Adolescence is derived from the Greek word 'adolescere', which most appropriately means

Childhood refers to the period of the human lifespan, ranging from birth to puberty. It consists of many developmental stages and 'adolescence' is one of them.

'Adolescence' comes from the Latin word 'Adolescere' which means 'to grow to become mature'. It is a stage which lies between the age of '12 to 19 years.

Cognitive Developmental Changes in Adolescence:

• Adolescents’ thought becomes more abstract, logical, and idealistic. They become more capable of examining their own thoughts, observing others’ thoughts, and what others are thinking about them.
• It is a stage in which developing Identity provides adolescents a belief in their abilities. The formation of identity during adolescence is influenced by several factors such as cultural background, family and societal values, ethnic background, etc.
• Adolescents have certain specific interests that fall within the different categories, the most important of which are recreational interests, social interests, personal interests, educational interests, vocational interests, religious interests, and interest in status symbols.
•  Adolescents’ developing ability to reason gives them a new level of cognitive and social awareness. During this stage, adolescent thinking expands beyond actual concrete experiences and they begin to think more in abstract terms and reason about them.

Hence, we can conclude that the word 'Adolescere' means mature development.