Being a teenager and living adolescence: what school teenagers say

• Autor(a) principal: Andrade, Samara Faria
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Outros Autores: Costa, Camila Cristina, Elias, Daniel Gonçalves, Costa, Maria Luiza, Franco, Elaine Cristina Dias
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Research, Society and Development
• Texto Completo: https://rsdjournal.org/index.php/rsd/article/view/31371
• topic: Adolescentes; Adolescência; Comportamento do adolescente; Percepção social.; Adolescente; Adolescencia; Conduta del adolescente; Percepción social.; Adolescent; Adolescence; Adolescent Behavior; Social perception.

Adolescence corresponds to an important period for development, it is when the individual acquires skills in several domains, such as social, motor and cognitive. In a peculiar way, adolescents present a diversity of groups, behaviors, tastes and philosophy of life, as well as, they seek answers to their existence, put in check the sociocultural paradigms and in this movement, sometimes they rebel and in many other moments, they reveal themselves as beings in (trans)formation. Objective: to understand, from the adolescent's perspective, the meanings attributed to adolescence by today's society, the challenges and potentialities of this life cycle. Methodology: descriptive study with a qualitative approach based on the theoretical framework of Symbolic Interactionism. 40 school adolescents aged 11 to 15 participated. Data collection took place in October and November 2021 through focus groups. Results: the participants raised approaches questioning the widespread ideal of a free and self-sufficient individual. They brought to light several interfaces, relating it to achievements, represented in their speeches, initially by the acquisition of responsibilities and development of maturity, often associated with decision making. Family and peers were considered important for the experience of adolescence. Social networks emerged as interaction devices with peers and the social world. Conclusion: it is considered that one should speak of "Adolescents" instead of adolescence, making it possible to apprehend, in a singular and individual way, how they experience and interpret the problematic situations that arise in this cycle of life, opening space for dialogue.