Preadolescence
Preadolescence is a stage of human development following middle childhood and preceding adolescence.[1] It commonly ends with the beginning of puberty.[2] Preadolescence is commonly defined as ages 8–12[3] ending with the major onset of puberty. It may also be defined as simply the 2-year period before the major onset of puberty.[4] Preadolescence can bring its own challenges and anxieties.
"Tween" redirects here. For other uses, see Tween (disambiguation).Terminology
A term used to refer to the preadolescent stage in everyday speech is tween and its perhaps older variants tweenie, tweeny, tweenager, and tweener. It's a blend (portmanteau) of the words "teen" and "between" in the sense of "between childhood and adolescence" and refers to 8-, 9-, or 10- to 12-year-olds.[5][6][7] Sometimes the terms tweenie and tweenager are used to differentiate between older (10 to 15) and younger (7 to 11) age groups, respectively.[8][9]
While known as preadolescent in psychology, the terms preteen or tween are common in everyday use. A preteen or preteenager[1] is a person ages 12 and under.[10] Generally, the term is restricted to those close to reaching age 13,[1] especially ages 8 to 12.[11] Tween is an American neologism and marketing term[12] for preteen, which is a blend of between and teen.[10][11] People within this age range are variously described as tweens, preadolescents, tweenies, preteens, pubescents, middle schoolers,[13] or tweenagers.[14][15]
A junior high school can sometimes be confused with a middle school. Though serving a similar purpose in bridging a gap between elementary school and high school, a junior high school typically serves 7th to 9th grade students, whereas a middle school serves 6th to 8th grade students. Therefore, middle schools serve a slightly younger demographic, more befitting of preadolescents, while junior high schools typically serve young adolescents.
Neurological development
There are significant neurological changes that are expressed during preadolescence. White matter refers to the region of the nervous system corresponding to neuronal axons, which form fibers that convey information across different regions of the brain. In contrast, grey matter refers to the region of the nervous system corresponding to neuronal cell bodies, which process and relay neuronal signals. White matter volume increases at a relatively linear rate of about 12% from ages 4 through 22, specifically focused in the frontal, parietal, and occipital lobes.[30] Increases in white matter volume may be correlated to improvements of fine motor performance, auditory processing, as well as sensory information transfer between language areas of the brain. In contrast, cortical gray matter increases in early life, peaks in preadolescence, and declines through adulthood, with the exception of occipital lobe gray matter. For example, parietal lobe gray matter peaks at age 10 in girls and 12 in boys, while frontal lobe gray matter peaks at age 11 in girls and 12 in boys. Such changes might reflect overproduction of synapses in the preadolescent years; in subsequent years, there seems to be pruning dependent on environmental context, corresponding to increased synchronicity of neuron firing. A key caveat from these imaging studies, however, is that there exists significant variability in the timing and characteristics of neurological change in preadolescents. Neurological changes, particularly in the prefrontal cortex, appear to be highly dependent on environmental input.[31] Toxins, hormones, and lifestyle factors including stress and nutrition impact neurological maturation, demonstrating the importance of early lifestyle health interventions in preadolescence with regards to neurological and psychological development.[32]
Freud
Freud called this stage the latency period to indicate that sexual feelings and interest went underground.[54] Erik H. Erikson noted that latency period children in middle childhood can then direct more of their energy into asexual pursuits such as school, athletics, and same-sex friendships.[55] Nevertheless, recent research contradicts these notions—suggesting that sexual development, interest, and behavior among latent period children does not cease. Instead, the apparent lack of sexual interest is due to children not sharing their sexual interests/emotions with adults.[56]
