Age 14-15

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At age fourteen to fifteen, teenagers are very peer oriented. They gradually loose their family identity as their sense of themselves becomes oriented toward their peers. In this age, teenagers tend to make relationships in collective groups of peers. Sometimes, these groups are called cliques. It is almost as if a second family is created, except this time, there is nobody in charge. The members of a group have high regard for each other.

The thoughts of fourteen and fifteen-year-old teenagers are intense and single-minded. When they get an idea, they focus on that idea with passion. They do not allow anything to interfere with that idea. They believe that just by their force of will, they should be able to get things accomplished.

Teenagers tend to be self-centered, particularly around age thirteen, fourteen and fifteen. Their self-centeredness is not necessarily selfish, in that they don't always want everything for themselves. They are self-centered in that they assume that other people think the way they do. For example, if a fourteen-year-olds are asked "Can you imagine what that starving child in Africa feels like?" They will answer that they do understand, but the answer they give would be how they would feel if they were in that starving person's shoes. They do not consider that a person might think even differently than them. That can cause a very confusing situation in boy-girl relationships, because the thirteen, fourteen and fifteen-year-olds will assume that members of the opposite sex think the way they do. The truth is that boys and girls think very differently in this age range.

Copyright 2010, Henry Doenlen, M.D. All rights reserved.