CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY Theoretical background Marcell (2007) claims that adolescents may be alien beings during puberty. They slam doors shut, cry easily and get pimples when they want to look their best. Hormones and chemicals play around in adolescents' bodies and hormones may be responsible for their strange actions. Hormones can affect the cognitive and social development of adolescents. As a result, adolescents may be confronted with their attitude toward development at a very early age (Brown 2007: 25). The puberty stage has made its appearance in young adolescents much earlier in recent decades (Landman 2008) due to possible better eating patterns, general prosperity and better medical care and socio-economic conditions Hormones have just as drastic an effect on teenagers' emotional development as hormones have on their altered body shape. Parents complain about teens' emotions of fickleness and impulsive behavior. It seems that young people show attitudes of excitement and wild action (Hartell 2005: 172). Statistics in Parrish (2009: 26) support this claim - more than three-quarters of teenage deaths are caused by the search for excitement. This is called the storm-and-urge years of the adolescent. Hormones are not the only cause for the adolescent's late night sleep at home. In the past, it was believed that the brain by adolescence was already fully developed. However, new research shows that biological maturity is only achieved in the late teens and early twenties (Louw 2007). In the cognitive development of the adolescent, the nerve endings in the brain are "trimmed" for better functioning. It explains thought processes such as goal setting, setting priorities and impulse control that only develop later.
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