6. The development of the sexual instincts underlies every other change at adolescence. It strengthens youth's aspirations, and colors its social attitudes. Altruism and self-sacrifice are primarily, in fact, parental instincts.

New impulses, new sensations and emotions, new temptations, new problems, new meanings, a new conscience and a new heart-from without and within, the whole world and himself seem alike strange and wonderful to the adolescent who first feels the race-old forces by which life begets life. It is a time of unstable equilibrium, of strong yet shifting emotions, of purposes not understood. "Someone has said of mental adolescence that it is as if we were born over again, not from an unremembered past into which the new life can bring no surprises, but from one conscious life into another that cannot be understood by anything in our previous experience."

In the first years of the period, the sex-repulsion continues which was characteristic of later childhood; but the sexes begin to be attracted in its latter half. Boys begin to pay attention to their dress, and girls are no longer tom-boys. Few pass the age of sixteen without some little love affair.

From sixteen to eighteen the feelings deepen and acquire more sta bility. Emotions become sentiments; the affections are more lasting. Life is getting its "set." It is the time at which emotional religious conversions are most apt to occur.

7. Intellectually, adolescence is marked by the development of the higher powers. The youth is able to reason, not simply in terms of time sequence, but of cause and effect, and logical ground and consequence. And he becomes a pretty rigorous logician. He wants to understand. He seeks life's rational basis.

It follows that the adolescent is critical. He rejects mere author• ity. The springs of moral judgment are now within him: he will accept no bald imperatives. He is no longer credulous; he demands proofs. He is not content with scattered bits of knowledge; he wants to see things in their relations.

It is easy to see, therefore, why doubt should often be thought to be a characteristic of early adolescence. The sort of doubt that denies, however, is not natural at this period. It comes afterward, in later adolescence. Now there is simply the demand for reasons. If it turns to a more negative attitude, it is generally because we have not met that demand the right way. Clear, logical statement of beliefs and reasons will be accepted. But we can force the youth to doubt if we *Coe: "The Spiritual Life," p. 33.

press authority where he seeks reason, or if, in matter or method, our teaching is below his level.

8. Early adolescence is a time of more or less turmoil and confusion. Coe calls it a period of "general mental fermentation," and speaks of its "yeastiness of mind."* There is not disorganization, so much as lack of organization. The youth does not understand himself; he cannot at once coordinate the many new impulses that are welling up within him.

Physically, the boy or girl in the early 'teens is overgrown and awkward. The parts of the body do not grow at the same rate, and there is clumsiness and incoordination of movement. The boy's voice breaks. The girl feels big and restless and is afraid to talk. Both are very sensitive, and are too often made more so by the talk of parents and family, who speak of the awkward age, comment on their personal appearance, or tease them about their budding consciousness of the other sex.

The extremes and contradictions of adolescence have often been noted. The boy is now one thing, and now its opposite. He suddenly awakes to a new interest, and throws himself into it with the utmost ardor-for a few weeks; then it is forgotten. He is over-exact and conscientious in some respects, and careless in others. It is because of the very richness of his new life. He is not sure of himself. His instincts are as great a surprise to himself as to anyone else.

This confusion of life may issue in an abnormal self-consciousness and a morbid habit of introspection. It then becomes hard to deal with because the adolescent is naturally secretive, and resents any intrusion upon his personality. It may be questioned whether most of the studies of adolescence have not tended to exaggerate the introspective character of the period. In any case, the cure is to give the youth something to do that seems to him worth while, and to see to it that he realizes something of its fruits.

9. Religious awakenings are natural in early adolescence. In the general expansion of selfhood the religious instinct has its place. As life opens to a larger world, and becomes cognizant of new social and spiritual values, the soul reaches out toward God.

As we should expect, the first definite awakening comes at the beginning of the period. At twelve or thirteen most children who have been brought up under religious influences desire to join the church. "Among 512 officers of Young Men's Christian Associations * Coe: "The Spiritual Life," pp. 38, 86.

the average age of the first deep religious impression appears to have been 13.7 years. Among 99 men who were studied with reference to all their periods of special religious interest, as many awakenings of the religious sense occurred at twelve and thirteen as at sixteen and seventeen. A recent study shows that in a group of 'growth cases' reaching into the hundreds. the most distinctive period of spontaneous interest falls at the age of twelve."*

There is a second period of religious awakening at sixteen and seventeen. Forty-one of the ninety-nine men studied by Coe experienced an increase of religious interest at this age-the same number as at the earlier period. At twenty again, there seems to be a third such awakening. Seventy-six per cent of the religious awakenings reported by these men came in the ages from twelve to twenty, and 50 per cent in the years named as times of special interest-twelve and thirteen, sixteen and seventeen, and twenty. Other studies have tended to confirm the conclusions which Coe draws from these figures.

When we inquire into the age of conversion, the question is different. We are asking now at what age the decision is most apt to be made. As might be expected, Coe found that conversions were most frequent in the three periods of special religious awakening ; but the propor tion is not the same. There were more at sixteen and seventeen than in the earlier period, and many less in the last period than in either of the other two. Collating a number of studies, he found that the average age of conversion for 1784 men was 16.4 years. Hall adds data from several sources which show that, of a total of 4054 men, 1329 were converted at sixteen, seventeen and eighteen, and 3053 at ages from twelve to twenty, with only 705 at twenty-one and over. Has lett summarizes a total of 6641 conversions of both sexes, of which 5054 were at ages from twelve to twenty; 1527 were at sixteen and seventeen, and only 1039 from twenty-one to thirty-four.

We shall later inquire more closely into the significance of these figures. It is enough now that we see the tremendous importance of early adolescence in religious development. Both at its beginning and at its end life is especially open to religious influences. It is the age upon which the Sunday school must center its efforts

10. We may sum up, finally, three great reasons why early adolescence is a peculiarly critical period:

* Coe: "Education in Religion and Morals," pp. 254, 255.

† Coe: "The Spiritual Life," ch. i.

Hall: "Adolescence," II., p. 290.

Maslett: "Pedagogical Bible School," p. 165.

(1) It brings a multitude of new instincts. A new instinct means a new interest, a new opening of life. It means an unstable equilibrium -a new danger and a new opportunity. Character is never more plastic; habits form quickly.

(2) The youth thinks himself a man, but is not. His ideals and ambitions reach out into the great world; yet he is only a boy, and hardly more than a child. He is not old enough to decide for himself any of life's greater issues; but he wants to. To deal rightly with him you will need all your love and tact and hard common sense. You must bear responsibility, yet let him feel it. You must take him seriously, and not let him know your doubts. In short, you must think with him, not simply for him, and so lead him to right conclusions. You must share his life, and give him a share of yours.

(3) The youth of this age is peculiarly open to suggestion. His suggestibility is in fact as great as that of the child under six-but it is of a different sort. Early childhood was open to direct suggestion; it would believe and act upon whatever is told it. Now the suggestion must be indirect. The youth will resent a direct command or wish; but he is very sensitive to influence. The reason is plain. His new consciousness of the great world about him shapes his sense of values. He will esteem those things that he finds esteemed in what he gets to know of the grown-up world; he will reject what is there rejected. There is no time of life when social environment is so potent. The youth is bound to be like those about him—not merely because he imitates, but because their life is the source from which he imbibes his new ideas of what life is. To help him you must suggest, not in words but in deeds. Don't talk; be and do. Go about your business, live straight and get things accomplished, and your influence will do what advice never could. Be a friend of the boy, not a patron. Let him work with you; don't make him feel that you are working for him.

QUESTIONS

1. What years does adolescence cover? Why does the Sunday school fix the beginning and end of the period where it does?

2. Describe the physical growth and vigor of early adolescence. How do girls differ from boys in growth and development during these years?

3. How does the independence and self-assertion of early adolescence differ from that of later childhood?

4. How do the records of the public schools prove the expansion of selfhood in early adolescence?

5. Show how the social instincts mature in these years. How do they differ from those of later childhood?

6. Why does the development of the sexual instincts throw life into unstable equilibrium? What changes of attitude toward the other sex does the adolescent pass through?

7. In what sense is early adolescence a time of doubt?

8. Why is the youth of this age awkward and self-conscious? 9. What are the three periods of special religious awakening found by Coe?

10. At what time of life do the greater number of conversions take place?

11. Why is early adolescence a peculiarly critical period?

12. Compare the suggestibility of youth with that of childhood.