A Gender-based Approach towards Adjustment during Late Adolescence

Adjustment is a satisfactory adaptation to the demands of day-to-day life and may be defined as a process by means of which the individual seeks to maintain psychological equilibrium and propel himself towards self enhancement. Problems of adjustment start right from the birth of an individual and continue till death. Various situations arise at home school, college, and workplace where we need to give up a little of our demands and accept what is present. Being a major concern in all developmental stages, it is of great relevance during adolescence; a period of many hormone based complex changes in the body and mind leading to emotional, physical and social maturation, so as to prepare the individual for functional independence in adult life. In the Indian context, adolescence is a time when a boy‟s world expands, and a girl‟s world contracts. For boys, adolescence represents financial independence, expanded participation and enhanced status in family, community and public life. Adapting to the changes within themselves and to the changed expectations of the society is a major developmental task of the adolescence stage. Late adolescence and the period following, often referred to as emerging adulthood, have been noted as particularly important for setting the stage for continued development through the life span as individuals begin to make choices and engage in a variety of activities that are influential for the rest of their lives. In this purview, a study was conducted by the researcher among students in their late adolescence and was compared between boys and girls to distinguish the level of adjustment between them. The study concludes highlighting intervention paradigm to deal with adolescent problems in Social Work point of view.