Which of the following statements about adolescence is true?

The concept

Adolescence is defined in developmental psychology as the transitional stage between childhood and adulthood, in which growth proceeds simultaneously along physical, mental, emotional and social lines. The term itself comes from the verb ‘adolescere’, meaning ‘to grow to maturity’ — a Latin verb, although the passage here describes it as Greek. Because the stage is defined by a process of maturing rather than by a single dated event, its extent is stated as an approximate chronological band whose edges shift with individual and cultural conditions.

Applying the concept to this passage

1. The passage first defines the stage functionally, quoting A. T. Jersild: adolescence is the span of years during which boys and girls move from childhood to adulthood, mentally, emotionally, socially and physically.

2. It then supplies the chronological band explicitly — adolescence comes roughly in between the years from 12 to the early 20's.

3. It qualifies that band by noting that the onset varies from culture to culture depending on socio-economic conditions; that is, the band is approximate, not that its beginning is unknowable.

4. It closes by recording that great changes occur in all developmental dimensions of the individual during this period.

Weighing the other statements

• Saying that no one can predict exactly when adolescence commences goes further than the passage does: variation of onset from culture to culture means the starting age differs across groups, while the passage still fixes a workable band and ties the beginning of the stage to the move out of childhood.

• Saying that adolescents are incompetent in tackling science and mathematics puzzles has no basis in the passage, and it runs against the developmental picture of the stage, in which formal-operational reasoning — abstract, hypothetical and propositional thinking — is consolidating.

• Saying that adolescence does not include any physical and psychological change is contradicted directly by the passage, which records great changes in all developmental dimensions and, through Jersild, a movement that is at once mental, emotional, social and physical.

Result

Both the passage's functional definition and its explicit chronology converge on the same statement: adolescence is the transitional band running roughly from the age of 12 into the early 20's.