It is used to manage your emotional life and avoid extremes such as depression. Adolescence is a time in one s life when motivation, empathy and social skills become crucial. Motivation includes having confidence in oneself by controlling one s body, behavior, and world. Once they have self-control and can manage their behavior they may begin intentionally working towards goals with persistence. A second type of motivation adolescents find themselves involved in is an intrinsic motivation called curiosity.
Adolescents are extremely curious in many situations.
They may ask questions or experiment with drugs, sex, etc. A crucial part of adolescence is to gain self-awareness and be able to manage your moods. By observing theirself and recognizing a feeling as it happens, it will be easier to handle feelings so that they are appropriate, as well as handle fears and anxieties, anger, and sadness. As adolescents are recognizing and managing emotions in themselves they are also doing the same in others. Through engaging in social roles, exchanging ideas and feeling with others and balancing one s own needs with other s needs, they are learning social skills that will be useful and important their whole life.