The psychological characteristics of the adolescent are different from those described in children and adults. In many ways, this is due to the fact that in adolescence, not specifically imaginative thinking prevails, as in children, but abstract thinking is developing more and more. The teenager tries to think more independently, actively, creatively. Young adolescents, as well as children, pay more attention to objectivity, external entertaining. The older adolescence is distinguished by independent thinking, that is, the thinking process itself is of interest.
For teenagers, the following traits are characteristic: the desire for cognition, the inquisitive mind, a wide range of interests, often with the accompanying scatter, the lack of a system in the acquired knowledge. Usually his teenager tries to direct his mental qualities to the sphere of activity that interests him the most. This is of particular importance in assessing the mental abilities of difficult adolescents . Usually the level of intelligence is lower than average, but when solving practical problems from life and being in the midst of such peers, they can show resourcefulness and exceptional savvy. Therefore, assessing the intelligence of a difficult teenager, which is based only on the average indicators, is often mistaken if it was given without taking into account his specific interests and life situation. For adolescence characterized by pronounced emotional imbalance, sharp mood swings, rapid transitions from exaltation to subdepressive state. Violent reactions of affect, arising in contrast to remarks about shortcomings in appearance or with an imaginary attempt to limit its independence, may seem to adults inadequate.
It was revealed that the peak of emotional instability in girls falls on 13-15 years, and the boys - for 11-13 years. The older adolescence is more stable, emotional reactions become more differentiated. Quite often violent affective outbursts are quickly replaced by external tranquility, an ironic attitude to everything around them. Adolescents have a tendency to introspection, reflection, which often contributes to the development of depressive states. In adolescence, the polar qualities of the psyche are manifested. So, for example, persistence and purposefulness can be combined with instability and impulsiveness, and self-confidence and peremptory attitude in any judgments can be accompanied by self-doubt and easy vulnerability. Other examples are swagger and shyness, need for communication and a desire to retire, romanticism and dry rationalism, high feelings and cynicism, sincere tenderness and callousness, affection and hostility, cruelty, alienation.
The problem of personality formation in adolescents is very complex and least developed in age psychology. It is well known that the moment of transition from childhood to adulthood is more difficult the more the requirements set by society towards an adult and a child are more discernible. For example, in countries that are economically poorly developed, the difference in requirements is not so great that it makes the transition from childhood to maturity smooth, unobtrusive, non-traumatic. But the reverse situation is observed in most civilized countries, in which the requirements for the norm in the behavior of children and adults are not simply high, but rather contradictory. In childhood, for example, a maximum of obedience and lack of rights is required, while from the adult a maximum of independence and initiative is expected. A typical example is the fact that the child is protected in every possible way from everything related to sex. And in adulthood, on the contrary, sex plays an important role.
From the above, it can be concluded that age psychology, together with the historical, socioeconomic, ethno-cultural differences in the society where the child grows and the personality begins to form, must also take into account the differential psychological, individual typological and sex-age characteristics of the adolescent.