased risk of developing OP in adult life.
- During adolescence the maximum accumulation of bone mass is reached.
- Regular physical exercise is one of the few factors capable of stimulating osteoblasts and thereby increasing the hematocrit rate.
- Increased bone mineralization during youth prevents the onset of osteoporosis in adulthood, especially in women.
- The increase in muscle tissue is associated with an increase in mineralization.
* Prevents drug use.
* Children who practice a sport
have significantly lower consumption rates for the three most commonly used drugs in our society (tobacco, alcohol, and cannabis) than sedentary children.
* The practice of regular
exercise contributes to establishing healthier lifestyles and reducing or
eliminating risk factors associated with a sedentary lifestyle. (Dishman, et
al., 1985).
In adolescence, sports habits can produce
these specific benefits/preventions:
- Contributes to the integral development of the person. Positive against fears, depressions, and favors self-esteem and the development of some abilities.
- Control of overweight and obesity. One in three children between 11-13 years old has high cholesterol levels for their age (FIT AMERICA, 1998). One in four Navarrese children has some cardiovascular risk factor.
- Better maturation of the motor nervous system and increased motor skills.
- Improves the physical condition of children with common diseases. Anorexia nervosa, asthma, cerebral palsy, kidney failure, cystic fibrosis, DM, HT, hemophilia, mental retardation, muscular dystrophy, obesity, RA ...
As we know, there is a great difference at a physical, psychological, and social level, between the sexes,
that is, in the girl the physical changes of adolescence occur in a more
premature way; On an emotional level, there are great differences between boys
and boys in adolescence, especially in terms of physical self-concept, although
this I think is a problem derived from education, since if I educate in the
same way (in terms of sports) to my two children, I think that there should not
be so many problems, although the problem of physical-self-concept is one of
the great problems that make the number of dropouts in girls' sport at this
age triple, with respect to the Boys.
There are a series of conditions
in the adolescent girl that causes this difference in terms of sports practice:
- Less incitement to activity
- Popular male games
- Dress
- Higher valuation of aesthetics
- Gifts reinforce idle games
- Support in housework
- Sex discrimination in professional sports
- There are no significant physiological differences until puberty?
- There are educational differences that make a difference in children's physical development.
- We corroborate the aforementioned with various studies:
- "FA decreases rapidly during adolescence especially among women" (1996 US Health Report).
- “Boys tended to be in better shape than girls; older children were in better physical shape than younger children; the younger girls were in better shape than the older girls ”. (Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine).
- According to a 2005 study by the University of Zaragoza: 44.74% of girls between 12 and 16 years old declare themselves very inactive, compared to 28.95% of boys.
2. Methodological criteria with the aim of creating healthy habits, through physical activity, in adolescents
The ultimate goal of the new methodological trends with respect to health will be to get active young people in their free time. Thus, with the purpose of greater physical-sports participation of young people, García Ferrando (1993) determines 3 predictors, which are the main causal determinants of sports habit:
- Sports habits of the parents, especially the mother.
- Importance of Physical Education (E.F.) in the school and the influence of the E.F. to interest him in sports.
- The young man's own conception of his practice, with the Search for a pleasant atmosphere of fun with his friends.
Delgado and Torres (1998)
indicate that for physical activity to be attractive for the student, it must
have a series of characteristics and didactic implications, among which the following stand out:
- It must be playful, healthy, and meaningful;
- It must allow its autonomy and achieve future functionality;
- You must take advantage of and recover unused spaces and avoid the underuse of existing ones;
- Must allow flexible hours; Y
- It must embrace interdisciplinarity with other professionals.
- "When what predominates are extrinsic motivations such as winning games or prizes, or pleasing parents or coaches, then there are greater chances that these habits will not last, even leading to sports abandonment" (Wankel and Kriesel, 1985).
- "When high levels of skill and mastery are perceived, with little pressure from family members, and great satisfaction expressed by coaches and parents, the ideal conditions exist for the adolescent to enjoy physical-sporting activity" (Brustad, 1998).
What causes the abandonment of the practice of physical activity in adolescents?
As we have already commented previously, there is a high number of dropouts from sports practice in adolescence; Based on the characteristics or changes produced at all levels in the adolescent period, we will try to explain in the most logical way, through a series of factors (which are not the only ones, since due to the complexity of adolescence, surely there will be more) why such a sharp decline in sports in adolescence
a. The competition
- The young man through the challenge measures his personal abilities and compares himself.
- Competing excessively, without considering the optimal challenge, can have negative psychological and educational effects.
- The role of the coach and the parents are decisive, they can make the competitive experience in the young person has a negative or positive meaning.
b. Monotony of sports practice
(repetitive training)
Due to the characteristics
mentioned in point 1, the adolescent needs to have situations of change,
innovation, etc. Hence, monotonous situations stand out for: Not having clear
objectives; short, medium, and long term; Workouts without variants; little
specific; without the adolescent's participation, and it is also not at the
level demanded by that boy/girl.
The student at these ages must
carry out a multidisciplinary practice, and above all the greater variability,
innovation, and creativity the practice has, it will help to increase their
intrinsic motivation.
c. Adolescent crisis
Physical and emotional changes
(distrust, insecurity, mood swings, etc.) can cause the child to abandon if
what sports practice offers does not arouse interest.
d. Methodological procedures
At this point, external factors
decisively influence, that is, teachers, monitors, etc., since they are the
ones that should awaken that extrinsic motivation in the individual; With good
extrinsic motivation, all insecurities in the child can be counteracted. These
external elements must take into account:
- Formulation of clear objectives.
- Presentation of the task.
- Practice homework.
- The transference.
- External feedback, with the aim of providing feedback on those positive behaviors, trying to obviate in some way those that may negatively influence the habit of sports practice.
e. Relationship with the
coach/teacher and with the group
- As we have commented previously, we must awaken in the student motivation for the task; we must also make the student feel understood; Parents should try to get their child to practice sports in a safe place, where he can express himself and feel good.
- The practice of giving security to the boy/girl with the aim of not being afraid of ridicule and the boy/girl must participate in it, that is, feel important within the practice of this sport.
f. Lack of female coaches
It is an exclusive characteristic
of the female sex since to understand the problems of a girl if we have gone
through it, in many cases, we will address them better; In addition, in this
time of such conflict, the fact that the teacher, monitor, etc., is male, makes
the girls have less confidence when it comes to treating any "female"
problem (both physiological and emotional).
g. Lack of objectives
It is a characteristic that links with some
previous ones; the objectives must be realistic, achievable, etc.
h. Difficulty in studies
Many parents blame any school failure on
sports because poor grades trigger the abandonment of sports forced by parents
when I believe that this position is illogical.
i. Injuries
It is a factor that occurs in a smaller
percentage but it does exist.
j. Group relationships (friends,
gang, etc.)
In this period, the choice of priorities
towards certain hobbies are affected by what the group chooses, people older
then the boy / a, etc.
What considerations should the adolescent's environment takes to avoid abandoning the practice of physical activity
At this time parents, teachers, monitors,
older siblings, etc., must be like a role model for the boy / a that is, we
must adopt positive aptitudes towards sports practice in order to reflect in
the behavior of the boy/girl; These skills can be:
- Modify some of your lifestyle habits, such as doing the physical activity yourself.
- Do physical or recreational activities as a family. They will imitate you more likely.
- Do a physical activity in everyday tasks with your sons and daughters so they get used to it. It will be good for the whole family.
If you are a father or mother of
those who think that playing actively in leisure time is important, you will
be transmitting this value with your attitude. Also, if you encourage them to
play actively, give them the confidence to continue, and show them that you
like what they do, you are reinforcing their behavior. Be interested in their
school physical education since:
- It is the only compulsory physical activity that they have to do during their school years.
- It is the area that teaches learning and physical skills that help us to be active in the future.
- It teaches why it is important to move and why it is dangerous to be inactive.
- Listen to them when they talk about physical activity, show interest, and value their participation. Know what they like and focus on it, even if it is not your favorite activity. You will probably end up liking it too.
- Guide they towards a physical activity that interests them and that helps them in their physical and psychological development.
- Teach them to compare themselves to themselves. We must value participation and fun, teaching them that winning is important but not the only thing and that it cannot always be achieved.
- Help them progress in different activities. Do not allow the abandonment of physical activity because you do not know how to throw a ball.
- Try to avoid making them feel ridiculous when they have difficulty with the activity they are doing.
- Respect their ability and their tastes. Don't force them to be sports stars.
- Give them the message that physical activity and a healthy diet are valuable lifestyles that can help us live a fulfilling life.
- The opportunities and means for them to do physical activity depend on our interest. Parents have many more resources to use the environment and we can guide and facilitate activities. To facilitate opportunities and means: give them skates, a rope or a ball, etc., so we are promoting active play; help them to distribute their time with a schedule that includes time for everything you consider important: meals, school homework, watching television, reading and also doing physical activity, take them to the park or other safe places to play actively; requests that there be ease of use of the school facilities outside the hours of organized activities; dress them in comfortable clothing that allows them to play freely without fear of staining; find out about the possibilities that exist in your neighborhood to practice physical, recreational and sports activities, and facilitate their registration and regular attendance.
Conclusion
We will end by repeating the importance of
Physical Activity in such a problematic and decisive stage in the life of an
adolescent. Point out the adolescent's environment, as a fundamental pillar,
which must be formed from the changes that at an emotional and psychological
level occur in the child, with the aim of better understanding their behaviors,
and most importantly, knowing how to help them in any situation of confusion that
can mark both positively or negatively in the coming stages.
No comments