The adolescent period : its features and management

Front matter

^ V

SYCHOLOGY

STARR

Preface

In response to many requests from readers of the '^Hygiene of the Nursery" it is my purpose in this Httle book to present an outhne of the physical and psychical changes that are to be expected in the period of life between the end of childhood and adult age. Also to point out some of the methods of management that should be adopted to combat the dangers of these trying years and reasonably insure the evolution of adolescence into healthy and useful maturity.

Of the many works of reference to which I am indebted I would gratefully acknowledge *' Adolescence" the incomparable treatise of Dr. G. Stanley Hall and '^The Sexual Life of the Child" by Dr. Albert Moll.

My book makes no pretence at being an exhaustive treatise. Its intentional avoidance of technicalities and its brevity may, I hope, make it acceptable to the ordinary reader and lead to greater interest in, and closer attention to, matters that are of vital importance to the future well-being of our boys and girls.

LOUIS STARR.

Chapter I Growth, And The Development Of Muscle Power

General growth, or increase in height and weight — after the first two and one-half years, when it is more rapid than in any other period of life — is quite regular and constant up to the eighth year. After this, though continuous, it is slower until the age of eleven or twelve in girls and thirteen or fourteen in boys, when, as puberty is established, there is a decided acceleration, most noticeable during the fourteenth year in the former, when height and weight may exceed boys, and the fifteenth in the latter and continuing to the seventeenth or eighteenth year respectively. After this time there is a marked lessening in the rate of growth, as if the developmental energies were spent and in need of recuperation. In consequence, many girls almost stop growing at seventeen, but with boys, under favoring conditions — good food, proper hygiene and judicious physical culture — there is a final period of increase at nineteen or twenty, which gradually and irregularly terminates in full height several years later, while weight augments until thirty or longer.

In growth, then, there are periods of acceleration alternating with intervals of comparative rest, and in these latter it is probable that qualitative improvements of structure are taking place through the same life force that produces gross increase in size.

In both sexes gain in height antedates gain in weight. Weight often increases long after full height has been attained, and during the years when both are augmenting their increments are not synchronous, the greatest of one frequently coinciding with the least of the other.

Gain in height alone is but one evidence of normal growth, and this must be associated with a proportionate increase in weight to show perfectly healthy vigor. Great tallness without corresponding weight and symmetrical development is abnormal and is usually attended by a lack of reserve force or ability to resist strain or disease. The same is true, in a less degree, where weight markedly exceeds height. Between both of these features of growth there is an approximate standard of proportion for different years, and the nearer the individual approaches the average height and weight of his special age the closer will be his conformation to a model of complete symmetry and health.

A fairly accurate standard proportion of height and weight in the two sexes from the age of eight to eighteen years is shown in the following table:

Age

Males

Females

in years

Height in

Weight

Height in

Weight

feet and inches

in lbs.

feet and inches

in lbs.

3-IO

49-5

47-7

lO

4.2

4-13^

57-4

II 43^

62 .9

4.5%

4.8

78.7

88.7

IS

5 Vs

98-3

i6

5.2^^

106 7

i8

5-6^

5-23^

Height and weight may be increased by good food, comfortable and hygienic surroundings and judicious exercise. School-work, properly conducted, has little influence upon growth in strong children, but, with the weak, appears to be helpful by leading to a more natural and regular rate of gain, and by giving an interval of rest through its tendency to retard the establishment of puberty, a rest which is later followed by more rapid growth. Hard mental and physical work, insufficient food, malnutrition and disease retard growth, but if the hampering condition be removed there is more or less rapid compensation, and an ultimate attainment of equality with those who have always lived in a favoring environment. Still, weight gained at the proper age is better retained than if made up late, and general growth is more normal when it takes place during the periods when the tissuebuilding force is naturally most active. In late adolescence, contrasted with earlier life, there, is more variation in growth, much greater liability to retrogression and increased susceptibility to outside influences; unfavorable surroundings and conditions more readily causing arrest of growth and preventing perfect maturity.

As adult age is reached, growth force seems to expend itself in a final effort to produce full stature and the individual is left physically slack and morally dependent upon his elders to whose influence also there is now a much greater susceptibility than in earlier years. Consequently those nearly approaching manhood or womanhood should be well looked after and receive physical care and parental guidance and protection.

The growth of the various parts and organs of the body is not uniform. The muscles, for instance, grow more than the lungs or stomach, and many rudimentary structures atrophy or disappear as age advances, so that at birth and at maturity the component parts of the body are very different in relative size. Most organs and parts of the organism grow intermittently; they are, too, subject to variations in order and degree of development in different individuals notwithstanding a similarity in height and weight, and they reach their greatest size at different ages; for example, the brain almost ceases to grow at puberty, when the reproductive organs, the pelvis and the muscles generally are in their nascent stage — that is, growing at the most rapid rate. Other organs — such as the lungs — continue to grow into advanced age, when the muscles and bones, having reached their maximum, are steadily decreasing in bulk causing the loss of weight and feebleness of senescence. Therefore the age of the body is relative, some organs continuing to grow or keeping young while others stop growing or become old, and the individual is senile, not because all parts of his body are old, but because the bones and muscles, which are the heaviest organs and those giving growth its chief characteristics, are retrograding.

The manner of growth of the different organs of the body is of much scientific interest, but attention need be given now only to the development of the muscles and their functions.

The importance of the muscles is readily understood when it is considered that they constitute in weight nearly one-half of the human body, that they are intimately concerned in circulation, respiration and digestion, and above all that they are organs of the will through which all its manifestations are accomplished. Besides performing ordinary motor tasks the muscles are instruments of expression, every change of mental condition unconsciously altering their state of tension, though there may be no actual movement, and they are thus organs of thought as well as of volition. In the brain, too, the motor and purely mental centres are so closely associated that proper development of the muscles tends to improve intellection, and for this reason attention to muscle training is very necessary in the young and should be a part of the scheme of all educational systems.

As children advance in age their muscles increase markedly in length and thickness and become more firmly attached to the bones. In girls, with the exception of the uterine walls, the muscular growth is less than in boys, but decided differentiation in the sexes in this respect does not begin until the age of thirteen. Muscle growth may be unsymmetrical, causing unusual postures of the body or limbs and changing facial expression; or the bones may be twisted out of shape by arrest of some and over-development of other muscles, and a dis-

8 THE ADOLESCENT PEEIOD

proportion in bone and muscle growth is at the root of the clumsiness so often exhibited by adolescent boys. With the establishment of puberty, since there seems to be an intimate sympathy between sexual and motive energy, special growth features are seen. There is first decided increase of leg power; next, of the biceps and back, and, later, of the forearm with its repulsive force. This gain is especially to be noticed and most rapid in boys.

Power gain, like general growth, is inconstant, being subject to periods of greater or less rapidity of increase; this is especially true of the legs, and as their power is very closely connected with sex and as sedentary habits tend to arrest development in this direction it is essential to encourage the taking of sufficient exercise to profit by the nascent intervals. The most rapid development of muscle power occurs between the ages of fifteen and nineteen years. After this the increase is slower but continues, especially in males, for six or seven years. The age when the greatest possible power can be attained is between twenty-five and thirty-five years.

Later there comes a slow decrease, though this is not marked until the fiftieth year is reached.

In addition to the gross features outlined above the child as it becomes older exhibits new expressions of motor force. These can be better understood by dividing the voluntary muscles into two functional classes, namely, the fundamental and the accessory.

The fundamental muscles are large and powerful, those of the limbs, shoulders and trunk for example. Their movements are simple, almost instinctive and take place synchronously, as in straining to lift a burden, or in alternating rhythm, as of the two legs in the act of walking. This group is best developed in the class of toilers doing the rough, heavy work of the world, and having little intelligence and less mental training.

The accessory muscles are smaller and much more numerous than the fundamental. They are concerned in more delicate movements, like those of the fingers, and are capable of combining for the production of very complex acts such as those involved in writing or articulate speech. Functionally they reach perfection later in life and proportionately to lO THE ADOLESCENT PERIOD

education. Their activity directly reflects mental states, the influence of the latter being shown either by movements or by alterations in fibre tension which change the expression of the face, the modulation of the voice or the character of the hand- writing. In a word, the accessory muscles are practically organs of the mind.

Incomplete development of either of these two groups of muscles is quite possible. Hard, coarse toil or undue athletic training tend to hypertrophy of the fundamental muscles and, with coincident neglect of the accessory muscles, produces a being capable of feats of great strength but one incapable of fine, accurate work either mechanical or mental. On the other hand, and here there is greater danger of permanent ill-effects, too much school work associated with a sedentary life or a too early employment in trades requiring long hours of close attention and extreme manual accuracy over-strain or even arrest the development of the accessory muscles, with consequent nervous or muscular irritability and predisposition to choreic disorders. As both of these conditions are abnormal the

GROWTH II

end to strive for is full development and adjustment of each group, and the best time to accomplish this is during the years when the increase of motor power is naturally most rapid, and when there seems to be the greatest response to appropriate regimen and exercise, measures which also promote mentality and general health. The small muscles are most readily over-strained from the fourth to the eighth year; after this to the age of twelve there is less danger, but more again as puberty is established, particularly if fundamental activities be neglected. This being the period of very rapid power growth in the large muscles of the legs, back and arms and in those involved in circulation and respiration, there is less fatigue-resisting force left for the accessory muscles. Therefore, at this time, there should be less confinement and study or delicate hand-work and more outdoor life and play, with its relaxation and exercise. When it is desired to train the accessory muscles for complex and delicate acts, as playing some musical instrument, or any intricate hand work, the task should be begun at the age of eight or nine, taking advantage of the interval when the functions of these muscles are not dominated by the great strength increment taking place in the fundamental muscles at puberty.

In children almost every impression received from without causes some response in the muscles. This may be either a mere change in fibrillar tension or an actual movement, which is often automatic. These latter, termed automatisms, are extremely numerous in early life and are illustrated by such acts as grimacing, twisting a button or lock of hair, tapping with the fingers or feet, sucking the tongue, etc. They may be exhibited by any muscle of the body, but those of the accessory group are mainly concerned in them, and whereas the fundamental automatisms soon disappear as age advances, the accessory ones are apt to increase until adult years or even remain permanently in peculiarities of facial expression, in certain habits of attitude or pronunciation, or such abnormaUties as stammering or local muscular twitching.

Automatisms are increased by continued physical inactivity and mental effort, as long sitting at a desk in hard study, or at a bench in some labor requiring concentrated attention and delicate finger work. Their character varies with the task, though they are not necessarily shown by the muscles used in it, and they indicate its difficulty and tendency to induce fatigue. When pushed too far they may advance to true chorea; may become excessive as in head-beaters, shakers, etc., or may pass into fixed attitudes and postures of body or limb indicating morbid cerebral conditions.

Ordinary automatisms must not be regarded as abnormal nor should efforts be made to suppress them, for, short of exaggeration, the more and stronger they are the better, and a good deal of restlessness is desirable in childhood. Many of those movements usually attributed to nervousness, such as fidgets in school and the awkward actions of the embarrassed or of those making efforts or greatly excited, indicate an abundance of untrained power of intellect, feeling and will. In the beginning of life, too, each part of the body should act freely and independently, and many automatic movements may be essential for proper growth in size and for development of the brain centres. To this end it is necessary, in some cases, to produce these movements artificially by reflex stimulation, just as exceptional children must be purposely familiarized with the sensations of hunger, thirst, cold, heat, etc., and even be taught to cry and laugh. While, then, the automatisms should not be suppressed they must, after they appear, be controlled and moulded into smoothly co-ordinated acts. This is a difficult process at first. Even in so simple an act as sitting still, a young child often closes his jaws tight, shuts his fists, holds his breath and sets all his muscles tense, with an effort great enough to quickly cause fatigue; but control becomes easier and more and more complete as age advances and intelligence and will power increase.

The efficiency of the muscles depends upon their strength, their rapidity of response to will-commands, their diversity of motion, and the completeness with which these factors can be voluntarily co-ordinated. Modern conditions are not favorable to the best development of these desirable qualities. In the agricultural and manufacturing industries too much is done by labor-saving machinery, and with more complicated processes, the worker takes the product — a book or a watch, for instance — through only a single step of its manufacture and has no interest or pride in it as a finished piece of work. Even with adolescent sports there is a tendency to limit them to the few and very expert and the majority, finding it not worth while to try to make the " teams, *' fail to avail themselves of the benefits of the regular muscle training involved. Girls suffer more than boys in this respect, and, while there is no question of the evils of child-labor, more of the young suffer from too little than too much use of the muscles. When harm comes the blame should not be put upon the mere work but upon unhealthy surroundings, bad work-rooms, long hours, great monotony, over-specialization and excessive use of the accessory and neglect of the fundamental muscles.

The effects of this imperfect development of muscle efficiency are exhibited in the number of ordinary physical acts that many adolescents find it impossible to accomplish. They are also shown in the care that must be taken l6 THE ADOLESCENT PERIOD

to spare them any toil that is severe or trying in nature, and in their thin arms and legs, stooped shoulders, and shrunken chests and in persistent automatisms and other marks of constitutional feebleness.

Recognizing the importance of complete structural and functional growth and accurate adjustment of all muscles, not only for motor efficiency but for mental development, and remembering the fact that existing conditions, industrial and recreational, do not favor this result, it is easy to appreciate the necessity for certain definite systems of muscle culture. The best of these are the following:

I. Industrial Education. — Modern increase of competition, complexity of manufacturing processes and the abolition of the old system of apprenticeship, in which a youth was bound to a master to learn his craft, make industrial education necessary, not only to attain excellence in any trade but for the mere ability to make a living wage. This instruction is attended with more or less success in the various work-schools and trade classes which are slowly becoming more numerous and better in our country. Such instruction should be diversified and not limited to a single tool or process, in order to develop the fundamental before the accessory abilities required in delicate work. In this way automatisms are best subordinated and a firm foundation laid for future intellectual efforts. This training may be undertaken safely during the periods of rapid increase of muscle power, about the age of puberty, when strictly manual training is apt to over-strain the fine muscles.

The best industrial education is obtainable on a farm, partly on account of the many different things that must be well done if it be properly managed, and partly because of the favorable health conditions pertaining to life in the country. The worst, on the other hand, is factory training. It is too specialized. It is ordinarily limited to a single step of some long and complicated procedure, and has for its object only rapid preparation for earning a living, and very frequently, too, undermines the general health through unsanitary surroundings.

n. Manual Training. — This method as carried on in special institutions and in allotted courses in the public schools tends to a better l8 THE ADOLESCENT PERIOD

practical education. The idea, as the name impHes, is to train the hands primarily. As this cannot be done without training the mind, on account of the already mentioned intimate association of the motor and mental nervous centres, the results are to broaden the intelligence and increase interest in the acquisition of knowledge, to create promptness in action, dexterity, and a desire to do really good work and thus to augment effectiveness and prepare the student for some useful life occupation. Practically these ends are not, at present, perfectly attained. The ordinary methods of this system have the faults of not appealing sufficiently to the intellect. They are too centred upon teaching skill in technique and to the making only of parts rather than of completed things. They over-develop one side of the body and the hands, to the neglect of the muscles of the legs, back and trunk. Finally, manual training has not advanced with the changes in modern industrial methods. To be really useful it should, according to the age of the student, furnish for the muscles the best and most hygienic work for increasing their efficiency and symmetrical development, while for the mind an understanding of the scientific side of methods, tools and products should be insisted upon. Further, instead of placing all pupils. of an age in a class to be taught the same rigidly fixed task, the instruction should be adapted to the carefully studied needs of each individual.

in. Gymnastics. — As now used this term includes only the exercises employed in physical culture. Their objects are: (a) to bring out all motor possibilities, (b) to increase volitional control so that all actions may be consciously willed, (c) to economize force in postures and movements, and (d) to ensure symmetry and normal proportion.

(a) The ordinary activities of life, the various forms of labor and even many of the outdoor games exercise only a limited number of muscles, leaving the others and many possible combinations latent and wasting, and, in consequence, there are many things that the average youth cannot do. One system of gymnastics, originated by Jahn, aims, by a variety of postures and movements, to develop dormant or degenerating and also new motor powers, and by really general culture to establish the greatest muscle capacity. This plan is very applicable to adolescents, and would be perfect if it were possible accurately to measure the amount and character of exercise required by each muscle or necessary to the best co-ordination, especially in the direction of neglected or new activities. Still, though this cannot be done, it is unquestionably useful if careful attention be paid to the personal element, different individuals requiring very diverse courses of training.

(b) Many of our activities are, or become, matters of habit, and are to a greater or less degree automatic. The more these can be brought into the province of consciousness, the more the engaged muscles come under the restraint of the will and a greater number of new combinations become possible and much energy is conserved. Some of the Swedish exercises are employed for this purpose. The most useful of these are those that require close attention and quick volition to convert into muscle movements the commands of a leader and accurately and promptly to imitate his actions. Here, also, individual prescription, though difficult, is very important.

(c) Force may be economized by a method (Ling's) which tends, by position and movements, to relax the flexor and increase the strength of the extensor muscles and thus overcome the effects of the doubled- up position assumed by the body before birth and seen after in sitting and in states of fatigue. The head is balanced upon the spine with little help from the muscles, the shoulders are thrown back easing the chest, the spine is held erect freeing the abdomen, and altogether bones are made to relieve muscles. This means an erect posture with the greatest ease and the least waste of energy, and, at the same time, a better mental poise, as there always seems to be more buoyancy when the extensor, rather than the flexor, muscles are in control. The movements of this method educate feeble, neglected muscles, those not called upon in common activities, and secure better general developm^t. They prevent the deformities resulting from excessive use of muscle groups and over-specialization in labor. Like other exercises they must be carefully adapted to personal requirements.

{d) Gymnastics, to secure symmetry and proportion, involve primarily measurements of physical dimensions and tests of strength, and secondarily, prescription of the exercises calculated to correct whatever deficiencies may be present, the standard being the average for the age, weight and height. These measurements are charted and so, later, are the results of exercise, and this record of progress creates an interest in and encouragement to continued work, especially if thereby some hereditary imperfection or weakness be seen to be disappearing. Further, accomplished physical improvement may lead to a desire for moral and intellectual betterment.

In the efforts for general physical culture, care must be taken not to warp any particularly good growth tendency, and not to ruin individuality by monotonous uniformity. Weak parts, too, must not be over-worked. Ordinary gymnastics do more for the arms, shoulders and trunk than for the legs and are almost entirely wanting in mental influence, and in these respects are open to amendment; still they are very serviceable during adolescence and the use of the gymnasium should be general and not limited to a few athletes. So far as the body is concerned the effects of systematic exercise with "training'' are remarkable; the muscles are strengthened, vital force increased, and ability developed to endure the strain of city life and resist disease; at the same time habits of temperance and chastity are encouraged.

IV. Play, Games and Sports. — Play brings out many hereditary and rudimentary motor habits and, in contradistinction to toil, is never concerned with anything really new. For this reason play is a pleasure and, unlike set systems of exercise, is as much a matter of mind as of body. It neither over-trains the physical side of the organism — exaggerating the muscular elements — nor unduly cultivates the mental side, causing weakness or automatisms. Play develops each. Besides being the natural it is the best sort of exercise because it produces perfect growth. Play gives an enjoyable outlet to tendencies which might otherwise lead to the use of stimulants or to sexual vices. It does much to realize the ideal of a sane mind in a sound body. It develops muscle power and courage. It leads to purity of life and good habits. It gives energy, individuality, quick decision and promptness in willed actions. It lifts troubles from the mind and, to the healthy, is a neverfailing source of exhilaration and recreation.

Some plays give greater pleasure and are more absorbing than others because they bring into action old racial traits. Thus in man's beginning, accurate throwing, running, hitting with a club were essential to survival both in obtaining food and in combat. While this need no longer exists, the same activities instinctively demand cultivation for motor efficiency. Hence, games with a bat and ball are racially familiar and correspondingly attractive, and the degree of interest and enjoyment attending any form of play is a measure of its developmental value.

As previously stated, the process of growth is not uniformly continuous. It is subject to times of rapid increase alternating with intervals of comparative rest, and to get the best results from any form of physical culture advantage must be taken of the former or nascent periods. The natural exercise of play is no exception to this rule, and in this connection it is interesting to note the manner in which play instinctively changes in character at different ages. Before the age of six children rarely play games spontaneously, but do so at the suggestion and under the direction of their caretakers. After eight, games requiring physical activity are preferred, and ten or eleven is the age when the variety is greatest. Then selection begins and more attention is given to fewer pastimes. Games involving pursuit increase markedly from six to nine, are almost abandoned at sixteen and the use of toys and "make believe '^ plays decrease still earlier. With boys, to eighteen, games with a ball rise constantly in popularity. In girls, cards and other table games increase steadily from ten to fifteen. In boys, after twelve, a large proportion, one-third or more, of games involve contest and struggle to gain physical advantage and mastery over companions. "Team'' games soon begin, in which the individual is subordinate to his mates and to a leader, all working to a given and planned end. Now, too, the games are often of a rough, outdoor character. Later, there is still closer association in sports with more call upon the virile qualities of bravery, loyalty and self-control. In girls, there is a steady decrease in running plays from nine to eighteen years, with a rapid leaning to games of chance. Organization and specialization, so noticeable in boys, are almost absent, and seasonal games far less common, on account of a greater inclination for indoor life. The desire to play with dolls is most markec^ about the ninth year and is usually over by fifteen, though it may continue for years longer.

The fundamental muscles naturally incline to rhythmic movements at all times but especially during the age of greatest increase in strength, and such movements are more facile because they require less conscious mental effort or attention. This accounts for the pleasure the young take in dancing, marching or exercising in time to music, and for the work-songs of sailors and others which ease and socialize labor and at the same time concentrate the efforts of a number of hands in lifting or pulling. Dancing under proper restrictions and in good surroundings besides being an amusement is a rhythmic exercise which exceedingly well meets the motor requirements of the young, and, while much has been said against the purity of modern dances, it is quite possible that they may work off vicious propensities in a comparatively harmless way.

About the time of the onset of puberty in the male, a spirit of pugnacity normally appears. Though more or less brutal, no effort should be made to stamp out this instinct, but it should be tempered and directed; this may be done by boxing, fencing, wrestling and military training.

Over-pugnacity is certainly a bad trait, but a cowardly refusal to fight when necessary is worse, and every healthy boy at or about the age of twelve years should be taught to box in order to hold within bounds and discipline the fighting tendency. With bad associations removed, boxing is a very manly art. It trains the muscles, cultivates quickness of eye, hand and foot, increases decision, will power, selfreliance and self-restraint. It lessens nervous irritability and greatly amends passionate, peevish and effeminate dispositions.